2/ The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) combines Norwegian-made launchers and control systems with American AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs). It's capable of engaging 72 targets simultaneously.
3/ NASAMS integrates MPQ-64 Sentinel radars and AMRAAM missiles with a Norwegian battle management system called Fire Distribution Center (FDC). Its effective firing range is reported to be around 25 km, at altitudes of between 300 m - 16 km, and a claimed 85% hit probability.
4/ A NASAMS battery comprises three fire units (9 launchers with a total of 54 missiles), three MPQ-64F radars, one fire control centre, one electro-optical camera vehicle (which provides passive guidance) and one Tactical Control Cell vehicle. Total cost about $64 million.
5/ What makes it special, though, is that it's fully networked via the NATO-standard Link 16 military tactical data link network. The elements of the system can be widely dispersed, making it difficult for enemy forces to target.
6/ Each of the radars is capable of replacing the others. The fire control centre can receive target designations from headquarters and issue data to the individual launchers. All 54 missiles can be fired at various targets within 12 seconds.
7/ This setup is quite different from older SAMs, where the command & control centre, radars and launchers are all set up on one site. NASAMS spreads these installations over a wide area with decentralised control system.
8/ Hostile forces face great difficulty in finding and neutralising the system as there is no singie site to be found - it's all dispersed. Even if one element is hit, the built-in redundancy means that the remaining parts are still operational.
9/ Ukraine has been interested in NASAMs for some time. Its principal air defence system has been the Buk-M1, dating to the early 1980s, of which it had 72 in 2016. However, the Buk and other Soviet-made SAMs are now largely obsolete.
10/ Ukraine's "Vision of the Armed Forces-2035", announced in 2021, envisaged withdrawing existing S-125, S-300P, S-300V and Buk missiles from service and replacing them with a new medium-range surface-to-air missile system.
11/ It remains to be seen how many batteries are to be given to Ukraine and where they'll be stationed. As NASAMS has a shorter range than the better-known MIM-104 Patriot (25 vs 90-160 km), more batteries will be needed to cover the same area.
12/ But however many are delivered, it's clearly going to be a big problem for Russia. When Canadian F-18s went up against NASAMS in a 1999 exercise, they were unable to find any of the batteries, while NASAMS recorded 18 simulated kills. I doubt Russia will do any better. /end
1/ Russia's murderous strike on a shopping mall in Kremenchuk has rightly been condemned as a crime, but was it also a mistake, as Tallyrand might have said? I think there's a case for arguing it was both, due to the bad choices Russia made. A short 🧵.
2/ First bad choice: Russia reportedly used two long-range Kh-22 missiles. This is a frankly ancient 6.5 ton weapon, first fielded in 1962 - 60 years ago! - to hit NATO aircraft carriers and battleships with a 1,000 kg warhead or a 350–1,000 kt nuclear weapon.
3/ It's extraordinarily fast - Mach 4.6 (5,600 km/h; 3,500 mph) - so you literally wouldn't hear it coming; the first you'd hear would be the explosion. It uses inertial guidance followed by active radar homing in its terminal dive.
What makes this especially amusing is that Russian military personnel are supposed to be subject to mandatory fitness checks. Before he was sacked in 2012, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov ordered his top generals to undertake fitness checks. They failed miserably.
Their mass humiliation is rumoured to have been a factor in Serdyukov's corruption being exposed. His successor, the current Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, quietly dropped the issue of fitness checks for the top brass, with results that are clearly visible...
From @JulianRoepcke: Russian propagandists in panic: The new Western artillery and missile systems are targeting operational centres and ammunition depots far behind the front with deadly accuracy. /1
Translation of post by Alexander Kharchenko: Today there is worrying news from the front. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have started hunting for Russian headquarters. Previously they had tried to hit the control centres with Soviet-era artillery but rarely succeeded. /2
The Tochka and Smerch rockets were shot down by Russian air defence when they approached. With the advent of Western artillery systems everything changed. Accuracy of shooting has increased dramatically. /3
1/ Corrupt Russian general to corrupt colonel: "It's against the rules!". In this 4th 🧵 on Russian military corruption, I'll look at how the rules and structures of the Russian military and defence ministry contribute to its vast problem with corruption.
2/ For the first thread in the series, on low- and medium-level military corruption, see below.
With the news of the Ukrainian army's withdrawal from Sieverodonetsk, it's also clear that Ukraine is facing an increasingly difficult situation south of Lysychansk. Finnish military historian @emilkastehelmi has posted an insightful thread which I'll translate below. /1
The situation in eastern Ukraine is difficult: Russia has made a breakthrough in Toshkivka, and has occupied several villages in recent days.
The rapid advance has put the defenders of Zolote and Hirske in a difficult situation. Retreat routes are becoming scarce. /2
According to the Ukrainian General Staff, fighting continues in the Zolote pocket. According to Russian sources, some of the troops have already been surrounded. The situation is constantly evolving, but what is certain is that it is unfavourable and dangerous for Ukraine. /3
@UAWeapons@RALee85@thewinelake@riskybusiness Video of an apparent kamikaze UAV attack on a Russian oil refinery well inside Russian territory. The attack has been attributed to Ukraine, but I'm wondering now if this might actually be a Russian drone.
The drone's geometry is quite distinctive - especially the U-shaped tail assembly which is quite different from the Ukrainian PD-1, PD-2 and Turkish-made TB2 which all have inverted V-shaped tails. I think this might be a Russian Forpost drone. The geometry is a good match.
The Ukrainians have previously downed Forposts - this one was brought down in 2015. Shootdowns were also reported in April and May 2022.