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Ukraine war: Drone pilots mark targets for new offensive
BBC ^ | August 18, 2022 | Abdujalil Abdurasulov

Posted on 08/18/2022 4:16:23 AM PDT by McGruff

For weeks Ukraine's armed forces have been talking of launching a counter-offensive in the south, and now a senior military officer has told the BBC they aim to recapture the city of Kherson within weeks. Instead of a major full-scale attack, they are expected to adopt a different strategy, with a role for small drone units.

His eyes glued to a monitor, a member of Ukraine's special operation forces is operating a drone flying over Russian positions when he spots an armoured vehicle hidden in trenches: "Fire when you're ready," he says in a voice message to an artillery unit.

Russian lines are just 3km (1.9 miles) away and this soldier has to hide his identity: his call-sign is Maverick, from the movie Top Gun.

The task for Maverick and his team is to identify potential targets and pass on their coordinates. Then they watch and direct fire.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 08/18/2022 4:16:23 AM PDT by McGruff
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To: McGruff

Well may I say GOODBY Maverick.


2 posted on 08/18/2022 4:27:34 AM PDT by Sacajaweau ( )
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To: McGruff
Russian lines are just 3km (1.9 miles) away and this soldier has to hide his identity: his call-sign is Maverick...

I think Russia has missiles and artillery with a range of a few miles.

I wonder if his apartment house neighbors know what he is doing at that monitor day after day?

3 posted on 08/18/2022 4:36:15 AM PDT by Navy Patriot (Celebrate Decivilization)
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To: McGruff

Like I said, this war has shown how technology is change the nature of warfare:

Armored vehicles/tanks shown to be far less as important,

the massive expenditure of traditional artillery has yielded less than expected results for the Russians

Precision artillery combined with eye in the skytechnology (drones,GPS,Satellites) have made positions in the rear much more vulnerable.


4 posted on 08/18/2022 4:37:25 AM PDT by FreshPrince
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To: FreshPrince

“the massive expenditure of traditional artillery has yielded less than expected results for the Russians”

I’m not sure what they were expecting, but the combination of drones as artillery spotters is the real tactical gain here. Trouble is, the Ukrainian army has few artillery assets left. Recent fighting has demonstrated that hardened positions like those constructed in eastern Ukraine are turned into death traps for troops once spotted and targeted. Hyperbaric weapons are simply unstoppable. And finding yourself underneath one is a bad day.


5 posted on 08/18/2022 5:26:08 AM PDT by Not_Who_U_Think
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To: McGruff

That war’s still going on? I thought Russia got the land they wanted and the resources to go with it.


6 posted on 08/18/2022 5:26:45 AM PDT by cuban leaf (My prediction: Harris is Spiro Agnew. We'll soon see who becomes Gerald Ford, and our next prez.)
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To: McGruff

US forces have access to an array of very effective drone detection and destruction/denial platforms.

Drones are neither ‘invisible’ not invulnerable over US Forces.


7 posted on 08/18/2022 5:46:59 AM PDT by Blueflag (Res ipsa loquitur: ad ferre non, velit esse sine defensione)
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To: cuban leaf

Yeah I heard that the Ukrainian eastern front was collapsing about 4 months ago.

Funny its still there.


8 posted on 08/18/2022 5:53:01 AM PDT by FreshPrince
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To: cuban leaf

They have they land they wanted, but the ukes are not going to let them stay. This will continue until Russia leaves. Nothing else will matter.


9 posted on 08/18/2022 5:55:41 AM PDT by DownInFlames (P)
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To: DownInFlames

Aren’t a lot of the ukrainians that live in that area sympathetic to russia?


10 posted on 08/18/2022 6:44:35 AM PDT by cuban leaf (My prediction: Harris is Spiro Agnew. We'll soon see who becomes Gerald Ford, and our next prez.)
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To: Not_Who_U_Think

rouble is, the Ukrainian army has few artillery assets left. Recent fighting has demonstrated that hardened positions like those constructed in eastern Ukraine are turned into death traps for troops once spotted and targeted. Hyperbaric weapons are simply unstoppable. And finding yourself underneath one is a bad day.
//////////
Ukes don’t need a lot of artillery for this to be deadly because the uavs a great spotters.

That’s half the point.

Add in the ability of some new equipment to track and kill russian spotter radar. Add to that himars and sabateurs blowing up munitions and supplies so the russians absolutely can’t bring big guns to bear at scale—and everything changes.

The war has changed in the last weeks since the himars arrived. you can see it in pictures of the front. Before the himars the Ukes side was ablaze in sattelite pictures of the front while almost nothing was ablaze.

now you see occasional blazes on the Uke side. But as much ore more on the russian side.

big difference. the massed artillery is gone.


11 posted on 08/18/2022 12:49:33 PM PDT by ckilmer (qui)
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