The Wire · live □ GRID-REF 37°47′N 122°25′W
DISPATCH 04/26 · 11 Oct 2026
BattlePolicy
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Russia Coverage
Russia · Space · Satellite CommunicationsPro

Rassvet

Rassvet is Bureau 1440's Russian low-Earth-orbit broadband constellation, in early deployment for civilian connectivity and prospective military communications.

Russia · LandPro

T-16 Armata recovery vehicle

T-16 Armata recovery vehicle: the 2021 test-institute visit, Army-2023 display, recovery equipment, conflicting crane figures and unresolved delivery record.

Russia · LandPro

Sotnik soldier equipment program

Sotnik: Russia's proposed Ratnik successor, the missing development milestone, actual component demonstrations and the later Legionnaire research program.

Russia · LandPro

T-15 Armata

T-15 Armata: the heavy infantry-carrier layout, 30 mm and 57 mm configurations, documented trial activity and the actual scope of its procurement announcements.

Russia · LandPro

Bumerang (K-16 / K-17)

Bumerang K-16 and K-17: different weapons, a redesigned hull, the trial chronology, export plans and the unresolved claim of deployment to Ukraine.

Russia · LandPro

BMPT Terminator

BMPT Terminator: the five- and three-person configurations, documented operators, losses in Ukraine, 2025 protection changes and the Spiridon name.

Russia · Space · electronic-warfarePro

Rtut-BM / 1L262E

Russia's tracked electronic-warfare station designed to trigger radio-proximity-fuzed shells before they reach protected troops.

Ukraine · Russia · USAPro

The Repair Clock Behind Ukraine’s 45% Refinery Claim

Kyiv's strike ledger overstates the Russian refining capacity offline at one time. The harder metric is whether repeat strikes keep plants broken faster than Moscow can repair them, and that is the leverage Trump wants frozen.

Russia · air defense · early-warningPro

Nebo-U

The 55Zh6U Nebo-U is a Russian long-range VHF surveillance radar designed to detect and track aircraft, missiles and low-observable targets, then pass early-warning tracks to integrated air-defense systems.

Russia · Space · military-spacePro

Cosmos 2553

Cosmos 2553 is a Russian military satellite in an unusual orbit near 2,000 km, publicly described as a technology demonstrator but linked by US officials to development of a nuclear-armed anti-satellite capability.

Russia · Space · anti-satellitePro

Nudol (A-235 / PL-19)

Russia's road-mobile direct-ascent anti-satellite interceptor, demonstrated against Kosmos 1408 at about 470 km in 2021 and also associated with the A-235 missile-defense programme.

Russia · Ukraine · SpacePro

Palantin

Palantin is a Russian truck-mounted electronic-warfare complex that detects and suppresses radio communications while coordinating multiple reconnaissance and jamming systems across an operational-tactical network.

Russia · Ukraine · dronesPro

Orlan-30

The Orlan-30 is a Russian fixed-wing reconnaissance UAV that adds laser target designation to the Orlan family, linking aerial surveillance directly to guided artillery and air-launched weapons.

Russia · Ukraine · LandPro

UR-77 Meteorit

A Soviet tracked mine-clearing vehicle that launches explosive line charges to open lanes through minefields, with a secondary wartime role as a short-range demolition weapon.

Russia · Ukraine · missilesPro

Kh-38

The Kh-38 is a Russian modular, supersonic air-to-surface missile family combining a common airframe with laser, imaging-infrared, radar or satellite-guided configurations.

Russia · Ukraine · LandPro

D-30 howitzer (2A18)

The D-30 is a Soviet 122 mm towed howitzer distinguished by its three-leg carriage and 360-degree traverse, widely exported and still heavily used in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Russia · Ukraine · air defensePro

S-125 Neva/Pechora (SA-3 Goa)

A Soviet low-to-medium-altitude surface-to-air missile system whose modernized descendants remain in service, including Polish Newa SC and Ukrainian Pechora-2D batteries.

Russia · Ukraine · air defensePro

2K12 Kub (SA-6 Gainful)

The 2K12 Kub, known to NATO as the SA-6 Gainful, is a Soviet tracked surface-to-air missile system built to accompany ground forces and engage aircraft at low and medium altitudes.

Russia · Ukraine · air defensePro

2K22 Tunguska

A Soviet-designed tracked short-range air-defense system combining twin 30 mm cannons, radio-command missiles and onboard radars to protect mobile ground forces from low-flying aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles and drones.

Russia · Sea · battlecruiserPro

Kirov-class battlecruiser

The Kirov class is a Soviet-designed family of nuclear-powered heavy missile cruisers, combining long-range strike weapons, fleet air defense and anti-submarine systems in the largest surface combatant hulls outside carriers and amphibious ships.

Russia · Ukraine · SeaPro

Vasily Bykov-class patrol ship (Project 22160)

Russia's Project 22160 is a modular offshore patrol-ship class built for maritime security and endurance, but its Black Sea service exposed weak air defense and vulnerability to Ukrainian uncrewed surface vessels.

Russia · Ukraine · missilesPro

Kh-55 / Kh-555

The Kh-55 is a Soviet-designed, long-range air-launched cruise missile built for nuclear strike; its Kh-555 conversion carries a conventional warhead, while surviving Kh-55SMs have served as decoys over Ukraine.

Russia · Ukraine · missilesPro

ZALA KUB-BLA

The ZALA KUB-BLA is a Russian catapult-launched loitering munition designed to attack fixed coordinates, with an expanding family of longer-range and electro-optically guided derivatives.

Russia · Ukraine · missilesPro

R-27 (AA-10 Alamo)

The R-27 is a Soviet-designed medium-range air-to-air missile family combining semi-active radar, infrared and passive-radar variants for MiG-29 and Su-27-family fighters.

Russia · Ukraine · SeaPro

Ropucha-class landing ship

The Ropucha class is a Soviet-designed tank landing ship built in Poland, combining beach-landing ramps and heavy vehicle lift with a secondary role as an armed military transport.

Russia · Ukraine · missilesPro

Kh-35 (AS-20 Kayak)

The Kh-35 is a Russian subsonic, sea-skimming anti-ship cruise missile family deployed from aircraft, ships and coastal launchers, and increasingly used against land targets in Ukraine.

Russia · missiles · slbmPro

RSM-56 Bulava

Russia's solid-propellant submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile, carried exclusively by Borei-class ballistic-missile submarines and central to the modernization of the country's sea-based nuclear deterrent.

Russia · missiles · icbmPro

RS-24 Yars

Russia's principal solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile, deployed on road-mobile launchers and in silos with multiple independently targetable nuclear warheads.

Russia · Ukraine · air defensePro

9K33 Osa (SA-8 Gecko)

The 9K33 Osa, known to NATO as the SA-8 Gecko, is a Soviet mobile short-range surface-to-air missile system that combines radar, fire control and ready missiles on one amphibious vehicle.

Russia · Ukraine · missilesPro

OTR-21 Tochka-U

The OTR-21 Tochka-U is a Soviet road-mobile short-range ballistic missile with a 120 km range, inertial guidance and conventional, cluster or nuclear warhead options.

Russia · Ukraine · LandPro

BM-27 Uragan

The BM-27 Uragan is a Soviet-designed 220 mm multiple rocket launcher that delivers heavy area fire from a 16-tube launcher, with Russia and Ukraine retaining the system in frontline service.

Russia · Ukraine · LandPro

BMP-1

The BMP-1 is a Soviet amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle that introduced mass-produced protected infantry mobility with integral anti-armour firepower and remains in combat service in Russia and Ukraine.

Russia · Ukraine · LandPro

MT-LB

The MT-LB is a Soviet amphibious tracked carrier and artillery tractor whose availability, adaptability and low ground pressure have made it a ubiquitous transport and improvised weapons platform in the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Russia · Air · aewcPro

Beriev A-100 Premier

Russia's long-delayed next-generation airborne early warning and control aircraft, combining an Il-76MD-90A airframe with Vega's rotating Premier phased-array radar.

Russia · missiles · air-to-air-missilePro

R-77 (AA-12 Adder)

Russia's principal active-radar-homing beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile family, developed as a counterpart to the AIM-120 AMRAAM and carried by Flanker and Felon fighters.

Russia · Ukraine · missilesPro

R-73 (AA-11 Archer)

The R-73, known to NATO as the AA-11 Archer, is a Soviet-designed short-range infrared air-to-air missile whose agility and helmet-sight cueing reshaped close-air-combat missile development.

Russia · Ukraine · air defensePro

S-350 Vityaz

Russia's S-350 Vityaz is a road-mobile, medium-range surface-to-air missile system built around a deep magazine of active-radar 9M96 interceptors and intended to replace the S-300PS.

Russia · Ukraine · Funding

Two-Thirds of Russia's Military Budget Is Now Classified

Russia's budget law called for a cut in military spending this year. Instead outlays rose 30 percent to a record 43.8 percent of federal spending, and two-thirds of that budget is now hidden.

Ukraine · Russia · Europe

The Last Imported Part in Ukraine's Bars Drone Is Its Engine

Ukraine's Bars strike drone is now more than 74% domestically made, and the one part it still buys abroad is the turbojet. A Ukrainian engine has passed final tests. The engine, not the airframe, is what caps output on both sides of the drone war.

Russia · Ukraine · missilesPro

UMPK-PD

Russia's UMPK-PD is a jet-powered evolution of the UMPK glide-bomb kit, reportedly extending air-launched strike range to 150–200 km while keeping launch aircraft farther from Ukrainian air defenses.

Russia · Ukraine · missilesPro

UMPB D-30SN

Russia's UMPB D-30SN is a purpose-built, 250 kg-class guided glide bomb designed to strike targets at up to 100 km when released from high altitude.

Russia · missiles · icbmPro

RS-28 Sarmat

Russia's RS-28 Sarmat is a heavy, silo-launched intercontinental ballistic missile intended to replace the R-36M2 and carry MIRVs or Avangard glide vehicles, but its operational status remains unverified after repeated test failures and delays.

Russia · Ukraine · missilesPro

R-37M

Russia's R-37M is a very-long-range air-to-air missile designed to threaten fighters, support aircraft and other airborne targets at distances beyond conventional air-combat weapons.

Russia · Ukraine · missilesPro

Krasnopol

Krasnopol is a Soviet-origin family of 152 mm and 155 mm laser-guided artillery projectiles designed to strike point targets designated by ground observers or reconnaissance drones.

Russia · Ukraine · missilesPro

Izdeliye 305 (LMUR)

Izdeliye 305, or LMUR, is a Russian helicopter-launched standoff missile with an imaging seeker and two-way datalink, used operationally from Mi-28NM and Ka-52M attack helicopters in Ukraine.

Russia · missiles · hypersonic-glide-vehiclePro

Avangard

Avangard is Russia's nuclear-capable strategic hypersonic glide vehicle, carried above the atmosphere by a heavy ICBM before manoeuvring toward its target at externally estimated speeds of up to Mach 27.

Russia · Ukraine · air defensePro

Igla-S

A shoulder-fired infrared missile that Russia now launches from helicopters to hunt Ukrainian drones — and bolts to Shahed airframes so the drone can shoot back at the aircraft sent to intercept it.

Russia · Ukraine · air defensePro

Strela-10

A 1976 Soviet missile system built to shoot down low-flying jets, now hunting Lancets and Hornets. Its infrared seeker was never designed to find something the size of a quadcopter — which is why Ukraine bolted an electro-optical sight to nine of them.

Ukraine · Russia · air defensePro

ZSU-23-4 Shilka

A 1965 Soviet anti-aircraft gun built to shoot down jets, now one of the cheapest ways Ukraine kills Shahed drones. Sixteen modernised Shilkas funded by a charity recorded their first Shahed shootdowns in December 2025.

Russia · Ukraine · LandPro

Konkurs

A wire-guided missile that requires its operator to hold the crosshair on a tank for the whole flight — up to four kilometres, several seconds, motionless. In a battlefield watched continuously by drones, that is the hardest thing a soldier can be asked to do.

Russia · Ukraine · LandPro

RPG-7

A 1961 shoulder-fired launcher that found a second career nobody designed: its PG-7 shaped-charge grenade is one of the most common warheads bolted onto FPV attack drones, so much of the armour destroyed in this war is hit by RPG ammunition.

Russia · Ukraine · LandPro

2S3 Akatsiya

The 152 mm half of the Soviet self-propelled artillery pair still fighting on both sides. It outranges and outweighs the Gvozdika, it trails only the Msta-S in Russian self-propelled artillery losses, and drones now kill it before it fires.

Russia · Ukraine · LandPro

2S1 Gvozdika

The amphibious 122 mm howitzer that both armies still fire daily, and that both are losing faster than they can replace. Oryx has documented about 400 Ukrainian losses of the type — and Russia is reported to be stripping barrels off its own.

Russia · Land · main-battle-tankPro

T-62

A tank designed in 1961, pulled from Siberian storage yards and sent to Ukraine because Russia has run out of newer ones. At least 334 have been destroyed, and the T-62's real significance is as a measure of how far the Russian tank reserve has been drained.

Ukraine · Russia · LandPro

T-64

A Kharkiv-built Soviet tank from 1966 that is still the backbone of Ukraine's armoured force in 2026 — kept alive by depot reactivation, Oplot transmissions and anti-drone cages, because Western donations could never replace it at scale.

Russia · China · missilesPro

Kh-31

A ramjet missile that homes on the radar trying to detect it. The Kh-31P is why Ukrainian Patriot crews cannot leave their radars radiating, and why the air-defence problem in Ukraine is as much about emissions discipline as about interceptor stocks.

Russia · missiles · anti-ship-missilePro

Kh-22

A 1960s anti-ship missile carrying nearly a tonne of explosive at Mach 4.6, fired at cities it was never designed to hit. Its error is measured in hundreds of metres, which is why its record in Ukraine is a record of civilian casualties.

Russia · missiles · cruise-missilePro

Kh-59

The precision half of Russia's air-launched arsenal. Where the Kh-22 lands within half a kilometre of where it was aimed, the Kh-59MK2 is credited with metres — and it is the missile Ukrainian air defence reports intercepting one at a time.

Russia · Land · active-protection-systemPro

Arena-M

Russia's radar-cued hard-kill tank shield, and the first serial Russian active protection system credited with shooting down FPV drones. In its combat debut one tank killed seven drones, then ran out of ammunition and died.

Russia · Space · electronic-warfarePro

Kalinka

Russia's answer to Starlink is not a jammer. Kalinka listens for the uplink a terminal sends to the satellite and works out where the operator is sitting — turning a communications link into a targeting cue.

Russia · China · missilesPro

KN-30

North Korea's heavyweight Hwasong-11 — a solid-fuel ballistic missile more than ten metres long, claimed to carry a 2.5-tonne warhead roughly five times an Iskander's, transferred to Russia in 2026 and deployed within range of Ukraine.

Russia · missiles · decoyPro

Parodiya

A plywood aircraft with no warhead and a metal-coated sphere in the fuselage. The Luneburg lens makes it read on radar as a Shahed, so Ukrainian air defence must treat every one as lethal — which is the entire weapon.

Iran · Russia · missilesPro

Shahed-131

The small Shahed. About two-thirds the weight of a Shahed-136 with roughly a third of the warhead and a rotary engine, it entered Russian service as the Geran-1 in 2022 and is still a separately planned production line four years later.

Russia · Iran · missilesPro

Garpiya-A1

Russia's second Shahed line — built not at Alabuga but by Almaz-Antey subsidiary Kupol in Izhevsk, with Chinese engineering help. Heavier warhead than a Geran-2, now sold abroad by Rosoboronexport and fielded in Mali.

Russia · Iran · missilesPro

Geran-5

The largest and fastest member of Russia's Geran family — a 6.5-metre, cruise-missile-shaped "missile-drone" flying at up to 600 km/h with a 90 kg warhead, air-launchable from a Su-25 and reportedly able to carry an air-to-air missile of its own.