Russia can no longer keep its combat aircraft safe in occupied Crimea. A Ukrainian drone costing about $10,000 destroyed a Su-24M bomber worth millions at Saky airfield.
The bomber was minutes from taking off to hit Ukraine when two drones caught it on the ground — United24. 1/
Oleksandr Pivnenko, commander of Ukraine's National Guard, announced the strike on July 16 and released footage of the operation by the Omega Special Purpose Center.
Two strike drones hit the Su-24M as crews readied it at Saky for another mission against Ukraine. 2/
The first drone struck the nose of the Su-24M bomber. The second hit the area around its fuel tanks and destroyed the aircraft on the ground.
Omega prepared for about three weeks and coordinated the strike with Ukraine's Air Force and Security Service. 3/
Fire Point's Flamingo cruise missile reaches twice as far as the Tomahawk and carries a larger payload at half the cost. Its wings are filled with Styrofoam.
Shtilerman: "They need to fly for 15 hours. Anything beyond that is a waste of money." — The Atlantic.
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Fire Point now produces roughly 200 long-range drones a day and up to three Flamingo cruise missiles a day. Its missiles reach Siberia.
Nine European countries plus Ukraine just announced a joint anti-ballistic missile coalition — with Fire Point's FP-7x as its basis.
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Shtilerman on Project Freyja: "It's not America that decides whether Europe can defend itself. Europe is building its own shield."
Denmark bypassed more than 20 of its own laws to partner with Fire Point.
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FT: Germany is studying Ukraine’s war experience to adapt its own army.
The Bundeswehr is learning from Ukrainian soldiers about drones, counter drone defense, deep strikes, force organization, procurement and rearmament. 1/
Christian Freuding, Germany’s land forces chief, says Ukrainian soldiers bring unmatched combat experience and the scale of an 800,000 strong force. He says European and Ukrainian security remain inextricably linked. 2/
Germany now brings Ukrainian troops to its training grounds. Several dozen soldiers have shared practical lessons on drone use and counter drone defense with the Bundeswehr. Freuding called the experience “extremely valuable.” 3/
Ukraine’s 20-somethings are reshaping its war machine and displacing a Soviet-era old guard in defense.
A Defense Ministry staffer in her early 20s found Denmark had earmarked the wrong shells for Ukraine and secured 15,000 long-range rounds, NYT. 1/
The staffer works under Oleksii Antoniuk, 24, deputy head of the ministry’s cooperation department.
Oleksii: “If not for her, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Young Ukrainians under 30 are gradually displacing a Soviet-era old guard in defense. 2/
The shift runs through Ukraine’s war machine.
Twentysomething engineers design drones, young entrepreneurs turn prototypes into production lines, and recent graduates at the Defense Ministry cut red tape to speed weapons to the front. 3/
Applebaum: Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 partly as a direct challenge to NATO and the United States.
Moscow wanted to prove there was no Western alliance, that Ukraine was not a real country, and that Europe and America would not come to its defense. 1/
Applebaum: Russia wanted to show that it alone was the sovereign power in Eastern Europe and would decide what happened there.
Instead, it was surprised: the United States and a united Europe pulled together and proved that a democratic world still exists. 2/
Applebaum: Negotiations will become possible only when Russia decides to stop fighting and accepts that it cannot achieve its main goal—the destruction of Ukraine as a nation.
Russia has not reached that point. Putin has never withdrawn that objective. 3/
Applebaum: The war with Iran was clearly a war of choice. Israel had proposed this kind of action to previous US presidents, and they declined.
They understood the immediate danger to international shipping and especially to the oil and gas industries. 1/
Applebaum: Trump now appears to regret the war, or at least has no interest in continuing it.
He is seeking an agreement that could resemble — or even be slightly worse than — the Obama-era deal, while the claim that Iran was about to get a bomb does not add up. 2/
Applebaum: Trump failed to account for Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz or retaliating against Gulf states, and then expressed surprise.
Yet anyone who had studied a war with Iran over the past two decades had already identified both risks as obvious possibilities. 3/