Exploding satellites and drone warfare

Editor's note: The Ukrainian navy whatever it consisted of was mostly destroyed during the very beginning phase of this proxy war on Russia led by the UK. The US neocons are not going to stop until they get their all out war on Russia. It is being claimed Ukraine's entire naval fleet was destroyed shortly after Boeing's Intelsat 33E satellite was destroyed allegedly by a "foreign power." Admittedly, this is speculation but it has been reported Boeing's Intelsat 33E satellite was destroyed on 23 October 2024 by Russia to curtail the UK-US led war against Russia. Another rumor has it the Intelsat 33E satellite was hit by a hypersonic missile fired off a Russian MiG-31 flying at very high altitude. Boeing's Intelsat 33E satellite was definitely a military satellite evidence suggesting this was some pretty high tech shit built into this satellite. It was an anomaly alright. Was it a "Russian anomaly" to prevent drones from hitting Russian targets? As the UK-US increase their proxy war on Russia the stakes are higher with drone warfare being a cheap effective form of warfare. How many satellites "just explode in orbit?"

Boeing-made satellite explodes in space after experiencing an "anomaly"

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US to Fund Drone-Bombing of Western Russia, the First $800M Already on the Way

A joint US-Ukrainian bombing campaign materializes through the back door

By Marko Marjanovic | October 31, 2024

The US is giving Kiev $0.8 billion specifically to build long-range drones to be fired into western Russia. This is also only the first of many such payments to follow:

"The United States has agreed to give Ukraine $800 million in military aid that will go toward manufacturing long-range drones…"

"A Pentagon official, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the issue, confirmed the move…"

"President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in a briefing with journalists Monday that the money was just the first U.S. disbursement for Kyiv’s weapons production and long-range capabilities."

The New York Times describes this as a "consolation prize" for Ukraine after not getting Storm Shadows and JASSM cruise missiles along with the authorization and the help to fire them into western Russia.

"The decision to support long-range drone production in Ukraine may be a kind of consolation prize for Mr. Zelensky, who — despite repeated pleas — has so far failed to persuade Western partners to lift restrictions on using their long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russia."

As far as consolation prizes go this is a gargantuan one. $800 million buys 800 cruise missiles. For the same investment, thousands of long-range drones can eventually be built. A cruise missile is faster and less likely to be shot down, but it doesn’t matter that much. Taking up 40 percent of the European land mass, western Russia is vast, offering numerous targets and paths that can not all be covered by air defenses. Even if many are lost, several thousand drones still likely constitute far more destructive firepower, and a more complicated and persistent problem for Russia than 800 missiles.

It is useful to appreciate that even if the designations "cruise missile" and "long-range drone" are dissimilar these are not distinct types of weapons. In WW2 parlance they would both be deemed a "flying bomb" with the difference being propulsion. A traditional cruise missile is jet-powered, whereas the new long-range kamikaze drones are piston-powered, but they're the same thing. A guided, self-propelled warhead capable of great distances in level flight. (ATACMS clocking in at $2 million is ballistic and is more distinct.)

The star of Ukraine's strategic bombing campaign, the AN-196 Lyuty drone/flying bomb is 4 meters long, has a 7-meter wingspan, and delivers up to 250 kg of explosives. It has struck as far as 1500 km into Russia.

In high-profile attacks, the Ukrainian drone bombing campaign has dealt damage to Russian airbases, refineries, and ammo stockpiles deep in Russia, as well as closed down Moscow's Domodedovo airport, but its bread-and-butter are attacks on the Russian electrical grid in the border regions, setting fire to rural power stations with the small-fry Rubaka drones.

Please go to Anti-Empire to continue reading.

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The Russians look to have some pretty advanced satellite technology of their own used to monitor western military and logistic movements and their proxies in Ukraine:

Russia Launches Soyuz Rocket With Military Satellite From Plesetsk - MoD

These types of fires and explosions at military industrial facilities are happening more frequently:

'Significant fire' at UK nuclear shipyard (PHOTOS, VIDEO)