The invasion of Ukraine offers a glimpse into Russia’s arsenal. After the first few days of mainly using missiles, another part of the Russian arsenal will now be used. What can the Ukrainians say about this?
RUSSIA
Bombs and missiles
Gone are the days when countries like the US and Russia used “dumb” bombs, such as those dropped from planes during World War II, Korea and Vietnam, in war on a massive scale. These bombs were not accurate and claimed many civilian casualties. The disadvantage was also that pilots and their aircraft had to be exposed to enemy fire.
Now mainly precision weapons are used, mainly missiles, which are fired from a great distance and guided to their target by laser or GPS. These ‘smart weapons’ are in principle more accurate and therefore cause fewer civilian deaths, unless they hit a civilian target. Precision weapons were first widely used during the 1991 Gulf War, when Iraq had to be expelled from occupied Kuwait. For example, the world then became acquainted with the cruise missile, the American Tomahawk.
Since then, the arsenal of precision weapons has expanded worldwide. Russia initially lagged behind, but has partly caught up with the US. Precision weapons can also be used in inclement weather and prevent pilots from braving enemy fire. For example, pilots of F-16s can fire the American JSOW from a safe distance, for example to destroy enemy air defense missiles 130 kilometers away.
Artillery
The Russian military traditionally relies on large-scale artillery fire to support ground forces and to frighten the enemy. This is a turret to fire grenades at enemy positions and bases. This could be mortars, for example, a short tube placed at a 45-degree angle that can be used to bombard combat positions at close range.
Howitzers, such as the Russian tank-like Msta, can destroy targets tens of miles away. For example, the Msta is able to fire about ten grenades at troops 25 kilometers away within a minute. It is suspected that the 70 Ukrainian soldiers killed near Okhtyrka on Tuesday came under artillery fire.
Modern howitzers have become much more accurate. In 2017, for example, US marines fired almost fifty kilograms of grenades at IS fighters in Raqqa with their M777 in the Syrian desert. The grenades landed within four meters of their target about twenty kilometers away. The Russians also use a weapon system, the Grad, to fire dozens of missiles at a target in a short time. The Grad can fire forty missiles in about twenty seconds.
Short-range missiles: the Iskander
Eliminating enemy air defenses is a prerequisite in any war. With the Air Force and the anti-aircraft defense system deactivated, you are master of the skies and can attack targets on the ground undisturbed. This goal can be achieved with rockets fired from great distances.
According to the US, the Russians have fired more than 400 rockets so far. One of these missiles is the Iskander short-range missile, a missile over seven meters in length that can hit targets up to 500 miles away. The Iskander is said to be accurate to about five meters. It is more accurate than the infamous Scud, a missile Iraq used in 1991 during the Gulf War to attack Israel.
The Iskander is fired from a large truck. With more than five hundred kilograms of high explosive payload, the missile is suitable for destroying aircraft on air bases, as well as command centers and large numbers of soldiers. According to the Ukrainian army, the Iskander was used on Sunday, among other things, to disable the Zhytomyr airport, west of Kyiv. Russia denies that the missile arsenal is being used to attack civilian targets, such as flats.
Cruise missiles: the Kalibr
Cruise missiles can destroy long-range targets, ranging from military headquarters to terrorist camps, with great precision. The low-flying Kalibr cruise missile, which is also reportedly deployed in Ukraine, has a range of no less than 1,500 kilometers. The US first used a cruise missile, the Tomahawk, in the 1991 Gulf War against the Iraqi military and the palaces of Saddam Hussein.
The Russians followed suit only in 2015. At that time, from four rocket ships in the Caspian Sea, 26 Kalibr cruise missiles were fired at 11 Islamic State terror targets and the Al Nusra front in northern Syria. The cruise missiles flew through Iran and Iraq before hitting IS camps. Ukraine said Friday that Kalibrs, which can also be launched from submarines and aircraft, were fired from Russian ships in the Black Sea. According to Kyiv, targets included army units in northern Sumy and the southern port city of Mariupol.
cluster bombs
In almost every large-scale war, the warring factions are accused of using cluster bombs. This is a controversial bomb that contains many dozens of smaller bombs. Cluster munitions can be used to disable airfields or attack military columns, among other things. However, the bombs are dangerous for civilians because not all of the ammunition explodes and ends up on the ground.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International, the Russian army has used cluster bombs in various places in Ukraine in recent days. According to HRW, a hospital in Vuhledar was hit by cluster munitions last week. Four people were killed in this. According to the human rights organization, an investigation revealed that the attack was carried out with a Tochka missile, a predecessor of the Iskander missile, which was equipped with a cluster bomb.
This cluster bomb contained fifty smaller bombs. Amnesty says a daycare center in the city of Okhtyrka was hit by cluster munitions last week. Since 2010, an international treaty has been in force that prohibits the use of cluster bombs. This convention has been signed by 110 countries, but not by Russia and Ukraine.
vacuum bomb
Like cluster bombs, vacuum bombs are also controversial. This is a bomb that sucks in oxygen from the immediate vicinity to create a very powerful explosion and causes a shock wave that lasts longer than with a normal bomb. The bomb destroys buildings and kills people in the immediate vicinity. Over the weekend, a TOS-1 launcher used for the bomb was spotted near Belgorod, near the border with Ukraine. This fueled rumors that Russia might be about to use the vacuum bomb.
Ukraine’s UN ambassador said the Russians had already used the bomb, but this has not yet been confirmed. A day later, a senior US military official said the military had operationalized launchers ready to deploy. The US deployed the vacuum bomb in Afghanistan against Al Qaeda caves. The fear is that Russia will use the bomb in Ukraine as a ‘terror weapon’ against the army and the resistance.
UKRAINE
Anti-tank missiles: the Javelin
Because of Russia’s enormous military preponderance, Ukraine has been lagging far behind since the first day of the war. How do you combat heavy equipment in particular, from tanks and armored vehicles to missile launch systems? Hezbollah fighters in 2006 clashes with the Israeli army in southern Lebanon showed how to use anti-tank weapons to hit one of the best armies in the world hard.
The US has therefore supplied hundreds of Javelins, one of the world’s best anti-tank missiles, to the Ukrainian military in recent months. The Javelin has been used in Iraq and Afghanistan before and has become the hope of Kyiv. The weapon, which is fired from the shoulder, can target Russian T-72 tanks from a distance of about four kilometers. European countries are now also rushing to deliver anti-tank missiles.
How deadly the missiles are is shown by various videos of Russian columns that have been shelled in recent days. Only twisted steel remained of the vehicles. Ukrainian soldiers are expected to deploy the Javelins against the 40-mile Russian convoy en route to Kyiv.
Drones: the Bayraktar
An armed drone made in Turkey, the Bayraktar TB2, is another weapon the Ukrainian army uses to wreak havoc on Russians. Partly due to the successful deployment of the drone in 2020 by Azerbaijan in the conflict with Armenia, the Bayraktar has become a popular weapon worldwide. Ethiopia is also said to have recently used it in the bloody battle against the rebels in Tigray.
Like the US, the country that pioneered armed drones, Turkey equipped the Bayraktar with an anti-tank missile. Azerbaijan used it to destroy Armenian tanks and artillery, among other things. To the anger of Russian President Putin, Ankara delivered several dozen Bayraktars to Kyiv. Putin’s right to be outraged was apparent from videos released by the Ukrainian Air Force in recent days.
One can see how a Bayraktar on Sunday near the northwestern Malyn has a Russian convoy in its sights. The drone can stay in the air for 27 hours. Then a missile is fired at two vehicles with the Buk air defense system. Another video shows the massive damage from an attack on a convoy in the south, according to Ukraine.
Surface-to-air missiles: the Stinger
More than thirty years after the humiliating retreat of the Russian invasion army from Afghanistan, the high command in Moscow must once again fear the lethal effectiveness of a US surface-to-air missile. The Stinger, two hundred of which are now being supplied to Ukraine by the Netherlands, then significantly limited the action of the Russian air force in the fight against the mujahedin fighters.
With the Stinger, aircraft can be shot out of the sky at an altitude of more than five kilometers. Illustrating the danger a Stinger poses to planes and helicopters, the US feared for decades that the surface-to-air missile would one day end up in the hands of Al Qaeda and other terror groups.
Because many countries are going to supply hundreds of Stingers to Ukraine, the Russian Air Force should be wary of the weapon. It is striking that the air force has not yet been deployed on a large scale in Ukraine. Whether that has to do with the presence of the Stingers is unclear.