Russia admits air defence failures

Russia admits air defence failures against Himar - and suspects Ukrainian calculations

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For the past few days, Ukraine has been celebrating increasing successes against the Russian army with US weapons.

On the one hand, this is due to the weapons themselves - but it is also related to an empty promise.

A former Prime Minister of Russia is now facing severe consequences.

Over the past few days, Ukraine has been reporting increasing successes in the fight against the Russian army.  The reason: the US-American rocket launchers of the Himars (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) type.  The United States has so far delivered eight such weapons to Ukraine and four more have been promised - with devastating consequences for the Russian army.

The Himars rocket launchers have a long range and are very mobile.  This means that positions of the Russian army that were actually considered safe, far behind the actual front line, are now regularly under fire.

An empty promise makes Putin's soldiers easy victims of Himar

One reason for the Ukrainian success with the new weapons is apparently an empty promise by a Russian arms manufacturer.   The Almaz-Antey company, which produces the S300 and S400 surface-to-air missile systems deployed by Russia in Ukraine, promised when building and selling the weapons that they could also be used to defend against the Himars missile launchers.  Now it turns out that that was a mis-judgment, at least.

Anton Gerashenko, advisor to the Ukrainian interior minister, wrote on Twitter: "Russian air defence systems are not able to intercept Himar missiles - which Almaz-Antey had promised and for which they have been richly rewarded.  Russian soldiers, their ammunition, fuel and warehouses are vulnerable to the power of American weapons.”

Russia admits losses to Himars - and suspects Ukrainian calculations

On the Russian side, the failure of the Russian missile defence system was, at least partially, acknowledged.  Former Ukrainian MP, Oleg Tsaryov who now lives in Russia, justified it by saying that Ukrainian troops would first fire volleys from older rocket launchers to trigger Russian air defences.  Only then would the "more expensive and more accurate" Himars rockets be used.

The Himar system threatens the security of the "Luhansk People's Republic," the head of the region recognized by Russia as a state, Leonid Passechnik admitted this week.  "Luckily they don't have many such weapons.  So there's no need to panic at all."

However, Ukraine is hoping for more such weapons from the West.  Ukrainian military analyst, Oleh Zhdanov says Russia's air defences do not stand a chance against the Himar missiles.  The attackers use rockets of Soviet design, which repeatedly miss their targets due to the lack of modern navigation systems.

The fatal promise now has consequences for a former Russian prime minister

By the way: The empty promise now seems to have consequences for the management of Almaz-Antey.  Military expert, Phillips O'Brien pointed to a screenshot of a message from Gerashenko on Twitter.

It says: “Mikhail Fradkov, CEO and former Russian Prime Minister and CEO, Yan Novikov could not only lose their positions.  They also face charges of interfering with Russian defence capabilities.”

When the purchase contracts were signed, the company assured that the S400 missile systems could not only intercept airplanes and helicopters, but also Himar missiles.