The Ukrainian Intelligence has shared the video of the assault on a Russian S-400 “Triumf” missile protection system.
“On August 23, 2023, round 10:00 a.m., an explosion occurred close to the village of Olenivka on Cape Tarkhankut within the briefly occupied Crimea, which destroyed the Russian S-400 “Triumph” lengthy and medium-range anti-aircraft missile system,” says an official assertion printed by the Major Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Protection of Ukraine.
“Because of the explosion, the set up itself, the missiles put in on it and the personnel have been fully destroyed.”
The Directorate of Intelligence defined that given the restricted variety of such programs within the Russians’ arsenal, it is a painful blow to the Russian air defence system, which may have a critical affect on additional occasions on the peninsula.
A video of the assault was additionally posted on Telegram and Youtube. It’s not clear whether or not the identical or one other drone was used to hold out the assault, though it appears fairly seemingly.
Designated SA-21 “Growler” by NATO, the S-400 is believed to have the ability to interact all varieties of aerial targets together with plane (somebody says even VLO – Very Low Observable ones), drones and ballistic and cruise missiles inside the vary of 250 miles at an altitude of practically 19 miles. Outfitted with 3 various kinds of missiles and an acquisition radar able to monitoring as much as 300 targets throughout the vary of over 370 miles, the Triumph (or Triumf) is a system manufactured from 8 launchers and a management station.
Supported by efficient EW (Digital Warfare) capabilities, at the very least on paper, the S-400 fires missiles in opposition to aerial targets flying at as a lot as 17,000 km/h.
That being mentioned, the assault is kind of exceptional particularly contemplating that the Ukrainian forces have been capable of hit the S-400 and movie the scene: regardless of a number of radar items in the identical space, the unmanned plane was capable of come inside placing/shut distance with out the Russian air protection programs with the ability to interact the drone and the incoming missile. The profitable assault raises a number of questions concerning the high quality of air protection protection within the area, a lot so even some Russian bloggers admitted the newest assault on the S-400 (one among them mentioned it was an S-300) highlighted flaws in Russia’s protection capacities.
However, it should even be mentioned that smaller drones are very troublesome to counter additionally as a result of they’re troublesome to establish on radars and because of this they pose a big risk to air protection programs, particularly when utilized in swarms (massive numbers). Furthermore a mixture of assault techniques (repeatedly refined after 545 days of battle) and EW help make such assaults much more troublesome to counter.
No matter, the newest air strike as soon as once more confirms that drones have turn out to be among the most (if not essentially the most) vital belongings within the warfare in Ukraine: they’re used to carry out reconnaissance and coordinate air strikes and so they can even perform long range attack missions.
David Cenciotti is a journalist based mostly in Rome, Italy. He’s the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of many world’s most well-known and browse army aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for main worldwide magazines, together with Air Forces Month-to-month, Fight Plane, and plenty of others, overlaying aviation, protection, warfare, trade, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown a number of fight planes with totally different air forces. He’s a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Power, a non-public pilot and a graduate in Pc Engineering. He has written 5 books and contributed to many extra ones.
