Ukraine - Russia Conflict
- Thread starter randomradio
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Radars and Patriot missiles: the possible ambush designed by Ukraine to shoot down the Russian Beriev A-50
This is one of the biggest losses suffered by the Vozdushno-kosmicheskiye sily, or VKS, the Russian air force since the start of the large-scale conflict with Ukraine in February 2022. On Monday 15 January, the Kremlin's air force had lost two of its most valuable aircraft, two expensive and very useful detection and command aircraft, a Beriev A-50 shot down on purpose and an Il-22 possibly permanently retired, just a few hours earlier over the Sea of Azov.
The Ukrainian trap was first set on Saturday 13 January, when Kiev air force aircraft targeted Russian radar stations in northern Crimea.
At the same time, Russia wanted to continue firing its drones, glide bombs and missiles at Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians - the latter two often carried by Su-34 'Fullback' tactical bombers.
It would be impossible to get them close to the front line and its dangers without the radar cover that Ukraine destroyed on Saturday, which was capable of detecting any threat from the north before it was destroyed.
To provide cover for its Su-34s, the Russian command decided to bring the Beriev A-50, now destroyed, and the Il-22, also fatally hit, closer to the front. This brought them within range of the weapons that Ukraine had prepared to 'pick off'.
All Ukraine had to do was deploy the right systems, S-300 and Patriot, to target the two aircraft at long range. The S-300 'offered' the spatial coordinates of the A-50 and Il-22 to the Patriot battery's missiles, which only had to switch on its own radar systems for a brief moment in order to remain hidden and safe from a possible Russian retaliation.
The Russian air force in serious trouble
The operational importance of the two aircraft lost, the A-50 and the Il-22 used as an "airborne detection and command system". was of paramount importance to Russia.
Thanks to their ability to keep an eye on a very wide area from the air, and their role as radio and command relays, the two aircraft were like "conductors of an orchestra" in the Kremlin's air battle with Ukraine.
However, despite an overwhelming material superiority at the start of the conflict, and in terms of the number of aircraft, the Russian air force never quite succeeded in imposing full and total air superiority in the Ukrainian theatre of operations.
Worse still, in recent weeks and months the Russian air force has suffered an increasing number of heavy and embarrassing losses. For example, at the end of November, the Patriot batteries supplied to Ukraine proved to be highly effective, shooting down five aircraft in just five minutes, according to the Ukrainian military command.
Friendly fire" seems to be a common occurrence, to the extent that according to some Russian and pro-Russian bloggers, the loss of the A-50 and Il-22 was the work of the Kremlin's air force rather than a trap set by Ukraine.
In recent weeks, the Russian air force has even bombed villages and territories under Moscow's control on several occasions.
The loss of these two radar aircraft should make the situation even more thorny for Russia. Ukraine seems to be particularly targeting the Kremlin's air assets (bases or radars) in recent weeks, as it has been able to do methodically and with great success against its naval power in the Black Sea.
This is one of the biggest losses suffered by the Vozdushno-kosmicheskiye sily, or VKS, the Russian air force since the start of the large-scale conflict with Ukraine in February 2022. On Monday 15 January, the Kremlin's air force had lost two of its most valuable aircraft, two expensive and very useful detection and command aircraft, a Beriev A-50 shot down on purpose and an Il-22 possibly permanently retired, just a few hours earlier over the Sea of Azov.
The Ukrainian trap was first set on Saturday 13 January, when Kiev air force aircraft targeted Russian radar stations in northern Crimea.
At the same time, Russia wanted to continue firing its drones, glide bombs and missiles at Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians - the latter two often carried by Su-34 'Fullback' tactical bombers.
It would be impossible to get them close to the front line and its dangers without the radar cover that Ukraine destroyed on Saturday, which was capable of detecting any threat from the north before it was destroyed.
To provide cover for its Su-34s, the Russian command decided to bring the Beriev A-50, now destroyed, and the Il-22, also fatally hit, closer to the front. This brought them within range of the weapons that Ukraine had prepared to 'pick off'.
All Ukraine had to do was deploy the right systems, S-300 and Patriot, to target the two aircraft at long range. The S-300 'offered' the spatial coordinates of the A-50 and Il-22 to the Patriot battery's missiles, which only had to switch on its own radar systems for a brief moment in order to remain hidden and safe from a possible Russian retaliation.
The Russian air force in serious trouble
The operational importance of the two aircraft lost, the A-50 and the Il-22 used as an "airborne detection and command system". was of paramount importance to Russia.
Thanks to their ability to keep an eye on a very wide area from the air, and their role as radio and command relays, the two aircraft were like "conductors of an orchestra" in the Kremlin's air battle with Ukraine.
However, despite an overwhelming material superiority at the start of the conflict, and in terms of the number of aircraft, the Russian air force never quite succeeded in imposing full and total air superiority in the Ukrainian theatre of operations.
Worse still, in recent weeks and months the Russian air force has suffered an increasing number of heavy and embarrassing losses. For example, at the end of November, the Patriot batteries supplied to Ukraine proved to be highly effective, shooting down five aircraft in just five minutes, according to the Ukrainian military command.
Friendly fire" seems to be a common occurrence, to the extent that according to some Russian and pro-Russian bloggers, the loss of the A-50 and Il-22 was the work of the Kremlin's air force rather than a trap set by Ukraine.
In recent weeks, the Russian air force has even bombed villages and territories under Moscow's control on several occasions.
The loss of these two radar aircraft should make the situation even more thorny for Russia. Ukraine seems to be particularly targeting the Kremlin's air assets (bases or radars) in recent weeks, as it has been able to do methodically and with great success against its naval power in the Black Sea.
A war of this scale requires more dumb ammo than smart. Also, dumb ammo has become accurate enough to hit static targets head-on, so smart ammo has become less useful than it used to be.
And yet we get feedback showing that CESARs are really very much appreciated.
And even the Russians are beginning to think we're helping Ukraine too much and have started a disinformation campaign against France in retaliation.
All the new MGS systems Europe has delivered are the most advanced deployed in the field on both sides, so it's not a surprise. Definitely a huge jump over existing artillery the UAF has been using that was already quite accurate.
France and Russia have become enemies since 2022. What was happening below the surface was pushed above in West Africa. So it doesn't come as a surprise.
No truth to that statement.
The Russians had limited their offensives during Ukraine's offensive, so there was no need to use a lot of artillery. Russia initiated a short counteroffensive in the winter and we could see their main offensive happening this year, which is gonna unlock their stockpiles again.
Great article can you please post the link I want Russian fanboys to see this
A war of any scale requires more dumb ammo than smart because smart does the same job with less.
Nope.
Ukraine also massively outnumbers Russia in small drones (take a look at this massacre):
Economy isn't looking good for Russia either, I give them another few years:
That graph explains my point. The Russians stopped most of their offensives in preparation for the UAF counteroffensive. Now you just gotta wait for Russia's offensive.
The Russians have more drones, they are doing far more damage than that. The Ukrainians themselves have said the Russians produce 6 times more FPV drones than they do. Many on both sides are lost to EW, so you only see some successes.
Russia's offensive has been happening since the start of October. You can tell because their daily death toll goes into 4 figures.
Than Ukraine does, not 6x more than NATO supplies + what Ukraine produces domestically.
Also, that statement is said to come from Forbes, yet a Google search fails to find the Forbes article, even when 'Forbes' is specifically included in the search.
Why not show me evidence of results?
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Easily. The EU can supply Ukraine even if the US pulls out due to Trump, they're already preparing for a worst case scenario on that, but hopefully Trump will be behind bars before then. God knows if he'd done what he did 100 years ago, he'd have been hung already. It's Russia supermarkets that are starting to get empty.
Since Russia began its recent offensive on 1st October it has lost >100k people. Their attacks have focused mainly on Avdiivka, which had a peacetime population of 32k and was evacuated some time ago.
In other news, Russia lost 6km^2 of territory since yesterday, which it spent the last 2-3 weeks capturing, losing ~20k people in the process.
In other news, Russia lost 6km^2 of territory since yesterday, which it spent the last 2-3 weeks capturing, losing ~20k people in the process.