Britain is set to donate hundreds more air defence missiles to Ukraine, including AMRAAM missiles, capable of shooting down Russian cruise missiles.
According to a news release, the AMRAAM missiles, which will be provided in the coming weeks for use with the NASAMS air defence systems pledged by the US, are the first donated by the UK which are capable of shooting down cruise missiles.
“The rockets will help to protect Ukraineās critical national infrastructure, with the announcement coming days after Russian missiles struck civilian targets in cities across Ukraine.
Hundreds of additional air defence missiles, of other types previously provided, will also be donated as part of the package, along with hundreds of additional aerial drones to support Ukraineās information gathering and logistics capabilities, and a further 18 howitzer artillery guns, in addition to the 64 already delivered.
Bolstering Ukraineās air defences has been and remains a priority for UK military support. So far we have provided a variety of air defence systems including Stormer vehicles fitted with Starstreak launchers, and hundreds of anti-air missiles.”
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said:
“Russiaās latest indiscriminate strikes on civilian areas in Ukraine warrant further support to those seeking to defend their nation. So today I have authorised the supply of AMRAAM anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine. These weapons will help Ukraine defend its skies from attacks and strengthen their overall missile defence alongside the US NASAMS.”
The UK will also give Ā£10 million to NATOās Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine. The funding will help to provide urgent non-lethal assistance to Ukraine such as winter clothes, shelters, generators, fuel trucks and ambulances for the Ukrainian Army ahead of the winter, you can read more here.
Which platforms does Ukraine have to fire AMRAAM from?
NASAMS.
Am I right in saying the UK do not operate NASAMS?
Yes, we’ve never purchased it. It was developed for Norway originally, has had more success than you’d think on the export market.
Exactly – a bit of a confusing statement from Mr Wallace,does NASAMS use a standard AMRAAM carried by Aircraft,im not sure.
Yes standard ASRAAM launched from a rail setup in the canister.
Sorry AMRAAM
š
It doesnāt. The US is providing NASAMS.
NASAMS
This makes a lot of sense as we have stocks of AMRAAM we are not using. I am not sure if we have any left from the F3 days but we did do a top up recently to keep supplies for the T1 and F35B and with the T1 retirement and Block IV adding meteor we should have spare.
However this shows the folly of relying on Rapier well past its sell by date and even now having no theatre level or land based ABM system. We have almost nothing to give Ukraine for the current threat.
Hopefully the new long range CAMM we are developing with Poland can give us something in this category. But a system like SAMP T should be the first thing on our expansion list and a true ABM capability like Aster 30 Blk 2 NT or Arrow 3 for home island defence and Cyprus should also be very high up on that list as well. We could even leverage SAMPSON and what ever we are going to put in to T83 as the radar.
Agreed.
I do agree, but one thing we do have in our favour is that our ship based integrated air defence systems can if needed protect the approachās to the U.K. so our land bases systems only ever neede to be a last layer.
one of the reasons only have 6 T45s is an issue, as you cannot use them to escort carriers or amphibious units at the same time as supporting U.K. air defence as needed. If we had kept to the original numbers they could have been a huge part if we needed an integrated air defence system in place at times of escalation.
Ships are fine as ABM shields when your fighting North Korea but when your adversary has dozens of high end SSN, SSGN and SSK they can be a bit vulnerable.
Are they really high end though? When said adversary has been using pay as you go mobiles on the ground to communicate it doesnt look like it.
Hi Jim to be honest the reality of the Russian SSN fleet is that itās not high end 21c Itās still a fleet that is very much only at the top end of Cold War design. Even its its Yasen class ( 2 in the northern fleet, 2 in the Pacific fleet) are actually old project 885 designs, that were designed in the 1980s and first one laid down in 1990. As it was well know that Russia boats were around a generation behind western boats at the time they are likely contemporaries the original 688 class or trafalgar. As for the Akula they have 7 in the northern fleet with 2 of those in long mode life refits. Again older boats, that are being fitted for long range missile strike, not coming out and fighting Western ASW. There is pretty good evidence that all the refits and developments of the Russia SSN fleet is away from a direct conflict with western ASW and instead the development of a bastion approach where they all sit up in the high north and lob long range missiles at Key NATO sites.
So I would say that where you would want the RN acting as a missile shield the Russian SSN fleet will be way up north and east firing the missiles.
Always believed it would be a difficult proposition to eliminate Russian boomers screened by attack subs in a polar bastion. However, given enough time for polar ice melt to occur under current assumptions/projections, problem may resolve itself. Of course, there might be a few minor ancillary issues associated w/ this scenario…š¤Æ
I’d like to see the UK maybe purchasimg another 2 AAW variants of the A140 of even upgrading sone of the T31s as interims before the T83. They take the S1850 radar but not sure if the PAAMs Aster system would fit. The CAMM EX jv with Poland looks very useful for land and sea systems.
Itās a shame we could not up the speed of production of the T26 as you could develop a AAW fit for these hulls.
Yes, that too. The A140/T31 AAW might be quite a bit cheaper and quicker to build and undercover tooā¦lol.
I believe we purchased 200 missiles from the US plus launchers and ground support equipment. How many we are donating from stocks is not clear but the US are providing the launchers and canisters obviously the AMRAAMS we have purchased are compatible with the US.
That was the Amraam D-3 order.
The missiles supplied to Ukraine won’t be those.
These will likely be the C-5’s that the D-3 replaced or the preceding B variants.
There could be c300 if both C-5 and B are available.
Interesting thanks for that.
We would need to get rid of the old versions at some point when the new stock of updated missiles appeared so they may as well go now with a WOOOSHHH! and a BANG! as the manufacturer intended.
If this invasion persists for a sufficient period of time, the West may indeed get it’s act together, ala the Berlin Airlift. Strangely enough, same opponent…š¤š
Nothing like efficient use of government resources.
I was hoping that was the case, great way to use old but very expensive and capable missiles.
NASAMS has a data-bus that can speak to all types other than the very earliest I read somewhere, trying to dig out the article.
Thatās what I wondered. Very useful then
Before anyone gets too excited…
These Amraam are likely to be either the old AIM-120B that SHAR used to carry before passing them to Tornado F.3, then Typhoon, that have been retired an age, or more likely, the AIM-120C-5 that have been replaced by Meteor and AIM-120D-3 recently. The B variant were life expired by UK standards, as were the C-5. D-3’s were bought to replace the C-5 rather than re-life them (the C-5’s replaced the B’s a decade ago).
So these missiles were all going spare and are free….in fact it saves the UK taxpayer money as we don’t have to pay to safely dispose of them…
Exactly this.
But the question is are they good enough to take out 1980/90’s vintage Orc kit? I would say very probably so.
So with a hit to kill probably of say 90% the nice Mr Zelenski will be happy to get rid of 180 Orc platforms.
As you say disposal is very expensive. But keeping them did, in this instance, give our allies a bigger stick.
BTW I think this is more about saying that Ukraine can shoot down tactical nucs.
And we do hope replenishment or newer replacement stock is on its way for the UK. I asked earlier anyone would know about the recently retired Rapier stock. I’d imagine that would still be somewhat still useful.
See my initial post. Amraam D-3, the latest model, are already being delivered. Meteor has also supplanted most earlier Amraam so we’re very well covered.
UK has the best A2A weaponry of any country on earth right now..
Probably air to ground as well excluding fixed wing anti ship missiles, we have pretty much the number one in every other category. Itās the one thing we have excelled at in the last 30 years. Shame we only have 5 of each š
D3 would take it to well over 200 units?
The AIM-120D3 purchase was for ‘up to’ 200 missiles.
We don’t need a vast number as they’re principally for F-35B (until Meteor arrives) and Typhoon Tranche 1 (until it retires). The Typhoon Tranche 2 and 3 will principally use Meteor.
I can see Rapier has bee mentioned by Jim above. As it’s only recently been formerly retired (was it just this year?) it could still have a bit of life in it and it’s very mobile and deployable.
Anyway, wish Mr BW not go broadcasting out loud what and when we’re sending to Ukraine again. Why tell the Russian’s up front? Shoot first, answer any questions later! š¬š§ š¦šŗ š³šæ šŗš¦
I wonder why they haven’t been donated so far. Rapier might not be cutting edge but it can do a job.
You’d think so, but Rapier’s top range is 8km- that’s about the same as Starstreak. Having a trailer-mounted missile system that has the lower performance than our MANPADS solution shows how far Rapier lags now. It’d likely just make itself a target and get the operators killed…
Not if it is defending cities/power stations in the rearā¦
Every bit helps. Placing Rapier in Kyiv or Lviv close to critical infrastructure could make life more difficult for Iranian loitering dronesā¦.
That’s fair, I didn’t really consider that use at the time- was thinking about use nearer the front line.
Absolutely blindfire Raipier would still be highly effective at point air defence of key sites, especially forward deployed…..
Yes, but when the table stakes are as high as tactical nukes, presume Mr. Z would prefer something as close to 100% as feasible. Uncertain which system that would be, but the manufacturer’s advertising copy would virtually write itself. Actually, countries would probably be competing to queue up to be first for delivery…š¤š³
I think safely disposing on them in the rear of a Russian mig is the best use for them. š
Quite
The most effective use of taxpayers money.
This is all a bit late but better than never. More should have been sent earlier. Getting sick of hearing about these Russian missile attacks.What cowardly thick bastards their leaders are. Hope šŗš¦ forces can wipe the floor of them asap and push them out of the whole country. Good to hear šŗš¦ is shooting lots of missiles and helicopters out of the sky. Wonder if any Rapiers have been sent as they’d still be pretty useful? Hope the UK now gets off its “GBAD bum” too.
Rant over.
Does seem to have taken an age to supply anything beyond short range anti air missile. Is NATO so very short of such systems or has this been a serious concern about escalation? Shooting attacking missiles out of the air seems like a right to me but maybe they were concerned about taking out the expected hordes of Russian aircraft and the repercussions that might have. Certainly should have been supplied earlier and in this case good on much maligned Germany for being first to do so. I presume the US is reluctant to put their own state of the art tech in harms way but supplying NASAMS seems to have taken an age while as we know we have little in the locker in terms of systems to actually send, LandCeptor is clearly not on the cards.
Hi Spy, yes, it’s a bit of catchup and even being first with newer gear but if all goes well with it then there’s always the potential bonus of getting “street cred” and follow on orders, longer term supply relationships and more basically, a big thanks from Ukraine šŗš¦ , its President and its people! The damage done to their country and people is absolutely horrendous. I wonder how much of the Russian people really know what their leaders and forces are doing in Ukraine. We all sure hope that Ukraine will triumph shortly!
Compared to the AD systems of Ukraine at the start of the year, Russia and probably Belarus, NATO is very short of such systems as the strategy is to rely on overwhelming air based systems.
The success of the Ukrainian AD in suppressing Russian aircraft attacks, forcing them to use ballistic and cruise missiles, may well be giving NATO pause for thought on both sides of that equation Does it have enough AD, ballistic and cruise missiles?. Moving these systems, the US is also mentioning Patriots, into Ukraine will be a good opportunity for real world testing.
NATO has such a thing as an Airforce, the people in this Airforce are trained in a wide variety of missions but number one is something we call SEAD.
By conducting SEAD operations, operating the biggest fleet of 5th gen aircraft in the world, able to conduct missions even in the face of air defence systems. In addition equipping all 4 and 4.5 gen aircraft with incredibly advanced defensive aid sub systems like praetorian, NATO is able to achieve a state that we call air superiority. This air superiority allows us to fly over the battlefield taking out enemy artillery and conducting precision strikes on enemies logistics often with quite cheap semi active weapons.
This contrasts to the way of the Orcs which is where a boozy Orc climbs in to museum like āaircraftskiā flys within a few hundred miles of the Area of operation and launches multi million dollar āmiskilskiā guided by used washing machine parts at a children’s school, Neonatal hospital or other such target to cause horror around the world then claim superiority and victory as they kill more babies than anyone else.
Itās just a different way of fighting, the only thing NATO is learning from the Orcs is just how **** the orcs are and how over hyped S300 and S400 is.
Itās getting to the point that the Orcs will be lucky to have a country soon as everyone around them is starting to figure out that people so poor and backward probably canāt maintain the nuclear weapon stockpiles they claim to have that are the only thing stopping their best buddies in China from walking in and taking all the gas fields in Siberia.
Jim donāt bother giving him a knowledgeable, well presented and informative reply, as he doesnāt care, wonāt bother taking it in and will (possibly) only reply to a single snippet of your info as not to put himself in a position to be challenged or have to give an explanation and/or justification. He is just a very obvious troll coward. Cheers š
Trolls deserting Orcs š
Cheers Barry, the vast majority on here have standards, morals, the rule of law to which we comply, integrity and experience on most subject matters! JohninMK has a collar, a lead, a handler, a handbag and a script! Keep up the good posts š
Ah, John, your back. What is your take on Russia hitting children’s play parks and foot bridges in the last week? They do not even deny it this time. Neither are an MSR like the Kerch bridge.
Mate, you’d think Putin would have the sense to read up on history . Targeting innocent civilians only serves to stiffen morale to fight back. We now see the seeds of discontent taking root amongst the Russian population.
Putin has a self imposed tiger by the tail. He needs to pause and reflect on how Russian discontent drove the events leading up to Oct 1918. Oops too late!
Yes mate, look at the Blitz and Hitler.
We Brits moved from “miffed” to “peeved” when the tea supply got affected.
The Ukrainians will never forgive or forget. They do however, in my view need to reign in their ambitions.
Let’s see now, I think some of that bullshit needs correction….
‘forcing them to use ballistic and cruise missiles,’
No. No one forced Russia to use missiles to target hospitals, schools, playgrounds, offices and housing. Putin ordered it in a vain attempt to look tough on the world stage as part of his murderous onslaught against a nation he thinks shouldn’t exist. It’s a war he’s busy losing, his forces humiliated on every battlefield .
The only group that will have been given pause for thought is the Russian high command, after being told in no uncertain terms by NATO that any attempt to attack NATO members, or deploy a tactical WMD will see Russia being shocked and awed back to the 10th century. That’s before they even address their abject military failures.
How is the training going for your comrades since the forced mobilisation? Are they looking forward to meeting the NLAW’s ?
I’d prefer their ground based mates getting brassed up by a gimpy. Will drop when hit, and so will their fellow convicts.
Considering that it’s been over 8 months and the Ukrainian air force is still able to fly, I don’t think NATO will be too troubled with the overhyped Russian air defense systems. I hope you realized that NATO would have most likely destroyed Russian AD in a matter of days if it was NATO doing the attacking.
Ukraine air force isn’t exactly flying though, certainly not freely, same with russian. They are both having to operate carefully and opertunistically, because of the ground based air defenses are making air supremacy impossible. It’s hard to know if Ukraine air defense has been super effective or if russian jets have been really bad, the truth is probably somewhere between the two.
“Ukraine air force isnāt exactly flying though”
Oh they definitely are. Who do you think is firing those HARM missiles that was giving to them? I agree not freely but considering the numerical superiority of the Russian air force and AD systems you would think that the Russians would have been able to establish air superiority after almost a year. Also the equipment of the Ukrainian AF could hardly be considered modern and yet they are still able to sortie these limited numbers almost daily it seems based of video evidence.
I’m not sure if true or not, as hard to get independent data, but what I read is that the Ukraine air force were limited to doing a handful of missions, which is why they are still flying.
Ah John, how is your predicted Russian advance from Kherson to Odesa going?ā¦ š¤£šš¤£
The same way he said the Orcs could reach the polish border whenever they wanted!
The Orcs would have trouble reaching their arses to scratch them!
Fellow orcs will be licking them clean for rations.
Iāve asked him a number of times but his handler has him on a tight leash, and he doesnāt fancy joining the T64 low flying turret display team!
Is it ok to burst out laughing on a crowded train at 23:56
You tw@t!
šš
Keep up, the T-64 is operated by the Ukrainians. but I’ll concede that its turret flies just as well as those of the T-62 or T-72.
Ah a handbag answer š getting under your troll skin I see! Nice! However regardless of that, just a sad, no depth one liner of an answer, as far to afraid to get into a challenging conversation on your thoughts, opinions and previous claims.
And, as for tanks, since your rapist mates have desperately tried to invade Ukraine, it would seem the Ukrainians operate every bit of kit your mates started withā¦.always beware a Ukrainian farmer! Laughing stock, Nazi Russia a laughing stock! And, any thoughts on the current tactical situation on the ground or your mates efforts at recruitment? I see your using āsnatch squadsā on the streets now and also rounding up the homeless (plenty of those in Nazi Russia) How about a more depth response without the cowardice, no? Thought not!
Not at all, your talking shite as ever! NATO doesnāt need to pause for thought, as your nonce Nazi mates sending 80s tech Zanusi missiles straight into Civvy houses and killing innocents, doesnāt concern a modern, well equipped and trained NATO force, NATO realise the Russians are even crapper and more cowardly than ever (Hitler did similar in 44/45)! Give yourself a fucking tea break, stop waffling irrelevant shite and maybe put your opinion forward on both the current tactical situation on the ground and Putins current and ongoing recruitment methods. But, as ever, to afraid to nail your colours to the post!
Morning AB, Great reply Mate, good on you for pushing back!
Thanks Klonkie, he has kept a super low profile hasnāt he! But his handlers expect posts, and post he must šš Cheers mate!
He talks shite on every post and changes his tune depending on his handlers instructions. He is to afraid to condemn even the most vile acts by Putin and his thieving, raping, murdering nonce military! He is just a keyboard coward, simple really.
š Thanks mate, I should leave him alone to wallow in his own nonce juice, but, I cannot resist making him swing his handbag at everyone! Sad to say thereās always pathetic trolls with an agenda, a recent one was A Moore, currently flagged up and banned as troll baiting him got very sad when he vocally supported the rape of Ukraine women and girls! How sad, pathetic and disgusting these little Nazi trolls are! But, fortunately we have lots of posters on here with ninja knowledge, loads of experience in all 3 services and great banter and sense of humour, and the subject matters are debated properly ššš
Believe it to solely be reticence to begin ascent if escalatory ladder. Sleepy Joe is an inherently cautious leader, but Mad Vlad has forced his hand. My only question is who owns the top rung of said ladder? And who takes that additional next step?
…of…š
The good thing is the death toll is very Low although tragically not zero. Firing the few cruise missiles you have left and being desperate enough to use S300 missiles for ground strikes and sending them in to 1960ās era concrete apartment blocks wonāt achieve much.
What are the chances of Sky Sabre or Rapier for Ukraine?
I’m guessing that Sky Sabre is still being rolled in production but even Poland seems to be getting initial deliveries and all sorts of nations are putting in orders for CAMM. How many have the British Army got so far?
Is Rapier any more use than a decent MANPAD these days? We must have loads of them, if the sensors are helpful you’d think that perhaps lining the coast of Odessa or something like that wouldn’t hurt. It doesn’t sounds like it’s being considered though?
No chance of any Sky Sabre for Ukraine, because only 25 were ordered, not sure how many had been produced so far, since last year became operational.
Where did you get the 25 figure M? I’ve been looking for confirmation of a number for some time, as have others here.
There must still be FSC units kicking about somewhere…
8 x Rapier per launcher.
Man handling reloads because the missile is lightweight.
Very good thermal and TV sight cued from a surveillance radar so 24hr hour all weather capable.
Send them.
We barley have any sky Sabre for ourselves. Rapier will be sitting around as itās only just coming off front line service but will it be much use to them compared to Star Streak. More training and logistics but about the same effect.
Itās an area that we have been s**t in for a long time.
Rapier FSC with its EO/IR turret and radar would be rather useful down in Odessa and Mykolaiv defending against Shahed drones, particularly at night where guns and MANPADS will struggle.
Better off using a radar controlled 30mm or Phalanx against the crap cheap model club drones.
Honestly Rapier isnāt the solution here.
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Unfortunately, the C-RAM Centurion systems that were built for Iraq and Afghanistan have all been dismantled and returned to the RN as standard Phalanx. No idea if the trailers were retained in case of use at a later date. But we’ve no spare Phalanx anyway…
We have retired Goalkeeper, but thats a rather large proposition to mount on a vehicle (although the Chinese have managed with their similar Type 730). Think we only ever had 15-16 Goalkeeper though…
Rapier is something we can send, its got sensors that is more than MANPADS has, particularly useful at night, and a ready supply of missiles that we can tap into without reaching into our own operational stockpile. Be useful against LO cruise missiles as well with the laser guidance.
It’s a pity that we never developed the proposed Sea Dart and Sea Wolf ground launchers as there will be a fair few of those still knocking about…we built over 2,000 missiles for each system…and kept upgrading them, apart from that the cupboard is bare. Suspect we’ve recently loaned the Poles some CAMM to get their interim NAREW (like Land Ceptor) capability operational.
It is a very interesting point about Dart and Wolf: there will be a big stockpile of them somewhere. Be a big setup as they both require radar directors and would be very vulnerable to radar homing missiles.
The project teams are long gone and Iād be surprised if any of the Dart stuff (consoles etc) was kept when T42 was retired. Youād also need to migrate the software to run on an emulatorā¦..
There would be more chance with Wolf as that was more recently stripped out and so the systems were being maintained until quite recently.
Unfortunately there is zero chance of it. Suspect most of the Sea Dart have been safely dismantled now (which is crazy as they could have been relifed as low altitude targets for missile defence).
The biggest problem with Dart were some of the bits which were museum grade.
Sure it was updated but it sure was dated. It was a very slow evolving project so had some archaic bits baked in from the start.
Problem is that Phalanx is point defence. Great for static targets of high value but thats about it.
2000m range on a good day as long as the Threat Evaluation Weapon Assessment software decides that a missile is going to hit you. If it decides its a crossing target it wont go for it.
The US Army had the 20mm gun on M113s but I think they where optical guided only and went out of use in the mid 90s.
Rapier FSC- 8-10 k range , engage 2 targets at a time. One launcher, blindfire radar and the surveillance system can cover a 100sq Km sector and each bit goes behind a medium sized 4×4 to move it. It can also track and engage supersonic targets. Thats a definite plus because you cannot do that with a MANPADS and ivan is using supersonic ASMs to hit land targets.
True
My experience of Rapier in the ā80s wasnāt fantastic. Against straight flying sub sonic missiles it is probably quite good. Question is are any of the sets resurrectable? The most likely would be the ones down south which were in service until the first Sky Sabre came into service down there.
Given the āsophisticationā of the drones being used the local clay pigeon club could probably do the job.
The Iranian jet drones are a joke and look like something made from the air fix kit of the Vulcan (no disrespect to the Vulcan).
Phalanx would only be useful for protecting fixed AD targets against anti-radar missiles.
We should have dumped all Rapier FSC into Ukraine months ago. Could have trained them up and sited them to protect fixed locations like Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Kyiv.
The bit that everyones misses is that whilst Rapier FSC isn’t perfect…its free and there are plentiful missiles, and each one sent free’s up a Ukrainian system like an SA-8 to go off and move closer to the front and further reduce the Russian Air Forces effectiveness.
Every time I see video of a Buk or other system engaging a Russian cruise missile or UAV I wonder just how many the Ukrainians have left after 8 months of war…
Rappier have a very short range so a low altitude capability so a drone can stay out of its range and destroy it.
And probably 30 years later do not work anymore if it even still exists in some magazine.
Rapier was progressively upgraded throughout its life into Rapier FSC, new missiles built as well..
It was only retired in January 2022…
And its plenty good enough to shoot down UAV and Cruise Missiles…
Cruise missiles okay, it is a good system with a good discriminating radar. Drones like i said can just stay out of range. Or at 8000m above the missile launcher…
I see that Arthur counter-battery radars have appeared on video in Ukraine.
I admit I knew nothing about this system.
Seems … capable.
https://mil.in.ua/en/news/the-british-arthur-counter-battery-radar-is-now-in-service-of-the-armed-forces-of-ukraine/
https://twitter.com/PaulJawin/status/1579732448274833408
One of the things that are needed in greater quantity for us. Should each brigade not have its own battery?
I believe we have just 5 in the entire British Army and they replaced the COBRA systems.
COBRA was sold off due to …ahem…issues.
MAMBA will be replaced by Project Serpens. Hopefully by the GaN AESA based Giraffe 4A, which can also do air surveillance out to 400km.
Truth is we’re not doing bad on radars at present. Giraffe AMB, Giraffe 1X recently announced still some Marconi Daggers around, MAMBA and hopefully soon Giraffe 4A.
Pity Leonardo and BAE have zero interest in making them in the UK…there was a time when everyone used Cymbeline…
Interesting R, more detail than I’m aware of. š
I thought the Giraffes were more regards LEAP and Land Sceptre, not CBR?
Marconi Daggers? Lost me there.
Do we still have the mortar location kit? I forget it’s name
Also, was all the BASE ISTAR kit from Afghan got rid off or did we retain any?
OK, Marconi Dagger, the Rapiers Blindfire? Just educated myself.
Marconi Dagger is the circular looking radar seperate to the Rapiers Blindfire radar. Its towed on its own.
Giraffe AMB can do some counter battery, but 1X and 4A are more specialised, with 4A at the higher end of capability.
OK, ta. ļ»æšļ»æ
Dagger was never fully integrated into Rapierā¦..it was sort of half thereā¦.
LCMR? Mate it was a UOR so probably dumped when it needed upgrades or servicing. If still around 5 Reg RA would have it stashed somewhere Iām sure š
Hi mate.
Yes 5 Reg have all that stuff don’t they. Back home now so have access to the files and the word I was looking for was…..LCMR, you were right!
I also have noted something called ASP, a sound ranging system?
Just what could we actually send them? We have next to NO sam cover other than what the RN has onboard their ships. We need more so to at least be able to provide real cover to our own bases, About time the RAF got theirs back to defend the few bases they now use or one strike could take out half our air. Our Military leadership is in need of a kick to realise what they should be doing. DEFENDING the UK.
Agree totally.
Defending the U.K. from who though? Vikings? Russians ššš, better to make things mobile so they can be deployed where ever they are needed.
One of the things the Russian invasion of Ukraine has show Is how effective even moderate air defences are against a not so well trained airforce in fourth generation aircraft. The West is so used to having very effective SEAD/DEAD and the assumption has always been that a large peer Nation could effectively manage the air defences of a smaller nation, as the west did with Iraq.
So the important bits are,1) make sure your SEAD/DEAD is as good as it can be. 2) An integrated air defence system is a very powerful thing in ensure a nation is able to defend itself.
Yes, I think itās also shown the importance of being able to over fly a battlefield and use less expensive munitions. No matter how rich your Airforce is you will rapidly run out of Stand off weapons. Stealth is as important at all the simulations suggested it was. Stand off weapons should be used for DEAD/SEAD missions primarily in the opening phase.
As well as the advantages of fifth generation fighters. But agree, I think there has always been a misconception that a modern war is a short war. But actually even if you have a massive advantage when you kick the door in, unless you are able to go for an instant beheading and have a very good exit strategy you need to plan for any war to be long and drawn out and never expect your enemy just to give up as thatās not really ever been the case ( apart from when the politic was rotten and the population did not want to defend it, like the the french third republic). That was Cold War thinking…..very swift bloodbath in which armies died in days or a few weeks, then a nuclear standoff that ended in peace or mutual destruction. Trouble is most wars have ended ( even with what seemed like quick victories) in a long drawn out conflict.
Our own politics aside on this one. If we can help stop the war crimes of Putin lobbing missiles and drones into civilians, I support it.
Chalk another tick in the āgood guysā box for the UK.
This thread is about the intense reaction in NATO regarding the need to increase Ukraine’s AD systems as their existing stocks of SAMs are clearly no longer able to keep Russia’s airborne attack assets at bay. That reaction seems to have been driven by the strikes, over the past week or so, by the Russians using both the Iranian suicide drones and their own cruise and ballistic missiles, along with the Ukrainians inability, with their now degraded SAM systems, to prevent it.
This might be difficult for some here to accept, but clearly NATO does, but at the core of the problem is the apparent pinpoint accuracy of most of the strikes. To launch, using Ukraine’s figures, 83 500ishkg warhead at targets, many of which were in built up areas, yet to only have 14 very regrettable deaths, in NATO’s words collateral damage, is impressive yet very worrying regarding the future of energy in Ukraine.
Almost all of Ukraine’s electricity network dates back to the USSR, as such its detailed plans are in Moscow. The strikes this week seem to have 2 objectives, they disabled Ukraine’s ability to sell electricity to the EU and they brought home to the parts of population that had not seen much evidence so far that there was a war going on. The former were sites hard to repair and the latter repairable with much back up in 24 hours. In doing so the Russians showed that they could and might disable the network, excluding the NPPs, at will. That was strategic.
At a tactical level both the Iranian and their own improving drones are proving to be very effective with little to stop them.
Given the size of the country and the number of potential targets spread over it, it will be very difficult to protect given the limited number of AD assets that NATO and the US are able to supply.
So the Orcs are advancing rapidly now are they? Using S300s for ground attack speaks volumes about Orc capabilities! Latest figures show Pootin is running out of missiles rapidly hence why today he said mass strikes are no longer needed! Just what advantage are these āsuperiorā drones giving the Orcs then? Didnāt take you long to start all the bullshit again did it?
over to Farouk and Airborne who will without doubt rip you a new arsehole
Pinpoint accuracy?? The lights are still on in Kyiv and other cities the orcs attacked. If you think that an anti air missile slamming into an apartment block or playground is somehow impressive it only serves to emphasise your spineless and craven arse licking of Putin. The Russians can do fuck all at will, all they’re at now is desperation, running out of arms, soldiers and material. A bit like yourself.
Methinks it’s time to revisit his previous posts, if I get the time I will cut and paste his chuff once more for us to laugh at again.
…… Gets popcorn ready…..š
Ha ha ha haaaaa WTF are you drooling about! Hilarious, absolutely hilarious! Your script is nearly as bad as that of Eastenders nowadays! Put your tissue down, stop cracking off and loosen the neck collar! Not one of us knows where to start ripping your chuff to bitsā¦But, I will leave it to Farouk, if he can be bothered to read your vomit, to ensure, as always he does, to show you to be a sad little mouth piece of Nazi Pooptin!
Ok I have a dare for youā¦.if your not a troll, a monitored bot, write āPutin is a sad nonce cock muncher who is old, pale, fat and a bit dodgy with young girlsā! Humour me, as if your an Englishman, aged 76, in Milton Keynes, with the free speech we have in the UK, then you have no fear of writing that, even for a bit of a laugh? Soā¦..?
I have to wonder whether J, PC and A actually read and understood what I wrote before commenting.
As far as I’m aware, it has been commented here since March that Russia has been running out of missiles, so the destruction on Monday must either have been a mirage or our estimates of Russian stocks are still way off the mark. The Geran-2 drone does seem to be having an effect, one even caused the crash of a UkAF Mig-29.
As I wrote, the damage in cities like Kiev was repairable so of course its likely that the lights are still on. Also, Ukrainian S-300 seem to be misfiring causing local damage, a bit like that video back in March of a Buk hitting a block in Kiev.
So you answer yourself and ignore all others? How about answering a question instead of reiterating your required script, in your sad echo chamber?
Do you think Putin is a nice man? Do you think he is a megalomaniac who has made a massive error of judgement, and do you think he supports the destruction and control of Ukraine, to absorb it by force back into a new USSR? Come on troll, prove to us you actually have a voice, and make a “free” comment, one without fear of retribution, by 9what we all suspect) is your troll/bot handler. We can all degenerate world leaders, as people living in democracies, I will give you a start, “Biden is a bell-end”……Go on, don’t be a coward.
First one for a laugh…over to you troll boy:
JohninMK
10 months ago
As I have said here before, I cannot understand why many posters here seem to think that Russia wants to take over Ukraine. The country is heavily in debt, its industry has collapsed since 2014, it is easily the most corrupt country in Europe with those tentacles reaching to the Biden family, whilst on top of that a significant proportion of the population hates Russia. Whilst the population of Crimea voted to join Russia, something they have been trying to achieve since 1999, the Russians took it back (it was given apparently illegally to Ukraine in 1954 by Khrushchev who grew up as Ulrainian) which was one of the many unexpected consequences of the US/EU provoked revolution in 2014. It seems to me that Russiaās important red line is to stop ballistic and cruise missiles based there, a short flight from Moscow.
Really! You will be telling us next that that the stocks of T80/90 are yet to be touched. Still if you think the images of T62 being āmodernisedā doesnāt tell you a story about the actual state of the Orcs then carry on telling us how wonderful things are! You still havenāt actually said how the drones are making such a difference after all are apartment blocks just getting in the way of these precision strikes? I mean the Ukr can hit bridges,ammo dumps,comd posts etc by using drones to target them and not hit any civilian infrastructure.!
And by the way the drone did not bring the Ukr fighter down apparently the pilot flew to close and ingested shrapnel.
I’ll begin by suspending disbelief for a minute and state that not even you, a supposed English man in his seventies, resident in Milton Keynes could believe a fraction of the shit you post.
But I understand you very well, you’re a Russian propagandist, endlessly deflecting and spreading lies, your narrative has contorted so often to suit whatever lie you’re pushing that you have descended into self parody. The facts about Russia running out of munitions and supplies aren’t my facts, they’re the facts of knowledgeable Western military experts who have probably forgotten more about military matters than you could ever hope to know. The enforced mobilisation, T62 tanks and tampons as field dressings tell their own tale.
Like many of your ilk, you have conflated Putin with Russia. Putin has utterly traduced Russia’s fortunes based on his fantasy understanding of history. Russia is losing and losing badly, facing strategic defeat. To use a boxing analogy, Russia is like an aging, prize fighter, punch drunk, confused and dazed, swinging wildly against a smaller, but wily opponent, whose fighting skills are much superior.
If this war has shown anything, it’s the absolute ineptitude and uselessness of anything Russian as well as the superiority of Western military tactics and equipment. Western SEAD would have Russian AD destroyed in a few days max. Nato ground forces would wipe the floor with those orc formations. The bluster about nuclear weapons?? Nato has them too.
Anything there that you don’t understand?
Spot on!!!!! Excellent answer, alas it will be ignored, or maybe an irrelevant one liner in regard to a single part of your response.
True. Perhaps the broadband isn’t that great at his nursing home in Milton Keynes…
Interesting to note while the Ukrainians are smashing the Nazi rapists over the last 2 weeks, he remains silent, but when Putin lobs some 80s flying Zanusis at civvies in Ukraine he pops up and gloats! Pathetic coward troll. If he is a troll itās expected, but if he is a UK citizen as he claims, then he is classed in the same status as Jimmy Saville!
An interesting historical parallel to the recent Russian missile attacks on Ukraine is the nazi Germany efforts to wreak terror on UK population centres in the closing months of WW2 by firing V1 & V2 rockets from Peenemunde to Britain. It didn’t affect the outcome of the war in the least, Hitler still lost. The longer the war goes on, the stronger Ukraine gets, it has more equipment now than it had at the start the war, much of it donated by Russia!!!………š
The Russians on the other hand……. T54′ s and tampons…..!
Agreed mate, I have alluded to this, the other top Nazi, Hitler, on his efforts in 44/45 with the V1 and V2 in another post to JohninMK, but alas his controller has forbid an answer!
Go on, be unlike your rapist army, be brave for once, call Putin a sad nonce wanker? Itās ok, your not a troll controlled by a script, your a UK citizen allowed to criticise world leaders, without fear of retributionā¦ā¦again I will leadā¦Macron is a Tosspot! Your turnā¦ā¦.? Lol hilarious every time we post and you donāt, itās confirmed your troll status. So as we say, silence is golden, keep it up.
Hereās one for the lads!
JohninMK
10 months ago
Reply to dave12
I agree totally with DM. As I have already posted, if Russia goes in, which it will only do if provoked, it is likely to be over in hours with no invasion. The militia in the Donbas, fully trained and equipped, will be capable of sorting out the UA after that rain of death. Our QR forces wont have even got to Brize.
ļ»æšļ»æ
Hereās a really good one!
JohninMK
8 months ago
Reply to Nick C
Russian conscripts are no longer used on the front line. It is Ukraine that has thousands of conscripts.
This oneās great, most amusing but as ever, more propaganda by johnskie:
JohninMK
8 months ago
Reply to Jacko
Two problems with your comment. Russiaās objective of stopping the attack on Donbas can be achieved without āstrollingā in. They will use missiles/rockets etc to bring Ukraine to its knees without going in as such. Second, conscripts are not volunteers and generally speaking do not want to be there. That is why in the fighting of 2015/16 there were SBU units behind the front lines to kill sorry discourage deserters.
This one is purely for entertainment purposes boys:
JohninMK
8 months ago
Reply to Mark Franks
Now over, the Russian ships heading for the Med, inc a cruiser.
Just a little amusing one! Plenty to go through, takes time sadly as he has spouted some crap!
JohninMK
7 months ago
Reply to James
Yup, Russia is disabling the Ukraine military. Only questions are how long it takes and what they do next.
ļ»æšļ»æ Keep them coming, but not too much otherwise we’d never see you on current items!
Agreed š
Hello John.
I remember posting a while ago that I was concerned that the Ukrainians, fighting for freedom against the Fascist Russian hordes, would beat them back to some sort of deadlock. Then the Russians would just start murdering their civilians.
Hitting the bridge, a legitimate military target given its importance for logistics, seems to have had that effect. Hence this weeks war crimes.
I think we need to give the Ukrainians the ability to hit back into Russia. Every time a bridge, railway station or power installation goes bang in the Ukraine, one goes bang in Russia. I mean Russia not occupied Ukraine.
Given your technical expertise what do you think would be the best systems to give them?