Ukraine likely destroyed 3 of Russia's prized S-400 missile systems worth $1.5 billion, weakening its air defenses, says UK intel
Ukraine likely destroyed 3 of Russia's prized S-400 missile systems worth $1.5 billion, weakening its air defenses, says UK intel
Unconfirmed reports have suggested that Ukraine used US-provided ATACMS to strike three Russian S-400 systems.
Prep work for the F-16s, I think...
That was exactly my thoughts too. Attack air defense while you train with F-16 so you can try to establish air dominance when they are ready.
I wonder if the pilots are getting SEAD training with an eye towards future support packages including HARM. The platform is the wildest of weasels.
So, public information sources point to about 50 total battalions of S-400s that are operated by Russia. Each battalion has about 8 launchers and all of the associated support hardware.
Given that Russia has a nasty habit of overinflating just about anything that can have an associated number attached to it, it wouldn't surprise me if the total number of operational battalions are less than half of that and the capabilities being at a similar level of dysfunction.
Sandboxx has always seems to be a good source for additional information as well: https://www.sandboxx.us/news/the-s-400-myth-why-russias-air-defense-prowess-is-exaggerated/
There's only so many of them they can divert to Ukraine as well. They still need to defend all of Russia.
Get fucked, Vlad.