Should point out there has been no TB-2s for 12 days and the Russians are putting out vastly more drone footage.
Ah, the SA-17 "Grizzly." Very modern SAM system with no real NATO equivalent that I know of. Really neat to see it in the field. Husky already posted a search radar, but I can contribute a battalion command post vehicle:
Also, rejoice, for the Ukrainians have released more TB-2 drone footage:
Amazing to see MLRS in action against the kind of target it was intended for; maneuver units in open areas. It's amazing that even unitary warhead rockets are scoring kills. These old systems are nothing to laugh at or take lightly.
In possibly related news:
Bit by bit, Russia eliminates the main threat to bringing its Strategic Bombers in for carpet bombardments.
Actually I'd say the S-200, aka the SA-5 "Gammon," is the biggest threat to them, because these missiles are designed specifically for destroying strategic bombers and have an insane range against them. (Since they are the size of a goddamned SRBM, they also have the raw kinematic performance to hit fighters. Israel lost an F-16 to a Syrian S-200 a few years back!) Ukraine decommissioned their S-200 sites in 2013, and did it crudely;
literally hacking the cables to the equipment off with axes. (
Here is a picture of how the cables were run through hardened tunnels at S-200 sites.) Ironically, this probably saved Ukraine's S-200s as they were (like most S-200s) installed at a fixed site, without the semi-mobile launcher. They would have been hit by cruise missiles on day one. Returning these to service is very possible, but they'll need a jury-rigged trailer mount (mounting the launchers on a new pedestal bolted to a flatbed trailer or truck). Data cables are just cables; some networking classes used to make students make their own CAT5e cables. It will take effort and money to re-activate them in this fashion but something tells me that Ukrainian air defense brigades have the full co-operation of their government right now. 🤔
Also, it is interesting to see increasing use of natural camouflage in the field as troops adapt to the problem of very persistent drone surveillance: