russian army has suffered new losses in the air defense segment. Specifically, during one episode, literally one strike managed to destroy a 9A317 fire unit of the Buk-M3 surface-to-air missile system as well as a 9A316 transporter erector launcher for the Buk-M2 system. A rare russian Nebo-U radar station was also damaged.
These losses were inflicted on the russians by operators of the 413th Regiment of Unmanned Systems Forces. The question then arises about how such strikes could even become possible and what this says about the current state of russian air defense.
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In the story of destroying two Buk launchers with one strike, it's known that both vehicles (the 9A317 fire unit and 9A316 transporter erector launcher) were moving literally right next to each other. Therefore, a successful hit on one vehicle and secondary detonation afterward also led to the loss of the second vehicle.
It's reported that in parallel, a KAMAZ with personnel moving toward these two Buk-M3 and Buk-M2 launchers was destroyed. Also that Bulava and RAM-2X type strike UAVs were used for this combined strike.
The difference also needs to be explained: while the 9A317 fire unit for Buk-M3 with six 9M317M surface-to-air missiles in cylindrical transport-launch canisters features its own radar, the 9A316 is designed for 12 surface-to-air missiles but can only fire in cooperation with the 9S36 radar.
In the episode with the Nebo-U strike, only general details are provided, such as special characteristics of this radar type, and that the strike was executed to a record depth.
For Nebo-U in the basic variant, the russians claimed air target detection range up to 400 kilometers (depending on size and flight altitude). Such radars are rare for the russian army.
From what's described above, the following conclusions generally follow. Empirical practice shows that Ukrainian drones in the middle-strike segment are the optimal means of hitting enemy air defense assets. Especially when talking about strikes at depth greater than the front-line zone.
After previous successful strikes by Ukrainian Defense Forces, the russians are trying to change the deployment configuration of their air defense assets. Ukrainian military in turn take advantage of this, inflicting new losses on the enemy in the corresponding segment.
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