Ukraine Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Ukraine received French fifth-generation Akeron MP anti-tank systems. ATGM. Akeron MP is a portable anti-tank system mounted on armored vehicles with a target range of up to 5 km. Such complexes entered service with the French army in 2017. The complex was designed to replace the MILAN and Javelin anti-tank systems in the troops. The ATGM has three methods of targeting, fire and forget, the second method is to capture the target outside the operator's direct line of sight after the missile is launched, and the third is manual guidance via a two-way fiber optic cable with the possibility of retargeting. The missile has an uncooled infrared homing head, thanks to which the operator does not lose a few seconds before firing, and the missile can be guided repeatedly. According to the test results, the complex was recognized as successful and is considered a rather formidable weapon for tanks and infantry. The ATGM warhead is multi-purpose tandem, depending on the selected mode, penetration of up to 1000-mm homogeneous armor behind dynamic protection, a concrete wall up to two meters thick, or infantry damage by tungsten fragments within a radius of up to 15 meters is declared.

The Ukrainian army began to use, created in a single copy of the BTR-60XM Khorunzhiy, the car was seen on one of the roads. The BTR-60XM was created by NPO Praktika on the basis of the Soviet BTR-60. After the modernization, the engine of the armored vehicle was moved to the front, the vehicle received a new, more spacious hull and in some places Finnish armor of the STANAG 4569 Level 1 class, and mine floor protection was strengthened. Armored vehicle "Khorunzhiy" can serve as a platform for equipment for various purposes, it is equipped with modern surveillance devices, a fire extinguishing and ventilation system. Armored personnel carrier weighing 13 tons, equipped with a 300 hp engine. and develops a speed of up to 100 km / h, the crew of the car is 3 people.

Ukraine will receive JDAM-ER systems to create GPS-guided precision bombs. The Jdam-ER complex was created by Boeing and can be attached to unguided JDAM bombs weighing from 226 to 907 kilograms. After being dropped, the JDAM-ER bomb spreads its wings and, guided by GPS, can glide up to 72 kilometers, tripling the range of the conventional bomb it is mounted on. The Jdam-ER complex is considered a very successful development and is in service with 26 countries. As for the practice of using JDAM-ER bombs in Ukraine, there may be problems with this, the fact is that in order for a bomb to fly 72 kilometers, it must be dropped from a height of 14,000 meters. An aircraft flying up to the front line at such a height will be guaranteed to be shot down by air defense systems, how bombs will be used under these conditions is not yet clear.

Ukraine received English FV432 Bulldog armored personnel carriers. The FV432 armored car was produced from 1962 to 1971, about 3000 armored personnel carriers were produced in total, the car is an improved version of the British FV420 armored car. The car was in service until 1980, and then they began to be replaced with new versions of the BMP. The main purpose of the FV420 armored vehicle is the delivery of soldiers to the place of hostilities, therefore the armament of the armored vehicle is only a machine gun with a caliber of 7.62 mm. The machines were upgraded in 2006 to the Mk3 version, which versions Ukraine will receive is unknown. The upgraded version of the vehicle is equipped with armor up to 15 mm thick in the frontal part and protects the crew from a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun from all sides. The machine is equipped with anti-mine and dynamic protection, but provides protection only from older versions of ATGMs and RPGs. The upgraded version of the machine can be equipped with several types of anti-tank systems. Armored vehicle weighing 15 tons, with a 240 hp engine, speeds up to 52 km / h, with a cruising range of up to 580 km. The crew of the car is 2 people and 10 landing people.

Ukraine will receive the SurveilSPIRE intelligence system, the system is supplied by Rheinmetall in cooperation with the Estonian company DefSecIntel on behalf of the German government. The SurveilSPIRE reconnaissance system is used to monitor large areas, it includes special towers equipped with day and night cameras. The system also has reconnaissance drones for patrolling the territory. The installation itself is built on a platform for a car trailer and is powered autonomously from solar panels, it is worth noting that solar panels are an element that unmasks the system. The SurveilSPIRE security system transmits information to the operator via the Starlink cellular and satellite communication channel. The system includes ultra-fast mini-drones that can carry out unmanned reconnaissance in various conditions. 3 people can install and maintain the system. The cost of the complex is not reported, but it is more than 10 million euros.

Last Updated: 28 February 2023

Croatian Mi-8 helicopters to Ukraine
Croatia will send fourteen Mi-8 transport helicopters to Ukraine. According to reported information, the Hrvatske Zračne Snage (Croatian Air Force) has already started to remove the markings of the helicopters involved.

The Mi-8s will be made ready for transport at the Zrakoplovno-Tehnicki Centar (ZTC, Aeronautical Technical Centre) in Velika Gorica, next to Zagreb/Franjo Tudjman airport.

Two helicopters, Mi-8MTV-1 serials 201 and 202, were noted outside the facility, while others were reported inside the hangars. Due to the amount of available space at the technical centre, the remaining helicopters are reported as stored at Zagreb/Franjo Tudjman and Zagreb/Lučko.

In the coming two weeks, all helicopters will be transported to Poland, with half of them to be transported by road or by transport aircraft. The other half will fly to its destination, from where they will continue to Ukraine.

Footage of the training of Ukrainian soldiers in Germany by American instructors has been published, the military personnel use the M2A2 ODS-SA Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, which will be transferred to the Ukrainian army.

The Ukrainian army began to actively use Panthera T6 armored vehicles, a column with it was seen by eyewitnesses, it also became known that one vehicle fell into the hands of the Russian army in the north of Bakhmut. The Panthera T6 light armored personnel carrier was developed by Minerva Special Purpose Vehicles, located in the UAE. Armored vehicles came to Ukraine in December, with ready-made pixel camouflage, the customer of the vehicles is unknown. The Panthera T-6 armored personnel carrier has a modular design and is built on different chassis, including the chassis of a Toyota 79 series car. The armored covering of the car provides passengers with protection from bullets and is able to withstand the detonation of two hand grenades or mines under the floor. The interior of the vehicle is equipped with dual air conditioning, it can be modified to accommodate various combat equipment and four stretchers. In the basic version, the armored vehicle does not have weapons, but you can install a machine gun or a light combat module. The car is equipped with surveillance and monitoring systems and can accommodate 8 people. The gross vehicle weight is 3200 kg, the maximum speed is about 165 km/h.

The Panthera is built in the UAE and Turkey so it could have come from either place. It would not be the first time Turkish weapons end up in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian army began to use a rare Dozor-B armored car, one of the armored vehicles was seen at the front. The Dozor-B armored personnel carrier was developed by the Kharkov Design Bureau and first introduced in 2004, after which it was repeatedly upgraded. The machine is produced under license in Poland under the name "Oncilla". The armored vehicle is designed for special forces, patrol and reconnaissance operations. The development of the car was not easy, the Ukrainian armor of the brand "71" was replaced by the Polish one due to difficulties in production, after which cracks were found in the car. The vehicle's armor protects against armor-piercing small arms bullets and is reinforced from the inside with layers of Kevlar ballistic fabric. The bottom of the machine has a cylindrical shape to provide protection against mines. The armored vehicle is equipped with air conditioning and filters with protection against radioactive dust and biological weapons. Various remote-controlled combat modules can be installed on the armored vehicle. Their armament may consist of a 12.7 mm machine gun, a 30 mm grenade launcher and a 130 mm Barrier anti-tank missile system. The car can have 5 different engines and has a speed of up to 90 km/h. The crew of the car is 3 people and 8 landing people. The price of the Dozor-B car, in 2014 prices, is about 80 thousand dollars