[Richard230]

Next stop, POLYARNY! 

If the cruise missile blast made it through the pressure hull those could have been secondary explosions.

Where was the Russian air cover? No S-400 online? Their Beriev A-100 is equivalent to an AWACS. Surely they had one in the air. A Vympel R-77 vectored in from a MIG-35 or Su-30 would have saved them a diesel sub.

Not a good look for Russia when there's no response from the "home team". Maybe North Korea will send them some weaponry & soldiers.

A report on a Sky News video said that the Ukrainians fired something like 10 missiles and the Russians shot down 7 or 8 of them. They also said that the Ukrainians have located a gap in the Russian air defenses and are making the most of it until the Russians can close that gap.  All of the commentators seem to believe that the missiles were the UK and/or the French cruise missiles that were given to Ukraine earlier this year.

[GlennF]

They also said that the Ukrainians have located a gap in the Russian air defenses and are making the most of it until the Russians can close that gap. 

If you follow the military commentaries it is more correct to say they created one.

They took out a couple of Air Defence launchers along the coast a few weeks back that the Russians have not had time to replace and then just last week occupied the oil rigs the Russians had previously held in the Black Sea.

This allowed the Ukrainian Migs to get close to Sevastopol unchallenged.

It definitely looks like this was all part of a longer term plan aimed at taking out the dry docks and naval repair facilities in Sevastopol, rather than some opportunistic spur of the moment attack.  It seems like the Ukrainian's were working towards this for at least a month or more.

[GlennF]

A more detailed report on the, somewhat complex, attack itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb9xOZFW8To

[Leofric]

A report on a Sky News video said that the Ukrainians fired something like 10 missiles and the Russians shot down 7 or 8 of them. They also said that the Ukrainians have located a gap in the Russian air defenses and are making the most of it until the Russians can close that gap.  All of the commentators seem to believe that the missiles were the UK and/or the French cruise missiles that were given to Ukraine earlier this year.

' Seem to believe ' and  ' missiles were the UK and /or the French cruise missiles ' - so they don't really know !

[Leofric]

Two Russian warplanes were in a confrontation with a British plane carrying 30 people in international air space over the Black Sea and fired off 2 missiles.
The first one missed and the second one just fell off the wing of the Russian plane.
Escalation avoided for now !

[AzCal Retred]

North Korea is famous for exfiltrating out Chinese weapons. Looks like Belaru's Lukashenko wants to join the "party" too, I wonder if the good folks of Belarus are as interested?

Russian pilot tried to shoot down RAF surveillance aircraft over the Black Sea in 2022 because he believed he had permission
Russian pilot of the SU-27 fighter jet tried to shoot down RAF plane last year
By RACHAEL BUNYAN PUBLISHED: 03:53 EDT, 14 September 2023

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12517175/Russian-pilot-tried-shoot-RAF-surveillance-plane-Black-Sea-wrongly-thought-permission-missile-missed.html

A Russian pilot tried to shoot down an RAF surveillance plane over the Black Sea because he mistakenly thought he had permission, it has emerged.
The pilot of the SU-27 fighter jet fired two missiles at the RAF aircraft on September 29 last year, with Russia claiming the missile had malfunctioned.
Britain's then defence secretary Ben Wallace told Parliament that two Russian jets had 'recklessly' come within 15ft of the RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint, which has a crew of up to 30.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/15/ukraine-says-russian-missile-defence-destroyed-in-crimea-2-warships-hits

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/15/belarus-leader-alexander-lukashenko-proposes-three-way-partnership-with-russia-and-north-korea

[GlennF]

That incident is close enough to ancient history, no idea why it is suddenly cropping up as news worthy.

[AzCal Retred]

Wheels within wheels...

Ukraine’s Attack On Sevastopol Also Targeted Important Ships Crossing Black Sea
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2023/09/ukraines-attack-on-sevastopol-also-targeted-important-ships-crossing-black-sea/
Two Russian ships, the tanker Yaz and the suspected arms runner Ursa Major, are headed to Istanbul where they will leave the Black Sea. Evidence suggests that, at the same time as the cruise missile attack on Sevastopol, they were targeted by Ukrainian maritime drones.

The attacks are part of a wider shift in the Black Sea. The launching of ten Storm Shadow or SCALP-EG cruise missiles can be tied back to the destruction of an S-400 system in northwest Crimea on August 24. Together with prying Russian surveillance systems off gas platforms offshore, this will have contributed to the Ukrainian jets’ ability to operate over the water. Russian air defenses remain a serious threat, but Ukraine is gaining space.

The Losses
The landing ship is important as a logistic asset. These ships have moved from their traditional amphibious landing role to a mundane, yet crucial, transport one. Its sister ship, Olenegorsky Gornyak, has already been taken out of action on August 3 by a USV attack. Russia can ill afford to loose too many of these ships.

The loss of the submarine is arguably even more significant. The Improved-Kilo class boats are armed with Kalibr cruise missiles and have conducted numerous attacks against Ukraine. They also threaten merchant ships sailing to and from Odesa. There is now one less of these submarines in the Black Sea.

[GlennF]

Most military bloggers think the attacks on the other ships were a distraction to divert attention away from the main target.

[Leofric]

That incident is close enough to ancient history, no idea why it is suddenly cropping up as news worthy.

The incident might seem like 'ancient history' (being a year ago !) but maybe details of what happened have just been revealed.
 Anyway, a warning about how easily things could escalate into world war 3!

[Leofric]

'A Russian pilot tried to shoot down an RAF surveillance plane over the Black Sea because he mistakenly thought he had permission, it has emerged. '
Let's hope there aren't any more mistaken beliefs in international air space !

[GlennF]

Bearing in mind there is a certain amount of professionalism involved in flying fast jets, regardless of country - the younger Chinese pilots are more worrisome as they seem to have a gung-ho nationalistic driven enthusiasm where as for the Russians it seems more of a chore they are obliged to take on because the kremlin tells them to.  Though, that said the VKS pilots seemed a lot more willing than ground troops to oppose Prigozhin even though Wagner were shooting them down at a fairly high rate.

[AzCal Retred]

Abrams upgrade scrapped after Leopards tank in Ukraine
US Army recognizes it needs to change direction after the damage done to Germany’s supposedly superior tanks in Ukraine

https://asiatimes.com/2023/09/abrams-upgrade-scrapped-after-leopards-tank-in-ukraine/

[Leofric]

Abrams upgrade scrapped after Leopards tank in Ukraine
US Army recognizes it needs to change direction after the damage done to Germany’s supposedly superior tanks in Ukraine

https://asiatimes.com/2023/09/abrams-upgrade-scrapped-after-leopards-tank-in-ukraine/

Ukraine showed it can destroy Russian tanks so it shouldn't be surprising Russia can destroy Ukraine's tanks !

[AzCal Retred]

Tanks are vulnerable without air cover and infantry. Mines don't help them much either. The modern infantryman can engage a tank successfully, and virtually any modern aerial platform can destroy one. Likely their time on the battlefield is over, tech has marched on. They are mainly useful against opposition that doesn't have access to modern weaponry, like civilians.