1/ Russia's poorly trained and equipped mobile anti-drone units (MTFs) are, unsurprisingly, often not very effective at shooting down Ukrainian drones. They lack training, the equipment is often defective, and the units are not coordinated, according to Russian warbloggers. ⬇️
2/ RT journalist Andrey Filatov complains that Ukrainian drones often penetrate Russian defensive cordons with ease. Videos showing Ukrainian drones exploding in mid-air tell a misleading story: 3/ "When you watch videos, you see MTFs firing, hitting, an explosion, and that's it – the execution. If anyone has seen this happen in real life, you'll understand that before that, thousands of rounds are wasted. 4/ "A drone "made of shit and sticks" flies by, 30-40 people shoot at it, and not a single one hits. And only on the second or third such cordon, perhaps, does a shootdown occur. 5/ "That is, the efficiency of shooting at aerial targets is currently so low that what we see arrives, reaches, and damages our infrastructure is far more likely to penetrate... 6/ "Big businesses can buy Israeli and other solutions, but no one will cover our infantry. Something needs to be done about this. That's why AI assistants for infantrymen are needed. Training a person to shoot well at aerial targets is a big task. 7/ "Simply hitting a drone doesn't equate causing its destruction. The bullet must hit either the engine components and assemblies or the warhead. Everything else is pierced, the bullets disappear into thin air, and the drone flies on, damaging infrastructure... 8/ "For example, consider a recent situation. I always sleep well and rarely wake up from incoming missiles. But recently, there was such a loud boom in Donetsk that I woke up to the sound of a ton of drones flying overhead, and intense fire being directed at them. 9/ "Then I went on some business with my comrades to test one of the devices, and about fifteen hours later, we read news about incoming missiles across Mother Russia, somewhere in Siberia. We won't specify exactly where, of course. 10/ "After some basic calculations—distance from Donetsk, arrival time, drone speed—we figured they all flew through "new territories" when 200 men were firing at it with automatic weapons. They probably all reached a place we won't say where, and we won't say what burned up... 11/ "No large-scale air defence system would be enough to handle "shit and sticks"... while we wait for night interceptors, we're focusing on mobile task forces, and their effectiveness isn't great there." 12/ A military volunteer and author of the 'No Parasan' Telegram channel explains in more detail what's going wrong with Russia's anti-drone units – essentially a lack of training and well-functioning equipment: 13/ "Donetsk residents are writing tonight: 'Fartoids are flying at us, and no one's shooting them down!' Why? I'll try to answer the question. 14/ "Let me clarify right away: I'm not a 'military expert' or any kind of 'expert.' I'm simply answering the question, subjectively expressing my thoughts and impressions. 15/ "1. They shoot them down, but not all of them. 2. Mobile task forces and mobile defence forces, created within military units, primarily protect the locations, facilities, and routes of the military units' equipment. 16/ "There are also various recently created units, like the 'DPR BARS [combat reserve],' but in my opinion, they're not ready yet. I only recently received the boxes. So, yes, they were created, but they haven't been properly equipped or trained yet. 17/ "3. What does it mean to 'create a mobile task force'? 18/ "To create a mobile task force on paper: - allocate a vehicle (out of order), - issue a machine gun (often also out of order, without a turret, sight, belts and magazines), - assign people to the crew and machine gun crew (untrained), - sign a combat order. 19/ "The combat order is the most important thing in this matter: without a piece of paper, you're nothing. That's it, the mobile task force exists and "carries out tasks." 20/ "There's a chance that gradually, over time, thanks to personal efforts, personal funds and the enthusiasm of the fighters and the help of volunteers, this mobile task force or this military unit will become combat-ready. 21/ "The vehicle will be repaired, the weapon will be restored to working order and brought up to normal combat, the turret, sight, belts and magazines will be purchased, the machine gunners will be trained, undergo combat coordination and gain experience. Or not. 22/ "4. The main problem, in my opinion: the lack of a unified airborne observation and fire control system. Some elements of the system exist, but at the level of amateurism, personal initiative, and horizontal connections. 23/ "There should be a nationwide system of VNOS [Air Observation, Warning, and Communications] at the state level." /end Sources: 🔹 t.me 🔹 t.me