30.05.2023
The use of a smoke screen by the Russian army in the war against Ukraine has generally been ineffectual because of a lack of a strong central planning function.
The relevant statement was made by the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom on Twitter, referring to the latest Defence Intelligence update, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
According to the UK intelligence, on May 24, 2023, Russia conducted a security exercise around the Crimea Bridge, which links the Russian city of Kerch to the temporarily occupied peninsula. This included the creation of a smoke screen, partially masking the bridge.
The smoke screen was laid by TDA-3 truck-mounted smoke generators, likely of the 28th Brigade of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops.
Russian doctrine considers the use of smoke part of ‘maskirovka’ (camouflage and deception), upon which it places strong emphasis, the UK intelligence noted.
“However, in practice, Russian maskirovka has generally been ineffectual in the Ukraine war, likely because of a lack of a strong central planning function and poor low-level battle discipline,” the UK Ministry of Defence concluded.
A reminder that the UK Ministry of Defence stated earlier that the tone of public debate in Russia had recently moved beyond merely punishing those who criticize Russia’s war against Ukraine towards mandating citizens to actively make sacrifices in support of the war effort.
Can someone please illuminate the reasoning behind the completely absurd encasing of something like this huge bridge in smoke? It is large, it is stationary, and the GPS and other types of coordinates are well-known. Guided missiles can find it in the complete darkness of night, in fog, in smoke and in all three conditions combined. So why encase it in smoke???
“Russian doctrine considers the use of smoke part of ‘maskirovka’ (camouflage and deception)”
Its probably doctrine from the Crimean war 300 years ago, lol…
Maybe there is a reason: it could be that of course they are not hiding the bridge, but trying to prevent Ukraine from spotting a train or truck with ammo.
I doubt a single Storm Shadow missile will have a warhead that is large enough to seriously damage the bridge.
So if Ukraine wants to destroy the bridge, they should try to hit a truck or train that has explosives on board.
If this theory is true, it could make sense.
The Storm Shadow carries a warhead weighing a thousand pounds (450 kg) A couple of them in approximately the same spot should be able to easily collapse a span.
Except that a Storm Shadow weighs 15X more than a HIMARS missile weighs.
Yes but the warhead is about twice as large. OnlyFactsPlease has a fair point.
But if you look at the number of GLMRS missiles that were needed just to destroy the Antonovski bridge, I think it will require a lot of Storm Shadow missiles to hit close to each other to really destroy a whole span.
I am not saying it isn’t possible: I even think it will happen!
But if Ukraine manages to hit a ammo carrying train or truck it can be done with a single blow, and this is what Russia might be trying to prevent.
Btw, I just checked Instagram and I saw cracks in the bridges supports, LOL.