Putin, it does not pay to run an autocratic garbage heap of a government. Your air force is worthless and here are Western defense systems. Ha Ha
Let us celebrate the 10 year old Russian Federation gift to its Donets front soldiers you know those famous 10 year old worthless MREs and the ineptitude of the Donets Peoples Republic recruitment drive, but in order to get the ball rolling in honor of the situation let me remind you of the fabulous Russian Federation air force, moth eaten by Corruption, and all those arriving Western defense systems, which are making a killing for Ukraine at the expense of your corruption riddled Russian Federation land armies. Di Accord ? Of course, why not steal from Russia some more, Putin ? That is if you cannot steal Ukraine from its rightful inhabitants? Right?
First the fabulous Russian Federation AIR FORCE; Ruined by funds siphoned away for more play boats in the 7 seas , for your pleasure boat fleet given to the Oligarchs which has more vessels in its inventory than the freaking Russian Federation navy. Then lets celebrate the Western defense systems arriving to celebrate how you PUTIN, in your made man Kremlin Mafia ruined the Russian Military. Go cry me a river, PUTIN. Say hello again to Wendi Deng, and all of your women you toy with , PUTIN:
https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-struggling-against-own-weapons-in-ukraine-us-general-says-2022-6
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Top US Air Force general says the Russian air force's struggles in Ukraine are surprising because Russia is fighting its 'own systems'
Christopher Woody?14 hours ago
An image of a crashed Russian Sukhoi jet in Ukraine shared by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.?Ukraine's Defense Ministry
The Russian air force's failure to gain control of the air over Ukraine and its struggles to operate effectively against Ukrainian air defenses are among the biggest surprises in the four-month war.
Russia's failure to ground Ukraine's aircraft and to overcome Ukrainian antiaircraft weapons contributed to the faltering of Moscow's initial ground offensive — an outcome the chief of staff of the US Air Force this week described as particularly unusual since the Russians use many of the same weapons.
"I think for me it's surprising for the Russians because the systems they're going against are their own systems," Gen. Charles Brown Jr. said Wednesday at the Hudson Institute, a think tank in Washington, DC. "They should know them fairly well and how to defeat them."
"It kind of begs a real question for me: How come they don't understand their own systems and how they might defeat their own systems?" he added.
A couple inspecting a tail section of a Russian Su-25 attack aircraft, which was destroyed by the Ukrainian military in the Kyiv region and then relocated near a military museum in the city, on May 2.?Aleksandr Gusev/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Like other former Soviet republics, Ukraine still uses Soviet-origin military hardware. Among its fixed-wing fleet are Su-24 and Su-25 attack aircraft and MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter jets.
The Russian military operates upgraded versions of those jets as well as?more-advanced?fighter and attack jets, many of which were?deployed near Ukraine's borders?before Russia attacked on February 24.
Ukraine also operates Soviet- or Russian-origin air-defense systems and missiles, some of which were?donated?by neighboring countries. It has also shot down Russian aircraft with the Soviet-designed?S-300 air-defense system, the vulnerabilities of which should be well known to Russian mission planners and pilots. Ukrainians have also?captured?Russian antiaircraft weapons.
Like the Soviet-made aircraft operated by some NATO-member militaries, Ukraine's jets and helicopters are aging, and finding spare parts and expertise to keep them in operation has grown harder?as time passes and tensions have risen.
Ukrainians have repeatedly asked the US and others?to provide advanced Western-made fighter jets, but those countries have declined over?concerns about escalation with Russia?and doubts about Ukraine's ability to use them effectively.
A Ukrainian pilot exiting a MiG-29 fighter jet at an airbase outside Kyiv in 2016.?Danil Shamkin/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The absence of large-scale Russian air operations in Ukraine perplexed observers and led analysts to conclude that Russia's air force wasn't as capable as believed. Russian failure to suppress and destroy Ukrainian air defenses is also seen as a major shortcoming that has reduced Russian ground forces' ability to seize territory rapidly.
In his remarks Wednesday, Brown contrasted Russia's performance in Ukraine with the US military's emphasis on achieving air superiority, pointing to US air operations against Iraq in 1991 during the first Gulf War.
"We were able to take out many of the surface-to-air defense systems to clear areas so then we could provide air superiority over the areas where the ground forces were operating," Brown said. "That's not the way the Russians have operated. They really haven't looked at suppressing air defense."
Russian airpower has moved closer to where Russian troops have superiority on the ground, Brown added. "They kind of stuck to where they were overhead of where their ground forces were," he said, adding they "wouldn't venture very far because of what the Ukrainians were able to do with their air defenses."
Brown credited the Ukrainians as being "fairly dynamic" with their air-defense systems, which have been bolstered by thousands of?portable weapons, including?US-made Stinger missiles, supplied by NATO countries.
The remains of a Russian helicopter in a field in Biskvitne, Ukraine, east of Kharkiv, on May 16.?John Moore/Getty Images
Brown said being dynamic had "made it more difficult" for the Russians. "If you can't do dynamic targeting very well, you're going to have a hard time hitting moving targets," he said. "That's something I think we do fairly well, and it's something we're going to continue to work on."
While losses on both sides are unclear, Ukraine?said in mid-May?that it had destroyed 200 Russian aircraft.
Russia appears to have reduced its ambitions in Ukraine in recent weeks, focusing on operations in eastern Ukraine and using bombardment by long-range artillery and other weapons to overwhelm Ukrainian positions.
Eastern Ukraine's geography is less hospitable to Ukrainian aircraft and air defenses and will most likely allow Russia to gain some local air superiority, but?Justin Bronk, an expert on air warfare at the British defense think tank RUSI, has said shortages of weapons and equipment for close air support and a lack of training for?that complicated mission?will limit Russia's ability to exploit that advantage.
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Oh, and how about the Western defense systems en route to celebrate your decrepitude, PUTIN
https://jamesrushton.substack.com/p/western-heavy-materiel-support-to
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Western Heavy Materiel Support To Ukraine: What Has, And What Hasn't, Arrived...
Jun 20
Pictured: the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System ‘HIMARS’
The amount of heavy materiel support to Ukraine has thankfully increased over the past months as Western nations have begun to take repeated Ukrainian requests for heavy weaponry seriously. However this has made tracking exactly what Western nations have delivered or pledged increasingly difficult. This article - an updated version of a previous piece I wrote for Newlines Institute back in May - is an attempt to monitor the delivery of this assistance.?
As before, only materiel that has been pledged by an authoritative source (such as a member of a national government) or that has been visually confirmed as being delivered to Ukraine will be included. Because it is impossible to know for sure the exact progress of Western deliveries of a specific system, it is considered ‘delivered’ if there is visual evidence of the system being used in Ukraine, or the delivery is confirmed by an official source.?
This article will be periodically updated as more heavy weapons are supplied to the Ukrainian military.
Heavy Artillery
Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS)
DELIVERED: RM-70 (an upgraded Czechoslovak version of the BM-21 ‘Grad’) from Czechia, the exact number is unconfirmed but is reported to be “about 20,”?according to the Wall Street Journal. Several of these vehicles were shown being transported via rail to Ukraine by independent monitor?Ukraine Weapons Tracker.?
DELIVERED: An unknown number of BM-21 “Grad” MLRS from Poland have also been delivered to Ukraine, as confirmed by?Polish state radio in late April.
The “Grad” and similar systems are old and relatively unsophisticated – not too different from the famous “Stalin’s organ” Katyusha rocket launchers that terrified German soldiers during the Second World War – but the Ukrainians know how to use and maintain them, and they are still capable of saturating an area with fire in a short time. They are also relatively common in the arsenals of ex-Soviet NATO members.
PROMISED: 4 M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System ‘HIMARS’ from the United States. A wheeled, more mobile version of the M270 MLRS, supply of these systems was announced by President Biden on May the 31st and?confirmed by the Pentagon as part of a $700m security assistance package. These weapons had already been prepositioned in Europe in anticipation of the announcement and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl?stated that more systems could be made available as the fighting evolves.
PROMISED: 3 M270B1 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems ‘GMLRS’ from the United Kingdom. Immediately after the US decision to supply ‘HIMARS’ to Ukraine, the British government sought and received permission from the United States to?supply American made M270B1 GMLRS systems to Ukraine. These systems will be taken directly from British Army stocks and supplied with M31A1 munitions “at scale”.
PROMISED: 3 MARS II ‘Mittleres Artillerie Raketen System’ from Germany. A lightly modified Bundeswehr variant of the American M270, these systems were pledged to Ukraine by German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht and?confirmed in a press release after the June 15th Ukraine Defense Contact Group conference. Delivery of these systems is expected at the earliest late July.?
The M270/HIMARS are the most effective MLRS systems in service today. Most importantly they are incredibly accurate, with 50% of all rockets fired landing within 5 meters of the desired target, and the supplied M31 unitary rockets have a range of up to 80 km. They are extremely fast to reload, using a modular ‘pod’ system that allows a new salvo to be ready to fire in five minutes, compared to around 40 minutes for a comparable Russian system.?
Perhaps as significantly as the supply of the systems themselves, the United States publicly committed to providing intelligence to enable Ukraine to maximize their effectiveness, with US Deputy Secretary of Defense for Political Affairs Colin Cole?confirming that the US “will provide the Ukrainians with what they need to strike selected targets on Ukrainian territory.”
Towed Howitzers
DELIVERED: 126 M777 155mm howitzers from the United States.?
18 Announced in the $800 million assistance package unveiled by the White House on April 13. A further 72 were promised in the second assistance package unveiled April 21,?and an additional 18 pledged?as part of a further assistance package on June 15th.??According to chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, “more than half” of the 90 howitzers pledged to Ukraine had arrived in the country by April 27.
The Australian government pledged an additional 6 M777A2 howitzers on April 26, and Canada pledged 4 M777C1 on April 22 - both of these pledges have now been delivered. The Canadians have also supplied an unknown quantity of M982 Excalibur precision guided shells.
DELIVERED: At least 10 FH70 155mm howitzers from Estonia - according to a source in the Estonian government - and an unknown number from Italy.?Delivery confirmed visually via numerous sources.
Another relatively modern Western system, the FH70 has a 24-30 km range depending on the type of munition, and features an integrated auxiliary power unit that powers the hydraulic loading system and allows the gun to relocate itself over short distances without the use of a towing vehicle. It also enables a higher maximum rate of fire than the more modern M777 - being capable of ‘burst firing’ 3 rounds in 15 seconds.?
DELIVERED: 9 D-30 122mm howitzers from Estonia. These ex-Soviet weapons were delivered at the start of April,?according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
PROMISED: 5 M114A1 155mm howitzers from Portugal, according to government sources?quoted in the Portuguese press.
First entering service during World War Two, these guns are very old but still functional, remaining in service with multiple armies worldwide. Given their limited range in comparison to other Ukrainian artillery pieces they will probably be given to Territorial Defense units or used for training.?
PROMISED: An unknown number of L118/L119 105mm light guns from The United Kingdom and New Zealand.?Training on these guns will be carried out in the United Kingdom?by troops from both countries.?
These guns fire a smaller shell over a shorter range than 155mm guns like the M777, but are much lighter, more easily transported around the battlefield, and are able to maintain a higher sustained rate of fire. Used to great effect during The Falklands War, they remain in frontline British Army service.
Self-propelled Howitzers
DELIVERED: 20 to 30 ShKH vz. 77 DANA 152mm self-propelled howitzers from Czechia. An unknown number of these vehicles had been delivered by mid-April, and one was shown in action in?footage posted by Ukraine Weapons Tracker.
An older but still effective system, the wheeled DANA’s high mobility allows for rapid repositioning after firing a salvo. The main downside with this system - and others using Soviet 152mm caliber shells - is that stocks of these munitions are starting to run low, in contrast to near limitless supplies of 155mm shells from NATO stocks.
DELIVERED: 2S1 Go?dzik 122mm self-propelled howitzers from Poland. An unknown number of these vehicles were confirmed to have been delivered to Ukraine by?Polish state media at the end of April.?
A Polish-produced variant of the 2S1 Gvozdika, which Ukraine already operates in large numbers, these old but effective ex-Soviet self-propelled guns were able to enter Ukrainian service immediately, with no additional training or logistical support needed.
DELIVERED: 18 CAESAR 155mm self-propelled howitzers from France. French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to supply 12 of the howitzers?in an interview with Ouest-France, and a further 6 systems were?confirmed during Macron’s visit to Kyiv?on 16th June.??
An extremely capable modern weapon, taken directly from French Army stocks. Since arriving in Ukraine service, the CAESAR has been highly praised by the Ukrainian military for its mobility, accuracy, ease of use, and the protection it offers the crew. Able to operate close to the front lines, the Ukrainians consider it pound for pound the most effective artillery system supplied so far.?The French have also supplied “Ralec” proximity fused shells?for these guns, which detonate at a pre-designated height above the ground, making them deadly against dug-in infantry.
DELIVERED: 18 AHS Krab 155mm self-propelled howitzers?donated by Poland, with a further?54 purchased and to be delivered?in the coming months. The Poles also supplied the associated?LPG battery command vehicles?to the Ukrainian military.
A modern, tracked self-propelled gun, the AHS Krab features a standard range of 30km and a maximum range of 40km with ‘base bleed’ artillery rounds. It has a sustained rate of fire of 6 rounds per minute and is extremely accurate. Already deployed in the East of Ukraine, around Severodonetsk, these guns have been incredibly effective according to Ukrainian military figures.?
DELIVERED: Over 42 M109 155mm self-propelled howitzers, from Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. Norway?provided 22 M109A3GN ex-Norwegian army models?from storage. The United Kingdom?purchased 20 M109A4BE from a Belgian arms dealer?and supplied them to Ukraine. According to a senior member of the Ukrainian military, the United States has also provided them with an unspecified number of systems.
The M109 has been a mainstay of Western armies since its introduction in the 1960s. Although now being replaced by more modern systems, it is still in active service with the United States and dozens of other militaries worldwide, having been continuously upgraded throughout its operation life. It is still an accurate, hard hitting, and long ranged weapon.?
DELIVERED: 12 Panzerhaubitze 2000 155mm self-propelled howitzers - 7 from Germany and 5 from The Netherlands.?According to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the ammunition for these systems will be provided by Germany and training for Ukrainian crews will be a Dutch-German joint operation. On the 11th of June, Andrii Melnyk, Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany confirmed the German systems?were expected to enter Ukrainian service “around the 22nd of June”. On the 21st of June, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov?confirmed that these weapons were now in the Ukrainian arsenal.
The P2000 is one of the best self-propelled guns in the world. It is powerful, highly accurate, fast firing – it has the ability to “burst fire” three rounds in nine seconds – and has a very long range. It also has the ability to fire rounds in ‘Multi Round Simultaneous Impact’ mode - automatically adjusting the elevation of the barrel between shots so multiple rounds arrive on target at the same time.?
PROMISED: 8 ShKH Zuzana 2 155mm self-propelled howitzers from Slovakia. Confirmed in a?statement by Slovak Defense Minister Jaro Na?, training on these systems had apparently already began when the contract was signed at the beginning of June, with delivery to follow shortly after.
A heavily upgraded version of the older Czechoslovak ShKH vz. 77 DANA, the Zuzana 2 has fully digital fire control, fires NATO standard 155mm shells, and is extremely accurate. Like the Panzerhaubitze 2000, it can also fire rounds in ‘Multi Round Simultaneous Impact’ mode.?
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Heavy Armor?
Tanks?
DELIVERED: T-72M1/M1R from Poland. The exact number is unconfirmed but is “over 240,”?according to Polish officials quoted in The Wall Street Journal. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had earlier confirmed delivery of the vehicles, which constitutes well over a third of the type in Polish service.
DELIVERED: “Dozens” of T-72M1 from Czechia,?according to a Czech defense source cited in Reuters. Footage of the Czech tanks being shipped by rail to Ukraine was later uploaded to social media.
PROMISED: M-84A4 “Sniper” tanks from Slovenia. An upgraded Yugoslavian variant of the T-72, these vehicles are to be delivered to Ukraine?in exchange for more modern replacement tanks supplied to the Slovenians by Germany. Slovenia currently has 19 operational M-84A4s and 32 in storage.
The T-72 is an old tank, and is generally considered outdated by Western standards. But they’ve still got a very powerful 125mm gun, and used properly they can still be very effective. While they can’t go toe to toe with the most modern Russian tanks, Ukraine’s plentiful supply of long-range anti tank guided missiles means that they often won’t need to. Perhaps more importantly, the Ukrainians can operate or maintain them without any additional training, and they have been quickly and cheaply “up armoring” them by bolting on blocks of explosive reactive armor. Additionally, the Polish M1R models have been upgraded with modern thermal imaging equipment and upgraded communications equipment, making them more effective than their age might suggest. And significantly, the impressive number of these vehicles donated to Ukraine means the country probably has more tanks in its arsenal now than it did at the start of the war.
Armored?Vehicles?
DELIVERED: A number of BWP-1 infantry fighting vehicles from Poland were?seen being delivered?alongside Polish T-72s in mid-April. The BWP-1 is a Polish version of the ubiquitous Soviet BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle. Additionally, several BVP-1 infantry fighting vehicles – the Czech version of the same vehicle –?were seen being delivered?by rail in a report broadcast on Czech television.
DELIVERED: 56 Pbv-501 from Czechia. Another lightly modified BMP-1 variant, these vehicles were originally East German before being exported to Sweden after the fall of the Berlin Wall. When withdrawn from Swedish service, they were exported once more to Czechia, where they sat in storage until the?German government approved their delivery?to Ukraine at the start of April.
PROMISED: 20 to 30 BMP-1A1 ‘Ost’ from Greece,?according to an interview?with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Also originally in the service of East Germany, these vehicles are being transferred to Ukraine and being replaced by more modern German infantry fighting vehicles.
Despite being arguably nearly obsolete, the BMP-1 can still be useful – an old armored vehicle is better than no armored vehicle – and like the older T-72s, it can be used for training, in second-line or territorial defense units, and to free up more modern infantry fighting vehicles for front-line units. These vehicles also are familiar to the Ukrainians and can be operated and maintained without any additional training.?
DELIVERED: 35 M-80A infantry fighting vehicles from Slovenia.?Confirmed by Slovenian Defense Minister Marjan ?arec, in a press conference after a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels on June 16th. The exact type was not revealed until?photographic evidence of these vehicles being delivered was published?on June 21st. Similar in design to the Soviet BMP-2, the M-80A is armed with a 20mm cannon and can carry anti-tank guided missiles.
DELIVERED: 40 Bushmaster infantry mobility vehicles from Australia, which began arriving mid-April,?according to the Australian government.?The Bushmaster is highly mobile and able to mount a variety of weapons, from automatic grenade launchers to heavy machine guns.?
DELIVERED: Over 300 M113 armored personnel carriers from various countries. 200 M113s were promised as part of a?$800m assistance package unveiled?by the White House on April 13. 50 M113s were promised as part of?an assistance package announced by?Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen during a visit to Kyiv in late April. 15 M113As were?promised by Portugal?at the beginning of May, Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton?announced the transfer of 14 M113AS4s?on 19th May, whilst the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense?announced a delivery of 20 M113A1s on?25th May.?
Additionally by May?visual evidence proved?the Dutch government had delivered an unknown number of YPR-765 armored personnel carriers, a lightly upgraded version of the M113A1 with better crew protection and improved running gear.
An old design, originating in the 1960s, the M113 is being slowly replaced in frontline service in most modern armies. Despite being lightly armored, it can still fulfill a supporting role on the modern battlefield, offering protection for infantry against light weapons and artillery fragments. These vehicles are also rugged and easy to repair, and can potentially be supplied in great numbers.??
DELIVERED: 35 FV103 Spartan tracked armored personnel carriers from the United Kingdom, plus a currently unknown number of other variants of the ‘Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked)’ platform. These were pledged by?Armed Forces Minister James Heappey?and?visually confirmed as being delivered?by mid June.
DELIVERED: 80 protected mobility vehicles from the United Kingdom. A mixture of Mastiff, Wolfhound, and Husky vehicles, taken directly from ex-British Army stock. As of 17th June, a number of these vehicles have been?seen being used by the Ukrainian military.
These vehicles differ in capability depending on the model in question. The wheeled Mastiff, Wolfhound, and Husky models are veterans of the British campaign in Afghanistan and as such are designed for crew survivability against roadside bombs and are quick on road. The tracked CVR(T) models, supplied variants of which will include the Spartan armored personnel carrier, the Samaritan armored ambulance, and the Samson armored recovery vehicle, offer superior offroad performance.
DELIVERED: 100 M1114 armored HMMWV infantry mobility vehicles.?Announced as part of the April 13th assistance?package, these vehicles had been seen in service with the Ukrainian military as of mid-May.??
DELIVERED: 7x Alvis 4 mine resistant armored personnel carriers from Estonia. A UK-made version of the South African Mamba, these vehicles were?pictured in Ukrainian service?in mid-May. Ex-Estonian Army stock, they are well armored, highly mobile, and well protected against mines and improvised explosive devices.
DELIVERED: An unknown number of AMZ Dzik-2 from Poland. A lightly armored infantry mobility vehicle, Ukrainian forces?were seen training with the type?in mid May.
PROMISED: Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand?promised 8 Roshel Senator?armored personnel carriers from Canada. The Roshel Senator is a lightly armored wheeled vehicle intended for law enforcement use – it will most likely be used by elements of the Ukrainian National Guard or Territorial Defense.
PROMISED: 4 Iveco VM 90P light armored trucks from Portugal. These vehicles were?previously used by the Portuguese National?Guard and were deployed in Iraq. Not designed for frontline service, they still offer more protection than unarmored civilian vehicles.
Long-Range Artillery Missiles/Tactical Missiles?
None have been promised or delivered as yet. Despite the fact the promised HIMARS/M270 systems can fire the ATACMS surface to surface missile with a range of up to 300km, supply of this munition has presently been explicitly ruled out by Washington.
This is almost certainly due to Western fears that targets inside Russia – although unambiguously legal under the laws of armed conflict – would be attacked by Western-manufactured or supplied weapons, with the potential escalatory risk this engenders.?
The counterargument to this concern is that targets inside Russia have been repeatedly struck by Turkish supplied Bayraktar TB2 drones, with very little Russian response directed toward Ankara. The British and Americans have also been increasingly bullish about the Ukrainian right to strike targets inside Russia, with Heappey stating it was “not necessarily a problem" if Ukraine used U.K.-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia, whilst Blinken stressed Ukraine’s right to “do whatever is necessary to defend against Russian aggression” in testimony to a congressional panel.?
Anti-Ship-Missiles
DELIVERED: Brimstone Sea Spear anti-ship missiles from the United Kingdom. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated in Parliament that vehicle-mounted Brimstone Sea Spear missiles were being developed by the Ministry of Defense.?
On April 27, Heappey?was quoted in The Times as saying?“hundreds” of Brimstone missiles would be provided in “the next few weeks.” The Brimstone has also been deployed in the ground to ground attack role, with footage showing Ukrainian forces training with a truck mounted Brimstone launcher emerging in mid-May.?
DELIVERED: Harpoon anti-ship missiles and a?land based launcher from Denmark, with additional missiles supplied by the United Kingdom and The Netherlands. On the 15th of June the Pentagon?announced the supply of an additional two Harpoon coastal defense systems as part of a $1bn assistance package.?
The successful delivery and deployment of these missiles was dramatically demonstrated on June 17th, when Russian military tug Spasatel Vasily Bekh was hit by two shore fired Harpoons whilst sailing on a supply mission to Russian occupied Snake Island, off the coast of Odesa.
PROMISED: RBS-17 coastal defense missile system - also known as the “Hellfire Shore Defense System” from Sweden. A far shorter ranged system than either the Harpoon or the Ukrainian Neptun which have ranges approaching 200km, the RBS-17 has a range of 10 km and is designed to strike targets sailing close to the shoreline.?
Whilst the port of Odesa is not currently under realistic threat, the need to provide anti-ship missiles is arguably as crucial as it has ever been. The de-facto Russian blockade of Ukrainian grain exports has helped create a global food crisis, and only neutralizing the threat of the Black Sea Fleet will allow commercial maritime traffic to resume.?
A Ukrainian military figure pointed to the fact they created their own de facto “no fly zone” over much of Ukraine and suggested they would be able to open the Black Sea ports themselves as well, given sufficient stocks of anti-ship missiles. This should be considered a “humanitarian imperative” given the coming global food crisis, he said.??
Air Defense Systems?
Mid to Long-Range Surface-to-Air systems
DELIVERED: One battery of the S-300PMU air defense system and 45 missiles were delivered by Slovakia on April 8, with?footage of the system being delivered to Ukraine via rail being published?by the Slovakian government.?
Long range, accurate, and extremely powerful, the S-300 is one of the most capable surface-to-air missile systems in the world. Despite being of ex-Soviet origin, it still holds up favorably in comparison to more modern systems, and the Ukrainians have been using their existing stocks incredibly effectively.
PROMISED: At least one battery of the IRIS-T SLM short to medium range air defense system from Germany.?Announced by German Chancellor Scholz on the 1st of June, the IRIS-T SLM is a state of the art air defense system that, according to Scholz, will “completely protect one Ukrainian city from air attack”. Unfortunately, the system will not be ready for delivery until December at the earliest.?
Short-Range Air Defense Systems?
DELIVERED: A number of Strela-10 short range SAM systems from Czechia.?According to Reuters, these systems were spotted on a train apparently bound for Ukraine.?
The Strela-10 is old but still effective against the helicopter gunships that the Russians operate in large numbers. It can also be used against slower, low flying Russian fixed wing attack aircraft like the Su-25.?
DELIVERED:?According to British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, a “small number” of Stormer HVM carriers will be delivered to Ukraine. The Stormer mounts the Starstreak high-velocity missile on the CVR(T) chassis for extra mobility and crew protection. The targeting system is more sophisticated than the man-portable version as well.
Starstreak missiles are fast, extremely destructive, and immune to spoofing by Russian countermeasures. They can also be used to target lightly armored ground vehicles.?
PROMISED: 30 Flakpanzer Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns from Germany.?Approved by Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht?on April 25, the supply of these ex-Bundeswehr vehicles marks the first time Germany has directly supplied heavy weapons. Originally 50 were promised, but this was reduced to 30, provided in two tranches of 15,?the first delivery is scheduled to arrive in July.
The Gepard itself is an older system, but the Russians are still flying many of the helicopters and attack aircraft it was originally designed to combat. Its twin autocannons can also effectively engage infantry and lightly armored vehicles.??
Combat aircraft
DELIVERED: Spare parts enabling 20 airframes to be returned to service. While whole airframes have yet to be delivered to Ukraine, a senior US defense official?confirmed to CNN?the Ukrainian Air Force has “added about 20 more operational aircraft to its fleet because of an influx of spare parts.” It was?later revealed that entire airframes had been disassembled?and transported to Ukraine by road. The exact number and origin of these aircraft is still confidential.?
Getting grounded Ukrainian airframes back into service and the transfer of small numbers of additional ex-Soviet aircraft is a stopgap measure until a consistent supply of new, more advanced aircraft can be found for the Ukrainian Air Force . Considering the war is probably going to continue for months - possibly years - and the Ukrainian Air Force will have to be rebuilt after the war anyway, Western countries should begin training Ukrainian pilots to fly NATO aircraft like the F-15 or F/A-18.
Helicopters
DELIVERED: 24 Mil Mi-17 transport helicopters from the United States and Slovakia. 16 aircraft??originally procured for the Afghan government?by the United States, had been promised as of April 27. A further 4 aircraft?were announced in the $700m assistance package?announced on the 1st of June. The transfer of 4 Slovakian Mi-17s was?announced by Slovakian Defense Minister?Jaroslav Na? in mid-June.
DELIVERED: 1 Mil Mi-2 transport helicopter from Slovakia. A light transport helicopter, the Mi-2 is also used for battlefield liaison and training.?One aircraft of this type was delivered by Slovakia?in mid-June.
DELIVERED: Around 15 Mil Mi-24 “Hind” helicopter gunships from Czechia.?Confirmed by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin?during a press conference May 15th. 10 Mi-24V were in active Czech service, in 2022, with 7 Mi-24D believed to be in storage.
Workhorses in countless air forces across the world, the ex-Soviet types provided to Ukraine will see useful service in the short to medium term. However, just as is the case for fixed-wing aircraft, the Ukrainians will undoubtedly need to be supplied with Western helicopters in order to rebuild their rotary capability after the war and it make sense to start training their pilots to fly Western types sooner, rather than later.
Light Vehicles
Pickups and/or trucks
Many different types have been delivered by national governments, corporations, civil society organizations, and even individual donors. Examples have included armored civilian ambulances and ex-Foreign Office armored Land Cruisers from the British government, 100 Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs and Ranger pickup trucks from General Motors and Ford, and a convoy of second hand Polish four wheel drive vehicles purchased by crowdfunding. It’s impossible to know how many in total have been supplied because of the ad hoc and slightly chaotic manner of such donations.?
However, from conversations with senior members of the Ukrainian military, it is clear that the Ukrainians still need many more than have currently been supplied.
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By James Rushton??·??Launched 3 days ago
I’m James Rushton, a freelance security and foreign policy analyst. Currently based in Kyiv, Ukraine, I mainly write about issues relating to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. I tweet at @JimmySecUK.
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Got to keep up with appearances , Putin. Right ?
FTR
Let us celebrate the 10 year old Russian Federation gift to its Donets front soldiers you know those famous 10 year old worthless MREs and the ineptitude of the Donets Peoples Republic recruitment drive, but in order to get the ball rolling in honor of the situation let me remind you of the fabulous Russian Federation air force, moth eaten by Corruption, and all those arriving Western defense systems, which are making a killing for Ukraine at the expense of your corruption riddled Russian Federation land armies. Di Accord ? Of course, why not steal from Russia some more, Putin ? That is if you cannot steal Ukraine from its rightful inhabitants? Right?
First the fabulous Russian Federation AIR FORCE; Ruined by funds siphoned away for more play boats in the 7 seas , for your pleasure boat fleet given to the Oligarchs which has more vessels in its inventory than the freaking Russian Federation navy. Then lets celebrate the Western defense systems arriving to celebrate how you PUTIN, in your made man Kremlin Mafia ruined the Russian Military. Go cry me a river, PUTIN. Say hello again to Wendi Deng, and all of your women you toy with , PUTIN:
Summary
A. You are a worthless Kremlin MAFIA con man, Vladimir Putin. Your war held together by lies, and I do have a suggestion for you
B. Why don't you stop using Wendi Deng for your brain dead purposes, Putin. She can do you a world of good, if you ask her to intercede with you to help Xi of China take over Siberia for the time being, and preserve it from your machinations. Ok ? And by the way
C. You are a FRAUD, Vladimir Putin. A complete FRAUD. The man who ruined his own country, RUSSIA, for the sake of your EGO. Copy that ?
Andrew Beckwith, PhD
The legend of a mind? Wow. You know I do not think that Putin has a "beautiful mind" as in John Nash, but he does try to keep up with appearances. Right ?