Winning: Ukrainian Combat Innovation Process
June 24, 2026: Ukrainian officials warned its NATO supporters to pay close attention to the Ukrainian experience to better defend themselves from a possible Russian attack in the next decade. Drones were an unexpected development that had a huge impact on how battles in Ukraine's current war are fought. Drones were successful because they were cheap, easily modified, and expendable. Modifications and upgrades could be implemented quickly and inexpensively. Both Russian and Ukrainian forces were soon using cheap quadcopter drones controlled by soldiers a few kilometers distant using FPV/First Person Viewing goggles to see what the day/night video camera on the drone can see. Adding night vision is available when needed, at a higher cost per drone. These drones cost a few hundred dollars each with the most complex models going for about a thousand dollars. Most of these drones carry half a kilogram of explosives, so operators can instantly turn the drone into a flying bomb that can fly into a target and detonate. Some drones carry more explosives depending on what is needed to deal with a target.
These drones are awesome and debilitating weapons when used in large numbers. If a target isn’t moving or requires more explosive power that the drones can supply, one of the drone operators can call in artillery, rocket, or missile fire, or even an airstrike. Larger, fixed wing drones are used for long range, often over a thousand kilometers, operations against targets deep inside Russia.
Drones are usually able to complete their mission, whether it is a one-way attack or reconnaissance and surveillance. The recon missions are usually survivable and enable the drone to be reused. All these drones are constantly performing surveillance, which means that both sides commit enough drones to maintain constant surveillance over a portion of the front line, to a depth, into enemy territory, of at least a few kilometers. Longer range drones can track Russian operations hundreds of kilometers behind the front lines.
This massive use of FPV-armed drones has revolutionized warfare in Ukraine and both sides are producing as many as they can. Russia produces its own drones now after briefly using imported Iranian Shahed-136 drones that cost over $100,000 each. Ukraine demonstrated that you could design and build drones with similar capabilities at less than a tenth of that. The Iranian drone was more complex than it needed to be, and even the Russians soon realized this, and turned from the Shahed-136 for more capable drones they copied from Ukrainian designs or their own. Russia still uses their Shahed drones, because they have a factory to build them and the more airborne drones they can send on a mission, the better the chance that some will hit the target. There are also larger fixed-wing drones that can drop bombs or release smaller attack drones. These larger bomber drones can also transport supplies to troops who are hard to reach otherwise.
Ukraine has also developed land-based DV/Drone Vehicles for carrying supplies or bringing back casualties. DVs have revolutionized combat zone transportation. The DVs are operated remotely and can often make a trip autonomously. In Ukraine, the battlefield is increasingly dominated by unmanned air and land vehicles. The operators stay in bunkers and rarely venture out. The combat zone is under constant surveillance and if infantry advance, they do so in small groups under the protection of their own drones.
Conventional artillery, mortar and rocket weapons have had to change the way they operate. They must fire a few rounds quickly and move before counterfire hits them. Because of this, these weapons are less effective and drones now account for over 80 percent of casualties. Tanks and other armored vehicles are similarly constrained and have to be used infrequently lest they be swarmed by drones and destroyed or immobilized.
Military leaders in other nations have noted this and are scrambling to equip their own forces with the most effective drones. Not having enough of these to match the number the enemy has in a portion of the front means you are at a serious disadvantage in that area. These drones are still evolving in terms of design and use and are becoming more effective and essential.
One countermeasure that can work for a while is electronic jamming of the drones’ control signal. Drone guidance systems are constantly modified or upgraded to cope with this. Most drones have flight control software that sends drones with jammed control signals back to where they took off to land for reuse. The jammers on the ground can be attacked by drones programmed to home in on the jamming signal. Countermeasures can be overcome and the side that can do this more quickly and completely has an advantage. That advantage is usually temporary because both sides are putting a lot of effort into keeping their combat drones effective on the battlefield.
The widespread use of drones has tuned combat brigades, battalions and companies into avid users of drones. While Ukraine has a separate Drone Force for developing new drones and assessing the use of current ones, most drones are used by regular combat units. Some of these units are selected to test new drones or drone concepts.
Ukraine has long been a major developer and manufacturer of weapons and military equipment. Before 1991, when Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union, these innovation and manufacturing capabilities were recognized and encouraged. Since independence in 1991 Ukraine has continued to encourage its defense firms to continue their work. This has resulted in several new weapons and upgrades for existing systems.
In 2021 Ukrainian introduced its Neptune anti-ship missile and, starting two months after the 2022 Russian invasion, Neptune was used to cripple and eventually neutralize the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Neptune was first used in April 2022 to attack and sink the 12,000-ton Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. Moskva was hit by two Neptunes. Russia denied this and said the explosions and fires on the Moskva were the result of an accident on the ship that damage-control efforts by the 500-man crew were unable to handle, leading to major ammunition explosions.
Russia tried to blame the loss of the ship on massive crew incompetence rather than admit the ship was hit by two Ukrainian missiles. To do so would also include crew incompetence by not turning on all the anti-missile defenses because they were distracted by the Ukrainian UAVs. It might also indicate that the missile defenses were inadequate. With the ship at the bottom of the Black Sea, the surviving crew had to explain what happened and why.
NATO nations supplying Ukraine with weapons have noted that Ukraine manages to continue developing and producing new weapons while under constant attack by Russian missiles and have agreed to joint-production and development deals inside Ukraine, some of them before the war is over. Ukraine had sought such co-op deals before the Russian invasion but there was little interest from NATO nations until they saw Ukrainian capabilities under wartime conditions.
Another development was Ukrainian-developed drones that changed the nature, and cost, of warfare. Drones are cheap and the drone operators are rarely casualties. Ukrainian civilians and soldiers often modify their drones and share those innovations with other Ukrainians. Those concepts spread to Europe and the United States, where entrepreneurs began developing new weapons and military equipment. One entrepreneur, Elon Musk, created SpaceX, a company that put thousands of communications satellites into orbit. Musk allowed Ukrainian forces to use this satellite network for battlefield communications and it gave the Ukrainians an edge over the Russians.
FYEO

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, June 29, 2026 - 03:43 pm: Edit

Submarine Skippers Survive Uncertainty
June 24, 2026: Submarines have been around for over a century, and so far over 1,500 manned subs have been built. Originally seen as a game changing naval weapon, it was quickly revealed that submarines had some serious drawbacks. The main one was their fragile nature. Submarines survive by being able to submerge and survive underwater. Any damage to the hull that compromises submerging is fatal in combat. Outside of combat, any hull damage that cannot be satisfactorily repaired at sea means the sub has to make its way back on the surface to a friendly port.
Submarines have been described as eggshells armed with a hammer. Modern submarines are designed and built to diminish the shortcomings and accentuate the advantages of subs. This is done by building submarines that can stay submerged for long periods. The sub must be able to operate very quietly to avoid detection and have onboard sensors, mainly passive sonar, which provides information about what else is down there.
The major problem a submarine commander has is uncertainty. The only sensor is sonar, a device that detects sound and uses skilled operators, aided by computers and databases, to quickly determine what the sounds mean. In addition to this, major naval powers, like America, have compiled databases of information on the submarine and ASW/Anti-Submarine Warfare tactics and capabilities of potentially hostile navies. If an American sub can identify the nationality and type of a detected submarine or surface ship, the databases and crew training can provide the best ways to deal with the situation.
In peacetime, such contacts provide the submarine commander and his crew a training opportunity. If the other sub or surface warship can be tracked without the submarine revealing its presence, the crew and captain have gained valuable experience. American submarines have been doing this for decades and the most advanced Russian or Chinese submarines only occasionally detect their stalker. These exercises reduce the degree of uncertainty but never eliminate it completely.
In the 21st century networked sensors, satellite surveillance, and instantaneous communications attempted to provide submarine and surface ship naval commanders an opportunity to see their battlespace in accurate terms and in real time. But the other side is always seeking to disable those advantages. Electronic warfare and its ever expanding capabilities are making accurate data collection and rapid interpretation more difficult.
Uncertainty underwater is not caused by poor intelligence or inadequate equipment. It is all about how quickly you can adapt to hostile deception and countermeasures. Initially America, and then China did this by maintaining underwater sound detection systems. Over the last decade the Chinese have built three 5,000 ton Type 927 acoustic surveillance ships. These twin-hull ships are designed to deploy an underwater SURTASS/Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System LFA/Low-Frequency Active sonar for detecting submarines in coastal waters and on the high seas, especially very quiet nuclear or non-nuclear subs. These ships, if they operate like their American counterparts, with ship crews of about 25 plus a dozen or more navy personnel to operate the SURTASS gear.
America has had five similar ships in service since 2003. These ships were built during the 1990s. One of them, USNS Victorious, was aggressively harassed by Chinese naval warships in 2009 while it was more than 200 kilometers off the Chinese coast in the Yellow Sea. The Chinese harassed other navy surveillance ships as well. The Americans threatened retaliation and the Chinese backed off but did not halt the harassment.
The American Navy put the first SURTASS into service during 2003. This was despite a problem with lawsuits seeking to ban the new sonar because of possible injury to whales and other seagoing mammals. There were also problems with budget cuts to this Cold War era technology in the decade after the Cold War ended in 1991. At the time SURTASS was seen as necessary to deal with increasingly quiet non-nuclear submarines operating in coastal waters. Initially, the main threat was Russian Kilo class diesel-electric subs equipped with AIP/Air-Independent Propulsion system. Western subs were the first to receive AIP so the American Navy knew how effective AIP subs could be. Diesel engines, while reliable, are noisy and making noise is a good way to attract the not-so-friendly attention of opposing naval forces. Fuel cell and other air-independent propulsion systems are much quieter and, most importantly, enable the sub to stay underwater for days or weeks at a time. This allows them to get closer to potential targets, most likely carriers and amphibious vessels before they are detected.
In anti-submarine warfare, particularly against submarines, detection range is important. The newer, quieter subs have the potential to get close enough to launch anti-ship missiles which can, depending on design, be launched from a torpedo tube, head for the surface and then the missile takes to the air for ranges up to several hundred kilometers before they are detected. Those missiles could sink or disable most surface ships. These sub-launched missiles were already in use at the end of the Cold War.
Then Chinese Type 39 subs with AIP showed up. The first Chinese AIP had less power and reliability than Western designs, and appeared to be less capable than Russian or Western AIP. But the Chinese kept improving their AIP, just as they have done with so much other military technology. Western AIP allows diesel-electric subs to remain underwater for several weeks.
The American WQT-2 SURTASS was initially limited by a legal settlement that allowed limited training. The new active sonar adjunct to the passive UQQ-2 will be deployed on a transducer lowered to a depth of 100 meters from a vessel moving at six kilometers an hour, operating for short periods. WQT-2 was an upgrade to the existing passive SURTASS system. This is UQQ-2, a large number of microphones attached to a 1,830-meter cable. For shallow water two shorter cables with microphones are used. Ships using the passive system used the SURTASS Block Upgrade, which was mainly about new microphone technology plus new satellite communications so that ocean surveillance ships can more easily and effectively communicate with destroyers and other warships that can act on submarine location information.
The WQT-2 is intended to increase detection range, particularly in shallow waters near the coastline, and thus regain the reaction time that passive systems can no longer provide reliably. The increased reaction time could be used to evade the submarine, forcing it to either attack from an unfavorable position, or speed up to get into a good attack position and thus make noise. The latter would make the submarine easier to detect. Once a hostile submarine is detected, you can go after it. This could involve using fixed-wing or helicopter anti-submarine aircraft to use their own sensors and Lightweight Torpedoes and destroy the sub before it can launch an attack. Another would be to allow a friendly submarine to deal with it.
After testing on a leased vessel, SURTASS was installed in the USNS Impeccable. Originally there were to be six new twin-hull T-AGOS ships built so they could operate, two in the Atlantic and two in the Pacific. Only one 5,000 ton T-AGOS was built and a compact version of SURTASS was developed for the smaller 3,300 ton Victorious class T-AGOS ships.
India has also built a ship similar to the Chinese and American acoustic surveillance ships. India is concerned about Pakistani and Chinese AIP subs in the Indian Ocean.
SURTASS was originally developed to complement the much more expensive SOSUS/SOund Surveillance System networks. These were Cold War era systems that were largely abandoned after the Cold War ended in 1991. Now SOSUS is back. China began installing underwater passive sonar systems in its coastal waters back in 2011. This enables China to monitor submarines operating off its coasts and, presumably, in the South China Sea. South Korea did the same in 2011 when it announced that it was installing underwater submarine sensors off its coasts and this was completed in 2013. The South Korean effort was in response to North Korea using a small submarine to torpedo a South Korea patrol ship in 2010. China simply wants to keep foreign warships as far away as possible, even if it means trying to force them out of international waters.
Technical details were not revealed by China or South Korea, but this sort of thing is similar to the system of passive sonars the Americans deployed on the sea bottom in key areas during the Cold War. SOSUS consisted of several different networks. On the continental shelf areas bordering the North Atlantic was the CAESAR network. In the North Pacific, there was COLOSSUS plus some sensors in the Indian Ocean and a few other places that no one would talk about. The underwater passive sonars listened to everything and sent their data via cable to land stations. From there it was sent back to a central processing facility, often via satellite link. SOSUS was accurate enough to locate a submarine within a circle no wider than 100 kilometers. That's a large area, but depending on the quality of the contact, the circle might be reduced up to ten kilometers. The major drawback of the system was that it did not cover deepwater areas more than 500 kilometers from the edge of the continental shelf. This is not a problem for the South Korean or Chinese systems, as both only cover coastal waters or shallow offshore areas like the South China Sea.
SOSUS systems are very expensive to maintain. Some SOSUS managed to survive the end of the Cold War by making its sensors available for civilian research and by using cheaper and more powerful electronics and communications technology. While many parts of the SOSUS have been shut down, additional portable SOSUS gear, like SURTASS were put in service, to be deployed as needed.
South Korea had the advantage of being able to get help from the United States about SOSUS and how to collect and process the sound signatures of submarines operating in the area. America was also able to help South Korea obtain more sensitive passive sonar systems that can identify submarine locations more accurately. America has been doing research in this area and knows that such cooperation would result in American access to the South Korean SOSUS. South Korea also has the design and manufacturing capability for this sort of device. The first South Korea SOSUS system was placed off the west coast, near the North Korean border. North Korean submarines traveling underwater, and using battery power near the coast, are very hard to detect. The South Korean SOSUS will help even the odds.
China’s Internet-based espionage efforts have probably already stolen a lot of American SOSUS secrets and that helped them a lot.
FYEO

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, June 29, 2026 - 08:32 pm: Edit

Corruption in China is not a new or recent phenomenon.

The Chinese lost a naval war to the Japanese at the end of the 19th century .

Among the more egregious problems was one Chinese admiral, who was responsible for commanding a modern pre-dreadnought, (built in the United Kingdom) managed to sell off all of the ammunition just before the war.

In fact, there are stories about imperial China corruption dating back centuries.

What has not been fixed, indeed, may not be fixable, is the levels of corruption endemic to communism and or socialism as seen in the former U.S.S.R. , the Former East Germans, North Koreans, in fact most of the former Warsaw Pact nations seemed to suffer from extensive corruption.

China may find that rooting out corruption to be a challenge.

By Ryan Opel (Ryan) on Monday, June 29, 2026 - 09:26 pm: Edit

Russia has ongoing corruption problems to this date.

By Chuck Strong (Raider) on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 - 12:26 am: Edit

The day-to-day Iranian people are not some much the problem -- it's the militant Islamic extremists minority in Iran that are for the most part the major problem.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 - 07:40 am: Edit

Ukrainian drones hit and seriously damaged the Dubna space communications station near Moscow during 21-22 June. This station has about 20 antennas and is the primary link between Moscow and the satellite communications system. Anything Putin wants to put on satellite tv in Russia or the world. It is also the primary link between Putin and frontline military headquarters.
YouTube, The Military Show.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 - 07:44 am: Edit

Ukrainian drone have hit targets in Moscow every day for nearly two weeks. Muskovites wake up every morning to columns of smoke from the resulting fires.
YouTube, The Sun

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 - 10:20 am: Edit

Yeah, and they hit Dubna again last night.

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 - 02:09 pm: Edit

I think it was last week there was a video circulating (from multiple perspectives) where a large oil storage tank in Moscow was hit (presumably by a Ukrainian drone or drones, or possibly a malfunctioning Russian air defense battery). The tank exploded and the lid of the tank flew up into the air like a frisbee, riding a massive plume of smoke. It was nuts!

--Mike

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 - 08:04 pm: Edit

It was a heat seeking Russian air defense missile. One assumes it noticed the refinery was a big heat source. Comical and true.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, July 01, 2026 - 05:44 am: Edit

Ukraine recently hit a Russian oil refinery that was 2000km from the Ukrainian border and claims that type of FirePoint missile can reach targets 3000km away. The numbers aren't quite what they seem, as missiles have to zig zag their way around defended localities, so they might fly 2500km to reach a target 2000km away.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, July 01, 2026 - 05:46 am: Edit

Satellite photo of damage to Dubna

https://orbitaltoday.com/2026/06/28/satellite-images-show-damage-to-russian-mil-space-comms-sites-after-ukrainian-attacks/

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Wednesday, July 01, 2026 - 11:16 am: Edit

Things have gotten bad enough that Russia is now buying gasoline from India, because they can no longer refine enough for their own use. There's lines at gas stations in Russia, with fights breaking out between drivers.

This is exactly the kind of thing that Ukraine needs to continue to pursue, because when the Russian people get mad enough, Putin's going to have to choose between staying in office or suffering a window mishap.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, July 01, 2026 - 08:48 pm: Edit

Ukraine has destroyed 30% of Russian's refinery capacity.

Russia's far east province (40% of the land area) is very close to having more Chinese "guest workers" than it has Russian(ish) civilians. Chinese in Siberia outright control "special industrial zones" which might as well be Chinese territory.

Russia has been unable to replace it's frontline combat losses for the last four months.

Russian civilians have all but evacuated Crimea due to a lack of supplies and constant Ukrainian bombardment.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, July 01, 2026 - 11:12 pm: Edit

This is getting close to the point where Putin might stop threatening to use tactical nuclear weapons.

There have been a number of various conditions where a Russian Nuclear weapon might be detonated, some very unlikely indeed,

but using such a device to stop an Ukrainian invasion of Russian territory is one option.

By Johnsontaq on Thursday, July 02, 2026 - 01:48 pm: Edit

Authentication Error

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, July 02, 2026 - 03:00 pm: Edit

Attrition: Russia Forces The Crippled And Blind Back To Combat
July 2, 2026: The depraved treatment of Russian dead and wounded soldiers continues. The most recent atrocity was officers ordering badly wounded men back to the front line. These men suffered from a variety of injuries, including blindness in one eye, loss of hearing and broken bones with only a splint to allow the soldier to stumble forward on crutches. Since early in the war, officers had the authority to execute any soldier who retreated or refused to advance. An officer would often accompany the wounded men to the front line and abandon them there.
So far Russia has suffered 1.4 million killed, disabled and missing soldiers. That includes half a million dead. Finding new soldiers has become difficult. Military age men hide or illegally flee the country. This year, the fifth year of war, Russia has been unable to replace casualties. This led to the re-mobilization of the wounded. This may not last long because as friends and families of the wounded men found out what was happening, there was an outpouring of desperate pleas on social media and to local and national politicians.
At the same time President Vladimir Putin is trying to come up with a way to explain Russia's defeat in Ukraine and the eventual withdrawal of Russian forces. Back in 2022, Putin announced the invasion of Ukraine as a Special Operation that would last a week or two. Putin’s advisors had given their boss an overly optimistic assessment because they thought they could get away with it. Several advisors later complained that Putin is trying to get rid of the remaining wounded because these men are living testimony to the futility and waste of the Ukraine War.
FYEO

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, July 02, 2026 - 03:01 pm: Edit

Warplanes: Harrier Jump Jet Fades Away
July 2, 2026: Last month, the American Marine Corps retired its 55-year-old AV-8B Harrier II Jump Jets, whose four rotating jet engine nozzles allowed it to hover and take off or land vertically. That allowed the jets to operate from places without runways or from the decks of Navy ships, staying closer to combat operations compared to fighter jets that required air bases or airports with full runways.
On the ground, the Marines who maintained the Harriers noted that the aircraft was troublesome and difficult to maintain. The Harrier has an extremely bad safety record in part because of persistent engine problems.
The 11.4 ton Harrier entered service in 1985. It was 14.3 meters long with a nine-meter wingspan. Max speed was 1,176 kilometers an hour. Combat range varied according to mission, and the most common one was 670 kilometers. Max ferry range was 5,600 kilometers. Normal endurance was 90 minutes, but that could be expanded to seven hours with aerial refueling. Weapons included two 30mm autocannon pods under the fuselage and 2.23 tons of bombs and missiles carried under the wings. Italy and Spain also acquired Harriers, building some of them locally under license.
337 American Harriers were built between 1981 and 2003. These aircraft saw action in the 1990-91 Gulf War while operating off Marine Amphibious ships and land bases. The 86 Harriers involved flew 3,380 times, with five lost to ground fire. After the war, from 1992 to 2003, Harriers continued patrols over Iraq to ensure Iraqi compliance with a no-fly zone.
The American aircraft was developed from the original British Harrier, which entered service in 1969 and was retired in 2006 after 278 were built between 1967 and 1974. These Harriers saw heavy combat during the British successful 1982 effort to remove Argentine forces from the Falkland Islands. In 1999, Harriers were bombing Yugoslavia as part of the Kosovo conflict. Starting in 2001, Harriers were active over Afghanistan. In 2003, Harriers were active in the Iraq War to overthrow Saddam Hussein. In this conflict, Harriers had an availability rate of 85 percent, down from 90 percent a decade earlier. Harriers also used the Litening Targeting Pod, which allowed pilots to see what was on the ground in great detail and bomb targets quickly and accurately. In 2011, Harriers operated over Libya enforcing a No-Fly zone. Harriers also operated over Somalia throughout the 1990s, Liberia in 1990, 1996, and 2003, Rwanda in 1994, the Central African Republic in 1996, Albania in 1997, Zaire in 1997, and Sierra Leone in 1997.
The Harrier became famous for its spectacular movie appearances, like the 1994 film True Lies, in which Arnold Schwarzenegger piloted a Harrier as he prevented an Islamic terrorist nuclear holocaust.
The Harrier was replaced by the 27-ton F-35B with a range of 1,700 kilometers and a combat radius of nearly a thousand kilometers. This aircraft can carry 6.8 tons of weapons.
FYEO

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, July 02, 2026 - 03:01 pm: Edit

Air Defense: Elderly German AA Gun Demolishes Drones
July 1, 2026: Russia made frequent use of the Iranian Shaheed drone in Ukraine. In 2025 nearly 55,000 drones were launched, while in 2024 it was only 11,500. In the first two years of the war only 3,800 Shaheeds were used. Gepards effectiveness caused Russia to use a third fewer Shaheed drones, because Gepards were downing 87 percent of the drones.
Ukrainians quickly discovered that the best way to shoot down these drones was with a German Gepard anti-aircraft gun designed during the 1948-1991 Cold War. The Gepard is a self-propelled 35 mm radar-controlled cannon that entered service in 1976. It weighs 48 tons, is 7.7 meters long and 3.7 meters wide. There is a crew of three; driver, gunner and commander. Main armament is two × 35 mm Oerlikon autocannon with 320 rounds each. There are also two quad 76mm smoke dischargers to provide protection from enemy attacks. Operational range of the vehicle is 550 kilometers, and top speed is 65 kilometers an hour. Armor varies from 20mm to 30mm. This is enough to survive most drone attacks, small arms fire and nearby explosions. Ukraine has 67 Gepards but will receive another 60 from the Americans this year.


Paramilitary: Drone Defense For American Civilians
July 1, 2026: American civilians, police and industrial/corporate security officials increasingly depend on drones for a variety of tasks. One such solution is the GPS guided R3PL1C8R Drone which weighs 1.5 kg, can stay in the air 30 minutes, has a range of five kilometers and comes with a 4K HD camera. Payload is half a kg and that can include more sensors, cargo or any other equipment. This drone is used for a wide variety of situations, including conducting aerial surveillance for security and monitoring. This American made drone is used by corporations to patrol their facilities and get close to any developing situation. Police and Border Patrol forces use drones for patrol work as well as chasing down groups or individuals.
Drones in general can be used for carrying out search and rescue operations in remote roadless areas. Another task is collecting environmental data for research and analysis. Farmers use drones in support of agricultural practices via crop monitoring and assessment.
Construction efforts use drones to help with infrastructure inspections, as well as remote roads and trails, bridges and power lines. Another popular drone use is participating in the delivery of items in suburban, urban and remote locations. A few of those who use Amazon for shopping have already encountered drone delivery.
Individuals can build a remote-controlled drone that lifts 1.8 kg and has a flight range of 32-48 kilometers for less than $1,000 using off-the-shelf components and 3D-printed parts.
And then there is ebay.com where you will find a R7 Portable Al Interceptor System AI Counter-Drone System, which is described as a revolutionary, portable drone defense solution designed for critical infrastructure protection, border patrol, and high-level security operations.
FYEO

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, July 02, 2026 - 03:02 pm: Edit

Morale: Revealing the Uglier Aspects Of The Ukraine War
June 30, 2026: The Ukrainian government has persuaded Olha Reshetylova to be the ombudsman for the Ukrainian military. Before she would accept the task of being the primary promoter of soldiers’ rights in the Ukrainian military, Olha Reshetylova had to create the position herself. This came after a decade as an activist awareness of Ukrainian soldiers being mistreated while on active service. During that decade Olha made a lot of enemies in the military and government bureaucracy. Now she is part of the bureaucracy and no longer has to worry about angry officers ordering their troops to block Olha from entering a base. Olha would often brush past the soldiers pointing their weapons at her, enter the base and collect testimonials from soldiers who had suffered abuse or mistreatment by callous or corrupt officers or officials.
Any criticism of the military is a sensitive issue in Ukraine. The Ukrainian military is well respected by Ukrainians, most of whom have served, known someone who has done so, or had kinfolk who went to war. Olha has been advocating for soldiers since 2014, and most Ukrainians knew of her tireless efforts. In late 2025, she was appointed by President Volodymyr Zelensky as the military’s first ombudsman. He had asked her to create the job as she saw fit.
Several million Ukrainians have served in the military. Her husband is fighting in the war. The couple have two sons, ages 5 and 14, who also could end up fighting if the war drags on. That possibility encourages her when she runs into problems with officers who are uneasy about her efforts. Front-line officers try to keep Olha occupied at their command posts rather than being out with the troops. Olha gently but firmly pushes past these efforts. Commanders know the Olha is popular with the troops and don’t want to get on the wrong side of that.
Olha began her advocacy career in 2014 when soldiers from her hometown reported a lack of supplies. Olha organized an effort to buy body armor for the local men. This was a widespread practice in Ukraine. Olha also co-founded the Come Back Alive movement that specializes in getting soldiers equipment they need and acting on abuses the soldiers encountered.
Olha also had to deal with the Ukrainian legislature as the laws were passed to support the efforts to aid the troops. She also kept government officials alert to the conditions soldiers were operating in, in a combat zone dominated by attack drones that went after anyone the enemy saw moving in daylight. Olha assisted in opening up communications between the troops and the senior commanders about conditions at the front. This was often about troops trapped for days or even weeks in bunkers because of the constant presence of Russian drones outside. Olha wanted the military and political leaders to know about this and do something before it became something to discuss in the past tense. Commanders began to appreciate these efforts when they noticed desertion rates declining. Gradually, commanders came to trust Olha and work with her rather than stubbornly resisting.


Information Warfare: Putin Seeks Ways To Describe Failure In Ukraine
June 30, 2026: Russian leader Vladimir Putin is trying to explain to the Russian people that Russia has lost its war against Ukraine. Putin’s initial strategy was to call whatever happens in Ukraine a Russian victory. The Russian media will be ordered to proclaim victory. Meanwhile the Russians who are still fighting in the war or returned as wounded veterans in addition to the families of the 1.4 million Russians killed, disabled or missing will initially be glad that the war is over.
Putin’s main aim is to avoid exposing the Russian people to the sudden shock of defeat after more than four years of fighting and all the media coverage that followed. Sudden shocks tend to spark popular revolutions. Putin wants the news of the Russian defeat to arrive slowly and smoothly to avoid any sudden realizations that Putin’s war failed and all the losses were for nothing.
Putin is trying to rewrite history as it is being made. This is nothing new for Russians, who saw their truthful history of the Cold War eventually rewritten by Putin’s orders at the end of the 1990s. While this sort of thing would not be acceptable in the democratic West, it has long been acceptable in Russia no matter who or what was in charge. The current defeat generated articles like Amazing Defeats: When Geopolitical Losses Can Be More Useful than Brilliant Victories. The article concentrated on the distant past rather than current events, but it rapidly attracted attention from Putin’s government officials who, after four days, had the article taken offline. The URL of the article remained visible.
Russian government media officials counseled that in Russia defeats are quickly forgotten and are often followed by a period of reforms and revitalization of the economy, government and military. As the old saying goes, what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.
Ukrainians are uneasy about all this because the primary use of a reformed, rebuilt and revitalized Russian military would be the conquest of Ukraine. This is the main reason Ukraine wants to join NATO. Russia has always been hostile to this, but in the brief period of peace after Russia admits defeat, Ukraine will have a strong case for admission to NATO. Everyone understands that what follows the Russian defeat is a period of rebuilding the military before another attempt to conquer Ukraine. As long as Putin is alive, he will be seeking a military victory, preferably against his arch-nemesis, Ukraine.
FYEO

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Thursday, July 02, 2026 - 05:24 pm: Edit

>> Air Defense: Elderly German AA Gun Demolishes Drones

Note the 35mm Oerlikon auto cannons on the Gepard are nearly identical to the 35mm Millennium naval guns.

--Mike

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Friday, July 03, 2026 - 05:00 pm: Edit

It is suprising how old guns are still in production. The BK27 27mm revolver cannon, for example, was designed in the 60ies, but is still put in new production like the Typhoon and the Gripen.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, July 03, 2026 - 08:58 pm: Edit

US intelligence has warned Poland that Russia is planning a major provocation. It is unclear if this would be an "accidental aircraft intrusion" or a "bunch of off course drones" or a "ground incursion to recover a crashed bomber".--THE SUN

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Saturday, July 04, 2026 - 05:12 am: Edit

It seems that using AI as news source about Russia is a bad idea: "Researchers first began documenting LLM grooming in early 2025, when NewsGuard found that a Russian propaganda network known as Pravda—not the historic Soviet newspaper, but a large network of pro-Kremlin websites also known as Portal Kombat—published roughly 3.6 million articles in a single year. By 2025, the network had expanded into more than fifty languages and was generating thousands of articles a day, much of it automatically translated or machine-produced, flooding AI training datasets and retrieval systems with Kremlin narratives on a massive scale. In NewsGuard's testing, several leading AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, echoed Kremlin propaganda and disinformation originating from the Pravda network in roughly one-third of tested responses."
Source: UNMASKING RUSSIA -

Russia Is Trying to Groom Al Into Repeating Its Lies

- OLGA LAUTMAN/ substack

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Saturday, July 04, 2026 - 10:03 am: Edit

Unsurprising (both Steve's report of planned Russian provocation in Poland, and Carl's report of Russian AI grooming). Both are straight out of the Putin handbook.