The War in the Ukraine

gelgoog said:

If Ukrainian aircraft fly too high, then they are picked up by ground based radar. So the Ukrainians typically operate at low altitude. When they operate at high altitude they do it quite far from the frontline.
An air based radar platform is able to detect low flying aircraft which would be otherwise obscured i.e. below the horizon for ground based radar.
If these reports are true then the Russians used the integration between the A-50U and ground based S-400 units. So the S-400 battery would have automatically used targeting data from the A-50U to strike the low flying aircraft.

Some people are claiming this was also done with the new long range missiles. It could be they either weren't using them before, or had to modify their software to get this to work. IIRC the long range missiles were originally developed to strike high altitude targets like ballistic missiles not low altitude ones. It could also be they had to make modifications to the protocols for communication between the A-50U and the S-400s to shorten the response time.

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Well aware of the detection capabilities of airborne radar platforms. I didn’t see, in the article, any mention of the downed-aircrafts’ proximities to the front-line. So, nutshell, they were flying tactically. When you stated “heavy military aircraft”, I interpreted the possibility of this indicating materiel transports shuttling behind the lines.

HighGround said:

GMLRS missiles are regularly shot down by Russian air defense. But is that what pro-Ukraine posters are thinking about? No, it's the usual "wat air defense doing?" when an ATACMS or Shadow Storm manages to hit a target. Nevermind that it had the benefit of Western ISR that's given free reign by Russia thanks to Article 5 or that the fire mission probably took days-weeks to plan out.

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List this "regular shot downs" here please. Interesting topic.

gelgoog said:

Looks like the Russians have basically shut down the Ukrainian airspace to all heavy military aircraft.

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Over 20 Ukrainian warplanes downed by S-400 system jointly with A-50 radar in past days​

The S-400 air defense system reportedly delivered fire to the maximum range against the targets flying at an altitude of about 1,000 meters at the time of their destruction

MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/. Russia employed the latest S-400 air defense system in conjunction with an A-50 flying radar in the special military operation in Ukraine, a source close to the Defense Ministry told TASS on Wednesday, commenting on the defense minister’s words that over 20 Ukrainian warplanes were downed by new weapons lately.
Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said earlier on Wednesday that Russian forces had received surface-to-air missile systems that shot down 24 Ukrainian combat aircraft over the past five days.
"In the course of its special military operation, Russia used the S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile system in tandem with an A-50 long-range radar surveillance plane, which ensured the success of employing the system against enemy aircraft," the source said.
TASS has no official confirmation of this information yet.

The S-400 air defense system delivered fire to the maximum range against the targets flying at an altitude of about 1,000 meters at the time of their destruction and employed new missile warheads, the source specified.

S-400 surface-to-air missile system​

Russia’s S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) is the latest long-and medium-range surface-to-air missile system that went into service in 2007. It is designed to destroy strategic and tactical aircraft, including those based on stealth technology, cruise and ballistic missiles and hypersonic weapons and can also be used against ground installations. The S-400 can engage targets at a distance of up to 400 km and at an altitude of up to 30 km under intensive enemy fire and jamming.

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Yeah that didn't happen either. When a Ukraine Mig-29 pilot crashed and was killed it was headlines galore from both sides but over 20 and it only makes it on tass?

SolarWarden said:

Yeah that didn't happen either. When a Ukraine Mig-29 pilot crashed and was killed it was headlines galore from both sides but over 20 and it only makes it on tass?

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You know, full well, that we’re in the era of ‘choose your news’!
I come here just to see how desperately people need a win in their lives as is evinced by how incredible the news “sources” they cite.

SolarWarden said:

Yeah that didn't happen either. When a Ukraine Mig-29 pilot crashed and was killed it was headlines galore from both sides but over 20 and it only makes it on tass?

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We will see if this is confirmed or not eventually. Over the past days the Russian MoD has been reporting several MiG-29, and also a Su-24, downed. The downing of the Su-24 is probably an indicator of a deep strike of some sort given they currently are being used as platforms to launch cruise missiles. Ukraine has only a limited number of active Su-24s in the first place.

It would not discount that the Russians are overcounting kills. That happens in wars all the time. It is pretty easy to see a blip on the radar, fire a missile, see the blip vanish and assume that is a kill. But this does not mean it was one.

Targets might be getting recognized based on radar signature, speed, altitude, area of operations, etc. And there might be false target recognitions as well. This happens all the time with BVR combat.

Even with WVR combat false kills get reported all the time. You just need to look at combat reports of aerial kills from WWI and WWII to get examples of this. Aircraft assumed to be downed manage to get back to base quite often.

Charly015 mentions that the S400 were starting to use 40N6 missiles, which could explain the extra depth into Ukraine and the need for the A-50U link up for targets below the S400's own radar horizon.

But its all speculation, anyway.

sheogorath said:

Charly015 mentions that the S400 were starting to use 40N6 missiles, which could explain the extra depth into Ukraine and the need for the A-50U link up for targets below the S400's own radar horizon.

But its all speculation, anyway.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1717265515414962402

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Well, I think we’ve all long-anticipated the deployment of the A-50U, and its force-multiplying capacities. Even flying within Russian airspace, and S-400s launching from within Russian territory, the dyad could target deep into the battle-space.

FH70 destroyed by Lancet. This was taken earlier in summer but wasn't uploaded to the public till now.


Large ammo depot explosion at Slavuta, a Geran drone hit.


Lancet hit a T-64BV.


Two Tornadoes in one video. The first footage is a Tornado-S strikes at Kherson and the second is Ukrainian positions being covered by Tornado-G.


Polish Krab tried to hide but still hit by Lancet.


57mm S-60 AA gun being used to support Russian troops while simultaneously two Russian Su-25 flies overhead.


Rare hit. Czech supplied 152mm howitzer 77 Dana gets hit by Lancet.


Beaver lits up a Leopard in attack, while next video, a Polish mod Leopard 2A4 gets struck.


Ghoul drone hits a Ukrainian boat landing in Kherson.


Ghoul drone hits a Ukrainian tank in the Avdiivka region.


AFU vehicle park and hanger gets hit by a missile. Vehicles were sighted in the parking area. Missile type not mentioned but my rough guess is this being a Tornado hit.


Ka-52 working on some Bradleys.


Failed Ukrainian assault in Artemovosk area last summer. This resulted in three Ukrainian armored vehicles destroyed and 15 soldiers killed.


Leleka 100 drone shot down by Russian MANPADS.


Air to air battle as a VDV drone takes on a Baba Yagu trying to bomb Russian positions and breaks off it's propellers.


Russian special forces raid a Ukrainian defensive position somewhere in the Kremenna region.

Offensive around Avdiivka. Russian mortars hit Ukrainian dugouts.


Russians on the counterattack at Rabotino.


Various strikes by the 88th Brigade around Spirne. This area and the whole of Seversk is getting hotter by the moment.


Part of MGM-140 ATACMS. Not sure what it's trying to hit as residential units and a gas line were reportedly affected, although the gas line is visible here.


More mods are added to the T-72B3 in terms of added ERA blocks.


Leopard gets knocked out by RPG in close encounter.


Priyutny offensive by the 34th Brigade.


A vast expansion of the RuAF is planned as 385,000 was recruited voluntarily from January to October of 2023.


"Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev on the recruitment of the Russian Armed Forces:

— According to the Ministry of Defense, since January 1, 2023, 385 thousand people have entered military service under the contract;
— In 2024, it is planned to form another 1 army corps, 7 divisions, 19 brigades, 49 regiments and 1 flotilla;
— In this regard, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief decided to continue work on the completion of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation by contractors in 2024."

Another pro-Ukraine OSINT account is shutting down

Explosion of the arsenal of the military unit A-1358 of Ukraine in the Khmelnitsky region. Russian kamikaze drones "Geran" attacked a military warehouse of the 47th Arsenal of the Ukrainian Army on the territory of military unit A-1358. The military arsenal is located on the outskirts of the village of Tsvetokha in the Slavuta district of the Khmelnitsky region. There are no reports of damage or deaths.