Posted on 07/10/2022 12:37:23 PM PDT by marcusmaximus
Russian forces are reportedly relying on Soviet-era munitions for certain tasks as the invasion of Ukraine labors on.
The Russian government has, in recent weeks, increasingly ordered its forces in Ukraine to repurpose outdated anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles for use on land-based targets, according to a Tuesday report from iNews.
In Mykolaiv, a city in Southern Ukraine, six strikes over the last weekend have been attributed to Russian S-300 missiles, anti-aircraft munitions introduced roughly 40 years ago with a range of 75 miles. Two Kh-32 missiles, originally designed to sink aircraft carriers, were also credited with the strike on a Kremenchuk shopping center that killed 20 people last month. A slightly older version of the same missile was also used to strike an Odessa apartment complex last week, killing 18 people.
In order to deploy these obsolete weapons on the modern battlefield, the Russian military has reportedly outfitted them with GPS technology allowing them to roughly target towns and cities.
-snip-
News of this reliance on repurposed, decades-old weaponry reinforces other recent reports indicating that Russian forces are facing hardware shortages as the Ukraine invasion lasts longer than anticipated. Intelligence reports from the United Kingdom previously revealed that they had become more reliant on so-called "dumb bombs" as their supplies of guided weaponry have dwindled. Unable to be precisely guided, outdated munitions have reportedly resulted in heavier civilian casualties and collateral damage.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Ping.
“If Russia is turning to old Soviet technology, they have burned up their A list units.”
No they started with their old tanks and didn’t even bring their first modern tank into Ukraine until the beginning of May.
https://nypost.com/2022/05/05/russia-reportedly-loses-most-advanced-tank-in-ukraine/
It must be a great comfort to Putin, et al., that these old missiles are still capable of hitting the ground.
There are more than 400 abandoned tanks at the plant in a secret, heavily guarded depot in the town of Kharkiv
...because hitting civilian targets with expired ammunition is a thing of efficiency.
Right, so what. We engineered our NIKE anti aircraft missiles for ground attack modes too. The Hercules version had a 40KT warhead I believe.
The reason they're hitting civilians is because he has a lot of trouble reaching a keyboard, not to mention "fat fingers".
(\sarc ;>)
From the Ukrainian point of view, this is another reason to believe that they can win by outlasting Russia.
Some things are bound to start breaking or sputtering out as the war drags on and sanctions induce shortages, delays and expenses.
We discussed a few months ago, that the wheels would probably start coming off the Russian economy in June from sanctions. Month to month going forward, new effects will manifest. The clock is ticking on the Russian economy and industrial base.
It doesn’t seem that Russian forces are going to have the kind of precision deep strike superiority in the coming phases of the war, that they enjoyed in the earlier phases.
Javelins made it unsafe for the Russians to move around widely in the Ukraine. The new Artillery is now making it unsafe for them to stand still there.
When Russia runs out of the rest of their munitions, they’ll dump General Pavel out of a bomber and see what damage he can do.
Ukraine will only exist as a rump country, if it exists at all, by the time this is over. You Ukie cheerleaders seem to have no problem of “fighting to the last Ukrainian”, which seems rather odd and callous since this war was never in Ukraine’s interest to begin with. They were a mere pawn in the US’s proxy war with Russia, and have now lost everything, including many lives. And yet you “pro Ukie” people continue to cheer this destruction on. Are you guys really as stupid as you appear?
Putin: “Fighting to the last Buryat!”
Breaking news: A hammer is used for a lot more than driving nails!!
Just no chance for ukraine.
A true Ukrainian first patriot would have taken out that traitorous punk Zelensky as soon as he jumped on this war instead of negotiating. Hopefully one soon emerges to do just that.
The only actual modern tank the Orcs have is the 15-20 T-14 Armatas which are confined to parades and even then needs to be accompanied by a tow truck.
All the rest of their newer tanks are upgraded versions of the T-72 family.
T-80s and the T-9os are based on the T-72. The T-14 is their only modern competitive MBT, if it is ever produced in any numbers.
There are only a few a very few T-90Ms. And they were not in sufficient numbers at the start of their invasion. A few weeks ago the main tank factory managed to finish 8-9 new T-90Ms and shipped them directly to the front lines. Without the embargoed Swedish high quality ball bearings tank production will come to a complete stop.
If you think that’s big you should see the size of the tank depots in the Far East. If someone wanted to it looks like that place could easily be Geo-located do not really a secret, nor from drones, or satellites.
“You are the first FReeper who seems to understand this.”
No, he’s not.
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