The latest information says that Russia has almost stopped sending out Shahed drones made in Iran because they can’t work in cold weather.
During a live show on national TV, Yevgeny Silkin, a spokesman for the commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for Strategic Communications, said this. He said that Russia has stopped using drones for the time being.
Silkin says that the use of Iranian drones is going down because anything that flies, like drones, is made of plastic and has parts that can break down in cold or bad weather.
Silkin says that even though this happened, Russia can still keep getting UAVs and other weapons. He said Ukraine couldn’t stop Russia from sending them bombs and drones. But their Western allies now give them enough air defence.
“Our military is getting better at handling these complicated situations, and we can now say that we hit between 75% and 80% of air targets. “This is very good,” Silkin stressed.
Some reports, though, say that Russia’s supply of kamikaze drones has run out, which would explain why they have been used less. The British defence ministry said last week that Russia’s supply of drones made in Iran is almost out.
In its daily intelligence report on the situation in Ukraine, the ministry said that after ten months of fighting, Russia is almost out of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) made in Iran and will probably want to buy more.
The ministry said that Russia has probably used hundreds of these weapons to attack Ukraine since September. The main targets have been tactical military goals, the Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and healthcare facilities.
The intelligence report also said that Russia probably started the UAV campaign to make up for its serious lack of cruise missiles, but the strategy hasn’t worked very well. Most of the UAVs that were launched have been destroyed by the Ukrainian forces.
HIMARS Facing Similar Situation In Winter?
But some experts also said that Ukraine might have a hard time running its HIMARS in the winter. The Russian military told state-run media that the start of cold weather made the HIMARS system less effective.
In a similar way, a former pilot for the Indian Air Force that the HIMARS Multiple Launch Rocket Systems shouldn’t be used in East European combat operations in the winter.
He thinks that the beginning of winter and the very low temperatures will make things hard for the Ukrainian troops who are defending the country. The Ukrainian Army is having trouble because, among other things, it no longer has any cover from the trees, it can’t make tracks in the mud and snow, and it needs special gasoline and lubricants.
IAF Pilot also said that winter has made it harder for the Ukrainian HIMARS to “shoot and scoot.” This has made it harder for the system to “shoot and move.” HIMARS shoot off rockets quickly one after the other, and then they quickly hide behind plants, like in a nearby forest.
The problem is that there is nothing to hide under in the winter. This basically shows the Russian soldiers how the weapons system works. This makes it easier for Russian drones, satellites, and planes like the Tu-214R to find HIMARS.
Also, the number of HIMARS launch sites is said to have gone down because more Russian missiles and surveillance have been used against the system. Moscow may have sent out more drones that can find and identify HIMARS’ tracks in snow and mud, giving away their location.
Theoretically, Russian and American machines can work at temperatures between -50 degrees and +50 degrees. But Russia thinks that US-made weapons haven’t been able to pass the Russian winter test yet.
But the US is also planning to make the HIMARS more powerful. The EurAsian Times said earlier that the Pentagon is thinking about a plan to give Ukraine access to Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDBs) that are cheap, small, and accurate. These bombs could be mounted on rockets that are easy to get and would let Kyiv launch attacks far behind Russian defences.
