Tag: Russia

Jabhat al-Nusra re-purposing SPBE and AO-2.5RT submunitions in Syria

Kenton Fulmer Unexploded Russian and Soviet-made submunitions have been documented across the Syrian countryside since the arrival of Russian forces last month. While both the intended destructive impact and prolonged danger of unexploded ordnance (UXO) are well understood results of cluster munitions use, a lesser seen impact is the re-purposing of munitions that have failed

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SPBE submunitions employed in Syria

N.R. Jenzen-Jones with Yuri Lyamin Footage uploaded to video sharing platforms in the past few days shows the functioning of submunitions consistent with cargo (cluster) munitions delivered by a Sukhoi Su-24 (NATO reporting name: Fencer) series attack aircraft. Photographs of SPBE series submunitions were posted to Twitter and Facebook earlier today, as well as the YouTube video

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Russian forces deploy KAB-500S PGM in Syria

N.R. Jenzen-Jones with Yuri Lyamin Update 151011: The Russian Ministry of Defence has recently uploaded a video to their YouTube channel, showing a Sukhoi Su-34 employing a KAB-500S PGM over Syria. Update 151006: A recent image from Pravda shows Russian technicians with a Su-34 carrying the KAB-500S PGM. Markings present on the munition indicate that

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Russian PMN-4 anti-personnel landmines in Syria

Ivan Kochin with N.R. Jenzen-Jones Recent images released by the Syrian Center for Demining & Rehabilitation (SCDR) feature Russian PMN-4 landmines which were found just west of Daraa, in Southern Syria. In a video dated 28 September 2015, a figure can be seen employing manual demining practices to remove a number of PMN-4 mines. The earlier

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Arms & Munitions Brief No. 2: The Russian GM-94 Grenade Launcher

Armament Research Services is proud to release the second publication in our Arms & Munitions Brief series, The Russian GM-94 Grenade Launcher.  Authored by former Russian army officer and small arms historian Maxim Popenker, with ARES Director N.R. Jenzen-Jones, Arms & Munitions Brief No. 2 gives an overview of the GM-94’s development history, technical characteristics, and employment

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New improvised armoured fighting vehicle design in Ukraine

Boris Karpa The Ukrainian conflict has resulted in significant numbers of improvised armoured fighting vehicles (AFV) being employed by both Ukrainian security forces and pro-Russian separatist forces. Generally, improvised combat vehicles are manufactured from poor quality components, built by amateurs with no engineering training, under terrible conditions and equipped with ill-fitted weapons and armour. This particular vehicle appears different,

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New images of 9K333 Verba MANPADS from Russian trade show

Michael Smallwood Pictures taken at this year’s MAKS aviation trade show in Moscow show the latest Russian man-portable air-defence system (MANPADS), the 9K333 Verba (“Pussy Willow”). ARES has previously written about the 9K333 Verba in mid-2014, when it entered service with Russian forces, and these new images represent the best view of the system to date. Markings

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Improvised 80 mm S-8 MLRS system in Ukraine

Michael Smallwood An image posted to social media at the beginning of August shows Ukrainian troops atop a tracked 9K35 Strela-10 armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) (NATO reporting name: SA-13 Gopher), with two Soviet B-8 rocket pods fixed in an improvised turret arrangement. It appears Ukrainian forces have developed an improvised multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) on the tracked vehicle.

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Russian 96K6 Pantsir-S1 air defence system in Ukraine

Michael Smallwood   UPDATED 19 February 2015   A recent report, allegedly from Shakhtersk city, within Ukraine’s Donetsk region, shows pictures of a Russian-designed 96K6 Pantsir-S1 (Панцирь; ‘Cuirass’) air defence system (NATO reporting name: SA-22 Greyhound). Designed by KBP Instrument Design Bureau, the Pantsir-S1 entered service with Russian forces in 2010, and is only known

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Kornet anti-tank guided weapon captured from Sudanese Armed Forces

N.R. Jenzen-Jones According to a freelance journalist on the ground in Sudan and South Sudan, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army – North (SPLA-N) captured a variety of arms and munitions from Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) fighters yesterday, during fighting in Genezya, 18 km east of Kadugli, the capital of the Sudanese border state of South

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