Comments by "Mikhail M" (@mikhailmik) on "Russian forces fire self-propelled mortars toward Ukrainian territories" video.
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Ukrainian air targets destroyed by Russian air defense in the area of their
In comparison with the data of the monthly report (10.08.2022), it is possible to observe a change in both the nomenclature of downed ammunition and their quantity.
In particular, over the past month. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has not announced the interception of a single MLRS Smerch missile (300 mm). Instead of this rocket projectile, information about interceptions of unguided MLRS "Alder" (300 mm) missiles created on the basis of the Soviet MLRS "Smerch" began to appear regularly in the reports.
This munition was developed by the Kiev Design Bureau "Luch" in 2016-2018. Its main feature, in comparison with the old MLRS "Smerch" rockets, is an increase in the maximum firing range from 70 to 100 km. At the end of 2019 The first batch of 100 missiles was delivered to the APU. In the following years, before the start of the SVO, the production of missiles did not exceed several dozen per year.
Due to the fact that the first mention of the interception of "Alder" appeared only on 27.07.2022, it can be assumed that current missile launches can be made both from previously formed reserves and from fresh batches of missiles, the production of which was not disrupted by the VKS strikes on the military-industrial complex enterprises of the former Ukraine (in particular, on the KB "Luch").
Separately, it is worth noting a significant increase in the number of launches of guided missiles of the American MLRS M142 HIMARS. Over the past month (August-September), more than 5 times more shells were shot down by Russian air defense means than in the previous similar period (July-August). This circumstance suggests that the enemy has a large number of HIMARS launchers themselves, as well as ammunition for them.
The American high-speed anti-radar missile AGM-88 HARM has become a new type of aerial targets for domestic SAMs. The relatively small number (14) of downed missiles of this type is due to the complexity of their use by the Air Forces of the former Ukraine, caused by an acute shortage of delivery vehicles (MiG-29).
In general, two main trends can be noted related to the work of Russian air defense systems in the zone of a special military operation (SVO):
1. Monthly increase in the number of destroyed air targets caused by the increased intensity of shelling of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Which may indicate both the increased skill of the SAM calculations and the increase in the number of air defense systems in the conflict zone.
Declared by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation destroyed air targets by period:
february-July - 646
july-august - 311
August-September - 611
That is, over the past month, the air targets of the APU (611) were humiliated numerically comparable to all the downed rockets in the first four months of the SVO (646).
2. Increase in the share of new Western and Ukrainian jet ammunition in the total volume of intercepted air targets. If on 10.08.2022 their number was 8% of all downed missiles and jet UAVs, then on 13.09.2022 their share increased to 34%.
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