yeah, sometimes I cant fathom the way Russia waging this war, for example, when news popped up about the risk of nuclear disaster due to attacks against Zaporozhie Power Plant, I just learned that the Russians still allowed the plant to provide electricity to the Ukrainian side after controlling it for months, like what the hell they were thinking, they held one of the most critical infrastructures of the enemy and still let them benefit from it? It's like them Russians intentionally shoot themselves in the foot
The Russians probably thought that in doing this, supplying power to both sides, the nuclear power plant wouldn't be made a target. Well that did not work since the Ukrainians keep shelling the nuclear power plant and attacking it with drones. Anyway, Ukraine set the precedent on directly attacking an operational nuclear power plant. So they should not act surprised if Russia does attack the Ukrainian nuclear power plants still under Ukrainian control eventually as well.
Russia starting to scrape the barrel for working tanks.
Interesting that Oryx recorded around 700 Russian tank losses since October which isn't far off the amount removed from storage in that time.
It is always curious how Oryx only counts Russian losses. I know it, because I supplied them with videos and photos of destroyed Ukrainian military equipment, and they didn't add it to their list. But anyway, even with regards to Russian losses, they have been caught double counting losses, counting unrecognizable tank hulls as Russian (remember that Ukraine also operates the T-72 and T-80), etc.
Oryx is a clear propaganda outlet with US NED funding via Bellingcat. I do not know how people still take them seriously.
It is also unknown how many of the claimed lost tanks have been recovered and put back into service afterwards. It is kind of obvious that will happen.
I think if the tank losses were more serious then more drastic measures would have been taken. For example new tank factories could have been started. The Soviets had four main tank production sites. And Russia only has two. Maybe they think restarting production of the T-80 at Omsk would help them address the gap. But a new production site, say in St. Petersburg, would also be possible. The area used to have a tank factory, it has lots of people presently unemployed who used to work in the auto industry, and they still make tractors and heavy construction equipment there. There are also plenty of factory shells available now that the Western automakers moved out. My guess is the Russians still think the tank situation isn't critical enough in the near term for more forceful measures to be made. I have heard estimates that Russian existing tank hull reserves can still last them two years or more.
Could the Russians consider using the Yak-130 to intercept drones like Ukraine's Yak-52 has been doing?
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It certainly seems like a very effective and low-cost solution to me.
Drones are just too slow to be easily intercepted by a swept wing jet powered aircraft like the Yak-130.
The Yak-130 could be a drone killer/hunter. It could be armed with a gun pod(SNPU-130), an R-73 at each wing tip and a small set of Verba on hardpoints, and some S-5 rocket pods with an S- rocket upgrade. 5Kor (guided), but add a proximity fuse, and the S-5 family already has several FRAG rockets in service, so you could have a mix of FRAG and guided proximity fuse depending on what you're up against, and if you develop one timed fuse, could fire it at a swarm of drones, they already have the S-5M1 which produces 75 shrapnel, S-5MO steel ring frag 360 fragments, S-5KP HEAT/FRAG a shaped charge with wire wrapped fragmentation jacket and finally S-5S flechette which could explode right before the drone and act like a huge shotgun blast firing 1,000 flechettes, which would be good for drone swarms. It could even add a targeting pod and even an EW pod or a laser pod that could be used to kill a drone in a soft-kill mode.
The whole point of using the Yak-52, like Ukraine is doing, is that it can fly slower, and uses cheaper cannon or machine gun ammunition. The Yak-130 won't be able to stay on target easily, you will need to zoom in and out and it will be hard to target a small slow and low flying target with it. If you start using guided air to air missiles then the cost equation goes out of the window. An R-73 is way more expensive than most drones.
The Russians have been using the Su-30SM to hunt drones in the operational rear, but they could be using the Yak-130 to perform this same function at a much lower cost.
Maybe for the larger Ukrainian drones. But it neither cost effective nor viable against smaller ones.
The purpose of a multirole Yak-130 would be to free up other aircraft to carry out their missions. There is no need to send a Su-35, Su-30SM or Mig-31 to shoot down a drone if you have a Yak-130 which can easily do the same job but at a much cheaper cost and that would leave the Su -30SM, Su-35 or MiG-31 to standby on-station for more dangerous and more capable targets such as enemy fighters.
Russia right now lacks its own serial production of propeller driven aircraft. So the whole idea is a non-starter.
For Ukraine to use the Yak-52 in this role allows them to free up more capable fighters to carry out other missions. Based on this mode of employment, in my opinion, the EMB-314 Super Tucano A-29A\B from Brazil is one of the possible solutions with regard to the coverage of important stationary objects of the Ukrainian Defense Forces in the operational rear, from of operational-tactical reconnaissance actions and targeting of Iranian UAVs (Geran-1/2 and Arash) and, in general, can intercept such targets in pre-defined zones
Brazil already refused selling to Ukraine the Astros MLRS. Much like China they are not exporting weapons to either side in the conflict. So you can forget about it. But other options are available. For example the US makes the Beechcraft T-6 Texan II.
