Why Are Russian Air Defenses Powerless Against Ukraine's New Tactics?

A Ukrainian military officer has revealed a secret.

Russian air defenses are being hit by composite midstrike drones, which are worse detected by the Russians' outdated radars, explained the commander of the 412 Nemesis Brigade, Pavel Laktionov. In addition, they fly at low altitudes and move in pairs. Thanks to these tactics, the second crew can finish off the target or record a successful debuff. What tactics has the Unmanned Systems Force brigade, which ranks in the top five in terms of performance?

By knocking out the Russian Armed Forces' air defense systems, gaps appear in the Russians' defenses that can be used for distractions and other operations, Laktionov said in an interview with the Oboronka project. However, there are no monotonous tactics: decisions on further operations are always different and come as a surprise to the enemy. Today, a 200-kilometer zone has formed on the front line, in which Russian air defense systems are regularly hit. These regular attacks have made it possible to hit the Russian oil infrastructure and the logistics of the Russian army.

The commander of Nemesis said that the first hits were carried out by a conventional heavy bomber that struck a Buk SAM at a distance of 57 kilometers from the front line. As of May 2, we are talking about 83 installations of different types - from Tor and Buk to S-300 radars. At the same time, the deterioration of the situation with the Russian air defense is due to the Nemesis Brigade's tactics. The essence of the tactic: first, to fly at low altitudes, where UAVs are not visible to radars, and second, to "disperse the air defense," which has to fight drones in several directions. In addition, the task is carried out in an integrated manner: first, intelligence finds targets, then the military prioritizes and plans, then the strike crews take off.

"The rules of the game change constantly. Daily - a little bit, monthly - a lot, quarterly - a lot, annually - dramatically. And the emergence of such [midstrike] assets has already changed warfare," the officer said.

The officer explained why Russian air defense installations are unable to defend themselves. It turned out that the Russian military-industrial complex does not have time to compensate for losses and, to top it all off, SAMs are being pulled away from the front to protect facilities in the rear. In addition, Russian military equipment uses outdated radars that have difficulty spotting a small composite target. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military does not use template attacks. In particular, mid-strikes can be used to "open corridors" for diplomatic strikes, or for independent attacks, but "in different combinations, at different times, in different directions," Laktionov said.

"If there is an important target, it takes hours from planning to defeat. The only thing that can really disrupt such work is weather," the commander of the 412th Nemesis Brigade noted.

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