(June 2, 2025 at 9:19 am)Angrboda Wrote: My understanding is that the drones were secreted into Russia prior to launch.  If true, that would greatly limit the potential for operations of this type.

They were hidden in freight containers for trucks, with fake/double roofs. The trucks were driven to the target areas. Videos exist, taken by civilians, showing how the drones took off from those trucks. Civilians seem to even have thrown stones at the trucks once they realized what was going on. The drones seemed to have had some autopilots and autotargeting on board, having had trained their target recognition from an aircraft museum in Poltava, where Tu95, Tu160 and Tu22M are on display. They were trained to aim at "weak spots" of those targets, e.g. the wing roots of the Tu95.

The actual ability to repeat this strike is less important than the threat of the sheer possibility to do so. Can you imagine the effort having to protect your strategic bomber fleet, by ...lets say building hangars with concrete roofs, probably reinforced concrete, asap? Hangars without pilllars, because....planes tend to need lots of open space to move around.

(June 2, 2025 at 8:14 am)Deesse23 Wrote: Those 40 Bombers would amount to abut 30% of Russia's strategic bomber fleet, although it seems "only" 7 are visually confirmed to be totally written off.

It should be noted that there was clearly a deliberate attempt to target the area of the wing between Engine 2 and Engine 3 of the target Tu-95s, at least -- where there's quite a bit of fuel and which is shown to be burning by the copious black clouds in the videos floating around. What that means is that the wing-spars (and perhaps the fuselage longerons etc) on those planes are likely ruined by the heat and though not visible to the outside, many those planes will be total losses too.

(June 2, 2025 at 9:26 am)Deesse23 Wrote: The actual ability to repeat this strike is less important than the threat of the sheer possibility to do so. Can you imagine the effort having to protect your strategic bomber fleet, by ...lets say building hangars with concrete roofs, probably reinforced concrete, asap? Hangars without pilllars, because....planes tend to need lots of open space to move around.

... and now think about how much land the Chinese have bought up near American airbases here ...

Ukraine is going for a repeat. Lipetsk, borisoglebsk, and ryazan airfields have been hit. Another 1k russian casualties. Big artillery numbers today. 48.

On track to hit a 1mil casualties within two weeks.

Boru

I predict a wave of window related accidents.

Quote:In his evening address, Zelenskyy said that 117 drones had been used in the operation. He claimed the operation had been headquartered out of an office next to the local FSB headquarters. The FSB is the Russian intelligence and security service.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-rus...ks-turkey/

I wonder if they got a pot of borscht for new office neighbors and everything?

41 hits out of 117 launches is a damned good ratio. It definitely shows a sleepy air-defense posture.

So let's consider two unfolding results perhaps arising from this:

1) Trucks are going to be stopped and searched. I don't know how widespread this will be, but I'm willing to bet that minor apparatchiks not having a taste for defenestration will be stopping big cargo trucks across much of the nation. It follows that there will be induced friction into the economy, probably not a lot, but more shortages and perhaps higher prices.

2) ... and more importantly, air-defense assets will now be spread thinner, and away from the front, in order to protect the remaining Russian bombers -- not to mention other assets not yet targeted but still equally vulnerable. No, I don't mean SAMs, but ZSUs and other gun-based methods.

Tracked guns and technicals are one thing russia and ukraine both do well. If they have to move those that's fewer of them out there mowing down medics.

(June 2, 2025 at 11:40 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: Tracked guns and technicals are one thing russia and ukraine both do well.  If they have to move those that's fewer of them out there mowing down medics.

SPAAGs are cost-effective against drones, but you'd better build one hell of a lot of hulls to defend airbases spread out around a country 8,000 miles across. That's the redecision here, because it's not like Russia can build a lot of even lightly-armored vehicles with good sensors.

You have to move around alot of parts by truck or train.