Posted on 01/10/2024 4:36:22 PM PST by Mariner
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed for more air defence systems on Wednesday and appeared to get his wish with NATO countries agreeing to additional support in the face of Russia's invasion.
"Air defence systems are primarily among the things we lack," Zelensky said after a meeting with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda in Vilnius, on the first of a two-day trip to the Baltics.
Zelensky said Russia fired at least 500 missiles and drones at Ukraine in the final days of 2023 and the first days of 2024 in a clear escalation of the near two-year war. Some 70% of these were intercepted by Ukraine's air defences.
At a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council later in Brussels, allies discussed billions of dollars of extra help against Kremlin autocrat Vladimir Putin.
But what exactly was promised initially remained open, although NATO cited additional air defence as one example of promised assistance.
Ukraine's allies are currently procuring up to 1,000 Patriot air defence missiles via NATO to replenish stocks given to Ukraine and some of these will also be given to Kiev.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Air defense is the very last martial equipment any state wants to give up.
I bet those number are way low.
Looks like Ukraine isn’t “finished” yet!
LOL
I suppose it’s a pretty good end-to-end testing facility for the anti-aircraft weapons.
... And also a test bed for Russian anti-aircraft countermeasures. Win win. Except for the citizens.
A word about guidance.
If you are targeting incoming warheads, you have to get a radar return. This will typically be at the site of defensive missile launch. It sees the target and commands the defensive missile while it is enroute.
There are problems with this. They are:
1) the defensive missile must have some sort of lock-on to the uplinked signal providing guidance — at least until terminal guidance where it can detect the target itself.
This is never easy. It will require some directivity on the part of the antennae, and the missile may be spinning.
2) There is a lot of magical talk about AWACS planes over Poland providing the guidance information of the launched defensive missile. This also faces the antennae issue.
3) Then there is the problem of jamming. The defensive missile is already having difficulty maintaining lock onto the guidance signal. If it is jammed, the difficulty is more extreme.
4) Then there is the issue of Radar Cross Section of the target. They are not built to be large. Now you’re asking AWACS over Poland to see these tiny RCS targets 100s of miles away.
5) The incoming targets are very fast. There is very little time to see them, compute intercept, and launch.
The talk about swarms and decoys and things like that . . . you need not focus on that. The fundamental truth is the problem is extremely difficult and defensive missiles miss, often.
70,000 Ukrainian dead seems low. I thought it was more like 200,000. Tragic no matter what the numbers. Disgusting.
We can thank Mike Johnson for keeping that war going.
Possible answers to the question above: 1) The threat of attack on actual NATO nations is not as great as they say, and therefore they can 'spare' weapons for potential defense. 2) The NATO nations who might give up their air defense systems to Ukraine have or soon will have new orders for new equipment, and need to show a "need" for the new equipment to their own electorates. 3) The press' uses of the wiggle words, 'appears to,' is extrapolation of something less, to make it seem something more. Any other possible answers to the question?
Lots of show business, though, with photo-ops and such.
The Ukes need many more and longer range to strike DEEP into Russian territory, destroying critical transport and manufacturing hubs, rails and terrorizing the inevitable civilians who get caught in ot. God rest their souls.
They are still finished.
You want WWIII and nukes?
Why are there no demonstrations in Russia?
“You want WWIII and nukes?”
Many here seem to prefer that than getting spanked by Russia, and it DEFINITELY seems that the Ukrainians embedded in the US and Canadian governments prefer WW3. Also, at least after WW3, no one (left) will be held accountable.
The thing about Western systems is that no replacements are going to come on line for at least another 18 months, given how dispersed their supply chains have become.
Wonder who's losing them.
A sadly accurate estimate. True for us and true for the EU, which is even more inept.
Policy statements, position papers and "strong letters" are no match for basic research and production. Out sourcing so much of this from Clinton forward has proven idiotic.
Won’t happen but I won’t sacrifice the greater good to cower in fear over a very low possibility.
Neither would our founding fathers of the USA.
“”””Any other possible answers to the question?””””
Yes, what they give to Ukraine goes directly to destroying the very threat that we are worried about, and of course getting rid of old to make room for new.
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