June 1, 2025 - Russian Airfields FPV Takedown

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leiter said:
Ukrainian images showing the preparations made for the attack. I wonder why the container structures are wooden, maybe to aid with self-destruction.
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Wood is cheap and easy to work with. There's no reason to use metal when plywood will do.

If the US did it, it would of course be carbon fiber and tungsten/titanium alloys...
 
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Sferrin said:
Hill AFB used to have a squadron of F-16s out in the open within shooting range of busy road with nothing but chain-link between them.
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Lots of airport infrastructure like tank farms right next to the boundary fences.

Sferrin said:
Always thought that was begging for trouble.
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Ditto
 
Maro.Kyo said:
We had that/sub munition suitable for such use for a very long time already. SADARM, C-DEAM/SMArt, BONUS, BAT, etc. Ain't nothing new.
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Oh yeah I know I was referring to the general proliferation of these drone deployment options being difficult to defend from. This is especially true when we have less options to reach PRC bases than they do to reach ours.
 
Wonder how these top panels moved to let free the drones. Could be commanded by gps when the truck reaches certain coordinates, or at a distance from Ukrainian operators following the truck. Also if these drones were equipped with onboard AI "trained" to recognize their targets, are these the first AI operated weapons ?
Fascinating operation anyway. And less bombers to bomb Ukrainian cities.

Orionblamblam said:
Not just the damage to Russian military aviation... imagine the damage this will do to Russian trucking.
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Seriously though, that means the need for more controls -> slowing down logistic -> mobilizing more personel (that can't be send to front) ... ect...
 
I don't think the losses will be that important. They weren't being used in a militarily useful capacity anyway. The English learned that in 1940.
 
Orionblamblam said:
Not just the damage to Russian military aviation... imagine the damage this will do to Russian trucking.
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Since we are talking about containers, the implications would reach far beyond trucking but overall logistics. Shipping, ports, rail cargo... They'll need a lot of man power to filter out every suspicious delivery to Russian ports and across every Russian land border, rather impossible.

The only real solution was, is and will be deploying sizeable defence capabilities to critical infrastructure. Like DEW and low altitude small-object discrimination radar, as mentioned above.
 
galgot said:
Wonder how these top panels moved to let free the drones. Could be commanded by gps when the truck reaches certain coordinates, or at a distance from Ukrainian operators following the truck. Also if these drones were equipped with onboard AI "trained" to recognize their targets, are these the first AI operated weapons ?
Fascinating operation anyway. And less bombers to bomb Ukrainian cities.



Seriously though, that means the need for more controls -> slowing down logistic -> mobilizing more personel (that can't be send to front) ... ect...
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Since it appears that the entire effort was controlled via satellite I imagine that the covers were jettisoned via a button push. Hydraulic or pneumatic jacks, etc.
 
Sferrin said:
Short of sinking an SSBN at the pier I don't know how this could be less important.
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Well, unproven rumours that a SSBN has been sunk at Severomorsk are circulating... almost certainly bollox though.
 
yasotay said:
Since it appears that the entire effort was controlled via satellite I imagine that the covers were jettisoned via a button push. Hydraulic or pneumatic jacks, etc.
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Were the FPVs controlled locally or also via sat? (If you had a Starlink dish dropped somewhere in the vicinity then WiFI to the base?)
 
BAROBA said:
I heard that they were used to launch cruise-missiles at Ukrainian cities and targets. So them being taken out is a huge relief.
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I imagine the response to this is going to make the prior attacks by those planes look like a summer fireworks show.
 
yasotay said:
Since it appears that the entire effort was controlled via satellite I imagine that the covers were jettisoned via a button push. Hydraulic or pneumatic jacks, etc.
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Possible they used multiple networks, including the local cellular networks for backup. I have seen some reports the drones had cellular access to the local networks. Not confirmed but would make sense for such a high level attack


leiter said:
Having been part of their enemy's former empire just a little over 30 years ago must have also helped.
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Yes they definitely understand Russia's military and other security organs better than any one else.

tacitblue1973 said:
I don't think the losses will be that important. They weren't being used in a militarily useful capacity anyway. The English learned that in 1940.
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Is this confirmed that these aircraft were not in service? I have seen conflicting reports. SBU saying 34% of all strategic bombers have been taken out. I wonder if all here means the entirety or just those in active service. Regardless, you'd think the reserve aircraft have been useful for spare parts.
 
tacitblue1973 said:
The usefulness of a strategic weapon system is lost when you're stuck using it on civilian targets like schools and hospitals. It's bad optics and wasted munitions.
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What else have they got left?
Russia is running on fumes if I am to believe all the media reports. New material is slow to reach the front lines... Everything else, including museum pieces are being send to the front.
Russia doesn't really care about optics... And munition is munition...
 
tacitblue1973 said:
The usefulness of a strategic weapon system is lost when you're stuck using it on civilian targets like schools and hospitals. It's bad optics and wasted munitions.
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Sure, if it were true rather than some fantasy.
 
BAROBA said:
I heard that they were used to launch cruise-missiles at Ukrainian cities and targets. So them being taken out is a huge relief.
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There were 55 Tu-90MS in service as of 2020. There are 5 confirmed hits + 2 Tu-22M3. Assuming they're are completely irreparable (not necessarily so), there are at least 40 left. Not to mention 16+ Tu-160. So it's more a slap to the face, than a crippling move. Even if ALL of Russian strategic bombers gone, with a INF Treaty being dead, nothing stops Russia slapping rocket boosters on Kh-101 an launching them from land. that would be even cheaper than launching them from a strategic bomber.
 
DrRansom said:
Any Air Force Chief that isn't spending the day demanding a crash shelter-construction program ought to be fired on the spot.
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And yet the $150B supplemental from the US House has nothing for hardened aircraft shelters.

Frank Kendall, the previous SECAF, would have traded the NGAD for hardened aircraft shelters, among other things. Was Kendall just an idiot for wanting hardened shelters, or are everyone else the idiots?

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/global-military-spending-news-only.21865/post-782413
There have been frequent drone incursions over bases in the US. You can bet that if we were to go to war with China, they would blow up as many of our tankers and AWACS on the ground as possible. Once we have been relieved of the burden of our tankers and other key enablers and are no longer able to wage warfare overseas, perhaps we will finally have the bandwidth to adjust certain FAA rules to allow for better airbase defenses.

https://www.twz.com/news-features/d...be-threatening-spy-flights-northcom-commander
 
Orionblamblam said:
I don't imagine too many people held such illusions. Certainly not since 9/11.
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Probably far too many. There are quite a lot of peoples who still under illusions that "Russia and Ukraine just did not know how to fight properly" and "Western soldiers are trained, so they would just shot drones down using rifles". Yes, it's quotes.
 
Dilandu said:
Probably far too many. There are quite a lot of peoples who still under illusions that "Russia and Ukraine just did not know how to fight properly" and "Western soldiers are trained, so they would just shot drones down using rifles". Yes, it's quotes.
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I'm sure there are such, but the existence of idiots is beyond the scope of this discussion.
 
slroger said:
Possible they used multiple networks, including the local cellular networks for backup. I have seen some reports the drones had cellular access to the local networks. Not confirmed but would make sense for such a high level attack
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I've heard that more recently, Russia is using Ukrainian cellular network to control their drones via Telegram, as the drones connect to the network after entering Ukrainian territory, they use it to upload live video feeds, which is rather a piece of cake for modern cellular throughput and latency.

If the Ukrainians used similar guidance scheme, perhaps inspired by Russian drones, Russia would be having taste of their own medicine.
 
tacitblue1973 said:
It certainly gives some impetus to the drone swarms popping up around CONUS air bases the last few years. Ali rope a dope, mostly harmless until they aren't.
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If we're smart - and that's a sadly huge "if" - we will learn the lessons that the Russian military is having forced on it. I fear we won't, though.
 
The supposed locations of the Ukrainian attacks on the Air bases:

skynews-ukraine-map_6932685.jpg
 
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Problem is going to be that like many Ukrainian "successes", much of this one will come back to NATO intel, especially satellite sources determining which airfields the bombers were at.

Two of the sites struck (Olenya and Belaya) are a very, very long way from Ukraine. How did the trucks get there and what routes did they take? Because the Russians will track the trucks back to points of entry and if they came in from NATO countries, well, that won't look very good will it.


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So far we're only seeing Ukrainian sources on the number of bombers hit, probably best to wait a day or two for better numbers. The Tu-95's were mostly launching KH-101s from memory, and while this is a spectacular "success" for Ukraine, much like the sinking of the Moskva was, it isn't going to do much to improve things for the Ukrainians on the battlefield where they're still heavily outnumbered and "out-droned".

Sure isn't going to do much for the current round of negotiations either.
 
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