A new test of the old air defense?
A Ukrainian-made UJ-22 drone fell in Russia, a hundred kilometers from Moscow, and, if you draw a hypothetical vertical line, it fell OUTSIDE Moscow.
Today it makes no sense to ask the question of what caused the fall of the UAV, the operation of electronic warfare, running out of fuel or software errors. This is not the main thing, the main thing is where the device fell.
In general, after the Crimea, Engels, Yeysk, Belgorod, Voronezh and all other settlements, one should not be particularly surprised. The Ukrainians have been testing our air defense system for a long time, and not without success.
But being so close to the capital is a new step in the development of Russian airspace.
The village of Gubastovo is located 100 kilometers from Moscow, the city of Kolomna - 110 kilometers. A UAV fell between them. This is the Kolomna district of the Moscow region. From here to the border with Ukraine about 450 kilometers.
A logical question arises - why?
Suppose there really is a compressor station owned by Gazprom in the area. Target? Yes, it is quite. Very good, moreover, getting into the compressor station will be accompanied by quite decent special effects, on which you can make good PR. And if he arrives in Moscow City, there will be just a sea of PR. Stormy.
Pictures of the wreckage show that it is clearly a UJ-22 manufactured by the Ukrainian company UKRJET.
This is an aircraft-like drone with a three-wheeled chassis that is designed to take off and land on a regular asphalt or concrete strip. Powered by a small gasoline engine turning a single three-bladed propeller, the drone has an absolute maximum range of 800 kilometers and can stay in the air for up to seven hours at a cruising speed of up to 110 km/h, according to the manufacturer. This, in principle, would put the Moscow region within reach from a starting point near the Ukrainian-Russian border.
The actual range and payload of the UJ-22 is, of course, dependent on its payload. The manufacturer UKRJET claims that the onboard communication lines of the UAV allow direct control of the operator at a distance of up to 100 kilometers. The UJ-22 can fly long distances to a designated location using a pre-set flight path in the control unit.
UKRJET has shown weapons options for the UJ-22 in the past, which included hardpoints for mortar rounds and bombs made from rocket-propelled grenade warheads. Potentially, the UJ-22 can be turned into a makeshift kamikaze drone by adding some heavier warhead to the suspension.
From what was seen in the wreckage inspection plan, it is not clear whether the drone, who fell near Moscow, or he was unarmed. But even if there were no weapons, flying a vehicle like the UJ-22 into this part of Russia could provide the Ukrainian military with valuable information about our air defense capabilities, especially in terms of the ability to detect and track relatively small targets.
We, too, generally understand the meaning of these tasks, hence the “Shells” on the roofs of buildings in the center of Moscow, protecting the Kremlin, and additional S-400 anti-aircraft missile batteries deployed within the city in recent months. This is all in addition to the existing and quite strong air defense of the capital.
Whatever the payload of the UJ-22, and regardless of the objectives of its mission, the fact that he managed to get within 100 kilometers of Moscow is a significant event that Ukraine is definitely using for propaganda purposes.
Of course, the UJ-22 is not a Reis or a Swift from Tupolev, a less visible vehicle, and therefore a big problem for air defense.
However, today many quite rightly point out that there are many stumbling blocks for Russian air defense. Especially the drones.
The Internet is full of evidence that Ukrainian drones behave in Russian airspace in much the same way as their Russian counterparts in Ukrainian. The only question is quantity.
The last few days have been "hot" in this regard. Several UAVs fell in the Belgorod region, one exploded at the Rosneft oil depot in Tuapse, setting a small fire. Plus explosion and fire in Yeysk. The wreckage of another drone was found in the republic of Adygea, neighboring the Krasnodar Territory. Plus, an incomprehensible bustle in the sky over St. Petersburg, when Pulkovo airport was closed and fighter jets appeared in the sky.
And the "air raid alert" was announced by hackers, who hacked into several radio stations in southern Russia.
In general, Russian air defense is already gradually accustoming the citizens of the country to the fact that Ukrainian devices can do almost everything in our skies. But flying and exploding is just a mandatory program. Ukraine regularly tries Russian air defenses to the teeth and regularly succeeds.
Perhaps this was the reason for the reassignment of the army air defense to the conduct of the VKS.
Today, many people talk about the expediency of such a move. Different people express different opinions. Opinions are divided.
According to unconfirmed information so far, the front-line air defense was withdrawn from the subordination of the Ground Forces and reassigned to the main command of the Russian Aerospace Forces. Approximately in the same way as at one time the front-line was withdrawn from the Ground Forces aviation.
Yes, we, in fact, had two air defense systems: the first, as part of the Ground Forces, was engaged in escorting and covering units in combat zones, the second, as part of the Aerospace Forces, was engaged in the protection of strategic facilities.
It is clear that the weapons of these two systems were different. Air defense-missile defense troops are armed with A-135 anti-missile systems and S-300 and S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. As weapons close combat - "Pantsir-S1".
Air defense as part of the Ground Forces is armed much more diversely. S-300V, "Buk" of all modifications, "Thor", "Osa", "Tunguska", "Shilka", "Strela-10".
During the Soviet period, the USSR Air Defense Forces constituted one of the five branches of the Armed Forces, including anti-missile and anti-space defense forces, fighter aircraft, anti-aircraft missile forces and radio engineering troops. Accordingly, the air defense forces were controlled by the commander-in-chief of this type of the USSR Armed Forces, which simplified the coordination of actions within the structure.
However, in the post-Soviet period, the air defense forces were divided between the VKS and the Ground Forces. Merging into one system, some experts believe, will allow more efficient use of air defense in conjunction with aviation.
Forecasts, of course, are replete with the words "probably", "possibly", "presumably". How realistic all this is is a matter of time, and quite a long one at that.
The creation of a unified air defense will probably increase the effectiveness of its operation. When protecting stationary objects.
As one of the experts said, "This should eliminate the shortcomings that the military air defense system turned out to be subject to due to its specifics, related precisely to covering troops and clearly insufficient experience in covering civilian objects."
That is, hypothetically, we are already talking about attracting army air defense to protect civilian facilities. But then a fair question arises: how will the troops be protected? MANPADS?
The idea of a unified automated air defense control system is not a bad idea. And, it is quite possible that this will affect the effectiveness of air defense in general, and the ancient Soviet drones will no longer cut through the country, hitting strategic targets such as the Long-Range Aviation airfield.
Many experts started talking about the fact that the reassignment of the Air Defense Forces to the jurisdiction of the Aerospace Forces would suddenly have a positive effect on the supply. That the missiles will be delivered uninterruptedly and in the right quantities. It is, of course, just fine, but who forbade doing it before? Or is the logistics of the VKS a cut above the logistics of the SV?
Okay, we'll see.
In general, it seems that the transfer of army air defense to the VKS can serve the benefit in terms of improving the interaction of the two former air defense systems. But as experts with a different opinion rightly point out, in order to effectively cover the troops, it is necessary that all air defense units of the Ground Forces always be in the troops. Not only man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems or the Tunguska anti-aircraft missile system, but also Pantsiri-S1, as more powerful and useful systems.
In general, the very idea that air defense is actually being taken away from the Ground Forces is not very beautiful. At one time, front-line aviation was taken away from the SV. And if before coordination and interaction, which was so much criticized in the NMD, were carried out between structures of the same type of forces, now the SV and VKS will be coordinated. How effective it will be is the question.
Another ill-conceived decision? Not obvious.
According to estimates, the air defense of the VKS shoots down more aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine than the air defense of the SV. Not critical, but more. Here, of course, fighter aviation also plays a role, but it is possible that they began to look for the root of the solution precisely in establishing the effectiveness of air defense of the SV under the leadership of the VKS command.
The previous scheme for organizing air defense with the division into military and object did not work so badly. The question is, is it worth making such changes in the middle of a war? Establish new interactions, coordinate and so on?
There is an opinion that just the air defense of the Aerospace Forces is not quite (or rather, not at all) coping with its tasks of covering objects far from the front line. There, in the NWO zone, at least large objects in the sky do not feel free and calm. Yes, small UAVs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine fly where and how they want, and so far nothing can be done about them, but airplanes and helicopters have problems.
When today many people started talking about "layered air defense", they meant that the former army air defense would become the first frontier on the way of everything that flies towards the Russian border. Well, it is quite possible that this will be a decent move. Indeed, if the air defense of the airborne forces is not able to cope with everything that flies in our direction, it is possible to put army and airborne forces in one system - this is not a bad idea.
Another question: what will happen to the priority tasks of the army air defense, who will distribute priorities and on the basis of what? Wouldn't it turn out that the Su-25, which is sneaking to the front line, will be ordered to close its eyes, because another drone flew into the Krasnodar Territory?
There are a lot of questions. What will be the ways of solving problems, time will tell. The only problem is that time is not playing on us today. It may sound controversial, but this was proved by Ukrainian drones in the Krasnodar Territory and a hundred kilometers from Moscow. I don't even want to think about simpler regions.
In the end, we can say that the Ukrainian tests of the combat effectiveness of the old Russian air defense were done "good". The process of responding to checks has begun, let's see what happens. And how will the Armed Forces of Ukraine respond?
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