618
submitted 5 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

It’s the deepest Ukrainian drone strike of the war, so far

A month after Ukraine began bombarding targets inside Russia with explosives-laden sports planes modified for remote flight, one of the do-it-yourself drones has struck an oil refinery in the city of Salavat, more than 800 miles from the front line of Russia’s wider war on Ukraine.

It is, by far, Ukraine’s longest-range raid—and an escalation of Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign targeting Russian refineries, factories and strategic military sites.

And it’s at least the fourth attempted deep strike involving Ukraine’s sport-plane drones. Videos shot by people on the ground in Salavat clearly depict the wide straight wings, fixed wheels and propeller that are typical of an inexpensive sport plane, the kind a middle-class pilot can build at home from a kit costing as little as $90,000.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 10 points 5 months ago

Riminder the Bismarck wasnt critically damaged by top of the line aircraft, it was sunk by a bunch of biplanes which were effectively immune to its AA.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 8 points 5 months ago

A great example, setting aside the fact that battleships have always been more trouble than they were worth.

Although, modern aircraft carriers are approaching that kind of outdated-ness. I'm genuinely curious to see what happens when America loses it's first $50B floating fortress.

[-] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 5 points 5 months ago

Battlships filled roughly the same position heavy tanks once filled, big heavy hitters that could take a beating. But with the march of progress came their downfall, that and the adoption of different fleet tactics.

I suspect that the big Carriers will be replaced with something more akin to smaller carriers, kinda like what Japan uses. Though those are definitely just destroyers no carriers here. But yeah with VTOL large aircraft carriers will most likely end up being decommissioned or turned into portable hospitals or soemthing specifically the nuclear ones.

[-] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Saying they were always more trouble than they were worth is a bit of a miss though: They completely dominated for a period, to the point where entire columns would be redirected or kept in port if intelligence arrived saying that a certain battleship had left port and was on the hunt.

As for the "modern" aircraft carrier: I think it will remain viable until we see a fundamental paradigm shift in how naval warfare is conducted. A carrier is at the centre of a carrier strike group, and is probably one of the most well protected places on the planet at any time, and can move at over 40 knots. I have a hard time imagining what could locate and take out an alert carrier in reasonable distance from shore, other than another carrier group.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago

I have a hard time imagining what could locate and take out an alert carrier in reasonable distance from shore, other than another carrier group.

Bombers and long range torpedos spring to mind, particularly when the carrier is moving through a relatively right corridor, like the Red Sea.

The Houthis have already functionally shut down the Suez against commercial traffic just by threatening from the coast. And they're employing relatively unsophisticated artillery.

[-] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

I specified "a reasonable distance from shore" because an important part of the point of a carrier is exactly that it can stay easily 100 km from shore and still strike far inland. If a carrier is in range of shore-based torpedoes, they've likely messed up long ago.

As for bombers: They're historically the major threat to carriers, but I don't see any modern developments that make modern bombers any more of a threat to modern carriers than WW2 era bombers were to WW2 era carriers.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world -1 points 5 months ago

“a reasonable distance from shore”

Gets farther and farther away as long range artillery improves.

I don’t see any modern developments that make modern bombers any more of a threat to modern carriers than WW2 era bombers were

Jet engines have been a BFD for some time. They've forced significant investment in countermeasures, few of which have been tested in combat.

[-] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

Long range artillery has pretty hard limits, and once you approach the 100km range, time to target becomes a real issue, even for missiles that can be shot down.

Modern anti-air hat a range of several hundred km, and has been combat tested. More short-range systems (< 50 km) are in use (with huge success) every day in Ukraine. Of course bombers have also improved, but I wouldn't put money on the bombers having improved relative to the AA.

Ps. I'm not the person downvoting you, I think you make a decent point, I just disagree :)

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago

once you approach the 100km range, time to target becomes a real issue, even for missiles that can be shot down.

The Red Sea is at most 300 km wide, and tightens up quiet a bit as you approach the Suez.

And Iran has supersonic torpedos capable of closing that distance in very short order.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoot_(torpedo)

Ps. I’m not the person downvoting you, I think you make a decent point, I just disagree :)

Anything that isn't reflexively nationalist gets an ambient amount of hate on Lemmy.world.

this post was submitted on 10 May 2024
618 points (98.4% liked)

World News

38971 readers
2293 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS