Mayor of Odesa Gennadiy Trukhanov addresses Russian terrorists.

Very powerful clip! Ukraine will win!#Odesa #Ukraine #RussiaIsATerroristState #RussianWarCrimes #RussiaIsANaziState #RussiaUkraineWar #Russia pic.twitter.com/sH3x2yPNEw

— Natalka (@NatalkaKyiv) July 23, 2023

Amazing homestand against playoff competition

Video from Moscow, where it's said a drone has struck a building. pic.twitter.com/zjrXE3mtvh

— doge (@IntelDoge) July 24, 2023

Footage appearing to show a “Beaver” Long-Range Attack Drone over the Russian Capital of Moscow earlier this morning; the “Beaver” have been used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces before against Targets in the Moscow Region. pic.twitter.com/QYQKjnuDji

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 24, 2023

Quote:

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Shahed drone attack in Izmail district

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https://liveuamap.com/en/2023/24-july-shahed-drone-attack-in-izmail-district-

Russia is definitely targeting something coming from Romania.

Slightly clearer Footage of the Explosions in Central Crimea which is reported to possibly be at a Airfield used by the Russian Air Force. pic.twitter.com/ZONZSuKobB

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 24, 2023

Economic challenges may limit options for Putin.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/guns-versus-butter-russia-brink-050000333.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr

Insane footage of the port of Reni being attacked last night by Iranian-made Shahed drones. The footage is filmed from Romania pic.twitter.com/vK03o3VDZB

— Faytuks News Δ (@Faytuks) July 24, 2023

I think this was filmed on a boat.

jabberwalkie09 said:

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Insane footage of the port of Reni being attacked last night by Iranian-made Shahed drones. The footage is filmed from Romania pic.twitter.com/vK03o3VDZB

— Faytuks News Δ (@Faytuks) July 24, 2023

I think this was filmed on a boat.

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someone needs to put Iran out of the drone business

https://t.co/0JdeNxQoIp pic.twitter.com/7PzLZkH74D

— Jakub Janovsky (@Rebel44CZ) July 24, 2023

There have been multiple reports of big explosions at ammunition depots in Crimea lately. I think in the last couple of days, I've seen at least two posts on LiveUaMap saying that occupation authorities evacuated people in up to a 5 km radius to the ammo depots.

Big update from the Russian milblogger Rybar this afternoon, looking at Ukrainian moves in Zaporizhia Oblast from the Russian POV:

Ukrainian forces continue to conduct effective strikes, straining Russian fires capabilities in the area. pic.twitter.com/1hI4VU57FM

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) July 24, 2023

Rybar says this morning raid on Crimea saw unusual paths for Ukrainian UAVs followed by 4 Storm Shadows which all hit their targets (ammunition depots). pic.twitter.com/MAExPfnZqQ

— Dmitri (@wartranslated) July 24, 2023

txags92 said:

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Since the Ukrainians have shown some ability to attack Moscow with drones, I would love to see them try to hit some of the critical oil export infrastructure Russia has to retaliate for the strikes on Odesa.

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I have wondered this as well. I know Gazprom has its own private military, but they have a lot (miles and miles) of exposed infrastructure.

You have to believe there is a reason that Ukraine hasn't hit their refineries / oil facilities, but I cannot think of why.

Ukraine has begun using American cluster munitions in the field and is doing so effectively, according to the White House.https://t.co/009W6alud8

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) July 24, 2023

I believe most of Ukraine's gas fields are in the east so they could easily get hit by the Russians. I think several are under Russian control now too but don't quote me on that

As far as Russian O&G targets, Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising did a decent job of war gaming that one. If you attack a Gazprom refinery or similar this would put Russia in a very bad place and with so much of their revenue O&G based they may retaliate with nuclear weapons. By now we know the Russians couldn't do anywhere near the offensive they did in that book but they could cause havoc in Eastern Europe

JFABNRGR said:

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If were now sending F16s prior to end of year doesn't this mean UKe pilots have already been training?

What role do you flyboys mainly see the F16 playing in this war? And how well given current conditions do you see this and to what ranges across the front?

Anti-ship?
Ground support?
Point target destruction?
Air to air?

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They've had pilots quietly training on 16s for a while. The public info on that is more recent. The strike packages will be largely based on what ammo we get them. They will likely have anti-air, HARM and some form of air to mud munitions. I imagine that the Ukes would really REALLY like some anti-ship missiles. I know SLAM-ER is available on later versions of 16s but I'd have to dig to find out which block the proposed aircraft are. Those have a range of 270 km (listed) but I don't know if the export version is different. That would put Sevastopol in range and very quickly complicate the Russian Navy's lives. I'm not aware of another F-16 capable anti-ship missile. (Maybe Exocet? That damn thing could be launched from a hot air balloon. I swear the French will stick it on anything. It's range is much shorter though.)

As far as point target destruction I'm assuming you're talking about GPS or laser guided and there is a TON of GPS jamming going on, the Russians use a separate system that isn't as accurate 10-30m vs. 1-3m but is more resistant to jamming because of the frequencies. I'm a little rusty on that part and it might have changed in the years since I looked at it. If you had a laser designator on the ground that would be fine if you have the kits on the bombs but I wouldn't want to designate from a plane due to the complicated nature of the airspace. You could lob the bombs with kits on them just fine though.

IIRC, most US precision/near precision munitions are dual navigation. For JDAM and GMLRS, for example, primary is INS backed up by GPS. GPS serves to update the weapon's INS fix just before launch/drop and subsequently while it is in-air. Loss of GPS means the weapon becomes progressively less precise the longer it takes to reach its target but is nonetheless still very accurate.

Complete loss of GPS might keep an INS/GPS-guided weapon from having the precision necessary to, say, dig out a hardened, buried command center or hit an individual SAM vehicle, but is still generally accurate enough to strike a designated building, logistics dump, field fortification, bridge, etc.

A great point, I don't remember SLAM-ER guidance which would be more important long term for preventing attacks on Black Sea shipping and Odessa which will be key for Ukraine in the short term.

NAVAIR re SLAM-ER: "Ring Laser Gyro inertial navigation system (INS) with multi-channel GPS; infrared seeker for terminal guidance with man-in-the-loop control datalink from the controlling aircraft. Upgraded missiles incorporate automatic target acquisition (ATA)."

74OA said:

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NAVAIR re SLAM-ER: "Ring Laser Gyro inertial navigation system (INS) with multi-channel GPS; infrared seeker for terminal guidance with man-in-the-loop control datalink from the controlling aircraft. Upgraded missiles incorporate automatic target acquisition (ATA)."

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So if we aren't an aerospace engineer, what the hell does that mean compared to GPS guided munitions?

See my previous post just above re INS/GPS navigation. Infrared seeker means the missile's two nav systems just have to get the missile close enough to the target for the infrared to take over and guide it in. Man-in-the-loop means the firing aircraft can change the target ID/location while the missile is in flight or abort the mission altogether. ATA means the missile's infrared is intelligent enough to ID its target even in cluttered environments and despite infrared countermeasures.

Thanks! Since I got washed due to injury at A&M I never got much past surface level info. Better than non-reg, but not by much.

That is why even if you have GPS guided weapons with no anti-missile defense systems in the area that they recommend to "paint" the target with IR from people with boots on the ground. Early in the war in Afghanistan 2 GPS guided JDAMs were off target and each wiped out a team of green berets and their counterparts. They changed SOPs after those but redundant targeting is the preferred method these days

Kiev reaching out to touch Moscow. Good reminder for its largely insulated citizens that there's a war going on.

DRONES

aezmvp said:

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JFABNRGR said:

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If were now sending F16s prior to end of year doesn't this mean UKe pilots have already been training?

What role do you flyboys mainly see the F16 playing in this war? And how well given current conditions do you see this and to what ranges across the front?

Anti-ship?
Ground support?
Point target destruction?
Air to air?

---

They've had pilots quietly training on 16s for a while. The public info on that is more recent. The strike packages will be largely based on what ammo we get them. They will likely have anti-air, HARM and some form of air to mud munitions. I imagine that the Ukes would really REALLY like some anti-ship missiles. I know SLAM-ER is available on later versions of 16s but I'd have to dig to find out which block the proposed aircraft are. Those have a range of 270 km (listed) but I don't know if the export version is different. That would put Sevastopol in range and very quickly complicate the Russian Navy's lives. I'm not aware of another F-16 capable anti-ship missile. (Maybe Exocet? That damn thing could be launched from a hot air balloon. I swear the French will stick it on anything. It's range is much shorter though.)

As far as point target destruction I'm assuming you're talking about GPS or laser guided and there is a TON of GPS jamming going on, the Russians use a separate system that isn't as accurate 10-30m vs. 1-3m but is more resistant to jamming because of the frequencies. I'm a little rusty on that part and it might have changed in the years since I looked at it. If you had a laser designator on the ground that would be fine if you have the kits on the bombs but I wouldn't want to designate from a plane due to the complicated nature of the airspace. You could lob the bombs with kits on them just fine though.

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Good info.

According to Wiki Ukes are already using AGM-84s but variant not specified. They are already using the HARMs ,Storm Shadows, and JDAMs so IMO not much that really shouldn't be supplied. We have also agreed to ship GLSDBs in the fall so why not also provide the GBU-39s. That said we have also shipped NASAMS so why not send the AIM-120s of which F16s have already had some limited success in downing some Migs. In researching came across this very interesting article on soviet philosophy on Air Combat BVR. Basically they have adopted fire a bunch and one or more will get through where as we focus on single munition effectiveness or in reading this article the lack thereof.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBU-39_Small_Diameter_Bomb

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-120_AMRAAM

https://ausairpower.net/APA-Rus-BVR-AAM.html

P.U.T.U said:

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That is why even if you have GPS guided weapons with no anti-missile defense systems in the area that they recommend to "paint" the target with IR from people with boots on the ground. Early in the war in Afghanistan 2 GPS guided JDAMs were off target and each wiped out a team of green berets and their counterparts. They changed SOPs after those but redundant targeting is the preferred method these days

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The incident I think you're referring to (?) was a result of incorrect GPS target coordinates being passed to the attacking aircraft. The weapons didn't go off target since they accurately hit where they were sent. The changed procedures were to help ensure ground controllers relay correct GPS coordinates in the future. Additionally, JDAM bombs don't have an IR seeker, although there is one version with a laser seeker, so the vast majority still can't be painted for. INCIDENT

If I remember correctly communication got confused in the fog of battle. They thought they were asked to confirm their coordinates to ensure they wouldn't be hit and those coordinates were instead used to target.

AgLA06 said:

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If I remember correctly communication got confused in the fog of battle. They thought they were asked to confirm their coordinates to ensure they wouldn't be hit and those coordinates were instead used to target.

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Mistakes under stress are inevitable. I was just pointing out that the bombs didn't fly off target on their own.

More Russian grain strikes and other miscellaneous notes.

UPDATES

SouthTex99 said:

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It sucks but if Putin keeps pounding civilian buildings there has to be a response. You can't just let it happen if you have the ability to respond.

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The best response would be sinking a sub or cruiser that is firing cruise missiles in the Black Sea. That will spook the heck out of them. You could with tanks also get a 16 into position to hit Kerch but that would also be tough with the radar pickets that Russia is running in the Black Sea.