20 Comments
Sep 20Liked by Mike Mihajlovic

Wow. I would have never imagined those systems to be so complicated and sophisticated. Thank you for sharing

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Sep 20Liked by Mike Mihajlovic

Because Soviet junk go brr?

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?

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Sep 20Liked by Mike Mihajlovic

Soviet military equipment was often elegantly designed and very sophisticated, but propaganda would tell you otherwise.

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To be honest I had the same expectations on any other system regardless of their provenance. As a complete ignorant on the field, I was thinking of military systems to be the most basic possible so they could be used by untrained and not necessarily too smart people. Are the western designed framework as complex? I would understand then why they can't be operated by a bunch of conscript high on amphetamines as our media is trying to picture.

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Even more complex, precisely because they weren’t supposed to be manned by your regular conscript. They were supposed to be ultimate tools of destruction, to be used against folks armed with the most basic weapons. In peer or near-peer conflict though they show to be over-engineered without providing a decisive edge.

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I missed you BMA lads and lasses.

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Sep 20Liked by Mike Mihajlovic

That was an awesome article. Just the right level of technical information for me! Thanks!

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Nice read, Mike!

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author

thank you!

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Great technical article. I look forward to every one.

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author

Thank you.

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And btw: As modern NATO materiel increasingly shows its non effectiveness, I’d reckon we will see a lot more attempts at digging up old Soviet weaponry and try to repurpose it.

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One problem with the article is that it to an extent relies on Ukrainian official sources, which are notoriously unreliable. (The claims about the Tupolev bomber and AWACS aircraft for example. We don’t know exactly what happened with them)

Or just another example: The strike on the ammunition depot in Tver. Ukrainian sources claim total destruction, whereas satellite pictures clearly show that the bunkers at the site are just fine.

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author

One sentence in this article:

"Again, everything coming from their sources should be taken with reserve" explain that the reliability and truth of the Ukrainian source shall always be taken with reserve or as it is popular in jargon "with a grain (or even a bag) of salt". Many unbelievable claims are coming both from Ukrainian officials and tenfold more from the charlatans in the media but it is what it is.

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I am always impressed by the accuracy of Mike's articles..

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author

Thank you.

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The S-200 is a monster. How to use it? Was it used against that distant Russian ammunition depot recently? Still no clarity on whether Ukraine hit that from Ukraine or from Latvia, for instance, and reports vary about what weapon was used. "Lots of drones overhead" were reported, but could have been there to confuse AD, too.

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author

I don't think that S-200 is used in the depot attack. in any case, better take a step aside and wait for the official investigation. very dirty game is playing by the NATO proxies.

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It was likely just drones. The important material was kept inside bunkers, but there were a bunch of obsolete or redundant ammunition that was kept outside. Not a hard target for a drone.

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