The first Ukrainian anti-submarine corvette "Hetman Ivan Mazepa" F211 entered sea trials, we previously talked about it. The ship was built according to the design of the Turkish Ada-class anti-submarine corvettes, project MILGEM. The ship is due to join the Ukrainian fleet in 2024; a total of two ships will be built at a cost of $256 million. The ship is armed with a 76 mm OTO Melara Super Rapid gun, two 12.7 mm Aselsan STAMP machine guns, a 35 mm Aselsan Gokdeniz anti-aircraft artillery mount and a MICA VC air defense system with 16 missiles. Anti-submarine weapons are represented by 324 mm torpedo tubes "Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes". The ship is armed with Harpoon or Atmaca anti-ship missiles. Armament may change in the future. The ship has a speed of up to 29 knots, with a cruising range of 3,500 nautical miles, a cruising endurance of 10 days, with supplies of 21 days. It is possible to have an S-70B Seahawk helicopter. Displacement corvette "Getman Ivan Mazepa" 2300 tons, power plant - one gas turbine and two diesel engines. The ship's crew is 93 people.
Ukraine has quadrupled the production of the Stugna-P anti-tank missile system, this was announced by the Minister for Strategic Industries of Ukraine Alexander Kamyshin. The Stugna-P ATGM was adopted by the Ukrainian Army in 2011. We can say this is a successful development of the military industrial complex of Ukraine. The ATGM is exported under the name Skif; it is a Ukrainian-Belarusian development. The ATGM is equipped with a semi-automatic laser beam guidance system. It is also possible to control the rocket from a remote control from a closed position. The missile can be programmed to attack from above the target, from a height of 10 meters, or directly. When attacked from above, the missile may miss, American experts reported this to Forbes. The main advantage of the ATGM is the use of a wired remote control for the missile. The remote control allows the ATGM crew to work from a closed position via a television channel, this is convenient and the ATGM crew is safe. The ATGM flight range, when using 152 mm RK-2M-K missiles, is up to 5500 meters, penetration is up to 1100 mm of homogeneous steel. When using a 130 mm RK-2S missile, armor penetration is about 800 mm. The weight of the ATGM with the missile is 90 kg. The price of the Stugna-P ATGM is about 20 thousand dollars.
Ukrainian fleet exercises on Finnish Watercat M11 boats. The Ukrainian Navy conducted an exercise on the Dnieper River. Finnish landing assault boats Marine Alutech Watercat M11 of the Uisko 300 and Uisko 200 series were used in the exercises. The displacement of the Watercat M11 boat is 10 tons, the power plant is diesel with a power of 660 hp. and a water cannon, lifting capacity 2.5 tons, speed when fully loaded up to 56 km/h. The Watercat M11 boat can be equipped with a 12.7 mm machine gun and a 40 mm grenade launcher. During the exercises, they practiced the conduct of combat operations by river forces, including as part of boat groups, interaction with units operating on the river banks, and the delivery of personnel to certain sections of the coast. Also used in the exercises were the Ukrainian small armored artillery boat of Project 58155 type “Gyurza-M” and the American landing boat SHERP the SHUTTLE.
Ukrainian Su-24 launches SCALP-EG cruise missiles. The only footage to date of the launch of Ukrainian Strom Shadow / SCALP-EG cruise missiles developed by the French company Matra and the English British Aerospace, now produced by the European company MBDA, has been published. The SCALP-EG missiles are launched from a modernized Soviet-made Su-24MR frontline bomber. The Strom Shadow / SCALP-EG missiles have a range of about 560 km when launched from an aircraft.
The first two Danish F-16AM fighters have arrived in Ukraine. The aircraft were personally presented by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vasylkiv airfield, 40 km from Kyiv. The aircraft's side numbers have been obscured, but thanks to photos from the flights, they were identified as UA 80-3596 and UA 80-3599. Both Ukrainian fighters were built under license at the Belgian aircraft manufacturer SABCA, and in 1982 they were transferred to Denmark under the numbers E-596 and E-599. Denmark plans to transfer a total of 79 F-16 fighters to Ukraine. The estimated service life of the F-16A/B airframe is 8,000 hours, while all "European" F-16A/Bs have a flight time of 7,000 to 7,500 hours to date. The Ukrainian F-16 fighters are equipped with medium-range AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles and short-range AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. The aircraft have external fuel tanks. Presumably, the F-16's task will be to support the remaining Ukrainian Su-24MR and MiG-29 aircraft, as well as launch Storm Shadow and SCALP cruise missiles. Ukrainian F-16 pilots received JHMCS helmet-mounted targeting sights, which allows the pilot to shoot where his gaze is directed regardless of the direction of the helmet. The aircraft are equipped with the Terma PIDS+ and ECIPS+ missile attack warning system, with a jamming device and the release of additional heat traps. The F-16 fighters transferred to Ukraine will be based at the Limanske airfield in the Odessa region on the border with Romania.
Ukrainian M2A2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, made in the US, will receive factory-installed "Mangal" protection. The new protection will be manufactured by Rinat Akhmetov's Ukrainian company Metinvest. Screens for Ukrainian T-64 and T-72 tanks and American-made M1A1SA Abrams tanks have also been launched into production. It is worth noting that the Russian army also uses this type of protection, equipping tanks and infantry fighting vehicles with it. This type of protection is often criticized for its appearance, but it protects equipment from being hit by FPV drones. The protection consists of lattice screens weighing about 430 kg, which protect the combat vehicle from the sides and from above. The Ukrainian version of the "Mangal" type protection will differ from the Russian one, in which the lattice screens will be sliding. How and where the sliding of the lattices is implemented is not reported.
Footage of the testing of the Ukrainian jet drone "Palyanytsya". The drone "Palyanytsya" can be called a rocket drone, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky reported on its testing. According to him, the missile program of Ukraine includes a cluster called "Palyanytsya". Within its framework, three products are being developed, one of them is the drone "Palyanytsya". This rocket drone is much faster than Ukrainian long-range drones, it is already in use, he also noted. Technical data on the drone is not reported, the drone is equipped with a simple turbojet engine
An episode of testing of a new FPV drone armed with the Soviet RPG-18 Mukha grenade launcher has been published in Ukraine. Technical details and who is testing the drone are not reported. Judging by the characteristics of the RPG-18, the drone will be able to hit targets at a distance of up to 200 meters. Taking into account the weight of the grenade launcher, the flight time of such a drone will be about 10 minutes. For aimed shooting, the drone will have to fly close to the target. The RPG-18 can penetrate armor up to 300 mm thick.
