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NASAM uses AIM-20 (Amraam) missiles, and there are plenty of these in stock worldwide. IRIS-T and Patriot are trickling in, but the big threat currently is the

by greedo 4y ago

NASAM uses AIM-20 (Amraam) missiles, and there are plenty of these in stock worldwide. IRIS-T and Patriot are trickling in, but the big threat currently is the lame Iranian Shaheed drones. Those are better handled by NASAM and even gun based AA then with multi-million dollar Patriot missiles.

dragontamer 4y ago
I have a feeling that the 30mm Bushmaster chaingun with air-burst rounds is being severely underutilized. Not only is it clearly an effective anti-drone weapon, I have to imagine that its an effective anti-trench weapon as well. Small enough to transport in an F150 standard pickup truck, it seems like a gun that will solve a lot of these problems in Ukraine. I know that gun exists because I like browsing weapon systems on Youtube :-). I hope we're giving it to Ukraine.
- greedo 4y ago
  Targeting is the main issue. At least on the Bradley there's no A2A mode as far as I know. Rheinmetall has some pretty nice kit in the Skyranger/Skyshield systems, but since they're Swiss, they're going to have trouble selling them.
The_Colonel 4y ago
Ukraine currently has 2 NASAMS batteries, 1 IRIS-T and no Patriots yet. Even the promised numbers are not enough to cover the Ukrainian territory. I was talking about Soviet made AA missiles for e.g. S-300 and Buks which still represent most of Ukrainian long/medium range AA. > but the big threat currently is the lame Iranian Shaheed drones. The actual big threat is that Ukrainian long/medium range AA gets attrited too much and Russia will be able to use their bombers.
- greedo 4y ago
  Patriots should be there by summer, and IHAWK launchers as well from Spain (with refurbed US missiles). Italy and France are providing at least one SAMP/T system, which is comparable to the Patriot. That system should arrive this spring. I think Ukraine has been getting reloads of 9M82/9M83 from either Slovakia or Bulgaria. But the issue isn't reloads so much as TELs. Ukraine has pretty deep missile inventories, but not enough TOR/BUK/S300V launchers and radars. Eventually they'll run out of spares and need to rely completely on Western SAMs. I can't see the VKS risking any bombers over Ukraine. They'll continue to use them for launching missiles from Belgograd Oblast, but the PR damage if a Backfire or Blackjack was shot down would be unbearable to the Russians.

by greedo 4y ago

dragontamer 4y ago

I have a feeling that the 30mm Bushmaster chaingun with air-burst rounds is being severely underutilized. Not only is it clearly an effective anti-drone weapon, I have to imagine that its an effective anti-trench weapon as well. Small enough to transport in an F150 standard pickup truck, it seems like a gun that will solve a lot of these problems in Ukraine. I know that gun exists because I like browsing weapon systems on Youtube :-). I hope we're giving it to Ukraine.

greedo 4y ago
Targeting is the main issue. At least on the Bradley there's no A2A mode as far as I know. Rheinmetall has some pretty nice kit in the Skyranger/Skyshield systems, but since they're Swiss, they're going to have trouble selling them.

The_Colonel 4y ago

Ukraine currently has 2 NASAMS batteries, 1 IRIS-T and no Patriots yet. Even the promised numbers are not enough to cover the Ukrainian territory. I was talking about Soviet made AA missiles for e.g. S-300 and Buks which still represent most of Ukrainian long/medium range AA. > but the big threat currently is the lame Iranian Shaheed drones. The actual big threat is that Ukrainian long/medium range AA gets attrited too much and Russia will be able to use their bombers.

greedo 4y ago
Patriots should be there by summer, and IHAWK launchers as well from Spain (with refurbed US missiles). Italy and France are providing at least one SAMP/T system, which is comparable to the Patriot. That system should arrive this spring. I think Ukraine has been getting reloads of 9M82/9M83 from either Slovakia or Bulgaria. But the issue isn't reloads so much as TELs. Ukraine has pretty deep missile inventories, but not enough TOR/BUK/S300V launchers and radars. Eventually they'll run out of spares and need to rely completely on Western SAMs. I can't see the VKS risking any bombers over Ukraine. They'll continue to use them for launching missiles from Belgograd Oblast, but the PR damage if a Backfire or Blackjack was shot down would be unbearable to the Russians.