November 12, 2023, 3:03 pm
A few weeks ago, I looked at some of the many systems that have been used in Ukraine that attracted their share of of media hype and asked whether they delivered on their hype.
Today, I round out that list with more hyped up systems that didn’t make in into the first video, while also looking at some that I’d probably nominate as just as, or more significant, that the ones drawing heaps of media attention.
Expect a focus on the importance of context and opportunity costs as we look at Kizhal, SCALP, the TB-2 drone and Orlan drones, as well as Starlink and Russia’s extensive park of EW assets.
Thank you all of you who voted for this topic – I hope you enjoy.
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/PerunAU
Relevant Reading/sourcing
The Russian Way of War (Grau & Bartles) https://www.armyupress.army.mil/portals/7/hot%20spots/documents/russia/2017-07-the-russian-way-of-war-grau-bartles.pdf
Justin Bronk – Russian Combat Air Strengths and Limitations: https://www.cna.org/reports/2023/05/russian-combat-air-strengths-and-limitations
GAO-21-24 ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM OPERATIONS
https://www.gao.gov/assets/720/711469.pdf
RUSI – The Russian Air War and Ukrainian Requirements for Air Defence (Bronk, Reynolds & Watling)
https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/special-resources/russian-air-war-and-ukrainian-requirements-air-defence
RUSI – The Orlan Complex, Tracking the supply chains of Russia’s most successful UAV
https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/special-resources/orlan-complex-tracking-supply-chains-russias-most-successful-uav/interactive-summary
RUSI – Meatgrinder: Russian Tactics in the Second Year of its Invasion of Ukraine (Watling & Reynolds)
https://static.rusi.org/403-SR-Russian-Tactics-web-final.pdf
Russian military strategy core tenents and operational concepts – Michael Kofman, Anya Fink, Dmitry Gorenburg, Mary Chesnut, Jeffrey Edmonds, and Julian Waller https://www.cna.org/archive/CNA_Files/pdf/russian-military-strategy-core-tenets-and-operational-concepts.pdf
Reporting on Musk and Starlink over Crimea
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-09/elon-musk-refused-ukrainian-request-to-activate-starlink-network/102835524
Palantin making its training intro in 2019
https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/russias-palantin-electronic-warfare-system-makes-training-debut
Included image on Strelets slide – Reddit
Rosoboronexport on Strelets
https://roe.ru/eng/catalog/land-forces/military-communications-equipment-and-automated-control-systems/automated-control-systems/strelets/
Included report in intel sharing
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/07/us-spies-ukraine-russia-military-intelligence
Starlink use 2022
https://www.ft.com/content/f69b75cf-c36a-4ab3-9eb7-ad0aa00d230c
Starshield
Space Force Awards Contract to SpaceX for Starshield, Its New Satellite Network
Starlink latency map (demonstrating UA usage)
https://www.starlink.com/map?view=latency
Reporting on Pentagon deal with SpaceX
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/01/pentagon-awards-spacex-with-ukraine-contract-for-starlink-satellite-internet.html
Shoigu on Orlan production
https://tass.com/defense/1645501
Rosoboronexport on Orlan 30
https://roe.ru/eng/catalog/aerospace-systems/uavs/orlan-30/
Caveats & Comments:
All normal caveats and comments apply.
In particular – I would like to note as always that this material has been created for entertainment purposes and is not intended to be a complete or comprehensive examination of the topic in question and should not be relied upon to inform financial or other similar decisions.
Timestamps
00:00:00 — More Game Changers
00:01:25 — What Am I Talking About?
00:02:43 — System Shaping Battlefields
00:09:56 — Kinzhal And Storm Shadow/SCALP
00:26:12 — TB-2 And Orlan
00:40:51 — Communication
00:48:53 — Electronic Warfare
01:05:30 — Conclusions
01:06:43 — Channel Update
Content Creator – Perun
