Hello everyone! So I just heard about the recent drone strikes which the Ukrainian Military launched on Russian Airbases targetting military aircraft such as bombers.
According to the reports I have read, more than 40+ Russian aircraft were destroyed in the attack. We have FPV
feed-footage released of these drones confirming the same too. According to Ukrainian intelligence sources, four Russian military airbases were targeted simultaneously in this attack:
Belaya, Diaghilev, Olenya, and Ivanovo.
All I can say is that was some ingenious planning coupled with a lot of impressive firepower right there, I for one did not expect something like this from the Ukrainian side. I am very certain that Ukraine had got some help from the inside (
Possibly Moles in the Russian Military) to do this because it doesn't look like they would have managed to accomplish this without otherwise. Throughout the Russo-Ukrainian war, we have heard innumerable cases of Russian defectors spying for Ukraine and sending intelligence and data back to them.
Ukraine launched these drones from trucks. Basically they used trucks as trojan horses (As Mobile drone launchers/vectors) to transport these drones near to the airbases after which these drones were launched in a sudden kamikaze style attack. Russians were taken by surprise here, I don't think they would have possibly anticipated Ukraine doing something like this deep inside Russia, at least not on such an unprecedented mass scale.
Here is a representative pic of Kalashnikov's KUB-SM showcasing using modular containers as a platform for drone launchers.

These are not the type of trucks that we would see our enemy use in carrying out such infiltration attacks on our airbases and military infrastructure. These designs would be a dead give away to their malicious cargo aka kamikaze drones.
The type of trojan horse vehicles which we will see being used in carrying out such complex operations would resemble the average civilian container trucks and Vans that we see on road in our day to day lives.
There is a very high possibility that right within our borders at this very moment, in some remote corner of India there is a big warehouse where cheap quad-copter drones are being assembled by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and having explosives rigged to them, waiting to be transported en masse in a big truck to be driven near one of our military installations to carry out, you know what.
I strongly believe that these types of infiltration attacks using drones will be one of the first moves on Day-One by Pakistan & China if they were to start a full fledged war with us right now. During the recent conflict with Pakistan, India intercepted several Fateh ballistic missiles launched by Pakistan along with a huge barrage of drones too. Operation Sindhoor has proven the capability of Indian Air defences in repelling any sort of attack. China too knows this.
People over here on this forum rejoice over the idea that to counter PAF's upcoming J-35 Stealth aircraft, all we need to do is simply lob several dozen cruise missiles at airbases housing these planes and render the entire airport in operable so that the J-35s or any PAF aircraft can never take off in the first place. Now let me ask you this:
"Do you think that the enemy does not want the same? Do you think the enemy will leave any stone unturned in rendering our bases inoperable and stopping our fighters from taking off?"
The answer:
No, they won't. War is not fair, nothing is fair and square in war.
India is a very large country and owning to our large area and geography, any attempt to try a shock and awe campaign on our military installations by our adversaries will not work out very well because of our strong air defence systems. Ideally we need to fastrack our Air Defence System programs like Project Kusha, probably buy additional S-400 SAM Batteries, and thicken our AD cover. We need to prioritise in strengthening the AD network around our military installations and airbases. Also work on anti-drone systems is crucial too.
The enemy knows very well about our Air Defence capabilities, that is why they will resort to tactics using explosive rigged drones en masse
(Like Ukraine did with Russia) on our forward operating bases.
So how can we counter and defend against a huge barrage of kamikaze drones launched from such a close distance towards our airbases and installations? Here is my opinion: The best and I repeat the best solution would be -
"To never let it happen in the first place. Like the saying goes in medicine "Prevention is always better than cure"."
To prevent such an attack, we need to set up a stringent perimeter check within a radius of at least 4-5 kms (or more) of any military airbase or infrastructure to check on any suspicious vehicles which may possibly be carrying such cheap quad-copter drones.
Ukraine-Russia war has taught us many lessons on "
HOW TO FIGHT AND HOW NOT TO FIGHT A WAR". I hope the Indian military is clossing monitoring the Russo-Ukrainian conflict and taking necessary lessons.