Posted on 12/24/2023 12:20:02 PM PST by SpeedyInTexas
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper can carry and employ Aim-9s.
The Bayraktar drone performance:
Maximum speed: 120 knots (222 km/h)
Cruise speed: 70 knots (130 km/h)
Range: up to 4,000 km (2,160 nmi)
Communication range: line-of-sight propagation, < 300 kilometres (186 mi)
Service ceiling: 25,000 ft (7,620 m)
Operational altitude: 18,000 ft (5,486 m)
Endurance: 27 hours
The Bayraktar drone can carry and employ Long Range Anti-tank Missiles.
Integrating Aim-9Ms on a Bayraktar drone is certainly a possibility.
The Bayraktar drone communication range would be the limiting factor.
Satellite communications would extend the range well beyond the Caspian sea.
This would put ruzzia's bear bombers at risk.
“0/5 or (0%) of Kinzhal Missiles
0/14 or (0%) of Ballistic Missiles
0/8 or (0%) of Kh-22 Missiles
0/5 or (0%) of Kh-31P/Kh-59 Missiles”
If this is true, then Russia has cracked the code on how to overwhelm Ukrainian Air Defenses, at least to some degree.
Maybe they just kept firing, while Ukrainians were having to reload.
The original rumor was based on observation of the bomber disappearing from radar over Kursk prior to launching its missiles.
Most likely, these missiles attacked targets well away from the Patriot batteries.
The number of air defense systems in Ukraine capable of shooting down these missiles is pretty limited, especially the Kinzhal and Iskander (Ballistic) missiles. The Kh-22 and Kh-31 are also not easy for anything less than Patriot or SAMP/T. You also need the incoming missile to be closing the air defense system with a relatively small CPA, as crossing and chasing shots vs a high supersonic target will give a lower probability of kill or very limited range.
The Kh-31 is an anti-radiation missile, so I wonder what they were fired at. I got to shoot down a Kh-31 a couple decades ago with an SM-2. We bought them from Russia (sans seeker and warhead) to evaluate as supersonic test targets for the Navy.
I too doubt Russia would fly the TU-22 anywhere near Ukraine. Turkey is working on air to air capability for the Bayraktar, but if a TU-22 was lost, it was probably just a mechanical failure. But Ukraine would be the ultimate testing ground...
“a 1.8 trillion GDP, ya know grew at 3.5%”
I wonder how much of that “Growth” was accounted for by death gratuities and disability payments?
More is being destroyed than created.
“The Kh-31 is an anti-radiation missile, so I wonder what they were fired at.”
PIF posted a piece at #190, that posits that this big missile/drone barrage was designed to hit some PATRIOTs and F-16s - both of which should be high priority targets for the Russians.
Perhaps, as that piece suggests, the Russians were spoofed into targeting PATRIOT decoys. Such decoys can emit an appropriate signal, as well as being a visual mock up.
Reporting has highlighted for months that the Russians were stockpiling for intensified waves of missiles and drones over the Winter, and overwhelming Air Defenses with sheer mass is old Soviet doctrine, so it seems likely that decoys and other survivability tactics have been used.
There will probably be more nights like last night, over this Winter.
Haven’t heard any damage assessment yet.
7 Il-76 transport planes arrived at the “Olenya” airport, from where Tu-95s took off yesterday.
Cruise missiles were probably delivered.
Russia reloading the bombers now. There will probably be another attack before the new year eve’s speech by Putin’s double.
The cruise missiles are probably being stored further east to minimize the risk of sabotage.
7 Il-76 transport planes can carry a lot of cruise missiles.
Hopefully, NATO is rapidly replenishing Ukraine's supply of surface-to-air missiles.
I think there will be another mass attack tomorrow night.
Another example of a worthless figure.
As I have said if gm builds a million cars and sells them to govt and govt blows them up, hey it’s GDP, but…
“””“We spotted and destroyed six F-16s there. According to intelligence data, these turned out to be dummies. And now we don’t know whether the enemy even has such planes, or whether we were misled. And the missiles have been spent, including rare missiles,” admitted the interlocutor at the Ministry of Defense.””””
Love that sort of thing.
https://twitter.com/ChuckPfarrer/status/1740866039142080770
These missiles can be carried by UKR's fighters...
They can be carried by F-16s, when they have arrived.
I believe they cannot be carried by Ukraine's MiGs or SUUs.
I predicted (hoped) that the UK would be sending some...
https://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/4205603/posts?page=199#199
“Russia reloading the bombers now.”
I thought that we would be seeing bigger waves of drones over the Winter, with a smaller smattering of cruise missiles mixed in. But wow, they really broke into their cruise missile stash last night. If they keep this up, it shows a very high priority on their part.
Although they can mount big waves of cruise missiles if they really want to, this is not something that they can continue doing very often.
As you suggest, it may be partly or largely driven by political objectives, to support Putin’s New Year’s Eve speech. Perhaps they also seek to sour legislators on continuing to aid Ukraine, before Congress comes back into session.
The recent shootdown rate for Russian aircraft has also presented kind of an emergency, that might have freed up scarce reserves to strike at PATRIOT systems.
Whatever their thinking, this is some high intensity warfare.
I believe it was reported in recent months that Russia was stockpiling missiles in preparation for delivering winter destruction.
Dagens.com (Denmark) reports (29 Dec):
“Argentine President Javier Milei has officially declined an invitation to become a member of BRICS in letters to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.”
Argentina sits on the second largest shale gas reserve in the World (Vaca Muerta) - if only they could get their act together to develop it. Argentina’s past Socialist/Peronist Governments have been incredibly bad credit risks for the International oil majors.
Maybe the new guy can crack the code. He was a free market economist by trade, before becoming President. he is a big friend of Israel, and has welcomed the Ukrainian President for a visit recently, as well as rejecting the BRICS invitation from Putin and Xi.
UPI reports:
“Dec. 27 (UPI) — The foreign affairs committee of Turkey’s parliament voted to approve Sweden’s membership in NATO, bringing the country closer to joining the international alliance after a lengthy delay due to objections that arose over Stockholm’s handling of anti-Muslim activism.
After Tuesday’s vote, the measure faces final approval by the Turkish general assembly before Sweden would attain full NATO membership, however, no specific date has been scheduled for the decisive vote”
(Turkey’s Parliament is scheduled return from recess on January 15.)
Israeli Defense Forces operating heavily in the South Gaza city of Khan Yunis.
In the North, CNN reports:
“The Israel Defense Forces claimed Friday (29 Dec) to have destroyed a network of tunnels and one of the “hideout apartments” belonging to Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ leader in Gaza.
The IDF’s 14th Reserve Brigade Combat Team located and destroyed the apartment near Gaza City “in recent weeks,” the IDF said.
The IDF said the apartment was part of “a long and branching tunnel network” that was used by senior Hamas officials. During an inspection of the apartment, soldiers with the IDF’s Yahalom Unit discovered a 20-meter-deep (about 66 feet) tunnel shaft in the basement floor. The shaft led to a 218-meter-long (about 715 feet) tunnel that contained an electrical network, ventilation and sewage infrastructure, as well as prayer rooms, the IDF said.
“The tunnel was built so that it would be possible to stay inside it and conduct combat from it for long periods of time,” the IDF said in a news release.
The tunnel was subsequently destroyed by the IDF’s Yahalom Unit.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
