#

​The UK Defense Intelligence Analyzed Why russian Long Range Aviation Maintains 21-Day Strike Pause in Ukraine

1843
The Grom-E1 missile / open source
The Grom-E1 missile / open source

It was likely that LRA had almost depleted its stocks of capable AS-23 missile munitions following its winter campaign

Russian Air Force Long Range Aviation (LRA) aircraft have not conducted a strike against Ukraine since September 21, 2023, a period of 21 days, the UK Defense Intelligence reports.

While such breaks have not been unusual, the last similar break in strikes occurred between March 9 and April 28, 2023, a period of 51 days. In that instance it was likely that LRA had almost depleted its stocks of capable AS-23 missile munitions following its winter campaign against Ukrainian critical national infrastructure.

Read more: ​The UK Defense Intelligence: russian Military Facing Mental Health Crisis
The Grom-E1 missile Defense Express The UK Defense Intelligence Analyzed Why russian Long Range Aviation Maintains 21-Day Strike Pause in Ukraine
The Grom-E1 missile / open source

This time, it is likely that russian LRA are preserving existing stocks of AS-23 missiles as well as using this pause to increase useable stocks in anticipation of further heavy strikes against Ukraine over the winter.

Recently, russia has focused its airstrikes against grain-related facilities across the south of Ukraine, using Shahed one-way-attack unmanned aerial vehicles (OWA UAVs). This included strikes against Ukrainian Danube River ports, which likely required a high level of accuracy due to the target’s proximity to the Romanian border. It is likely that russia used Shahed OWA UAVs on these targets because of their better accuracy over other types of air-launched missiles.

Read more: The UK Defense Intelligence: Putin Will Almost Certainly Run for Re-Election in 2024, Despite the War