2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war #3

There aren't only tanks on the front. 500g is enough to destroy light vehicle or make mobility kills.

Those drones are not much more than line of sight, and while 500g will take out any car or truck against an actual armoured vehicle like an APC or IFV it likely wont do very much at all.

Their value is more the camera they carry and their small size meaning they can be launched straight up and give you a decent view ahead from a platform that is small and not actually very obvious like a bigger object like a helicopter or balloon doing the same thing.

Armenian using a quad copter. IMO this sort of drone is the most difficult to counter for AD because they can hover at 0km/h and accelerate pretty fast. With a warhead they would be very dangerous.

Very dangerous for most of the worlds air defence because it mostly relies on radar of type that are useless for small plastic items with batteries and electric motors that don't contain a lot of metal in them like this system.

The AD systems the Russians are employing including TOR and Pantsir and other systems use IIR sensors, while the new Pine system is EOs only which should have no trouble at all detecting such a system and tracking it.

Indeed. Land on, or just above, the roof of an ammo or fuel or personnel truck and a valuable blast.

The thing is that in terms of range and endurance and payload it would make more sense to carry Metis-M1 and be able to penetrate 950mm of armour out to 2km range...

I am joking, but I think it makes sense to see some real numbers so we have a notion of the real capabilities of the drones. They are useful but not magical and have the same kinds of restrictions any aircraft has.

Its max flight distance is given as 18km and video distance as 10km max, but flight distance would be dramatically reduced with any sort of payload...

With a 10km range then a Kornet-EM would be at least as effective, but the value of this sort of thing is not in its capacity to deliver ammo... it would make much more sense to carry a laser designator on the drone and use it to climb up high in the air and find targets which you can then launch attacks with laser guided artillery... why carry tiny charges around with a drone and reduce its speed and range and altitude performance when the HE 120mm mortar rounds can be delivered separately?

Lasers are not effected by cross winds as they paint the tops of armoured vehicles...

Russia did not "win". It is now entangled with peacekeepers in this disaster zone. The talk of leverage from those peacekeepers is
vapid. Are this 1900+ soldiers going to invade Azerbaijan to impose Russia's will?

Russia did "win" by not taking the NATzO bait laid through the hands of Pussynian. And Pussynian, the plucky freedom lover, has
shown himself to be a colonial dictator.

Russia did not "win". It is now entangled with peacekeepers in this disaster zone. The talk of leverage from those peacekeepers is
vapid. Are this 1900+ soldiers going to invade Azerbaijan to impose Russia's will?

Of course it made the best of a bad situation... on the chart of stupid fuckers turning to the west for all the promises of wealth and prosperity... where would you put this?

Syria: Assad still in power and defeated an ISIS force that was going to destroy them.

Libya: Gadaffi murdered and the place is a chaotic shithole.

Ukraine: coup and the place is now a shithole but with a hot ongoing conflict in regions not happy with the coup.

South Ossetia: attempted invasion by Georgia leads to removal of pretend georgian peacekeepers to be replaced with Russian forces actually interested in keeping the peace.

In NK, there were peacekeepers there already and now there are more and with a new agreement there is more clarity over what is what... there are claims that the Azeris could just attack again and take the rest, well they could, but now the Russians are there in much greater numbers and would be in a much better position to stop any further conflict.

2,000 VDV that can all in strikes and attacks where necessary is probably the size of the force they would need to defeat a lot of countries in the region together with local friendly forces under their command to draw out enemy forces that can then be attacked with air power after enemy air power and air defence has been neutralised... but I seriously doubt it would come to that.

There is no disagreement on those points, but the talk is of Russia re-asserting some sort of neocolonial influence in the
region. Not with 2000 peacekeepers it is not. And Russia serving as a broker for the ceasefire depends on the Azeris
and Armenians playing along.

Armenia is a lost cause. It looks like Azerbaijan is not run by stooges.

Pussynian can go ahead and invest in NATzO crap. Why should Russia care?

To be clear... what Russia got out of leaders turning west:

Syria: Russia got to be the good guy and also test a lot of equipment and weapons which in the main have proven rather good yet still cost effective.
They have cemented their position in Tartus and various airfields in the region... so a definite plus.

Libya: Russia might play a role directly in fixing this place, but not right now... personally I would hope local countries can help Libya recover and return from the chaos and rebuild... Egypt more than Turkey to be honest. Sad result for the people, but hardly something Russia could have fixed.

Ukraine: The biggest parasitic tick removed from Russias ass, the billions of investment promised to them to keep their ship afloat can now be directed to helping Russians in Russia. This is an enormous win and with the naval base in Sevastopol and the entire peninsula secured... a massive victory no amount of war and bloodshed could have achieved. This is a huge victory for Russia and a real escape for the people of the Crimea too.

South Ossetia: This was essentially triggered by Kosovo becoming independent, and was simply a natural result of the status quo. Russia gained some more hard and fast allies against a country turned against them by the west. Probably the best of a bad situation and therefore prevented HATO bases in South Ossetia an Abkhazia instead of just in Georgia.

In NK: A west leaning leader of Armenia got his arse kicked by Azeri and Turkish forces and he ended up needing Russia to help because there was no help coming from anywhere else. For Russia, well it is increased peace keeper forces in the region, but an agreement regarding access and occupancy. What Armenia does from here is pretty much down to them, Putin does not dictate to such leaders like the west does, but those countries still have to make their own choice... and they can always still make the wrong choice... look at the Ukraine. The people of Libya hardly got a choice when the west acted as the airforce for terrorist groups in the country like they did in Syria.

There is no disagreement on those points, but the talk is of Russia re-asserting some sort of neocolonial influence in the
region. Not with 2000 peacekeepers it is not. And Russia serving as a broker for the ceasefire depends on the Azeris
and Armenians playing along.

Armenia is a lost cause. It looks like Azerbaijan is not run by stooges.

So Russia is not acting like the US would and destroying Azeri forces and Turkish forces in the region and setting up enormous bases and shifting borders as they please... I for one say that is a good thing, and for a change the bad guys played it smart... that will sometimes happen, but part of their smart was negotiating a ceasefire agreement with Russia and Armenia... I am sure the US would have loved to have sat in on this and made some demands, but they were smart enough to not get them involved.

Armenia will get a vote soon enough if they are not happy with their current leader... it is not Putins job to decide who gets control... Russia does not do regime change.

They support the encumbant no matter how moronic or anti Russian they are, but will let the people decide their own fate... Syria, Belarus... Russia is not tied to Assad or Luka... if those countries vote in someone else Russia will not interfere... why would they?

Armenia is the best geopolitical comeback in ages. It was achieved through a a cynical calculus and the rationale that Armenia would have no other alternative.

Russia wants good relations with both countries... picking one country and destroying the other is not going to work unless they invade and send all opposition to Siberia. Of course they are going to favour Armenia, but if Armenia does not help itself, they can default back to impartial too.

BTW they didn't step in to get a cease fire agreement for Azeribaijans benefit... this was totally to help Armenia and the Armenians in NK that they could still help.

Experts are discussing a statement by the Armenian Prime Minister

He is a politician and wants to blame anyone and everyone except himself of course...

Whether I trust him or not does not matter... it is for Armenia to decide his ultimate fate.

The cocksucker was shifting blame on everywhere and everyone else but his own spineless treasonous comprador predisposition.

He is in charge, so ultimately it is his fault...