Russia-Ukraine War 2022

[ricnunes]

Thanks ricnunes! Nice HOBS shot, I wonder if they used MICA-IR or Magic 2? Price would favor Magic 2 but I'm not sure what kind of HOBS capabilities it has... I think we are talking about something like 35 to 45 degree angle and I'm not sure Magic 2 is capable of that but I could be wrong.

You're welcome and that's a very good question, indeed!

In the video that viperzerof-2 shared (which I'll attach to the bottom of this post for better viewing) it's more or less hinted that it was a Magic 2. In this same video you can watch the video that I previously shared (from minute 2:55 until 3:00).
On the other hand, you bring an excellent point about HOBS capability, namely the Magic 2 HOBS capability. About this, I read somewhere that the Magic 2 seeker should have a gimbal limit of ±45 degrees which could be enough for this shot. However, I'm not sure how reliable is this source.

And yet on the other hand it's curious that so far, I only have seen Ukrainian Mirage 2000's armed with Magic 2 missiles. I never saw one armed with MICA missiles, this despite the reports that Ukraine reportedly received these (MICA) missiles.

[hornetfinn]

Yeah, I agree that it's most likely Magic 2 and I also think that it's well within the capabilities of the weapon to engage at such off-boresight angle.

I've also not seen any videos of Ukrainian Mirages being equipped with MICAs and it's possible that they don't have them or at least not many of them.

Thank you for the video, btw!

[spad_s.xiii]

It's fascinating how rapid development happens in war. New CRPA Antenna Found on Russian UMPB-5R Bomb
Such an introduction would typically take many years during peacetime.
- Should we not update the antenna on bomb X, to be more jamming resistant?
- Is that really necessary, it seems to work ok for now?
- How and what's the cost?
- That would take a lot of expensive testing
- We have many bomb X in storage and can't afford to upgrade them.
- We can maybe have a look at that for next generation.
- In 25 years time? *disappointed*

I wonder if "west" is able to being ahead of Russia in EW, both technically and operationally, if this war countinues a couple of more years?
Maybe I'm listening too much to concerned people within AOC. Old crows always wants more EMSO.

[hornetfinn]

While I generally agree that peacetime development is often rather stupid, I'd say that when it comes to things like CRPAs, West is way ahead of Russia in every way. Those things have been in development for over 30 years and they have developed immensely and there are a lot of products which are really good.

But there have been and probably still are a lot of bombs that have not been upgraded with newer antennas and receivers. I bet all currently produced bombs and missiles definitely have advanced CRPAs and receivers that are very capable against GNSS jamming and spoofing.

[aussiebloke]

One CEO of a Ukrainian EW company recently gave this viewpoint on Russian CRPA technology:

In terms of other developments, Kalinin explained that Russia had been observed developing highly sophisticated controlled radiation pattern antennas (CRPAs). These are a key component within many Russian guided munitions, including UMPK glide bombs and Shahed OWA UAVs…….

Kalinin highlighted the importance of this component: “If you talk about UMPK or if you talk about the Shaheds, 70% of the capabilities is built on top of this CRPA system.” He added, “So this is the reason why Shaheds could orient on the enemy territory; this is the basically [the] main technology.”

According to Kalinin, much of CRPAs’ value is due to the fact that they are much cheaper compared to a high-end inertial navigation system (INS), while also being much more accurate. This allows Russia to keep mass-producing relatively low-cost but accurate munitions to strike targets in Ukraine even in the face of heavy jamming and spoofing. While various models have been in use throughout the war, more recent versions of Russia’s Kometa-M-VT design, developed by VNIIIR Progress, have been proving especially effective. Kalinin was notably impressed by the performance of these newer CRPA models: “I believe right now Russia is [the] top one country which [is] producing CRPA… I mean this CRPA is [a] piece of engineering art, they are really good…we don’t have in Ukraine any net or system between which could be compared to the efficiency [of] that system, so that’s disturbing.”

https://euro-sd.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... 25_WEB.pdf

[spad_s.xiii]

While I generally agree that peacetime development is often rather stupid, I'd say that when it comes to things like CRPAs, West is way ahead of Russia in every way. Those things have been in development for over 30 years and they have developed immensely and there are a lot of products which are really good.

Well, although the russians do have their problems at the battle field, to say the least, I wouldn't write them off when it comes to EMSO. Even if development of CRPAs has been going on for 30, or I'd say 40, years, it's not like the Russian engineers haven't been developing anything during this time. One big advantage they have is being able to test in the worst possible environment and step by step see what works and what could be produced to a low cost. You could test in a lab and exercises, but you never truly know what actually works in a war like in Ukraine.
Pyotr Ufimtsev isn't the only Russian who knows about Maxwell.

[ricnunes]

An Ukrainian unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) engages a Russian MT-LB troop carrier that happened upon their location.
The Ukrainians were (reportedly) testing their bot close to the forward line when it encountered the Russian vehicle.

Watch video here: https://twitter.com/Funker530/status/19948757 ... dac6A&s=08

[hornetfinn]

While I generally agree that peacetime development is often rather stupid, I'd say that when it comes to things like CRPAs, West is way ahead of Russia in every way. Those things have been in development for over 30 years and they have developed immensely and there are a lot of products which are really good.

Well, although the russians do have their problems at the battle field, to say the least, I wouldn't write them off when it comes to EMSO. Even if development of CRPAs has been going on for 30, or I'd say 40, years, it's not like the Russian engineers haven't been developing anything during this time. One big advantage they have is being able to test in the worst possible environment and step by step see what works and what could be produced to a low cost. You could test in a lab and exercises, but you never truly know what actually works in a war like in Ukraine.
Pyotr Ufimtsev isn't the only Russian who knows about Maxwell.

Well, a lot of Western kit is also tested in Ukraine like SDBs, AASM Hammer, Storm Shadow/Scalp EG, GMLRS, ATACMS, HARMs, drones etc. So Western companies and military services are also learning a lot from this war and developing both technologies and tactics. One clear area of development has been EW systems and also countering EW effects with CRPAs, GNSS receivers, iNS and associated software. RIght now Russian EW has not been that effective against Western weapons anymore or Ukrainian long-range attack drones which have successfully attacked some very important military targets which likely have been protected with extensive GPS/GNSS jammers.

I do agree however that Russia is not to be underestimated when it comes to EW but their developments have mainly focused on GPS/GNSS jamming/spoofing and jamming single-channel drone command links or countering the effects of Ukrainain GNSS jamming and drone command links. They have some radar jamming capabilities but these have not proven to be effective at all against current Ukrainian Western-supplied radars. Same thing for communications jamming, They have capable systems in some narrow technology areas (GPS jamming and drone command/video links) and not much in others

Currently Western countries definitely have a clear edge in:
- Stand-off radar jamming equipment (ALQ-99, NGJ, Arexis, Hensoldt Kalaetron, several Israeli systems)
- Advanced self-protection radar jammers with GaN technology, DRFM tech, towed decoys, expendable active decoys (like Britecloud)
- Radar ECCM/anti-jamming technology with AESA radars also with GaN tech and digital beamforming being very LPI/LPD
- Communications systems with advanced data links and jam-resistant voice comms
- Anti-radiation missiles (AARGM-ER,SiAW)
- 5th gen aircraft being able to get close to locate and also use EW/EA against the enemy radars
- EW drones, meaning MALD-J/X and Spear-EW
- Use of AI and ML for EW

Some of these are systems that Russia doesn't have anything comparable. Many of these are not even used by Ukraine and Russia has not been very successful in EW outside of GPS jamming and countering single-channel FPV drone frequencies. Sure they might have some nasty surprises that they haven't shown but even then as a whole, they are nowhere near NATO/Western countries when it comes to EW. Russian large and powerful jamming systems would likely eat some AARGM-ERs and/or be wiped out with glide bombs launched from F-35s if they ever decided to go against NATO in real war. Ukraine doesn't have the requisite means to do that and these systems have been somewhat effective and evolving. Of course against NATO their own glide bombs or attack drones would not be nearly as effective as NATO has the capabilities to take out the launchers and the production sites. Sure that would take some time and they would likely manage to launch drones successfully but their effect would rather limited.

[disconnectedradical]

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/19 ... 22538?s=20

Ukrainian F-16 armed with what appears to be rocket pods, likely indicating use of APKWS. Also perhaps a Sniper pod mounted as well. This would greatly help against drones, much greater magazine depth.

[hornetfinn]

APKWS and Sniper pod would help a lot in countering drones. Of course APKWS needs the Sniper or similar pod to provide laser designation and it would likely also improve the capabilities to target the drones as well. Hopefully they get all their F-16s armed with this combination. Having 14 APKWS along with air-to-air missiles would help a lot.

Btw, it seems like jet powered Gerans/Shaheds are now reality:


From here:
https://x.com/sternenko/status/1997255308776026524

[darkmount]

APKWS and Sniper pod would help a lot in countering drones. Of course APKWS needs the Sniper or similar pod to provide laser designation and it would likely also improve the capabilities to target the drones as well. Hopefully they get all their F-16s armed with this combination. Having 14 APKWS along with air-to-air missiles would help a lot.

Btw, it seems like jet powered Gerans/Shaheds are now reality:


From here:
https://x.com/sternenko/status/1997255308776026524

Could be way more than 14 APKWS btw, I've seen F-16 carrying 6 APKWS pods attached to two tri pylons with 42 interceptors in total.