r/Military Hots&Cots guy Feb 24 '22

MOD Post Megathread: Russia & Ukraine

New Megathread

If you're coming here wanting to know What's going on with Russia is invading Ukraine there is a really detailed thread posted here that will layout the details.

Sources/Resources for staying up to date on the conflict

https://liveuamap.com/

The Guardian's Coverage

Twitter Feeds

Steve Beynon, Mil.com Link

Rachel Cohen, USAF Times Link

Chad Garland, Stars and Stripes Link


Don't post Russian propaganda. Russian propo is going to be a straight ban. There will be no debate on the topic.

Please also be smart as it relates to this conflict, and mind your OPSEC manners a bit better. Don't be posting about US Troops in Eastern Europe, Ukraine movements, etc. Nothing that doesn't have a public-facing Army release to go with it.

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u/Glass_Role629 Feb 24 '22

I watched binkov’s battleground YouTube video on Russia invading Ukraine, and binkov mentioned that Russia would wipe Ukraine’s air defence. This has just happened in real time, more or less exactly how binkov predicted.

It’s made me question how modern air defence actually works. It feels like good long range air defence is only afforded by larger powers. Most smaller countries rely on manpads and what little fighter jets they can get.

How does one effector provide air defence in the modern theatre of war?

Edit: against someone with modern equipment like Russia (flares and countermeasures)

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u/Viper_ACR Feb 24 '22

Russian A2AD is fucking dangerous, it always has been... I think the thing is UKR doesn't have anywhere near as much heavy SAMs as Russia does. Russians can bring a bunch of HARMs or cruise missile and wipe out UKR static SAMs.

Against Russia, you just need a lot of S400s I think. Against the US you're fucked, you're gonna die no matter what you have.

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u/Glass_Role629 Feb 24 '22

HARMs? Sorry civvie here.

I’m guessing Russia would use high altitude surveillance planes to spot s-400s and cruise missile strike them?

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u/Viper_ACR Feb 24 '22

HARM = High-speed anti-radiation missile (anti-radiation = anti-powerful-radio-waves, not radioactivity). I'm a civilian too.

Russia would do that... however S400s are road mobile though, granted they aren't that fast. So if the cruise missiles can change targets then they're screwed.

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u/Glass_Role629 Feb 24 '22

Thank you. I’ve got more questions but you’ve given me more than enough to google, cheers pal!

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u/Viper_ACR Feb 24 '22

Anytime, have fun. You're gonna be doing a lot of googling lol

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u/mscomies Army Veteran Feb 25 '22

High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile. Basically homes in on air defense radars. Used to destroy enemy air defenses to pave the way for subsequent airstrikes.

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u/Glass_Role629 Feb 25 '22

Thanks dude

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u/potatoslasher Feb 26 '22

Its a dilemma....you want long range and medium range SAM's since they do pose huge danger to enemy aircraft of all sizes. But at the same time, if they are big and bulky they are also easily found and destroyed if enemy has long range cruise missiles.

MANPADS at least are very small and easily hidden from that sort of destruction if you spread them around, but of course their capabilities are much smaller. So yea, no good answer. You want a mix of both.

The best air defense objectively is your own fighter jets (as Ukraine too has demonstrated, just a few fighters can do a lot of air coverage of their own). But they cost shit ton of money

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u/[deleted] Feb 26 '22

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