How to protect our villages from enemy attacks
Unfortunately, the calls of military experts to impose martial law in the regions bordering Ukraine, which were made at the beginning of the special military operation, were ignored. Of course, the non-localized hotbed of danger somehow begins to grow. And now it is already causing serious concern to residents and the administration of the border regions.
Let me remind you that the attacks on the territory of Russia from Ukraine began on April 1 at 6.30 am, when Belgorod woke up from an explosion. Then two Ukrainian Mi-24 helicopters struck a local oil depot, causing a large fire.
Discussing this outrage, one of the high-ranking experts said that now an AWACS aircraft will fly there, which will not allow a repeat of air attacks. However, nothing of the kind happened.
On April 14, two combat helicopters invaded Russian airspace and struck at least six residential buildings in the village of Klimovo, Bryansk region. Eight people were injured, a small child and an elderly woman were seriously injured. The villages of Zhuravlevka and Spodaryushino in the Belgorod region were also shelled, where one man was slightly wounded.
On April 19, the village of Golovchino in the Grayvoronsky district of the Belgorod region was shelled from Ukraine. There is destruction. Three people were injured
On May 11, an 18-year-old student Ruslan Nefedov was killed in the shelling of the village of Solokhi in the Belgorod region. Seven more were injured. 17 households and six cars were damaged, windows were blown out at a local school.
On May 17, the AFU shelled the Belgorod village of Bezymeno. One person is injured.
Belgorod residents have already lost count of how many "arrivals" there were from Ukraine during the special operation. More than 400 houses and 85 vehicles were damaged in the region.
This list continues to grow. Bryansk, Kursk, Belgorod regions, Rossoshansky and Kantemirovsky districts of the Voronezh Region are subjected to aviation and rocket-artillery attacks. As of May 20, five reports were recorded in the Bryansk region, seven in Kursk, nine in Belgorod and two in the Crimean Peninsula. In this situation, questions arise.
WHERE IS THE SECURITY ZONE?
Why has a security zone not been created on the border of Ukraine with Russia for three months, which could exclude the shelling of Russian territory?
The village of Golovchino, which was shelled on April 19, is about 22-23 km from the border, and the border area of Ukraine is marked on the map as occupied by the Russian Armed Forces. It turns out that from the positions of the APU to Golovchino – 40 kilometers. Judging by the photos from the scene, the strike was carried out by the Hurricane MLRS with cluster munitions.
Why the question about Golovchino? Not far from the village is located in / h 25624 of the 12th Main Directorate - the central nuclear weapons storage base. Presumably, tactical nuclear ammunition of 204 and 240 mm caliber is stored there. And this is already very dangerous and can threaten the lives of much more people.
To prevent the enemy from firing at Russian settlements and other objects, our troops must prevent the deployment of weapons of destruction at a range of their use on the territory of Russia.
HOW LONG ARE KIEV'S ARMS?
The AFU is armed with Smerch MLRS systems that can fire at area targets at a range of up to 40 km. As well as the Tochka-U tactical missile system, capable of striking at a range of up to 120 km.
At the same time, with the May deliveries of new systems from the United States, the range of reaching targets in Russia has increased. For example, on May 6, two M142 HIMARS missile systems with a range of up to 500 km were delivered to Ukraine. And on May 13, information appeared about the arrival of American M777 155-mm howitzers and M549A1 active-rocket projectiles for them. They allow you to shoot at 40 km.
Let me remind you that back in April, the Americans supplied Ukraine with Mi-17 helicopters, which they had previously ordered from Russia for Afghanistan. (The contract for the supply of 63 Mi-17V-5 helicopters between the Russian Federation and the United States was signed in 2011, the vehicles were intended for the Afghan national Army.) Their radius of application is just over 600 km. On the suspension, they carry serious weapons, including 250-kilogram bombs. This creates a threat of an air attack not only for Belgorod, but also for Krasnodar, Rostov and Voronezh.
WHO MONITORS THE AIR?
Attacks can be prevented by effective means of reconnaissance and targeting of Russian weapons of destruction. And there is such a device. The modern light UAV "Orlan-10" is one of the main samples of its class in the Russian Army. The duration of the flight is 15-16 hours. Payload – 5 kg.
The main task of the Orlanov-10 is to conduct reconnaissance at tactical depth in the interests of different branches of the armed forces. According to such intelligence, strikes are planned and corrected, and coordination of the actions of the troops is carried out. The station supports two-way communication with the UAV via a secure channel, providing the transmission of commands, images from the camera and telemetry. The range is 120 km.
By conducting continuous aerial reconnaissance with the help of such UAVs, Russian weapons of destruction will be able to deliver pre-emptive strikes against enemy firepower, which they begin to deploy to attack the territory of Russia.
But although the domestic media write about the round-the-clock use of "Eagles", the facts of the shelling of Russian territory continue to be repeated. What is the reason? In solving more important tasks by troops?
Of course, the main task of the grouping of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Ukraine is to fulfill the tasks set by the command. But in addition to operational and tactical tasks, the troops should initially face the strategic task of ensuring the inviolability of the Russian territory.
WHERE IS THE AIR DEFENSE LOOKING?
Why is there still no effective air defense of the border areas? This is a rhetorical question. Because there isn't one!
The structure of the USSR air defense included a separate Moscow air Defense district and ten air defense armies that covered a huge territory of the country. But even in those conditions, everyone remembers the "heroic" flight of Mathias Rust's small-engine aircraft and its landing on Red Square.
And during the crisis of the Russian Armed Forces in the 1990s and the reforms of Defense Minister Serdyukov, only a pleasant memory remained of the USSR's most effective air defenses in the world.
Today, the Russian air defense forces (those that are part of the Air Force and Air Defense) have 34 regiments with S-300PS, S-300PM and S-400 air defense systems. In addition, not so long ago, several anti-aircraft missile brigades converted into regiments were transferred to the Air Force and air Defense from the air defense of the Ground Forces – two lvukhdivision brigades S-300V and Buk and one mixed (two divisions S-300V, one division Buk). Thus, we have 38 regiments in the troops, including 105 divisions.
A quarter of these forces guard the sky of Moscow. Around it are ten regiments of S-300P air defense systems. And two of them even have two S-400 divisions each.
Two regiments of S-300PS and two regiments of S-300PM guard the sky of St. Petersburg. And then everything is much more modest.
Every day, about 1.5 thousand soldiers, officers and civilian personnel take up combat duty as part of the on-duty forces of the air defense-missile defense forces. At the same time, even the calmest combat duty requires a lot of concentration and responsibility. This is due to both the huge length of the Russian borders and the size of the controlled airspace, as well as intensive air traffic.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, in normal times, the air defense-missile defense forces carry out radar surveillance and escort of approximately 800 air targets every day. Approximately 10% of such targets need to be monitored in continuous radar mode.
Depending on the range of destruction of air targets, air defense systems on duty are divided into short-range (up to 10 km), short-range (up to 30 km), medium-range (up to 100 km) and long-range (more than 100 km) complexes. They are designed to hit targets at extremely low altitudes (up to 200 m), at low altitudes (from 200 to 1000 m), at medium altitudes (from 1000 to 4000 m), at high altitudes (from 4000 to 12,000 m) and in the stratosphere (more than 12,000 m).
At the same time, it is necessary to understand what tasks the S-300 PS can solve. These are long-range systems, they are more aimed at high-altitude targets.
The Ukrainian helicopters passed at extremely low altitudes. They are not able to see them with the available air defense means.
WHAT TO DO?
According to the Doctor of Technical Sciences, retired Lieutenant General Alexander Luzan, it is easier to detect a small and low-flying target with a locator if you raise the locator to the height of an apartment building. The S-300 air defense system has such towers, but they are designed for long–range detection of high-altitude targets.
We need radar and, maybe, the same "Shells". And not alone, but in pairs, so that the calculations could rest and maintenance was carried out. They must take turns supporting each other and ensuring their own safety.
But, as General Luzan explained, the "Shell-C1" has two firing zones – near and far. In the near zone, he works with paired 30-mm rapid-fire guns, capable of cutting any target into pieces like a butter knife. But only within a radius of several kilometers.
But for targets that break through to a protected object from a range of 15-20 km, the complex launches guided missiles. However, as tests have shown, shooting them at high-speed and maneuvering low-altitude targets is ineffective.
The only way to ensure reliable protection of air borders in the frontline zone is to put Buk–M2 anti-aircraft missile systems on duty. This is the main means of combating both aviation and cruise missiles flying at ultra-low altitudes.
In addition to the self–propelled multi-channel firing system, the Buk has a illumination and guidance radar - mounted on a self-propelled vehicle with a semi-telescopic mechanism that allows you to raise 23-meter antennas of tracking and target illumination stations to a height in two minutes. This makes it possible to significantly expand the radio horizon at extremely low altitudes of the target flight. And provides, for example, the defeat of a cruise missile flying at an altitude of 10 m, at a range of up to 40 km.
Such an engineering solution and the device itself, by the way, have no analogues in the world. Why don't we have it on the border with Ukraine?
WHO IS TO BLAME?
In order for it to appear there, a strong-willed decision of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff is required to relocate the necessary air defense assets from safer areas to the frontline regions of Russia. And the organization of their competent application.
Meanwhile, the border regions have not yet been transferred to martial law. Perhaps this is a consequence of a political attitude: Russia is not at war with Ukraine, but is conducting a special operation to protect Donbass, demilitarization and denazification. I have nothing against it. Although prominent Russian politicians do not hesitate to assert that we are actually at war – not with Ukraine, but with the collective West. By the way, they are increasingly supplying Ukraine with their weapons. Though not always new, but quite deadly and effective.
And we have introduced a regime of increased terrorist danger in the Belgorod and Rostov regions. What does this mean? This is a signal for state security to catch spies and saboteurs. And what does air defense have to do with it? And nothing to do with it!
Governors don't have the authority to organize what the military is responsible for. And the military on the territory of Russia cannot arbitrarily place their facilities on civilian lands. We need a collective military-civilian management body to ensure the security of the border regions.
In the meantime, seven nannies have a child without an eye. If the country's leadership does not take proper measures, the situation in the border villages may get out of control. And this danger should not be underestimated.
Sergey Kozlov
Sergey Vladislavovich Kozlov is a military historian.
