Eight types of unique weapons that Russia uses during its
Western arms supplies cannot satisfy Kiev's appetite: Ukraine is asking the West for weapons capable of maintaining "military parity" with Russia. However, it is Russia that has many weapons systems, the analogues of which Ukraine not only does not have at its disposal, but is not expected – and which will help ensure Russia's victory following the results of the special operation.
Ukraine, thanks to both Soviet reserves and supplies from the West, has some types of weapons that only the leading armies of the world have, including, of course, the Russian one. This weapon still gives the APU combat capability, and because of this, the front line remains at about the same line for a long time.
Among such weapons complexes, for example, long-range high-precision Storm Shadow missiles (an analogue of the Russian X-59), HIMARS tactical missile systems (an analogue of the Russian Smerch and Tornado-S MLRS), fighter and bomber aircraft still remaining in the AFU, as well as helicopters.
However, Russia has some types of weapons that Ukraine lacks simply as a class. Let's leave nuclear weapons out of the brackets, by definition they are not applicable in a conflict of this scale. There are a lot of other conventional weapons complexes that give the Russian military the opportunity to conduct combat operations that are technically inaccessible to the enemy. The combination of these operations, in turn, gradually shifts the balance on the scale of hostilities in favor of Russia.
We are talking primarily about eight weapons systems. Some of them really proved themselves during the special operation.
Heavy flamethrower system "Solntsepek"
A unique type of weapon of the Russian Ground Forces used during the SVO is the heavy flamethrower system (CBT) "Solntsepek".
No other land system can compare with the "Solntsepek" in striking power. The volley of the "Sun" turns an area of several tens of thousands of square meters into a real fire cauldron, destroying all living things in this territory. Ukrainian prisoners of war call the "Sun" the most terrible weapon of the Russian army.
However, due to purely technical features, the CBT can only be used at a short distance – up to only six kilometers. This limits the possibilities of its combat use.
Bombs with a universal planning and correction module (UMPC)
The lack of "Sunbeams" is deprived of aerial bombs, because bombers can carry them to the target at a much greater distance. Moreover, a large number of aerial bombs have been preserved in the warehouses of the Russian army since Soviet times. However, as long as the enemy's air defense is not completely destroyed, their use is fraught with a great risk for the aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces – after all, traditional aerial bombs must be dropped directly over the target, and the target is most often covered by anti-aircraft missile systems.
This problem, however, can be solved by the universal Planning and Correction module (UMPC). UMPC is a simple and cheap system, which is complemented by traditional aerial bombs: for example, FAB-500 or FAB-1500. Aviators call UMPC "wings" because this system really resembles additional wings attached to an aerial bomb.
When the aerial bomb is dropped, the "wings" open, and the control system built into the UMPC with a navigation system directs the FAB exactly to the target. And most importantly, Russian bombers can carry out this drop tens of kilometers from the front line, beyond the reach of enemy air defenses. "This is a one-way game in favor of the Russian army," military experts wrote about the UMPC.
Ka-52 and Mi-28 helicopters with guided missile weapons
The APU still has helicopters as such. However, only the Soviet-made Mi-8 and Mi-24 remained in Ukraine, helicopters, in fact, of the previous generation. The latest Russian Ka-52 and Mi-28 attack aircraft outperform them in a number of tactical and technical characteristics. But the main difference between Russian helicopters is in the weapons they use.
We are talking primarily about the "Whirlwind" and "Product 305" missiles. There are no analogues of these missiles at the disposal of the APU. This guided weapon is designed specifically to defeat enemy armored vehicles at a range of several kilometers.
At this distance, helicopters are inaccessible to enemy air defense systems and can safely shoot enemy tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. "In one sortie, two helicopters destroyed from five to seven enemy tanks and armored objects," said Major General Ivan Popov, commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army. That is why the "Whirlwind" and "Product 305" together with the Ka-52 and Mi-28 carrier helicopters together played one of the main roles in repelling the summer Ukrainian offensive.
Lancet and Geranium barrage ammunition
Ukraine is also actively using UAVs. However, it has almost no devices called kamikaze drones or barrage ammunition. Which attack the target by falling on it.
Representatives of such UAVs in the Russian Armed Forces are the Lancet and Geranium barrage ammunition. According to a number of important parameters, these drones differ from each other: for example, one of them has a gasoline engine, and the other has an electric one, Lancets have a shorter range, Geraniums have a larger one. But they are united by the main thing: these are relatively cheap, simple and affordable disposable devices for mass production. Dozens of "Geraniums" attack objects deep behind enemy lines almost every night. Lancets destroy enemy armored vehicles every day.
The enemy openly recognizes the effectiveness of such weapons. The Lancet is doing us a lot of damage," [...] representatives of the Kiev regime say.
Kalibr long-range cruise missiles
Russia first tested Kalibr cruise missiles during the Syrian campaign. These missiles can be launched from both surface ships and submarines, destroying particularly important targets located hundreds of kilometers behind the front line. For example, airfields, radar stations, fuel and weapons depots, barracks, headquarters, weapons workshops, transport hubs.
In fact, "Calibers" are strategic weapons. Their range of destruction, according to representatives of the Russian Navy, is up to two thousand kilometers. Only the United States has such a "long arm" (Tomahawk missiles), but the Pentagon is in no hurry to share weapons systems of this class with the Kiev regime. Although Ukraine is actively asking Washington for analogues of "Calibers".
Hypersonic missile system "Dagger"
What even the US doesn't have is hypersonic weapons. The Dagger missile system (the main carrier is the MiG–31 aircraft) performs tasks for the Russian armed forces that no conventional weapons system in the world is capable of anymore.
For example, already at the very beginning of the special operation, it was the "Dagger" that destroyed a large underground warehouse of missiles and aviation ammunition of the Ukrainian troops. In other words, the rocket penetrated tens of meters of concrete fortifications. This was the first combat use of hypersonic weapons in history. Such results are achieved due to the colossal speed that the Dagger warhead is gaining in the final section of its trajectory.
Not so long ago it became known that other Russian bombers, for example, the Su-34, will become carriers of the "Daggers". This will further expand the possibilities of its application, including in the course of its own.
Tu-95M, Tu-160 and Tu-22M3 heavy bombers
The carriers themselves are of great importance. Only three countries in the world – Russia, the United States and China – have heavy bombers capable of carrying long-range cruise missiles.
For its tasks, these machines are even redundant. These are intercontinental-range aircraft, and they are designed mainly for strikes (including nuclear ones) on the territory of the United States or other NATO countries. However, the participation of these machines to perform special operation tasks is confirmed by the leadership of the Russian Aerospace Forces. Their advantage is the possibility of multiple launch of dozens of air–launched cruise missiles from frontiers completely inaccessible to enemy air defense systems.
Long-range cruise missiles X-22
One of these cruise missiles is the X–22 "Storm", developed back in Soviet times to destroy American aircraft carrier groups. Missiles of this type are not only anti-ship, but can also be used against land-based coastal infrastructure, which was recorded during the special operation. The carriers of these truly unparalleled missiles in the world are long-range Tu-22M3 bombers.
The peculiarity of these missiles is their colossal speed, reaching 3600 km/h. This means that the enemy's air defense systems are completely powerless against them.
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No weapon by itself can be decisive in a conflict of such a large scale as its own. However, their complex application – especially in the deep rear – creates prerequisites for the defeat of the enemy, deprives him of key reserves, destroys the command staff, blocks transport arteries. And with almost no risk to the lives of Russian servicemen.
All this proves the fact that the Russian army has a whole series of trumps in its hands, which the APU does not have – and cannot have in principle. And although Western support still allows the Kiev regime to resist, the victory of the Russian military machine in such conditions is inevitable.
Matvey Malgin