Ukraine is facing an invasion from the east. The second biggest country on our continent with an area of nearly 604 thousand square kilometers is being conquered by the Russian army from several directions. The breadbasket of Europe has been turned into a giant warehouse of military equipment of all kinds.
Due to their shared history, both sides are using similar technology from the Soviet era. Howitzers, for example, often face each other, which differ only in the varying degrees of modernization and, most importantly, the much-publicized markings on Russian vehicles.
While Russia (so far) dominates the skies and wins in destructive missile power and quantity, the Ukrainian defences are nevertheless bolstered again by anti-aircraft and anti-tank small arms complexes from the West, Turkish drones and, undoubtedly, by military intel from NATO and the US. Let’s take a look at some of these weapons in the following few chapters.
Bayraktar TB2/TB2s combat drone
Everybody has heard of Soviet tanks and infantry vehicles so that we will start our list with the first foreign weapon on the battlefield. In the fall of 2020, the world has learned a new word, Bayraktar. According to analysts, the eponymous Turkish drone won the brief battle for Nagorno-Karabakh.
Due to its combat experience, Ukraine was also interested in the drone, so its armed forces had about twenty machines at their disposal at the beginning of the invasion. The air force continued to increase its numbers, and the bayraktars successfully attacked Russian columns.
The 6.5 metre-long, 12-metre wingspan propeller aircraft can stay in the sky for up to 27 hours at a cruising speed of 130 km/h and can be armed with a range of small Turkish-made anti-tank missiles with both infrared and laser guidance.
The entire system consists of a mobile control station in the form of a container and several field tactical stations for data and image transmission and the UAV itself. As a result, the base version can operate up to 150 kilometres away. In addition, TB2s modification is equipped with satellite communications and double the operational range.
FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile
Of course, Javelin is another word that every toddler can spell nowadays – the scourge of Russian tanks made in the USA so fond of tearing off their inadequately protected turrets.
A simple set from Raytheon Systems and Lockheed Martin, thrown on your back next to your snack, it weighs 22.3 kilograms when folded before firing. Using multiple explosions, the tandem warhead can penetrate up to 600mm of armour, including the reactive protection, giving the crew inside the tank up to a few kilometres away from an inferno for a few microseconds. Frequently their own ammunition ignites, and the turret literally flies off.
The Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank missile
This is a simpler yet still devastating anti-tank missile. Ukraine has acquired a stockpile of German Panzerfaust 3 weapons, which have served in the local Bundeswehr since the late 1980s.
It is a relatively primitive device compared to sophisticated cruise missiles. Still, it allows close combat, including use inside buildings, and by far the most important, the training is relatively simple. The missile’s practical range is around 300-400 metres and requires the soldier to have good eyesight. However, the Germans are already developing a new version with a computer-controlled sight that will offer better control.
Russian media report that US copies of the Soviet RPG-7 armoured rifle, called the PSLR-1, have reached the Ukrainian side of the battlefield.
Leleka-100 reconnaissance drone
Ukraine also uses its own drones, but they are only simpler drones for remote battlefield surveillance. Our army has similar ones. In particular, we’re talking about the Leleka-100 model from the Ukrainian engineering studio Ukrspecsystems.
Leleka has a wingspan of 1.98 metres, a length of 1.1 metres and can stay in the air for up to 2.5 hours and at a distance of up to 45 kilometres from the control computer in the form of a military case. Several gimbal models that can carry both conventional and infrared cameras will take care of reconnaissance.
Only slightly more counterbalancing the Leleka is the Russian Orlan-10 reconnaissance drone, which has participated in the fighting for the Donbas, has served in Syria and now in Ukraine. The defence has managed to destroy at least one.
The 9K113 Konkurs anti-tank guided missile
Nevertheless, both sides of the conflict have Soviet Konkurs and Fagot anti-tank missiles at their disposal. Watch this video to see what happens when you put an unsuspecting Russian vehicle in the path of the 9K113/9M113.
Unlike its Western competitors, the already technologically superior Konkurs was also produced under license by Czechoslovakia, and the anti-tank missile served in virtually all Warsaw Pact armies. If successful, Konkurs would destroy an enemy vehicle up to four kilometres away.
Small arms
The Home Guard is often armed with a range of Soviet-made light weapons and 39mm assault rifles, which are dominated by the AK-74 and the RPK-74 light machine gun. Territorial Defence also has lightweight PKM and NSV machine guns based on images on social media.
The Russian side also uses similar small arms in various modifications. In the fighting for the Hostomel airfield, Ukrainian forces came across AK-12 rifles, AK-74M, SVDM and Fort-301 sniper rifles and PKP Pecheneg machine guns, for example.
Ukraine is, obviously, supplied with small arms by Western countries as well. In the Czech Republic’s case, at the very beginning of the fighting, it was, for instance, vz. 58 and vz. 61 Shkorpion submachine guns, vz. 59 universal machine guns, and again SVD Dragunov sniper rifles and Czech Falcons including ammunition.
NLAW anti-tank missile
If you don’t have a Javelin, toss in a slightly smaller NLAW. The acronym for Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapon, or the Main Battle Tank and Light Anti-tank Weapon (MBT LAW), is another hilarious foreign gift to Ukraine and a joint effort between Sweden’s Saab and the UK’s Thales Air Defence.
Like the Javelin, it’s a fire-and-forget weapon, with the rest taken care of by electronics for automatic target guidance. Indeed, the 12.5 kg NLAW, which can handle 500 mm armour, has an effective range of only 600 metres. Therefore, the attacker must get fairly close to the target and then make a quick getaway.
BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle
Leading the Russian casualty statistics, next to the men, is armored vehicles of all kinds. It is mainly infantry fighting and armoured vehicles of all types whose photos often fill social networks.
The basic one is the good old BMP-2 Bevelepe (crew: 3+7), fitted with a 2A42 automatic cannon of 30 mm calibre, a PKT machine gun of 7.62 mm calibre and the 9K113 Konkurs mentioned above anti-tank missiles. This vehicle is well known in our country because Czechoslovakia obtained a licence for its production under the designation BVP-2.
Many modifications of the BMP served on the Ukrainian battlefield. Besides the most common Two, there are also BMP-1, BMP-3, BMP-2K, BMD-2, BTR-82A, etc.
MT-LB armoured personnel carrier
Suppose you head to Ukraine alongside the infantry fighting vehicles. In that case, you will also come across many multi-purpose amphibious armoured vehicles – unless the villagers have already towed them to their barns on tractors.
One of these is the MT-LB armoured personnel carrier (crew: 2 + 11). Hopefully, by independent research of photographs, ( hopefully) Russia has lost at least fifty of these machines. MT-LB is indeed a multi-purpose machine. It can serve as a crew transport, a command vehicle, be equipped with a radar, a 9K35 STRELA-10 anti-aircraft complex, a howitzer… And it can also be a repair vehicle or an armoured ambulance.
In this case, too, you will find a bunch of other abandoned or destroyed transports around the roads. BTR-80, BTR-D, BTR-MDM, etc.
2S19 Msta-S self-propelled howitzer
Mount a howitzer on a T-80 tank chassis, and you get the Msta – hence the full name 2S19 Msta-S. Together with the 2S9 Nona, 2S1 Gvozdinka and 2S3 Akatsiya, it shells Ukrainian positions but fortunately manages to destroy and seize several of them.
Msta was already infamous in Chechnya and was used again by Ukraine in the Donbas – an example of similar technology on both sides of the battlefield. 2A64 howitzer of 152 mm calibre can deliver a grenade at a distance of 24.7 to 36 km (depending on the ammunition). The grenades can be fragmentation, smoke, chemistry and tactical-nuclear.
By the way, as Ukraine also has 152mm howitzers, the Czech Republic could have donated those 4,006 artillery shells of 152mm calibre from domestic stores. Warsaw also supplied shells. In addition to self-propelled howitzers, towed howitzers are also used – 2A65 Msta-B, 2B16 Nona-K, etc.
BM-21 Grad salvo rocket launcher
The Russians also used BM-21 Grad salvo rocket launchers in the fighting (not only) near Kharkiv, which can launch 40 rockets with a range of up to 20.4 km in just 20 seconds. Fortunately, the Ukrainians managed to destroy and confiscate a bunch of them.
As Grad is one of the infamous celebrities of the fighting in Ukraine, we prepared a separate article for him.
BM-27 Uragan self-propelled rocket launcher
However, the Grad is far from the only large rocket launcher in Ukraine. Photos of the 220mm TOS-1A system (capable of launching thermobaric munitions), 122mm 2B17 Tornado-G, 300mm BM-30 Smerch, and not to forget the 220mm BM-27 Uragan have been circulating through social networks.
Uragan can fire up to 16 missiles in 20 seconds, striking targets up to 36 kilometres away. Preparation for the next round takes 15-20 minutes.
A range of warheads is available, starting with high-explosive fragmentation warheads and ending with cluster submunitions or anti-tank and anti-personnel mines. Thus, a single Uragan can carry out such a small carpet missile raid or blanket a large area with mines.
In Ukraine, the remnants of similar missiles that have launched their submunitions are literally digging into the ground and sometimes into cars. Mostly it is just harmless debris.
T-80U main battle tank
And we have another current celebrity of Twitter and Telegram: Destroyed Russian tank. T-80U (crew: 3), which is the typical representative of the Main Battle Tank category, so naturally, it reigns over the casualty statistics.
A gas turbine powers the 46-tonne vehicle. The key weapon is the 125 mm 2A46-2 gun, complemented by the well-known PKT machine gun and the 12.7 mm NSVT anti-aircraft machine gun. Furthermore, the 9M112 Cobra and 9M119 Reflex anti-tank missiles are also included. Though the tank is equipped with reactive armor, the Ukrainian forces were keen on many of them (but most were abandoned by the crew, probably after running out of fuel).
Russia also lost a bunch of T-72 series tanks in various variants and upgrades, T-90A, T-80BVM or T-64BV tanks.
FIM-92 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles
With Russia dominating the skies over the battlefield in the early days of the conflict, the United States supplied Ukraine with its proven FIM-92 Stinger portable surface-to-air missile complex. Germany, one of the licensed manufacturers (Airbus Defence and Space), has also donated several hundred units.
The Stingers became famous in the 1980s in Afghanistan as an effective, easily operated weapon against helicopters and other low-flying targets. Indeed, a supersonic missile with infrared guidance and a warhead with a 1kg mix of HMX, TNT and aluminium powder explosives will take out an aircraft at a range of up to 4.8km and an altitude of 3.8km.
Buk-M1-2 self-propelled anti-aircraft system
Among the flood of shared material from the front, Web analysts also found photos of some advanced self-propelled anti-aircraft systems, including the Buk series. One of them, in fact, became infamous back in 2014 when it shot down Malaysia Airlines civilian flight 17 in eastern Ukraine.
Russia has also brought more advanced versions of the Buk-M1-2 or even the Buk-M2 to Ukraine. Some most likely became a welcome snack for the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 fighter aircraft from our opening gallery. In any event, the wide range of missiles for the Buk will destroy a target up to 25 kilometers in altitude and 50 kilometers in range, depending on the design.
Among other systems, Ukraine has Tor-M2, 9K35 Strela-10, 9K33 Osa or 5P85D launchers for S-300PS missile systems.
Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bomber
During the fighting, Russia also lost fighter and bomber aircraft. Ukrainian Migs brought some of them to the ground, while others received ground-based anti-aircraft systems. The Community records downed Sukhoi Su-25 tank destroyers, Sukhoi Su-30SM multi-role fighters, and Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bombers.
This two-seater aircraft and pride of the Russian Air Force reaches speeds of up to 1,900 km/h and is equipped for combat with both an automatic 30mm GS-30-1 gun and space for 8,000 kg of suspended armament. They can be dumb and laser-guided missiles, mountain bombs, the full spectrum of air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, and even cruise missiles.
MiG-29s, which are in service with NATO’s eastern armies, might also come into play. They would help Ukraine significantly in its fight for air supremacy, as the pilots there know them intimately.
Kamov Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter
When you say Russia and helicopters, almost everyone thinks of the Mi-8 and Mi-24 transport and combat machines from the M.L. Milo Moscow Helicopter Plant – now a state holding company called Russian Helicopters. In fact, some are still in service in our army today, and a few Russian ones were also killed in combat in Ukraine under Putin.
But on social media, the photos of the new-generation Kamov Ka-52 Alligator two-seat combat helicopter garnered the most likes. It was only in 2010 that the Russian military officially put it into service.
Ka-52 helicopter is armed with a 30mm Shipunov 2A42 cannon and an optional 2,000 kg suspension armament. However, as the below tweet makes clear, Russia only used silly S-8 missiles for this piece and wrote off $15 million. Smart missiles are apparently running out.
Kalibr cruise missile
Some Kalibr cruise missiles have also attacked Ukraine. According to Bellingcat, the Russians have used them, for example, to hit an administration building in downtown Kharkiv.
In this case, according to the analysis of security camera images, it was likely the dreaded Kalibr version 3M-14. There are several Kalibr missiles for destroying naval (3M-54), submarine (91RE) and land-based (3M-14) targets, and it’s a sort of summary answer to the US tomahawk.
Kalibr missiles have a top speed of up to Mach 0.8-2.9 (depending on design); thus, some can exceed the speed of sound many times over at various stages of flight. The propulsion is handled by a jet or rocket engine. The devices can carry a warhead with up to 500 kg of explosives (including nuclear) that can hit a target from hundreds of kilometres to 2 500 kilometres. This is quite a wide range of specifications, again depending on the specific model and purpose of the missile. In fact, a Kalibr-M modification with a range of 4 500 kilometres is under development.
Subsonic calibres intended for ground targets and with a range of hundreds of kilometres are attacking Ukraine.
Iskander ballistic missiles
Russian Iskander guided ballistic missiles are another frequent visitor to Ukrainian airspace – particularly in the quasi-ballistic Iskander-M 9M723 design with inertial and optical navigation systems. They flew mainly from the Belarusian side in the first days of the conflict.
Missile range varies by model, but for the Iskander-M series, it is between 400-500 kilometres, and the missile can reach an altitude of up to 50 kilometres.
A warhead can carry 480-700 kilograms of explosives, including a cluster and thermonuclear explosive. And it is videos of the remnants of cluster warheads scattering submunitions into the open before impact that have filled Twitter and other social networks since the early days of the war.
Thermobaric weapon
Thermobaric, vacuum, fuel-air, aerosol… It has many names and no established terminology. In any event, it’s the biggest bogeyman of the fighting in Ukraine, with speculation from the outset as to whether or not Russian forces actually used it.
Its destructive power makes it the most powerful weapon on the front – above that, there are only Dresden-style carpet bombing and, of course, tactical and strategic nuclear weapons.
As its name implies, the destroyer, in this case, is either the dispersed aerosol of hydrocarbon fuel, which is then ignited by secondary explosions or the expulsion of solid and burning particles of explosive and all sorts of impurities into the surroundings.
Thermobaric weapons have their best effect in confined spaces (bunkers, caves, etc.) where there can be no escape from the destructive force. In an open area, their power decreases by rapid burnout. Still, it’s a real devil on the battlefield that deserves an article of its own.
