Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Russia's air defence teams are manned by "homeless people, alcoholics, deserters, disabled people, idiots", complains a Russian warblogger. In the face of continued failures to stop Ukrainian drone attacks, urgent investment in robotic defence systems is advocated. ⬇️

2/ 'Military Chronicle' argues that "recent incidents involving the use of attack drones against targets in Moscow and Voronezh demonstrate that the human factor is becoming the most critical vulnerability in modern air defence systems."

3/ 'Dead Heads' explains that Russia's mobile fire teams are attracting the wrong kind of recruits: "We're forming Mobile Task Forces (MOGs) and assembling them by units: homeless people, alcoholics, 500s, disabled people, idiots – why aren't they shooting down anything?"

4/ Other reports have highlighted that many Russians have often been reluctant to join MOGs. They are formally part of the Ministry of Defence, and signing a contract to join one does not mean that one is exempted from being sent to fight in Ukraine – as has already happened.

5/ For this reason, Russian drone developers such as Alexey Chadayev have frequently argued that air defence should become the responsibility of a separate civilian organisation. Given that it has been a military responsibility since Soviet times, this seems unlikely to happen.

6/ 'Dead Heads' comments:

"Regarding the topic of Mobile Task Forces (MOGs) and their scaling, the problem is obvious and lies in two areas: absolute lack of preparation and a lack of understanding of the importance of their work."

7/ "While some MOGs are actually on duty and don't sleep, with a large number of kills, others perceive the MOGs as a failure.

8/ "They want to be farther away from the brass, have a chance to have a quiet drink, and blame the lack of results on inoperative equipment or hardware failure.

9/ "All hope lies in the rapid implementation and scaling of robotic anti-aircraft platforms like the Citadel [an automatic air defence gun from Rostec]."

10/ 'Military Chronicle' concurs:

"The concept of protecting rear areas requires a transition to highly automated, cost-effective, and mass-produced systems."

11/ "While full robotisation is difficult to achieve for long- and medium-range systems (such as the S-400, S-500, and prospective modifications of the Buk family of air defense systems) due to the specific nature of their operational use, this task is entirely feasible in the…

12/ …short-range air defence segment.

Experience with the deployment of mobile fire teams (MOGs) staffed exclusively by personnel has revealed the limits of such formations' effectiveness in repelling dense air attacks.

13/ "Human physiological limitations—delayed reaction times, cognitive errors under stress, and the difficulty of calculating lead time and firing large-caliber systems at high-speed, small targets—objectively reduce interception effectiveness.

14/ "Stabilisation of the situation is impossible without the integration of automatic detection and target designation stations based on high-frequency X- and Ku-band radars, which offer high resolution for detecting targets with a small radar cross-section (RCS).

15/ "Systems developed by Rostec State Corporation enterprises (including the Citadel series) confirm the high priority of automation.

16/ "However, work in this area must be accelerated, with the human operator transferred exclusively to the backup control loop, as no current solution allows for simultaneous autonomous and effective interception.

17/ "Trends in the development of air attack capabilities indicate the need not only for new solutions but also for the extensive robotisation of combat-proven short-range air defence systems—in particular, the Pantsir-S1 family of anti-aircraft missile and gun systems (ZRPK).

18/ "It would be appropriate to redesign these platforms as fully autonomous modular systems with a significantly increased ammunition load.

19/ "The modernised complex must be capable of autonomous operation in a given area without the direct involvement of a human operator or technical maintenance for periods ranging from several days to two weeks." /end

Sources:
🔹 t.me/Warhronika/142…
🔹 t.me/Dead_heads/4411