It’s time to permanently wean the Ukrainian Armed Forces from shooting at Russian cities: autonomous reconnaissance and strike contours and attacks on areas
MLRS "Hurricane". Image by mil.ru
With the approaching elections of the Russian President, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) seemed to have broken free. This was expressed not in achieving some military victories over the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (RF Armed Forces), not in seizing territories (they are, of course, trying, but this only leads to the accelerated mobilization of Armed Forces personnel), but in delivering barbaric attacks on peaceful the population using multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) and other long-range weapons, including the use of cluster and incendiary munitions.
The civilian casualties in Belgorod are so severe that a decision was made to evacuate 9 children from the city.
In general, shelling of civilians is a favorite tactic of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which they began to use starting in 2014. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to counter this, for example, when an enemy MLRS on a wheeled chassis quickly advances to the firing line, fires a dozen or two rockets, and then quickly folds up and changes position.
By the way, problems with catching Ukrainian MLRS, primarily HIMARS-type systems, largely refute the opinion of skeptics about the inexpediency of using wheeled vehicles in the armed forces, for example, the Russian Armed Forces urgently need artillery systems on a wheeled chassis, about ways to create which in the shortest possible time we have previously spoke in materials “Towed artillery: new life in the format of wheeled self-propelled guns” и “Mobility and cross-country ability: combine the advantages of wheeled and tracked self-propelled artillery systems (SAU)”.
The question arises: how can we stop or at least significantly reduce the intensity of shelling of Belgorod and other cities of our country?
Speed reaction
One of the most pressing problems discussed on Russian thematic resources is the problem of a long passage of the command cycle between detecting a target and issuing a command to destroy it with lethal means. In other words, presumably, Russian reconnaissance and strike contours (RUC) include too many links, including high-level decision-making centers. As a result, situations arise when the enemy manages to strike and run away before striking back.
Somewhere in the last six months, it seems that the situation has changed very noticeably for the better - they began to appear more often news about the successful destruction of long-range MLRS and artillery systems of the enemy, including video evidence of the destruction of the notorious HIMARS MLRS. However, the intensity of shelling of Belgorod from enemy MLRS, and from the not very long-range Czech RM-70 Vampire MLRS, shows that we still have some way to go.
The Czech Republic must pay dearly for the supply of its RM-70 Vampire MLRS to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, like any other country that has become a party to the conflict
There is no doubt that any changes to the structure and functioning algorithms of such a huge structure as the RF Armed Forces are a complex and lengthy process, but war does not imply the presence of extra time for reflection.
In connection with the above, it is proposed to ensure the creation of autonomous reconnaissance and strike contours (ARUC), designed to hunt long-range enemy weapons.
Such ARUK should include reconnaissance means, long-range weapons, and most importantly, a responsible person capable of making a decision to strike without coordination with higher authorities. The actions of the ARUK must be absolutely autonomous within the framework of the tasks they solve; the ARUK should not be involved in solving third-party tasks, for example, providing fire support or anything else.
"Zoo" and "Hurricane"
The composition of reconnaissance and destruction means should be determined by the tasks assigned to a specific ARUC. For example, as part of solving the problem of protecting Belgorod from attacks by Ukrainian shells of the RM-70 “Vampire” MLRS with a firing range of about 20 kilometers, a counter-battery radar station (radar), for example, the same “Zoo-1”, can be introduced into the ARUK. and as means of destruction, use two Uragan MLRS with cluster munitions 9M27K (K1/K2/K3), 9M59 with a firing range of up to 35 kilometers.
ARUK as part of the counter-battery radar "Zoo-1" and the MLRS "Uragan". Image by Wikimedia Commons/Allocer/Mil.ru
There is an expression - “in order to see only good guys in the sky above you, you need to deal with the bad guys on earth.” This phrase is also quite relevant to the situation with MLRS - in order for us not to have to shoot down enemy MLRS shells in the air, it is necessary to deal with their carriers on the ground, especially considering the consequences of their arrival in peaceful cities.
For example, as part of solving this problem, four groups of ARUK “hunters” are deployed in the Belgorod region, approximately ten kilometers from the line of combat contact (LCC), after which counter-battery radars begin to track enemy MLRS launches. As soon as the fact of such launches is discovered and the coordinates of the firing point are determined, an order is immediately given to strike with the Uragan MLRS package.
Considering that we sent four groups of ARUKs to “hunt”, then from one to four packages of 220 mm caliber rockets with a cluster warhead will arrive at the enemy’s calculated MLRS firing position (one package from one ARUK, depending on how many ARUKs will work out the target in this sector). Even taking into account the error in determining the coordinates of the firing position and the fact that the enemy’s MLRS may try to “escape,” the engagement area of one, and even more so several Uragan MLRS packages, will most likely be sufficient to hit the target with a high probability.
It may seem wasteful to some to spend several packages of MLRS shells on one enemy MLRS, but it is better to spend several full packages to destroy the enemy’s MLRS, rather than then intercept packages of shells launched from it, which is almost impossible to ensure in full, and it will cost much more expensive, even based on the cost of spent anti-aircraft guided missiles (SAM), not to mention the consequences of the arrival of missed shells.
To minimize the number of shellings of Russian cities and other populated areas, it is vitally important to implement the iron rule for Ukrainian MLRS and artillery: “fired, died.” Over time, many MLRS crews will prefer to fire their shells into a nearby forest belt rather than voluntarily expose themselves to slaughter.
Variety of species
The proposed composition of the ARK in the form of the Zoo radar and the Uragan MLRS is only one of the possible implementation options; there can and should be many ARK, different in composition and tasks to be solved. Various versions of the ARUC should be optimized for hunting different types of enemy long-range weapons.
The conditions of counteraction and the nature of the terrain will also play no less importance. For example, in a number of cases, the enemy can operate long-range weapons from populated areas, which will make it impossible to use MLRS to destroy him.
On the other hand, using populated areas as firing positions will limit the search area. Accordingly, the ARUK, designed to operate in such conditions, may include an additional reconnaissance weapon - an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of the ZALA Z-20 type and a Lancet-type UAV destruction weapon.
The ARUK, which includes the ZALA Z-20 reconnaissance UAV and the Lancet family of kamikaze UAVs, can presumably operate at a distance of about 60 kilometers from the launch point. Image zala-aero.com
When countering systems such as HIMARS, appropriate means of destruction will be required, for example, Tornado-S MLRS with guided ammunition with a firing range of up to 120 kilometers, and to destroy the same HIMARS MLRS, but using ATASMS operational-tactical missiles, as part of the ARUK The Iskander OTRK may be included.
Perhaps, the main problem here will be to ensure timely detection of the enemy’s long-range weapons located deep in its territory, while at the same time, if necessary, ARUC should also work according to external target designation data, for example, satellite or human intelligence.
In general, there are many options for implementing the ARUK, but the main thing is “narrow specialization” and high speed of decision-making on striking. The forces and means included in the ARUK, intended for hunting long-range weapons of the enemy, should not be diverted to any other purposes - Tanks, “supporters”, accumulations of manpower, etc.
Conclusions
The deployment of ARUCs designed to hunt long-range weapons will significantly reduce the enemy’s potential to strike at the operational depth of our positions, and most importantly, minimize the number of cases of injury and death of civilians, and destruction of civilian infrastructure.
Apparently, the priority task at the moment is the destruction of long-range weapons that allow massive shelling of unguided projectiles - MLRS and self-propelled artillery units (SPG). Of course, from a military point of view, high-precision weapon long-range missiles are much more dangerous, but the Ukrainian Armed Forces will never be able to spend much of it on attacks on civilians; in addition, it is unguided MLRS shells that they use to overload our air defense systems.
Detecting the location of MLRS or self-propelled guns firing unguided ammunition is also easier due to the predictable flight trajectory of their projectiles, as well as the time required to fire the ammunition, while for guided projectiles the trajectory can change, which complicates the determination of the launch point and the time for shooting One or two guided missiles of the HIMARS system are clearly required less than half a package of Grad MLRS projectiles.
ARUK can be focused not only on the destruction of enemy long-range weapons, but also on other types of targets, for example, anti-aircraft missile systems (SAMs), enemy aircraft and helicopters at airfields, Starlink satellite network operators and much more.
To obtain results, it is only important to observe the principle of autonomy and target orientation of autonomous reconnaissance and strike contours created to destroy one or another type of target.
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