On Thursday, US intelligence officers leaked classified information about Russian precision-guided ammunition’s performance in the invasion of Ukraine.
According to three U.S. officials who have access to the intelligence, the United States believes that Russia has suffered failure rates of up 60% in some precision-guided rockets it uses against Ukraine.
The disclosure could help explain why Russia has failed to achieve what most could consider basic objectives since its invasion a month ago, such as neutralizing Ukraine’s air force, despite the apparent strength of its military against Ukraine’s much smaller armed forces.
Officials from the U.S. spoke only under condition of anonymity because of the sensitive information.
Social media reports from Ukraine have shown a high number of failed cruise missile detonations.
Ukrainian Sappers Defuse Unexploded Warhead of Russian Cruise Missile (Video) | Defense Express https://t.co/Xx09BebiK4 pic.twitter.com/Tu4a4JKRoc
— DEFENSE EXPRESS (@DEFENSEEXPRESS) March 18, 2022
#russianDud Missle in the Kitchen in One of #ukrainianHäuser #Ukraine #Russia #war pic.twitter.com/jHQFnaAwMd
— Crimes Of War (@CrimesOfWarDoc) March 20, 2022
maybe they’re just drunk? pic.twitter.com/tBjrbclIJJ
— NoMoreMrNiceBlyler (@e_blyler) March 25, 2022
Fuzzing problems aren’t uncommon. One of the most well-known examples of this problem is the Mark 6 explosive, used by the US Navy in its Mark 14 or Mark 15 torpedoes until September 1943. Because of these flaws, and because the torpedo had a higher than 50% dud rate in standard submarine torpedos. It was due to Navy weapons designers wanting avoid field trials.
Modern warfare is dependent on precision-guided munition. In Ukraine however, flight above 10,000 feet has become very dangerous due to the proliferation of air defense systems (many of which are MANPADS). The same goes for gravity bombs dropped from higher than 10,000 feet. This is due to the fact that the Russian Air Force flew only eight hours per month prior to the war.
This report, if accurate, speaks volumes about the Russian arms industry’s massive production and possible engineering design issues.
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