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: