War in Ukraine, technical and military aspects only

[Soldier36]

Unique footage of a close flyby of a Russian Su-25SM3 attack aircraft next to a drone in Ukraine. Filming from a Russian drone, location unknown. Due to the close passage of the aircraft, the drone was thrown back by the aircraft's jet stream, from a height of 58 meters to 39 meters, the altitude sensor on the left.

 

 

[Soldier36]

The first Russian BMP-3 with the 4S24 dynamic protection kit entered service with the troops. The 4S24 dynamic protection kit was first shown in August 2023. The video shows tests of the Russian 4S24 “Karkas” dynamic protection from the Research Institute of Steel. As a result of the tests, it was possible to confirm the level of protection of the container based on 4C24, which was at least 500 millimeters. The 4S24 dynamic protection set is capable of withstanding hits from a monoblock anti-tank grenade launcher, as well as armor-piercing and armor-piercing incendiary ammunition from the KPVT, ZU-23-2 and 30-mm 2A42 cannon. The area of protection covering the side of the hull of the BMP-3 armored vehicle is 62%, the forehead of the hull is 36%, and the turret of the vehicle is 70%. The new protection managed to increase the guaranteed shelf life by one and a half times. The 4S20 protection unit needed to be replaced once every 10 years, the new 4S24 protection unit can be replaced after 15 years.

 

 

[Yama]

3 hours ago, Laser Shark said:

What does this even mean? Are they just pulling some mech units out of the fray, which happens to be equipped with Abrams, or are they specifically pulling back that tank model? The former is just part and parcel of war; the latter raises some questions.

Personally I don't think it means anything: All the M1's are concentrated on a single brigade, no? Most obvious explanation is that the brigade in question has been rotated out. In general, I believe Ukraine is pretty wary about risking their tanks in current situation.

[Laser Shark]

49 minutes ago, Yama said:

Personally I don't think it means anything: All the M1's are concentrated on a single brigade, no? Most obvious explanation is that the brigade in question has been rotated out. In general, I believe Ukraine is pretty wary about risking their tanks in current situation.

That’s what I’m leaning towards too, and that what we're seeing is typical sensationalist spin by various media outlets...

[Roman Alymov]

50 minutes ago, Yama said:

Personally I don't think it means anything: All the M1's are concentrated on a single brigade, no? Most obvious explanation is that the brigade in question has been rotated out. In general, I believe Ukraine is pretty wary about risking their tanks in current situation.

Reportedly, 47th brigade (once created as all-NAO armor brigade to spearhead "spring offencive" and then became de-facto "fire brigade" alongside Azov) is not rotated out, but actively opposing pro-Riussian advance in Berdichi etc. with their Bradleys (but not Abrams and Challenger tanks they have but are not using in combat after relatively small, but humiliating losses of this vehicles).

[Perun]

Ukraine withdraws Abrams tanks from front line to adapt to Russian UAV threat

Ukraine has temporarily withdrawn American Abrams tanks from the front line, in part because Russian drones have made their work too difficult, the Associated Press reported on April 26.

https://english.nv.ua/nation/ukrainian-forces-withdraw-abrams-tanks-from-front-lines-due-to-russian-drone-threat-50413505.html

[Perun]

The failed defense of Ocheretyne settlement

The public lynch of 115th Mechanized Brigade is unjustified and unfair.

Russian forces, in surprise to many, reached the edge of Ocheretyne on April 18 and entered it two days later. The settlement, located north of Avdiivka, was supposed to be a Ukrainian strong point which would held the Russian advance for at least a few weeks.

According to Mykola Melnyk, the Russian advance towards Ocheretyne was a result of certain Ukrainian units leaving their positions without an order. Almost immediately, a witch-hunt and hateful speech against 115th Mechanized Brigade was spread by Ukrainian social media accounts and bloggers. Those, who pretended to stand by Ukrainian nation by all means, suddenly became hostile towards one Ukrainian combat brigade. Mykola Melnyk admitted that 115th Mechanized Brigade is partly responsible for this, but not only. The “not only” is important here, and many ignored it.

We went through hundreds of posts on social media, analyzed reports day by day, and managed to get a possible overview of the situation at Ocheretyne. Apart from 115th Mechanized Brigade, there were two other units operating in the area.

https://militaryland.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/april18_ocheretyne_sit.jpg

115th Mechanized Brigade covered the right flank of the railway (Novokalynove). On April 5, 1st Mechanized Battalion is known to be in this area. On April 12, the element was reinforced (or rotated) by 2nd Mechanized Battalion of the same brigade. The brigade was never fully deployed to the area. The information about 115th Mechanized Brigade replacing 47th Mechanized Brigade is false. They replaced either 23rd Mechanized Brigade or 1st Tank Brigade near Novokalynove.

425th Assault Battalion Skala was deployed on the left flank from April 12 (or sooner) to at least April 21 (or later). On April 17 and 18, soldiers of the unit operated in Novobakhmutivka.

104th Territorial Defense Brigade covered Ocheretyne itself. It’s known that on April 16, 59th Territorial Defense Battalion operated in the settlement. However, it’s unknown if they operated on their own, or the battalion was assigned under the command of 115th Mechanized Brigade, and it actually doesn’t matter.

This isn’t a blame game. If you want to ask questions, then ask the commander of Tactical Grouping of Troops Donetsk (responsible for an area between Velyka Novosilka and Horlivka), why he decided to deploy a single territorial defense battalion to defend such strategically valuable place, and why, on the right flank, were elements of a brigade that doesn’t have its own tank unit and fully-fledged artillery unit.

The command, seeing the Russian advance towards Ocheretyne, dispatched an element from 47th Mechanized Brigade (from left flank) and 115th Mechanized Brigade (from right flank) to stop the Russian advance. Neither counter-attack succeeded.

And while people on social media argue who is to blame and lynch 115th Mechanized Brigade all over the internet, the brigade has lost more than 20 soldiers (killed or missing) during the last few days and continues to defend the right flank.

https://militaryland.net/news/the-failed-defense-of-ocheretyne-settlement/

[Roman Alymov]

Pro-Rus Internet is full of jokes about "tsar-mangal" and evolution of tanks

while pro-Russians are experimenting....

 

[R011]

6 hours ago, crazyinsane105 said:

I believe if they are pulling back all their M1s, it means they don’t want them being destroyed and would rather sacrifice their T series tanks. 
 

But…if they keep sending in Leapords, well, then this will raise questions about the M1 overall 

Apparently, they're rotating the 47th Brigade, that happens to be the only one with Abrams, out of the front lines for rest and reconstitution.   It's therefore coincidental that the M1s are being withdrawn.

 

Edit: In other words, what Yama said.

Edited April 26 by R011

[Roman Alymov]

4 minutes ago, R011 said:

Apparently, they're rotating the 47th Brigade, that happens to be the only one with Abrams, out of the front lines for rest and reconstitution.   It's therefore coincidental that the M1s are being withdrawn.

 

Edit: In other words, what Yama said.

See above: 47th brigade is not rotated - but actively fighting with their Bradley IFVs (but not tanks, despite of Western-style cooperation in "combined arms" was advertisie as key feature of this brigades that were NATO-created from scratch to avoid evil Soviet influence to be inhereted).

[alejandro_]

2 hours ago, Perun said:

The failed defense of Ocheretyne settlement

The public lynch of 115th Mechanized Brigade is unjustified and unfair.

https://militaryland.net/news/the-failed-defense-of-ocheretyne-settlement/

David Axe has written an article about this, I am not a big fan but in this case he explains what happened quite clearly.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/04/24/as-russian-troops-broke-through-ukrainian-lines-panicky-ukrainian-commanders-had-no-choice-but-to-deploy-one-of-their-least-prepared-brigades/?sh=2589727e4e64

[Roman Alymov]

Walkaround and interrior of captured  M88A1 Hercules and M1150 ABV  https://t.me/milinfolive/121150

[Roman Alymov]

8 hours ago, Roman Alymov said:

See above: 47th brigade is not rotated - but actively fighting with their Bradley IFVs (but not tanks, despite of Western-style cooperation in "combined arms" was advertisie as key feature of this brigades that were NATO-created from scratch to avoid evil Soviet influence to be inhereted).

P.S. More about 47th brigade role

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

12 hours ago, Soldier36 said:

Unique footage of a close flyby of a Russian Su-25SM3 attack aircraft next to a drone in Ukraine. Filming from a Russian drone, location unknown. Due to the close passage of the aircraft, the drone was thrown back by the aircraft's jet stream, from a height of 58 meters to 39 meters, the altitude sensor on the left.

 

 

Ghost of Kyiv redux.

[Miner]

Wonder the Therminator appears, a flamethrower mounted on a robodog

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/its-entirely-legal-own-thermonator

[mkenny]

sorted  

[KV7]

On 4/27/2024 at 12:59 AM, crazyinsane105 said:

I believe if they are pulling back all their M1s, it means they don’t want them being destroyed and would rather sacrifice their T series tanks. 
 

But…if they keep sending in Leapords, well, then this will raise questions about the M1 overall 

I think it is a simple calculation that armour of any sort put into the delaying forces west of Avdiivka is just going to get wrecked cheaply. And perhaps also some "keep the dream of a better fight alive".

The Ukrainian tactics seem to be to leave enough troops to stop rapid assaults and force Russia to shell and FAB the place for weeks. This is starting to run into problems though as these delaying forces are naturally not very willing to be human speed bumps and they are refusing to deploy, withdrawing, or won't resist Russian probing attacks.

If they want to bolster these forces it is far better to use artillery and UAV as these need not be sacrificed to achieve the blunting. But they don't seem to have enough ATM either.

[Markus Becker]

I see your Su-25 and raise you...

 

[Soldier36]

Russian mechanics inspected the Ukrainian American-made M88A1 repair and recovery vehicle. The car was hit by an FPV drone, which pierced the battery compartment. The M88 repair and recovery vehicle was created in 1959, the design turned out to be successful and the M88 was upgraded in 1975 to the M88A1 version. It is worth noting that the M88A1 is designed to service M60 tanks and cannot evacuate M1 Abrams tanks. To evacuate M1 Abrams tanks, the M88A2 Hercules version was created in 1997, and in 2018 the M88A3 version was shown, as the weight of Abrams tanks continues to increase. The M88A1 military tow truck is designed for the evacuation of damaged equipment weighing up to 45 tons, with a crane lifting capacity of up to 25 tons. The M88A1's hull is armored and protects its three-man crew from small arms fire, artillery fragments and anti-personnel mines. The M88A1 is armed with a 12.7 mm Browning machine gun or a 40 mm Mark 19 mod.3 grenade launcher. The vehicle is equipped with 66 mm L8A1 smoke grenades. The M88A1 ARV is equipped with a 1350 hp engine and allows a speed of up to 42 km/h, and the vehicle has a cruising range of 480 km. The M88A1 ARV is very popular in the world and is in service with many countries.

 

 

[crazyinsane105]

Interesting stats:

Russia utilizes cotton pulp to create gunpowder (worldwide shortage of gunpowder at the moment which Russia has managed to circumvent)

Iran has sold 300,000 artillery shells to Russia since the beginning of the conflict. Didn’t realize they had that large of a capacity to produce that many shells 

[crazyinsane105]

Ukraine is saying it’s fake news that M1 Abrams was withdrawn 

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/04/27/7453276/index.amp

[Roman Alymov]

https://youtu.be/CtHJFTgkvIw

[crazyinsane105]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-buys-81-soviet-era-145127813.html
 

Quite surprising that Russia didn’t bother purchasing them just for the sake of ensuring they didn’t fall into Ukrainian hands. 

[seahawk]

Well, seems like Nazism has spread to that country as well and Russia will have provide order in the future. After Ukraine Kazakhstan will also be re-united with Russia.

[Josh]

5 hours ago, seahawk said:

Well, seems like Nazism has spread to that country as well and Russia will have provide order in the future. After Ukraine Kazakhstan will also be re-united with Russia.

All joking aside, probably not. China has major interest in Kazakhstan as a rail junction to Europe and has invested heavily there, and China could bankrupt Russia now. That’s probably why Kazakhstan feels safe to needle Russia this way.