The war in Ukraine is also a life-size test bed for the most modern armaments and the disappearance of the flagship of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, the cruiser Moskva, probably hit by a Ukrainian anti-ship missile strike is there to remind us that kyiv also has a successful arms industry.
Article written by
Posted
Reading time : 2 min.
According to kyiv, the Moskva was hit by at least one Neptune missile strike, the Ukrainians having launched two, as well as a drone tasked with creating a diversion against the Russian flagship. The Neptune anti-ship missile is the latest product from the Luch design office in kyiv. Like many Ukrainian weapons, this missile is a contemporary adaptation of a Soviet coastal defense missile, the KH35, whose range has been considerably improved (300 km instead of 130) as has its on-board electronics, in particular its acquisition radar . Deployed in the Ukrainian coastal defense units less than a year ago, this vector – if it is confirmed that it is indeed he who is responsible for the loss of the Moskva – has just proved its effectiveness: it is the first cruiser sunk by such a missile in 40 years and the Falklands War.
>> War in Ukraine: follow the news of the conflict in our direct
The Ukrainians have also shown great inventiveness by launching Aerorozvidka into the battle. Originally, an association of “geeks” that flew commercial drones; today a fully-fledged unit of the Ukrainian army, operating modified civilian drones, equipped with encrypted control systems, out of range of Russian tracking systems and capable of doing both observation, guidance of artillery and even drop a few light bombs. Aerorozvidka was a hit in the columns of Russian armor advancing on kyiv in early March.
On the Russian side, we also deployed for the first time advanced armaments. In particular one of the so-called “hypersonic” weapons which was the pride of Vladimir Putin when they were first presented three years ago. A Kinjal hypersonic missile was indeed fired in mid-March at a Ukrainian arms factory in the west of the country. The Kinjal is a so-called “aero-ballistic” missile: it can operate both in the atmosphere and by borrowing a low orbit. With a range of nearly 2000 km, it is both very fast (+5000 km/h) and very manoeuvrable, at least in its atmospheric flight phases, which makes it a very difficult or even impossible weapon to intercept.
The Moscow army has also launched into battle the latest in its electronic warfare or integrated command and control units such as the Barnaul T, capable of tracking and directing fire on more than a hundred targets at the time. Moscow has also dispatched several Krasukha 4 units to Ukraine: these are mobile electronic warfare stations capable of masking the radar signatures of Russian planes or of jamming the enemy’s radar emissions, and in particular of hindering or even preventing any theater surveillance by NATO AWACS.
Unfortunately for the Russian side, at least two complete Barnaul-Ts and half a Krasukha 4 unit were captured or recovered by the Ukrainians. A veritable “gold mine” for Western intelligence services who will be happy to examine these “fine flowers” of Russian military technology in detail.