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> to drop munitions on or through tank hatches I don't think this is down to intelligence, it is just how the NATO anti-tank missiles are designed to work.
by rjsw 4y ago
> to drop munitions on or through tank hatches
I don't think this is down to intelligence, it is just how the NATO anti-tank missiles are designed to work.
- dredmorbius 4y agoDrops are usually made through consumer-grade drones. Those drones have limited range, and need to be proximate to, and be able to rapidly find, targets. Which requires intel. At this point ... I lack specific information on where or how that intel is aquired. Some may be from surveillance-drone flights or getting lucky sending out individual drone-attack missions. I suspect more, however.
- rjsw 4y agoAre there figures available on how many Russian tanks have been destroyed by drones and how many by Javelin and NLAW?
- distances 4y agoTotally unreliable personal take of public tank busting videos: Stugna-P is the most common, then various drones dropping AT grenades. These two lead by a large margin, followed by Javelin and NLAW, and finally a scattering of others like Panzerfaust. I'm sure the reality could be something quite different.
- saiya-jin 4y agoConsidering I didn't find a single successful Switchblade drone video in 3 months (1 which missed quite a bit), I would say this output is heavily moderated and for good reasons. Ukrainians want to prop their technology for sales/morale (Stugna), US probably doesn't want to show off their latest technology marvel. The other option is, Switchblade drones are completely useless and thus unused by Ukraine. I don't believe that even if it may not be some wonder weapon to solve it all.
- distances 4y agoThere may be secrecy too, but Stugna and drone hits are also the easiest to document so makes sense we have video material for those. Probably also at least one order of magnitude more widespread among the troops than the Switchblades.
- dredmorbius 4y agoSwitchblades do seem curiously missing-in-action. From past and current online research: Switchblades seem to have only recently been announced for shipping to Ukraine. I've found one video claiming to be a strike (against a machine-gun nest), though that seems more probably to be mortar rounds. There is also a report of Switchblade remains reported by Russians, though again, only in poorly-sourced video. My read is that the munitions haven't entered active use at large scale. The Switchblade 300 is largely an antipersonnel / nonarmoured vehicle weapon, and may not be as telegenic as tank-busting Javelins and NLAWs.
- distances 4y agoThere is now circulating a video of a claimed successful Switchblade attack: https://v.redd.it/7gu7hlbxod191 https://v.redd.it/7gu7hlbxod191
- dredmorbius 4y agoSwitchblades have appeared: https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/05/watch-the-seamless-launch-of-a-switchblade-300-drone-in-ukraine/ https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/05/watch-the-seamless-launc...
- dredmorbius 4y agoI don't know offhand, though among the more reliable open sources groups seems to be Oryx. They've been reporting on verified losses, but not means of loss so far as I'm aware. https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-equipment.html https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-docum...