I suspect these belong to the Ukrainian 'Sea Guard'/Coast guard, which is under the command of the Ukrainian Border Guard Service, hence maybe why one has hull number "BG 118".
What I believe to be refurbished civilian vessels, in-service with the Sea Guard/Coast Guard of the Border Guard Service.
In total, six such vessels were captured by the Russians.
i. BGXX8
ii. BG311
iii. BG14
iv. BG25
Here’s a compilation of Russian military attack helicopters (Ka-52 and Mi-28) taking part in the war in Ukraine.
Notice how they’re mainly using unguided dumb-rockets, cannon fire, and radar/laser beam-riding SACLOS missiles.
1/8
These aforementioned weapons are fairly old and outdated system, and we can see the ramifications of this in their losses: 12 attack helicopters lost. Helicopters armed with these systems have to enter contested airspace to have desirable effect on target.
2/8
Months ago, I brought up how modern attack helicopter capabilities have drastically changed.
The USMC AH-1W, fighting in Iraq nearly two decades ago, had the same offensive capabilities as Russian helicopters today. SACLOS missiles, rockets etc.
Here's a (partial) guide on how to identify Russian military Air Defense losses in Ukraine. It will be a two part series, focusing on the Tor and Buk systems respectively.
This is part two, Buk.
1/25
Russian Air Defense systems are usually composed of smaller units/sub-systems, Buk is no different. From my understanding, its combat vehicle can work independently if need be, but it usually does not. I will focus on battalion-level Buk systems.
2/25
Buk variants (or a part of them) that are known to be active in Ukraine are:
Here's a guide on how to identify Russian military Air Defense losses in Ukraine. It will be a two part series, focusing on the Tor and Buk systems respectively.
This is part one, Tor.
1/8
Many Russian Air Defense systems are composed of smaller units/sub-systems, Tor is a little different. Its combat vehicle can work independently and does not necessarily require input from its command vehicle or radar. I will thus look at ID'ing this sub-system only.
2/8
Tor variants that are known to be active in Ukraine are:
- 9K330 Tor-M, with 9A330 Transporter Launcher and Radar (TLAR) sub-system;
For all the folks calling @oryxspioenkop and our list biased in favor of Ukraine, we spend multiple hours today going through four pieces of film to determine if a Russian loss was the same or not.
Others would've counted them as separate entities, but we did not.
The four pieces of film/footage include
A) Picture of a heavily damaged 9A331 TLAR from Telegram;
B) Video showing a burning 9A331 TLAR;
C) Screenshot from a TikTok video showing a glimpse of a Tor TLAR;
D) Another screenshot showing a Tor TLAR quite a distance away.
Step 1:
We compared the TikTok video (C) to the film showing a Tor TLAR in the distance (D). These were match.
Here's something different from my more recent Ukraine oriented tweets. Some pics I took today of USS The Sullivans (DDG-68), moored in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Gotta love the firepower of a Burke,
Harpoons, Phalanx, SVTT, and Mk41 VLS in one pic :)
Some of its radar and EW assets: AN/SPY-1D, AN/SPG-62, and AN/SLQ-32(V)3.
The SLQ-32 is MASSIVE, it really is. It is a very capable EW-system.