Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Sergey Hadzhinov is a frontline drone operator with Aerorozvidka – “Aerial Intelligence” – a civilian organization set up in 2014 to aid Ukraine’s military with reconnaissance using consumer drones and now integrated with the armed forces. In a new interview in the Ukrainian news portal Censort.NET, he explains how they evade Russian electronic warfare which threatened to ground the drone fleet, and target Russian drone operators. Consumer drones, in particular those made by Chinese company DJI, have proven invaluable in this conflict for intelligence gathering, directing artillery and helping footsoldiers stalk and destroy Russian armor, not to mention dropping grenades on unsuspecting Russian troops. However, DJI sells a device called AeroScope which automatically locates the communications links used by DJI drones in a given area – not just the drones themselves, but also the operators’ control units, so … [Read more...] about Ukraine’s Quadcopters Avoid Russian Jamming — And Target Russian Drone Operators
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The Russians Are Targeting Ukraine’s American-Made Howitzers
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Russian forces are targeting the M-777 howitzers the United States has given to the Ukrainian army. The Russians have knocked out at least three of the 155-millimeter towed howitzers, 126 of which the United States has pledged to the Ukrainian war effort. These losses belie Ukrainian artillery’s impressive performance against tough odds. According to the best outside analysis, the Russian army has lost more artillery than the Ukrainian army as Russia’s wider war in Ukraine grinds into its fourth month. Ukrainian gunners excel at “counterbattery” fire—that is, quickly shooting back at Russian guns. “The M-777s have been absolutely lethal,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told reporters last week. The Ukrainian army went to war with 1,800 artillery pieces—almost all of them ex-Soviet models that the army inherited following the Soviet Union’s 1991 collapse. The ex-Soviet cannons mostly are 122-millimeter and … [Read more...] about The Russians Are Targeting Ukraine’s American-Made Howitzers
Russian Jets Are Flying So Low To Dodge Ukrainian Air-Defenses That They’re Running Into The Ground
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Desperate to avoid surface-to-air missiles in the lethal air space over Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian pilots have revived a classic tactic—flying really, really low. But the same low flying that helps pilots to dodge enemy air-defenses also exposes them to a separate risk: collisions with the terrain. In just the past week or so, the Russian air force has lost two Su-25 attack planes, and at least one pilot, in crashes during low-level flights to or from the war zone. The sky over Ukraine—in particular, eastern Ukraine where the fighting is the most intensive—is some of the most dangerous in the world for crews on both sides of the conflict. In four months of warfare, the Ukrainian and Russian air forces have written off around a fifth of their deployed fixed-wing aircraft, as well as many helicopters. Ukraine has lost 39 manned aircraft that independent analysts can confirm; Russia has lost 81. It’s … [Read more...] about Russian Jets Are Flying So Low To Dodge Ukrainian Air-Defenses That They’re Running Into The Ground
The Ukrainians’ American-Made Rockets Blast The Russians For The First Time
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Ukraine’s new American-made rocket-launchers apparently have fired their first shots at Russian forces. The first-ever documented fire-mission by the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, comes as Ukrainian troops finally pull back from the ruins of Severodonetsk, an industrial city with a pre-war population of 100,000 that was the last major free settlement east of the Donets River in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region before Kyiv ordered the retreat. The attritional battle rages on in Donbas. Ukrainian forces are reconsolidating Lysychansk, Severodonetsk’s sister city on the west bank of the Donets River. Russia’s advantage in heavy artillery so far has been the decisive factor in the Donbas campaign. Ukraine’s growing HIMARS arsenal could blunt that advantage. HIMARS is a truck-mounted, six-round launcher for 220-millimeter-diameter rockets. The rockets can fly as far as 44 miles with 200 pounds of … [Read more...] about The Ukrainians’ American-Made Rockets Blast The Russians For The First Time
G7 to ban Russian gold imports, choking key market for Putin
AFP PREMIUM Berlin, Germany ● Sun, June 26, 2022 The United States said Sunday that the G7 group of nations will ban imports of Russian gold with the aim of tightening sanctions screws on Moscow and crippling its war effort in Ukraine. "Together, the G7 will announce that we will ban the import of Russian gold, a major export that rakes in tens of billions of dollars for Russia," President Joe Biden said on Twitter. The measure was initially flagged by Britain as joint action being taken along with fellow G7 members Canada, Japan and the United States. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Or let Google manage your … [Read more...] about G7 to ban Russian gold imports, choking key market for Putin
How Drones Are Making Ukrainian Artillery Lethally Accurate
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Ukrainian forces have repeatedly repelled Russian attacks and inflicted heavy losses on the attackers, as seen in an attempted river crossing at Siverskyi Donets yesterday which left the area littered with burned-out Russian vehicles . While light anti-tank weapons such as the Javelin play an important part, Ukrainian artillery does most of the damage, striking targets with extreme precision from indirect long-range fire. How can they achieve this extraordinary accuracy? The answer may lie in cheap drones. Hitting a tank with an artillery round is an unusual feat. A round fired indirectly – lobbed at grid co-ordinates which are invisible to the gunner – will have a ‘ circular error probable ,’ or CEP, measured in tens of meters, which is the circle inside which half the rounds land. For a 155mm weapon the CEP is typically 25 meters at 15 miles, making it difficult to hit a tank-sized target. Doing so normally requires a … [Read more...] about How Drones Are Making Ukrainian Artillery Lethally Accurate
The Ukrainian Military Is Changing Its Tactics With Bayraktar TB2 Drones
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin During the first four months of the Russia-Ukraine war, the “Most Valuable Player” award could readily go to the Bayraktar TB2 drone. This drone provided the Ukrainians with the necessary air power to repel the initial Russian assault and then slow the Russian advances in the Donbas region. Despite the numerous successes of the TB2 drone, reports indicate that their usage in the Donbas region has become limited due to a large number of Russian anti-aircraft systems. The importance of the TB2 drones to the Ukrainians cannot be overstated. According to Oryx , a blog that tracks the destruction of military equipment through open-source reports, these drones are credited with destroying the following: 6 armored fighting vehicles, 5 towed artillery, 1 multi-rocket launcher, 2 anti-aircraft guns, 10 helicopters, 6 naval ships, 3 command posts, 1 communication station, 2 logistics trains, and numerous resupply trucks. The … [Read more...] about The Ukrainian Military Is Changing Its Tactics With Bayraktar TB2 Drones
IMF slashes US growth forecast to 2.9%, sees ‘narrowing path’ to avoid recession
The International Monetary Fund has slashed its US economic growth forecast as aggressive Federal Reserve interest rate hikes cool demand but predicted that the United States would "narrowly" avoid a recession. In an annual assessment of US economic policies, the IMF said it now expects US Gross Domestic Product to grow 2.9 percent in 2022, less than its most recent forecast of 3.7 percent in April. For 2023, the IMF cut its US growth forecast to 1.7 percent from 2.3 percent and it now expects growth to trough at 0.8 percent in 2024. Last October, the IMF predicted 5.2 percent US growth this year, but since then, new Covid-19 variants and stubborn supply chain disruptions have slowed recovery, while a sharp spike in fuel and food prices prompted by Russia's war in Ukraine further stoked inflation to 40-year highs. "We are conscious that there is a narrowing path to avoiding a recession in the US," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told a news conference on Friday, … [Read more...] about IMF slashes US growth forecast to 2.9%, sees ‘narrowing path’ to avoid recession
The ‘Red Tax’: The Air Force’s Workaround for Fewer Aggressor Aircraft and Pilots at Nellis AFB
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Colonel Scott “Manual” Mills has been tasked with managing the reactivation of the Air Force’s 65th Aggressor Squadron (AGRS), the first “red air” squadron completely equipped with F-35s. It’s a difficult job at any time but even more difficult now that the USAF has ended private “red air” aggressor support at Nellis Air Force Base. Nellis is home to the Air Force Weapons School , the USAF’s counterpart to the Navy’s Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center, popularly known as TOPGUN. The base also hosts the world-renowned joint-service, international Red Flag and other air combat exercises. It’s the home of the Air Force’s F-16-flying 64th AGRS and other air combat training units, what the folks at Nellis call “Aggressor Nation.” Until the end of last month, Aggressor Nation was larger. The USAF squadrons which support the Weapons School and exercises as red air were augmented by aircraft and pilots from private … [Read more...] about The ‘Red Tax’: The Air Force’s Workaround for Fewer Aggressor Aircraft and Pilots at Nellis AFB
Russia’s Deadly Artillery Drones Have A Strange Secret (Updated)
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Russia’s small drones continue to take a deadly toll of Ukrainian forces, directing laser-guided artillery rounds with lethal precision. But the drones are not as advanced as you might expect, with new video of a captured airframe showing it is fitted with an off-the-shelf Canon DSLR camera. Russia’s manned air force has not been effective, and even its most modern aircraft keep getting shot down . Confirmed casualties to date include at least 19 combat aircraft and 32 helicopters, but the real total will be higher (though likely less than the 152 aircraft and 137 helicopters claimed by Ukraine). But their unmanned fleet seems to have been more effective. Numerous drone videos released by the Russian Ministry of Defence show similar scenes : a Ukrainian armored vehicle, often self-propelled artillery, is observed for a few seconds before suddenly exploding, destroyed by an unseen projectile. Sometimes videos … [Read more...] about Russia’s Deadly Artillery Drones Have A Strange Secret (Updated)