From "The Analyst":
RUSSIANS ATTACK ROBOTYNE SALIENT
For weeks on and off the Russians have been trying to undo the gains Ukraine made during the southern offensive last year. Their primary aim is to recapture the ruins of Robotyne and then squash the whole salient in an act of revenge.
However Ukrainian forces are quite heavily entrenched and don’t want to give it up as easily as Russia would like.
One thing the troops here learned over the course of the past months is that retaining control of the EW domain when surrounded by the enemy on three sides is vital. Secondly, the terrain requires them to have air defences because it’s one place the Ukrainians can reach with their own aircraft and not have them taken out by Russian fighters on patrol high above - there’s no AWACS to warn the Russians. Nor is there much left in Crimea to intercept them.
The local air defences have been suppressed by Ukraine using drones and drone targeted HIMARS. No less than 9 units of BUK, Strella-10 and TOR-2.
The specialised Shark spotting drone was able to operate relatively freely and allowed Ukraine to take out Russian EW, control systems for S-400 and their radars. Over the course of a few days three EW units - and these are $100m systems - as well as 3 longer range anti-air systems, were knocked out.
Overall this has allowed Ukrainian drones a relatively free time to block Russian attacks and advances and bring them to a standstill.
Drones have played a hugely important role this sector. More so than in most others. So much so that they have become more than ubiquitous and if anything a primary weapon. Only when drones fail here is artillery used to destroy attacking forces.
In other news there’s been a lot of concern over the GLSDB - Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb. There have been several examples of it failing - apparently because it hasn’t adapted well to being launched from the ground. I had to ask around about this to get feedback and while my sources weren’t entirely agreed , the general gist is the rocket motor isn’t really powerful enough. The whole idea was to use existing equipment to make this a cheaper alternative, marry them and miraculously you have for once, a cost effective solution. Maybe not. Other arguments about GPS jamming/spoofing at target may also have traction. It wouldn’t be the first time. Either way it seems the system isn’t living up to expectations. It was rushed into service so faults are bound to appear in the rigours of real life use. Eventually they’re overcome and it’s better to find out sooner and correct it than later, when it matters and comes as an unwelcome surprise.
Elsehwere the Russians continue to push hard, knowing they have little time before it becomes impossible to advance at the speed they have been.
Ukraine is doing everything it can to hold out.
Slava Ukraini !
