Guy Plopsky Profile picture
Jan 18 5 tweets 1 min read
1/ An important thing to keep an eye out for is information pertaining to the forward deployment of VKS Army Aviation (rotary-wing) assets. The Russians will not launch a major ground op without them. Currently, there are just two permanent Russian helicopter bases within...
2/ close proximity to Ukraine:
Dzhankoi (39th Helicopter Regiment) in Crimea (<50km from the border) & Zernograd (16th Army Aviation Brigade) in Rostov Oblast (~150km from the border). All other permanent helicopter bases are over 200km from the border.
3/ Locating forward deployment locations for Army Aviation units, however, is greatly complicated by the fact that Russia has quite a few air bases within 150-200km or less of the border that could be used for such purposes.
4/ Army Aviation units could also be deployed to reserve airfields (assuming those are available within practical range).
5/5 Furthermore, forward airfields for helicopters could be established closer to the border with relative ease.

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More from @GuyPlopsky

Jan 11
1/Izvestia sources say that "arsenals for storage and sites for repair, maintenance & testing of [Kinzhal system] #hypersonic missiles are being prepared in several [undisclosed] regions of Russia."

A short thread on what is known about #Kinzhal units.👇
iz.ru/1274681/alekse…
2/ Firstly, an experimental Kinzhal squadron was established at the 929th V. P. Chkalov State Fight-Test Center of the Russian Ministry of Defense in 2017. The squadron was reportedly equipped with ~10 MiG-31Ks.
3/ As for operational Kinzhal units, Russian Defense Minister Shoigu disclosed in late 2021 that a separate aviation regiment has been formed, though he offered no further details.
Read 11 tweets
Dec 24, 2021
1/ New "Red Star" interview with Lt. Gen. Alexander Leonov (head of ground troops air defense) has some statistics on the 2021 training year:

- 97 live-fire exercises carried out (29 more than during the previous training year).
redstar.ru/nebo-nad-vojsk…
2/
- Over 600 SAMs and tens of thousands ADA rounds expended during the exercises.
- Over 600 target missiles & drones were used to simulate a wide range of targets.
3/3

On Zapad-2021:

- "Over 90 practical tasks of firing at aerial targets" were carried out.

- Western Military District air defense grouping launched over 80 SAMs & fired over 10 thousand ADA rounds.
Read 4 tweets
Nov 30, 2021
1/ Very interesting short excerpt from E. A. Fedosov's 2004 book entitled "Half a Century in Aviation: Notes of an Academic" that talks about how little senior Russian defense officials seemed to understand air power during the First Chechen War.

A short thread (translation) 👇
2/ At the time of First Chechen War, Fedosov headed Russia's GoSNIIAS (State Scientific Research Institute of Aviation Systems).

Translation 👇
3/ "When the storming of Grozny began ... I was summoned to Deputy PM Soskovets to inform what aviation means could be used to deliver an accurate strike on Dudayev's palace in the center of Grozny. It had been assumed that a control center was located in the palace basement."
Read 19 tweets
Oct 15, 2021
1/ In June, Yuri Borisov stated that the #VKS will receive 4 #Su57|s this year. In July, Yuri Slusar stated that, starting in 2022, 12 Su-57s will be delivered each year.
4 in 2021 + 12 in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 & 2026 adds up to the planned figure of 76 aircraft. Short thread👇
2/ Only one Su-57 is known to have been delivered this year (while Russian media claimed that it was delivered in December 2020, the delivery appears to have actually taken place in January this year). See thread for more details:
3/3

12 Su-57s per year is not a big figure; however time will tell whether UAC will be able to stick to the planned annual production figures.
tvzvezda.ru/news/202171514…
Read 4 tweets
Aug 23, 2020
1/ Very interesting: 51P6E2 TEL displayed at ARMY-2020 Forum. The TEL is listed as part of a new SAM-ABM system called "Abakan."

Note that the 51P6E2 bares no resemblance to S-400's 51P6E TEL (even the chassis is completely different).

Image by @saidpvo
saidpvo.livejournal.com/978055.html
2/2 The 51P6E2's two container-launchers and radar mast resemble those of the S-300V's 9A84 transporter-loader and 9A83 TELAR, respectively. The latter two, however, feature a tracked chassis.
Read 6 tweets
Aug 11, 2020
1/ Take this with a grain of salt, but the 92N6A fire-control radar used in Russian military #S400 systems seems markedly more capable than its export version (the 92N6E).
Note the claimed detection ranges for a target with a 4 m2 RCS:
92N6A: up to 480 km
92N6E: up to 250 km
2/ Photos of the data for the 92N6E is from a 2019 Almaz-Antey marketing brochure that was kindly sent to me by @konrad_muzyka
3/ Data for the 92N6A is from a local media news report on an event held by the 1490th SAM Regiment (Leningrad Oblast) (2nd Air Defense Division, 6th Air and Air Defense Army). News report can be viewed here (0:45):
Read 5 tweets

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