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Test footage emerged of what seems to be the #Chinese Sunflower 200 sacrificial UAV - the copy of the Iranian Shahed 136 drone.

These drones were previously shown at the Armiya-2023 expo in #Russia and could be used against #Ukraine.

A brief 🧵 The Shahed-136 (and the smaller 131) have been used by Russia against Ukraine since about September 2022 (also under the name Geran-2 (and 1).

The UAVs' avionics and navigation systems are primarily based on commercial-grade products with a warhead of 20-40kg (estimated).

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Interesting observation from the war in #Ukraine️:

#Russia may be experiencing substantial supply issues of Kontakt-1 basic explosive reactive armour (ERA).

ERA is a vital component of Russian armour protection and was generally believed to be readily available. Several telegram channels are looking for Russians who can produce the metal containers for Kontakt-1 explosive reactive armour (ERA) or spare some materials for them.

They post the machine drawings and of these containers, and recruiting machine shops who could produce them.

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Fascinating image of an improvised truck-mounted remote mining system used by #Russia|n forces in #Ukraine.

This seems to use the launcher from a Universal Minelayer UMZ - which deploys several scattered mines while driving, thereby creating a minefield.

A brief 🧵 The UMZ holds six of these angled honey-cone launchers, each containing 30 K-cassettes.

The truck drives along and fires the K-cassettes sequentially.

The depth (or width) of the resulting minefield can range from 15 to 240m, with the launch truck driving as fast as 40 km/h.

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Recently, @CITeam_en documented #Russia pulling ancient T54/55 tanks from storage and potentially moving them to the frontline in the #UkraineRussiaWar.

Some, like @RyanMcbeth, have suggested the T54/55s could substitute artillery.

My thoughts plus a twist at the end🧵 What does using a tank in an indirect-fire role rather than a direct-fire role mean?

The idea: tanks don't fire at targets they can see in a relatively flat arc (as they were designed).

Instead, they fire at targets they don't see, at a steep angle (like howitzers).

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The #US @DeptofDefense just announced that #Russia was supplying "highly enriched Uranium" to #China.

Now, why would China do that?

A brief 🧵

Source: defense.gov/News/News-Stor… What is highly enriched Uranium?

Basically, Uranium comes in many atomic configuration. U-238 is the most common & U-235 is the one we get the energy from.
Depending on the concentration of U-235 we call it: natural, low-enriched (for energy) or high-enriched (for weapons).

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Der Spiegel (@derspiegel ) reported that #China's Xi'an Bingguo Smart company may support #Russia with sacrificial drones - the ZT-180 - against #Ukraine.

All we know is that the drone can carry 35 kg to 50 kg of explosives.

spiegel.de/international/…

An #OSINT🧵👇 The company name "西安冰果智能航空科技有限公司" gives us a marketplace website: 81uav.cn/com/bingouav/

As the company does not have its own website - very China.

Thanks to @stoa1984 for finding the website!!

There've been numerous sightings of #Russian TOS-1A multiple rocket launchers in #Ukraine, albeit they've not been used yet.

Seeing TOS-1As in the #UkraineWar is significant as they cause immense damage when used in urban warfare - as we have seen in #Chechnya in 1999

A quick🧵 The TOS-1(A) fires 30 (24 A version) 220mm thermobaric rockets. One salvo can "annihilate" an estimated area of 200x400m.

Thermobaric rockets function by dispersing a fuel (powdered tetranite) into a cloud that is then ignited. The resulting shockwave destroys buildings & people