Latest news with #DefenseExpress
India.com
11 hours ago
- Politics
- India.com
Lightning like speed, power, destruction, White Swan wreaks havoc on enemies, it is called the 'emperor of the sky' due to..., developed by...
(Images: Wikimedia Commons) New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin is yet to recover from the sense of defeat suffered by his military at the hands of Ukraine through Operation Spider's Web. That is why he is now deploying one killer weapon after another to protect his borders. A deadly supersonic bomber has now been added to Russia's weapons display, whose name makes even NATO countries sweat. Tu-160 bomber deployed at Anadyr airbase near Alaska, US Recently it was claimed that Russia has deployed its nuclear-capable Tu-160 supersonic bomber at Anadyr airbase near Alaska, far from the Ukrainian border. Ukrainian defense analysis website Defense Express claimed on June 4, based on satellite images of the European Space Agency, that Tu-160 has been seen at Anadyr airbase in Chukotka region. However, this has not been confirmed yet. Let us tell you that this bomber is called 'White Swan' in the Russian army, which in local parlance means destruction. White Swan unleashes destruction on enemy The Tu-160 is called 'White Swan' in Russia and 'Blackjack' in NATO. It is the world's heaviest and fastest supersonic bomber aircraft. It was built in the 1970s during the Soviet Union era. However, it has been updated for modern wars and is an important part of Russia's nuclear triad. Features of White Swan This bomber was designed in the 1970s in response to the American B-1 Lancer. Its length is 54 meters, while the wingspan goes up to 55.7 meters (at full extension). The engine of this bomber is 4 powerful NK-32 turbofans. Each one gives more than 25 tons of thrust. Its maximum speed is Mach 2.2 (2695 kmh) i.e. 2.2 times faster than sound. Its flying range is more than 12,300 km (without refueling). Its biggest feature is its variable geometry wings, which can change the angle according to the speed and distance of flight. It is a craft with heavy weapon capacity. It can be equipped with nuclear and conventional missiles. Ukraine on high alert The long range and heavy weapon capacity of the Tu-160 i.e. White Swan makes it perfect for Arctic patrols and operations near NATO borders. It is a symbol of Russia's military power. On Friday, 20 June 2025, Kiev's/Kyiv's air force claimed that Russia attacked with missiles and drones overnight using the Tu-160. In total, more than 400 drones, 6 ballistic missiles and 38 cruise missiles were fired. Operation Spider's Web angered Putin Ukraine's undercover Operation Spider's Web led to huge loss for Russian military. The FPV drones were smuggled into civilian trucks and transported to several airbases deep inside Russia and then carried out a surprise attack. The attack targeted Russia's Tu-95, Tu-22M3 and A-50 aircraft, which were valuable and scarce. The headquarter of this operation was located near a regional headquarter of Russia's domestic security agency FSB.
Forbes
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Forbes
Russian Shaheds Now Have Jet Engines, Armor, AI, And Armed Escorts
Russia's Shahed campaign against civilian targets is intensifying. Last night a wave of the drones struck Odessa, destroying a four-story residential building and damaging several others, including a 23-story apartment complex which caught fire forcing 600 people to evacuate. Ukrainian intelligence warns that Russian attacks may escalate from a few hundred Shaheds a night to a thousand. At the same time Russia is rapidly evolving both the technology and the tactics of its low-cost attack drones. Made under license from Iran, the Shahed-136 is a simple design with a two-cycle piston engine driving a propeller and making a noise like a lawnmower, and an airframe made of carbon fiber cloth and honeycomb so basic that a report from thinktank RUSI notes it 'can effectively be manufactured by any DIY handyman.' But a succession of modifications have made the Shahed more deadly. Earlier we saw a black 'stealth' coating and several new warheads including a thermobaric version for demolishing buildings and to maximize casualties, as well as jam-resistant navigation and other upgrades. Jet engine recovered from a downed Shahed Defense Express In a more significant modification some Shaheds are now appearing with turbojet engines. Iran showed off the Shahed-238, a jet-powered version of the Shahged-136 in 2023 it is not clear whether this is the same drone. In fact there is some confusion as the Iranians have also paraded a jet-powered version with the label Shahed-136 in September 2024, so there may be several different designs. Analyst Shahryar Pasandideh, who has studied this in detail, suggests there are at least three versions. While there had been rumors of jet powered Shaheds in Ukraine for some time, we have only recently had confirmation from wreckage recovered – like this report from Defence Express of June 11th. The jet powered Shaheds are very much faster– perhaps 300 mph against 120 mph – giving less warning time and making them much harder to shoot down. They streak across the sky with a loud whine very unlike the 'moped' sounds of the basic version; this video appears to be a jet-powered Shahed attack from June 18th. The turbojet version is likely to be significantly more expensive and difficult to make, so we may see a high/low mix of the two types to make are defence more complicated. Meanwhile there are other hardware upgrades too. According to one unconfirmed Ukrainian report from the commander of a Mobile Defense Unit tasked with shooting down Shaheds, some are now armored: 'Recently, the Russians began to protect the engine compartment of Shaheds with armor plates, and the fuel tanks were moved from the wings to the inside of the hull,' states the commander in a Telegram Post. 'Now it is not enough to shoot through the wing - you need to hit either the aileron or the engine.' In a third development, a downed Shahed was recently retrieved with a camera and machine vision system powered by a commercial AI processor. Again, such developments had been rumored but not confirmed until Ukrainian electronic warfare authority Serhii 'Flash' Beskrestnov posted details with images on his Telegram channel on June 18th. This system is likely to enable vision-based navigation. This would remove the reliance on satellite navigation, which has been something of an Achilles Heel. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, last month 36% of the incoming Shaheds were brought down by jamming their navigation. Getting a visual navigation system to work reliably is not a simple task – hence this recent technology challenge from the German government – but if the Russians have succeeded they can make their Shaheds jam-proof and the number getting through may rise significantly. At the same time, the Russians are changing attack drone tactics. As previously noted, having initially come in at low altitude to avoid radar – sometimes flying down river valleys – Shaheds now come in at high altitude to stay out of the reach of anti-aircraft guns until they reach their target. They then dive on their targets from altitude. This tactic now comes with a twist. According to Alexander Kovalenko writing in Odessa Journal, the Shaheds now pause midway during the descent: 'Now, they tend to descend to 1 km altitude, stabilize the airframe, and then initiate a dive,' says Kovalenko. 'This is because accuracy from 2.5 km significantly reduced, while at 1 km altitude the deviation is within acceptable limits for the Russians.' Unfortunately this does not make them easier to shoot down. 'This stabilization phase is short, but during it, mobile groups equipped with weapons such as DShK or Browning M2 [i.e. heavy machineguns] are unable to successfully engage the kamikaze drone,' says Kovalenko. Previously we have seen Shaheds mixed in with smaller decoy drones to distract defenders. And in some regions close to the border, the escorting drone may be a weapon. 'Often, the Shahed groups fly in pairs with the Lancets, which attack the air defence units when they are within range - primarily in the Sumy and Kharkiv directions,' notes the same post by an air defence commander quoted above. 'For the Lancet, this is a priority target." The Lancet loitering munition is a smaller attack drone. A camera in the nose enables the operator to locate and attack targets on the ground, typically tanks and artillery. The maximum range is perhaps 50 kilometers, so it can only support Shaheds in attacks in border regions, but their presence could make things considerably more dangerous for the mobile air defense units. It is easy to see how defence-suppression capability could evolve, especially now that FPV carrier drones are starting to see action. Russia has been using the Shahed for less than three years and has only been making them itself for about half that time. But, unlike legacy systems such as cruise and ballistic missiles, the drones have adapted rapidly to counter defensive measures. This mutation rate is perhaps the biggest lesson of the long-range drone war: the threat is constantly evolving Last month Ukraine downed 82% of incoming drones and is continuing to field innovative, low-cost protective systems including interceptor drones and AI-controlled gun turrets. But, as President Zelensky noted at the G7 summit, additional funding from allies to speed the development and production process could save a lot of lives. And not just in Ukraine; long-range drone attacks are likely to be a feature of any future war. Iran may cease to be a supplier of such technology. But Russia has taken over and Shaheds and their clones will proliferate. Meanwhile in Ukraine the Shahed attacks, and civilian deaths, continue.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
New 90-kg warheads installed on Russian Shahed drones
Russian long-range Shahed-136 drones are now being equipped with two new types of combined-effect warheads. Source: a technology and IT news platform within Ukrainska Pravda's holding company, with reference to Defense Express, citing its own sources as well as photos and descriptions of the upgraded payloads Details: One of the munition parts is manufactured in Russia and the other in Iran. Both reportedly weigh 90 kg, an increase from the standard 50 kg. The Russian-made munition part is marked with the index KOFZBCh, which stands for cumulative-fragmentation-high explosive-incendiary. It uses the same explosive compound, TGF-35P2 (a mixture of TNT and phlegmatised RDX), as the 50-kg OFZBCh-50, though the earlier version lacked a cumulative effect. The incendiary effect in the new warhead is achieved with a powder mixture of metal hydrides. The Iranian warhead also combines cumulative, fragmentation, and high-explosive effects but does not include incendiary components. It uses an explosive of the OLA type (a mixture of octane and aluminium) and features a booster charge consisting of RDX pellets. Background: Russia has been continuously upgrading the warheads used on its long-range drones. For instance, in 2024, Russian forces began using the TBBCh-50 – a 50-kg combined-effect warhead that integrates thermobaric and fragmentation effects. Its body is filled with 9-mm metal balls that serve as preformed fragmentation elements. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Miami Herald
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Russia Pulled Nuclear-Capable ICBM Launch: Report
Russia pulled a "combat training" launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) after something "went wrong," according to Ukrainian intelligence. Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) said Sunday that Moscow planned to conduct "combat training" launch of its RS-24 Yars, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can be armed with nuclear warheads. It was expected to launch from a site near the village of Svobodny in the Sverdlovsk region of Russia, but "everything indicates that the launch simply did not happen," reported Defense Express, a Ukrainian outlet that specializes in military news. Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment by email. If the test launch failed, it would serve as an embarrassing setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin. In September 2024, his feared Satan 2 nuclear arsenal was reported to have failed four out of five missile tests. The GUR claimed that the missile launch was ordered to be conducted by the crew of the 433rd regiment of the 42nd division of the 31st Army of Russia's strategic missile forces with the purposes of intimidating Ukraine, the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states. It added that the flight range of the three-stage solid-propellant rocket is more than 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles). But "everything indicates that it simply did not happen," Defense Express reported. According to the publication, the launch, if it happened, would most likely have been filmed or photographed by locals and subsequently shared on social media. "The Russians would also have been able to observe the missile flying," the publication said. "Given that the main Russian test site for intercontinental missiles is Kura in Kamchatka, this missile would have been visible over a large area of Siberia and the Far East, from Khanty-Mansiysk to Magadan. But no video of it has been published." The publication added: "Why the Russians did not launch remains unknown." Russian authorities didn't respond to the GUR claim, which Newsweek couldn't independently verify. Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence, in a statement on Sunday: "In order to demonstratively pressure and intimidate Ukraine, as well as EU and NATO member states, the aggressor state Russia intends to carry out a 'combat training' launch of the RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile from the Yars complex on the night of May 19, 2025." Putin and President Donald Trump spoke by the phone on Monday as the U.S. leader continued his faltering efforts to broker peace talks in the war. Related Articles Ukraine Strikes Russia's 'Boyko Towers' in Black Sea: VideoUS Pacific Ally's Abrams Tanks Sent to Ukraine Despite Pentagon ConcernsWho Is Nicușor Dan? Romania's Liberal Centrist Mayor Sweeps to VictoryPutin's Trump Card in Ukraine 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Newsweek
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Russia Pulled Nuclear-Capable ICBM Launch: Report
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Russia pulled a "combat training" launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) after something "went wrong," according to Ukrainian intelligence. Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) said Sunday that Moscow planned to conduct "combat training" launch of its RS-24 Yars, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can be armed with nuclear warheads. It was expected to launch from a site near the village of Svobodny in the Sverdlovsk region of Russia, but "everything indicates that the launch simply did not happen," reported Defense Express, a Ukrainian outlet that specializes in military news. Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment by email. Why It Matters If the test launch failed, it would serve as an embarrassing setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin. In September 2024, his feared Satan 2 nuclear arsenal was reported to have failed four out of five missile tests. An RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives across Red Square during Russia's Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9, 2025. An RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system drives across Red Square during Russia's Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9, 2025. KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images What To Know The GUR claimed that the missile launch was ordered to be conducted by the crew of the 433rd regiment of the 42nd division of the 31st Army of Russia's strategic missile forces with the purposes of intimidating Ukraine, the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states. It added that the flight range of the three-stage solid-propellant rocket is more than 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles). But "everything indicates that it simply did not happen," Defense Express reported. According to the publication, the launch, if it happened, would most likely have been filmed or photographed by locals and subsequently shared on social media. "The Russians would also have been able to observe the missile flying," the publication said. "Given that the main Russian test site for intercontinental missiles is Kura in Kamchatka, this missile would have been visible over a large area of Siberia and the Far East, from Khanty-Mansiysk to Magadan. But no video of it has been published." The publication added: "Why the Russians did not launch remains unknown." Russian authorities didn't respond to the GUR claim, which Newsweek couldn't independently verify. What People Are Saying Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence, in a statement on Sunday: "In order to demonstratively pressure and intimidate Ukraine, as well as EU and NATO member states, the aggressor state Russia intends to carry out a 'combat training' launch of the RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile from the Yars complex on the night of May 19, 2025." What Happens Next Putin and President Donald Trump spoke by the phone on Monday as the U.S. leader continued his faltering efforts to broker peace talks in the war.
