Frontline report: Ukrainians use drones and missiles in coordinated attacks to destroy Russian air defense in Crimea

2 comments

1. Very good article with maps and satellite images

   Excerpts:

   >[…]
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   >The radars are the eyes of the air defense system. Destroying them with drones, Ukrainians completely blinded the air defense near Yevpatoria.
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   >Next, Ukrainians used the anti-ship missile Neptun to remove the S-400 missile launchers. It’s been speculated Ukrainians used precisely the same tactic as last time, when they destroyed an air defense system in Cape Tarkhankut, namely, they got close to the shore on their boats equipped with Neptun missiles and conducted the strike from a relatively short distance in coordination with reconnaissance drones.
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   >It looks like it is true because if we look at the recently released satellite footage of the site, we can see traces of a fire not only around the lot but also south of it.
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   >[Satellite image]
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   >After the first hit, Russians tried to evacuate all other missile launchers urgently, but Ukrainians caught them on the move. Such rapid adjustments would only be possible if Ukrainians operated from a short distance in coordination with a reconnaissance drone.
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   >As a result, Russians lost the whole S-400 air defense battalion, which cost more than $1.2 billion. Some Russian war correspondents noted that even though several missile launchers were evacuated, most of them weren’t and that the most important part of the air defense systems – the command center and radars – were destroyed together with the crew.
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   >[…]
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   >**Russian analysts pointed out a frightening trend and started raising the alarm that Ukrainians are consistently destroying the Russian air defense in Crimea – first near Rozdolne, then near Olenivka, near Sevastopol on 13 September, and near Yevpatoria on 14 September.**
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   >[…]
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   >As you can see, Ukrainians have developed a lot of very sophisticated tactics for conducting the strikes on Crimea successfully. **This is the result of months of seemingly futile strikes with cheap Mugins.**
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   >**After Ukrainians collected all the necessary information about the disposition of the Russian forces on the peninsula and the reaction time and protocols for facing the strikes, Ukrainians were ready to conduct the real strikes.**
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   >Now Ukrainians are effectively utilizing marine and aerial drones to divert attention and destroy targets, and the dual purpose is used to confuse Russians even more. **Besides, Ukrainians are conducting missile strikes from the ships, from the shore, and from the air, combining various types of missiles such as decoys for unloading air defense, HARMs for destroying radars, and other types for targeting the navy.**
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   >The sheer number of combinations of weapons, attack vectors, and locations allows Ukrainians to make every strike unique and unexpected.

   Слава Україні! 

2. Just fantastic! Add a dash of F16 for a real kick!