The War in the Ukraine

A resident of the Tyumen region of Russia filmed a train of military equipment. The video shows the M1989 Koksan self-propelled guns produced by the DPRK, which were previously shown, and an unknown model of military equipment. The video is of low quality and it is difficult to draw conclusions, the outlines of the installations are similar to the North Korean Pukguksong-2 ballistic missile installations. So far, there is no convincing damage that Russia has received Pukguksong-2 missiles.

Pukguksong-2 missiles, KN-15 according to Western classification, were adopted by the DPRK in 2017. The name of the missile - Pukguksong-2 - is translated as "Polar Star". Presumably, the missile is a land-based version of the Pukguksong solid-fuel missile for submarines. Pukguksong-2 missiles are mounted on the chassis of the T-62 tank, the production of which is established in the DPRK. According to North Korean media, the range of the Pukguksong-2 missiles is from 3,000 to 5,500 kilometers; according to Western experts, the range of the missiles is up to 2,500 km.

TK3600 said:

Is the cheapness inherent to the FPV design, or just difference in manufacture? Ex: corruption in military production vs mil-civil fusion production for drones.

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IMO its FPV design.

They use much cheaper parts.

FPV: injection molded polymer rotors and mechanical parts, commercial grade electrical motors and batteries, optical guidance via phone camera.

ATGM: solid rocket motors, liquid nitrogen cooled IR guidance.

Solid rocket motors are much more expensive and difficult to mass produce than injection molded rotors and commercially available motors.

IR sensors are much more expensive than phone.

The difference is that the FPV is not quite fire and forget, it is command guidance. The FPV operator is immobile while attacking the target, the ATGM team can shoot and run.

I wonder why Russians haven't tried using regular FPVs to drop GPS trackers on some damaged equipment instead of finishing it off. When the Ukrainians retrieve it, it would inevitably find its way to repair facilities, and they could bomb that instead.

FairAndUnbiased said:

IMO its FPV design.

They use much cheaper parts.

FPV: injection molded polymer rotors and mechanical parts, commercial grade electrical motors and batteries, optical guidance via phone camera.

ATGM: solid rocket motors, liquid nitrogen cooled IR guidance.

Solid rocket motors are much more expensive and difficult to mass produce than injection molded rotors and commercially available motors.

IR sensors are much more expensive than phone.

The difference is that the FPV is not quite fire and forget, it is command guidance. The FPV operator is immobile while attacking the target, the ATGM team can shoot and run.

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It’s not all, or even mainly about lower spec parts and worse functionality. Only the most modern and expensive ATGMs are fire and forget. The overwhelming majority of in service ATGMs world wide are still command guided. Uncooled IR sensors are actually more technologically advanced than cooled.

The biggest drivers of the low cost of FPVs are technological advancements and economies of scale.

The low KP of FPVs are also to be expected given they are jerry-rigged commercial toys and tools.

Dedicated military mini-drones are not available outside of China, but those are the true revolutionary weapons that marries the cheap unit price of FPVs with true swarm capability to allow autonomous tracking and engagement of a large number of small, non-cooperative targets in complex environments.

It’s easy to see why China doesn’t want to reveal that ace when it faces the very real possibility of war itself. Better to let it’s enemies continue to invest heavily in legacy tech and weapons if they are dead set on a new arms race.

Tootensky said:

I wonder why Russians haven't tried using regular FPVs to drop GPS trackers on some damaged equipment instead of finishing it off. When the Ukrainians retrieve it, it would inevitably find its way to repair facilities, and they could bomb that instead.

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Who’s to say they don’t? But if they do, it’s obviously not something they would want to advertise.

Destroyed Australian Bushmaster.


M577 catastrophically hits a mine. These are command vehicles, so if there was anyone in that vehicle when it went off, that would a significant loss. Kursk region.


Russians captured Lozovaya in the Kharkhiv region and Sontsovka in the DPR according to the MoD.


Lancet kills including two T-64BVs.


FABs used against Ukrainian UAV crews. Sadove, Kherson region.


Ka-52M trying to intercept Ukrainian drone over the Oryol region.


Kozak-7 taken out by drone strike.


Ukrainian machine gun site taken out by the 2nd Artillery Brigade.


Ukrainian FPV drone shot out of the sky with an assault rifle.