Posted on 09/17/2022 7:08:09 PM PDT by Zhang Fei
Russia has inflicted serious damage on Ukrainian forces with recently introduced Iranian drones, in its first wide-scale deployment of a foreign weapons system since the war began, Ukrainian commanders say.
Over the past week, Shahed-136 delta-wing drones, repainted in Russian colors and rebranded as Geranium 2, started appearing over Ukrainian armor and artillery positions in the northeastern Kharkiv region, said Col. Rodion Kulagin, commander of artillery of Ukraine’s 92nd Mechanized Brigade.
In his brigade’s operational area alone, the Iranian drones have destroyed two 152-mm self-propelled howitzers, two 122-mm self-propelled howitzers, as well as two BTR armored infantry vehicles, he said.
Before the current wide-scale use of the Shaheds, Russia carried out a test last month, striking a U.S.-supplied M777 155-mm towed howitzer with the drone, Col. Kulagin said. Another Iranian drone malfunctioned and was recovered, he said.
So far, the Iranian drones seem to have been mostly deployed in the Kharkiv region, where the 92nd Brigade and other Ukrainian forces carried out a major offensive this month, retaking some 8,500 square kilometers, or roughly 3,300 square miles, of land occupied by Russia and seizing or destroying hundreds of Russian tanks, artillery pieces and armored carriers.
“In other areas, the Russians have overwhelming artillery firepower, and they manage with that. Here, they no longer have that artillery advantage, and so they have started to resort to these drones,” Col. Kulagin said.
Independent experts who examined photographs of recent drone wreckage from the Kharkiv region say that it appears to be Shahed-136, the latest evolution of Tehran’s delta-wing design.
Scott Crino, founder and chief executive of Red Six Solutions LLC, a strategic consulting firm, said the Shahed-136 could provide Russia with a “potent counterweight” to the high-tech weapons systems, such as Himars missile launchers, that the U.S. has provided to Ukraine.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I find it weird Russia hasn’t developed their own widespread use drones.
“In other areas, the Russians have overwhelming artillery firepower, and they manage with that. Here, they no longer have that artillery advantage, and so they have started to resort to these drones,” Col. Kulagin said.
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An armed force should not “resort” to the use of such drones only because of lack of artillery. They should be used IN ADDITION to the artillery. These “suicide” drones are “one-shot, one-kill” type weapons whereas artillery (with the exception of HIMARS type systems) has much less certainty of a kill. The Russians need these by the thousands and not by the hundreds.
As said upthread, a lot of 21st century war tactics are being tested out and combat zones are going to be more lethal because of what is learned here. Of course some militaries are instead experimenting with 87 gender combat units.
“How any drones did Iran give to Russia?”
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None. Russia is buying these drones and supporting infrastructure.
Salvo launch of the Iranian Shahed 136 kamikaze drones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m4DpPwlcW0
Thanks. Cool footage. No runway needed.
Ukraine has been using Turkish drones all along. Where’s the outrage about that?
‘Yet Another BS From WSJ.’
http://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2022/09/yet-another-bs-from-wsj.html
We have been using the switchblade drones.
So nothing new here.
No outrage because the Ukrainians are fighting back against an invasion of their sovereign nation by war criminal Putin.
Regards,
Many Iranians obtained higher educations in the USA including engineering.
Agree 100%.
The up side is the shells are “dumb” bombs for now.
This war will indeed add to warfare classes in many subjects.
Need a reliable way to Hijack the signal.
Only takes a few minutes to divert a suicide drone away from intended target.
Iran needs to pay. Make them pay.
“Col. Rodion Kulagin”
Hey, Kulagin man!
Andrei Martyanov is great and his blog attracts a lot of intelligent posters, but I think he is misreading the Iranian drone situation. Andrei quotes the following authority.
“Russia has no problems with drones, they are the best and there are enough of them, said Dmitry Shugaev, director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation. “We have no problems with drones. We have the best drones. We have the most wonderful drones,” he told reporters. When asked if there were enough of them, Shugaev said that “we have enough of everything.” Earlier, some media outlets and Telegram channels disseminated unconfirmed information that fragments of a drone, outwardly similar to an Iranian kamikaze drone, were allegedly found in the Russian special operation zone in Ukraine. Commenting on these reports, Shugaev urged to believe only statements from the Ministry of Defense.”
But, it would be a mistake to read too much into his expected statement...we are the best, ours are the best, we have plenty...yada, yada...:-)
Russia does have good drones, but it does not have good kamikaze drones. Iran has great Kamikaze drones which they have produced based on the American drone they captured years ago which the U.S. is very concerned about.
“Little is known about the Shahed-136. It is produced by Shahed Aviation Industries, which has a long history of drone development, including the successful Shahed-129, a Predator lookalike; the Shahed-149, which is Iran’s answer to the larger Reaper; and the Shahed-181 and -191 stealth drones based on technology reverse-engineered from a U.S. RQ-170 captured in 2011. Iranian drones may not be original, but they are effective enough to cause major concern to the U.S. and Israel.”
“The Shahed-136 is big for a loitering munition, said to be around 200 kilos/440 pounds, 12 feet long with an 8-foot wingspan and a range estimated at more than a thousand miles, but these figures are provisional.”
“According to the Iranians, the Shahed-136 is extremely accurate; their videos show it hitting multiple targets with high precision. Such videos are easily faked, but the strikes at Abqaiq were notable for their consistent accuracy. The terminal guidance system is unknown, but may include some form of optical or infra-red imager able to recognize and lock on to targets rather than simple GPS guidance.”
There is a lot of information on the internet which indicates pretty conclusively that Russia is using Iran’s drones/technology.
Russia NOW has great Kamikaze drones...:-)
It's been a war of attrition between Ukrainians (fighting for their lives, but clearly not spending them needlessly, and understanding their adversaries much better than we do, and better than their adversaries understand them) and undermotivated, undercompensated, and overworked invaders from Russia and various puppet states controlled by Russia. Putin's "effectives" and "bayonets" have become stuff to fill graves.
Apparently, these types of drones are called “loitering munitions” which (I think) means that they can fly around in the battle zone waiting for a target to appear. Then the gal flying them tells them where to attack. A regular UAV fires a missile and then flies back to a base and a cruise missile attacks a pre-designated target. Or something like that.
(Per wikipedia that is)
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