By now, many will have seen the video of a Ukrainian drone dropping a small bomb through the sunscreen (!) of a car driven by Russian soldiers. Here's a short thread on how it was done (with thanks to @ian_matveev, on whose thread this is based). /1
For the attack, a modified VOG-17 grenade was used. A fin and a front part, created on a 3D printer, are added. The VOG-17 is a Soviet-era 30x120 mm fragmentation grenade with a claimed effective radius of 7m, covering an area of about 150 m². /2
It weighs about 350g (12.3oz) A hobbyist drone like a DJI Phantom 3 is easily capable of carrying one of these. As two grenades were used in this attack, it suggests that a bigger drone was used, two drones were used or the same drone was used to attack twice in succession. /3
The modifications to the grenade are simple, but as the video shows, they enable good aerodynamic performance and high accuracy. /4
The VOG-17 grenade itself contains only 36g (1.2oz) of explosive and can't seriously damage equipment. But there is a lot of such ammunition in Ukraine. It's usually fired from an AG-17 automatic grenade launcher, a Soviet equivalent of the US Mk 19. /5
Low-cost hobbyist drones armed with small modified grenades provide a cheap and effective weapon against individual soldiers. Factions in Syria and Iraq used them to some extent, but they've really come into their own in Ukraine. /6
But how do you destroy an armoured vehicle with an off-the-shelf drone? Ukraine appears to have been using a few different approaches. One of the most effective has been to repurpose the RKG-3, an old Soviet-era type of anti-tank grenade dating to 1950. /7
In 2020, Ukraine's PJSC Mayak Plant demonstrated a drone bomb conversion for the RKG-3 - attaching 3D-printed fins to convert it into the RKG-1600. It weighs about 1kg (2 lb), requiring the use of a larger drone. /8
During testing, drone pilots were able to hit a target 1m (3ft) in size from an altitude of 300m (900 ft). At that altitude the drone would have been virtually invisible and inaudible. /9
Another tactic appears to be the use of what are likely to be aerially-dropped mortar rounds - a very simple and cheap option, particularly against weakly armoured vehicles such as these Russian BMP-3s (with only about 10mm of top armour). /10
The effect of these can be seen in the video below. /11
The cost-effectiveness of these things is extraordinary. An octocopter drone costs maybe $10k, a Phantom 3 costs around $500. A mortar or RKG-1600 probably costs under $100. Each BMP-3 cost the Russians $796k. Add to that the potential cost of a lost crew. /12
You can bet that military strategists will be watching this with great interest. Drones are now able to effectively snipe soldiers and equipment with great precision, likely undetected, at any time of the day or night and in most weather conditions. /13
Even if you're camouflaged, bivouacked or behind the front lines, a drone armed with a small bomb could be overhead at any moment. Drone pilots are the new snipers of the 21st century, and are likely to be just as much feared by their targets. /end
An extra point about how effective those converted anti-tank grenades (RKG-1600) are: the most recent models of the base RKG-3 grenade can penetrate 220 mm of rolled homogeneous armour. That's more than enough to take out a tank, as this video shows:
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1/ Wounded Russian soldiers are being ordered to crawl into battle if they cannot walk. "You’re still meat, no one gives a shit about you," they have been told by their commander, according to relatives. The men are now missing, and their relatives want Vladimir Putin to help. ⬇️
2/ A number of female relatives of missing men have posted an 'appeal to the Tsar' video on social media. They are complaining about what has happened to their loved ones and appeal personally to Putin to intervene on their behalf against the Russian bureaucracy.
3/ Their account helps to explain why so many crippled Russian soldiers have recently been filmed on the battlefield. It appears to be the result of chronic shortages of manpower and casual brutality, with men being used as "meat probes" in minefields.
1/ The conviction of former General Ivan Popov has produced a vehement reaction from Russian warbloggers, who denounce it as unjustified. Although he has been sentenced to five years' imprisonment and loss of rank, Popov may yet go back to fight again in Ukraine. ⬇️
2/ Popov has been in detention since May 2024 on charges of fraudulently appropriating and selling 1,700 tons of rolled metal structures intended for use in building defensive structures on the front line. He argued that it was scrap metal which he sold to aid his troops.
3/ He was also charged with falsification of official documents relating to the metal parts. His former deputy, the late Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov, was also implicated. A businessman, Sergei Moiseyev, was sentenced to four years in prison and fined 400,000 rubles ($4,800).
1/ A catastrophic explosion at a Russian arsenal may have taken place while an ammunition train was being loaded or unloaded. Images from the depot show ammunition stacked in the open, while its bunkers seem to have been poorly protected.
2/ Triangulation of videos showing the initial explosion suggests that it took place at the very centre of the arsenal near Kirzhach (coordinates 56.101466125876044, 38.74729263195981), where satellite images show a rail loading/unloading facility.
3/ New satellite images released today show that the most heavily impacted area of the arsenal is centred on the rail loading/unloading facility, which may support the hypothesis of an accident with an ammunition train.
1/ Ukrainians are scamming millions of rubles a day from Russians and directing the proceeds to fund the Ukrainian armed forces, according to Russian investigators. They accuse the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) of being behind the scam operations. ⬇️
2/ Russian journalist and warblogger Anastasia Kashevarova has posted on her Telegram channel the results of an investigation by SNOS Call Centre, a group which is dedicated to countering Ukrainian scam operations against Russian citizens.
3/ The scams are said to be organised like regular businesses, complete with offices, employees, HR managers and corporate policies. Kashevarova cites the example of a concern called Strongcall, which operates in Kyiv and several other Ukrainian cities.
1/ Two Russian policemen who were sent to Ukraine after being found guilty of killing two teenage girls with an axe have both died there, according to Russian sources. ⬇️
2/ The two men, Dmitry Istomin and Yevgeny Inkin, committed the double murder in the Selenginsky District of Buryatia in 2002, but were not caught until 2019.
3/ 17-year-old Evgenia Shekunova and 18-year-old Ekaterina Pateyuk were found stripped to their underwear and chopped up with an axe at an area called Klyukvennaya Pad, two weeks after going missing.
1/ The 51st GRAU arsenal near Moscow, which exploded spectacularly today, was the target of a massive theft in 2017 which 646 million rubles ($7.9m) out of a 1.3 billion ruble ($16m) budget were stolen from a modernisation programme. ⬇️
2/ These photos show the interior of the arsenal in happier times; the drone footage above was filmed in 2017 during a press tour. The Russian authorities say that the explosion was due to "safety violations" and are setting up a commission of inquiry to investigate it.
3/ In October 2017, the FSB opened a criminal investigation into Spetsmontazh LLC, a company which had been given a 1.3 billion ruble contract by the Russian Ministry of Defence in 2013 to carry out construction and maintenance work at the arsenal. It was paid in advance.