The War in the Ukraine

So apparently Ukraine managed to lure Su-30SM into a trap. The plane was shot down by Magura sea drone. Armed with R-73.

It obviously call into question on why it has to fly that low in the first place (Well AAM used as SAM's is kinda losing alot of its kinematic performance, e.g Chaparral). Does it need Visual ID the target ? Or it attempt to gun the drone down as They dont really have small weapon in class of Brimestone.

Footage of a Ukrainian seadrone shooting down the su-30. Pretty incredible world's first, especially for littoral operations going forwards.

generalmeng said:

But Ukraine dont have anything rare earth critical minerals.

I asked chatgpt, and it said prior to 2022, there wasn't any public source about the any of those "critical mineral, rare earth metal" existance

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That's from a Soviet era report, which means it's not only is it outdated being from the '60s, it might also be propaganda from the Soviet Union.

Most of Ukraine's mines are in the Russian side of the Donbass now. You can tell in the map where the teracones are. --- Avdiivka, Ugledar, Toretsk, Bilohorivka, among others.

One potential Lithium mine, which is Shevchenko in the South Donbass --- there are many places named Shevchenko --- is now currently under direct assault by Group East forces.

Even if there is rare earth's in Ukraine, you still need to bring them to China for processing. It is the refining processes and end product creation that China has a strong dominance, not just in plant facilities but in tens of thousands of patents.

There's more rare earths potentially in California than in Ukraine.

Stealthflanker said:

So apparently Ukraine managed to lure Su-30SM into a trap. The plane was shot down by Magura sea drone. Armed with R-73.

It obviously call into question on why it has to fly that low in the first place (Well AAM used as SAM's is kinda losing alot of its kinematic performance, e.g Chaparral). Does it need Visual ID the target ? Or it attempt to gun the drone down as They dont really have small weapon in class of Brimestone.

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A few days ago Ukraine also shot down one of their own Su-27s by one of their F-16s. Both planes were trying to intercept a huge Geran raid. Unfortunately the Ukrainian pilot on the Su-27 didn't survive.

The Russians have been using strafing attacks using Flankers for a while, first against Ukrainian commando landing boats in Krinky, then against more commando landing boats trying to land in Crimea. Then they were also using helicopters against sea drones, both with success. I guess they got overconfident on this one. One of the helicopters got shot down by an R-73 fired from a Magura drone before. They did take out 14 Maguras, eight Storm Shadows, 4 Neptunes as Ukraine launched a massed drone and missile attack against the Russian naval base of Novorossyisk. Defences took out over 140 drones, but some civilian buildings were hit, resulting in four wounded.

The Russians via the Hispaniola SPN unit, managed to take out some of the sea drones via FPV drone as part of an experiment. The Hispaniola unit was a notable FPV drone unit during Kursk campaign. Why the unit has members temporarily stationed in the Black Sea near Novorossyisk at the right time is anyone's guess.

tankphobia said:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1918608781019115620

Footage of a Ukrainian seadrone shooting down the su-30. Pretty incredible world's first, especially for littoral operations going forwards.

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Antiaircraft seamines.

You would think they would station some Orion drones at the Black sea with enough PGMs to deal with these sea drones. Heck even some attack helos with ATGM might suffice.

But nope, they keep risking aircraft and pilots trying handle this using Vietnam era tactics in an era of PGMs and sensors.

Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers struck the building of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the city of Kupyansk with a FAB-1500 bomb. According to Russian media, military units were stationed in the building of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. As a result of the strike by the Russian FAB-1500 bomb, the building of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine was completely destroyed. Ukrainian media published photos of the aftermath of the bomb strike.

Kich said:

You would think they would station some Orion drones at the Black sea with enough PGMs to deal with these sea drones. Heck even some attack helos with ATGM might suffice.

But nope, they keep risking aircraft and pilots trying handle this using Vietnam era tactics in an era of PGMs and sensors.

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God knows. I mean even the bandaid solution of having Ka-52, they didnt do. Whoever run VMF or the VMF branch at Black Sea Fleet need some serious checking.

Stealthflanker said:

So apparently Ukraine managed to lure Su-30SM into a trap. The plane was shot down by Magura sea drone. Armed with R-73.

It obviously call into question on why it has to fly that low in the first place (Well AAM used as SAM's is kinda losing alot of its kinematic performance, e.g Chaparral). Does it need Visual ID the target ? Or it attempt to gun the drone down as They dont really have small weapon in class of Brimestone.

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According to the head of Ukrainian military intelligence Budanov, AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles launched from a Magura-7 naval drone were used to destroy the Su-30SM. According to him, the Soviet P-73 missiles have now been replaced by American AIM-9s.

Ukrainian naval drone "Magura V7" equipped with American AIM-9 "Sidewinder" air-to-air missiles:

Sinnavuuty said:

According to the head of Ukrainian military intelligence Budanov, AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles launched from a Magura-7 naval drone were used to destroy the Su-30SM. According to him, the Soviet P-73 missiles have now been replaced by American AIM-9s.

Ukrainian naval drone "Magura V7" equipped with American AIM-9 "Sidewinder" air-to-air missiles:
View attachment 151136

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Doesnt matter as both missiles launched from the ground will have similar envelope. They'll lose like Half or even more of their range. In case of AIM-9M. it wont reach high flying target say 5000 m. Some simple simulation software on it, indicates 10 km range where it's in minimum energy to engage target and at 18.5 km. It runs out of battery. It can however reach 2000 m altitude. Which the poor Flanker perhaps in approach to do some gun run.