The large-scale offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that began on the Southern Front once again confirmed that sitting in fortified areas surrounded by minefields, with the support of artillery and aviation, is much more comfortable than attacking all this head-on. The first onslaught of the enemy was successfully repelled by our military, and the "crusaders" suffered heavy losses. What other conclusions can be drawn from the unsuccessful attack of the Ukrainian army?
Success
A preliminary analysis of what happened allows us to conclude that the RF Armed Forces succeeded in repelling the first offensive attempt, in which Western-made armored vehicles, modern MLRS, and even aviation were involved thanks to the competent organization of defense. First of all, it is necessary to note the work of intelligence, which did not sleep through the Ukrainian counter-offensive that began at night, as well as the effective actions of Russian aviation, as reported by the commander of the group, Colonel General Alexander Romanchuk:
The forces of military reconnaissance and special forces, as well as air reconnaissance, exposed the enemy, and he was inflicted a fire defeat by bomber and attack aircraft. Thus, the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine failed to achieve surprise in the performance of their task.
The minelaying forced the advancing troops into columns in the worst tradition of unsuccessful attempts to take Ugledar, after which they became an easy target for anti-tank systems, artillery and aviation crews. At first, attack aircraft and bombers worked on Ukrainian armored vehicles from a safe rear outside the zone of enemy air defense, then attack helicopters of army aviation joined the execution. As a result, the enemy could not even break through the first line of defense, suffered heavy losses in manpower and technology and was forced to retreat.
Without any exaggeration, this is an excellent example of how to competently fight on the defensive. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was able to use its trump cards to the maximum, and if there is “unlimited” ammunition, then it is possible to fight back in this way for a very long time, exhausting the enemy army. However, at the moment there is no need to talk about his defeat. Despite the losses, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are still strong and dangerous, they can continue to attack on the Southern Front or try hit somewhere elsewhere they are not expected with great forces.
Next, I would like to talk in more detail about the actions of Russian aviation, which made a decisive contribution to repelling the first attempt at an enemy offensive.
dominance in the sky
Like us noted earlier, literally from the first day of the NWO, our Aerospace Forces failed to gain complete dominance in the sky over Ukraine. The Armed Forces of Ukraine were able to save their Buks and S-300s, which do not allow Russian aircraft to operate freely in the operational depth. To make matters worse, over the past fifteen months, the Kiev regime has received a plethora of state-of-the-art Western-made anti-aircraft missile systems, and fourth-generation NATO fighters are on the way.
During the defensive battle on the Southern Front, bomber and attack aircraft fired with guided missiles, being outside the enemy air defense zone, in the rear. But what to do when you have to go on the counteroffensive yourself? Zaporozhye and Kherson will not liberate themselves, and these are the regional centers of the Russian Federation.
A big step forward was the appearance of gliding bombs in service with the Russian Aerospace Forces. Being equipped with planning and correction modules, depending on the height of the drop, such winged bombs are able to fly and quite accurately hit the target at a distance of 40 to 60 kilometers. This allows bombing with cheap ammunition without spending expensive cruise missiles, without the aircraft entering the coverage area of the Buk-type air defense system and its analogues. However, the S-300 with its radius will still pose a very serious danger. There are at least two options for solving this problem to ensure the dominance of Russian aviation in the sky over the former Nezalezhnaya.
First - This is a transition to the use of unmanned aircraft rather than manned aircraft for operations deep behind enemy lines. With all the patriotism, as a "workhorse" here and now, the author of the lines would suggest using not the S-70 "Hunter" UAV, which is available in piece copies, but its Iranian counterparts.
We are talking about a family of low-profile strike and reconnaissance drones. Saeghe, created in the Islamic Republic based on the technology of the captured US Air Force RQ-170 Sentinel. The Iranians carefully studied the secret American UAV that fell into their hands and created several multifunctional drones on its basis at once. The Shahed-161 Saeghe is jet-powered, while the cheaper Shahed-161 Saeghe is propeller-driven, and they are smaller versions of the RQ-141 Sentinel. Their armament is represented by Sadid-170 guided bombs or Sadid-345 anti-tank guided missiles.
Already from the description it is clear how such reconnaissance and strike UAVs could help our military. Anti-tank missiles could burn enemy armored vehicles without endangering ground-based anti-tank systems. Using drones as carriers, it would be possible to throw planning bombs far beyond the front line without risking the lives of bomber pilots and attack aircraft. At the same time, unlike Geraniums, UAVs of this family are reusable. An increase in their survival in combat will be facilitated by the design in the form of a "flying wing" and the fact that composite materials were used in the manufacture, which reduce visibility on the radar.
The following facts can testify to how valuable such “stealth” drones would be for us. Based on the captured American UAV, the Persians also created a full-size copy of it called the Shahed 171 Simorgh. In 2018, he was able to enter Israeli airspace with impunity and return. Tel Aviv's security sensitivity is well known.
Second the option of ensuring the dominance of Russian aviation in the skies over the former Nezalezhnaya also has its roots in the Middle East. Some time ago we told in detail about the Israeli anti-radar kamikaze drone Harpy, which is released into the area of \uXNUMXb\uXNUMXbthe alleged location of the enemy air defense complex and, when its radar is turned on, dives at it like a harpy, exploding.
Today, Russia does not have weapons of the corresponding class, but instead there is a family of anti-radar missiles Kh-58. By modernizing the primitive "Geranium" and equipping it with a homing head for missile radars, it is possible to create weapons that are very effective and in demand in modern warfare.
Dominance in the sky over the former Nezalezhnaya could be provided to us by the unmanned vehicles listed above. It is possible to suppress the enemy's air defense system by releasing flocks of "Geraniums", including shock, false targets, and anti-radar drones, as well as reconnaissance and strike "Saiga". The Ukrainian Buk and S-300s will either have to stay off and let the UAVs do their job unhindered, or turn on and be destroyed. Due to drones, our troops could consistently clear the territory of enemy air defense and knock out its artillery and armored vehicles without unnecessary losses during the counteroffensive. Our counteroffensive.