Article

2023-05-01 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Attack on Pavlograd. 30.04.2023

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by badanov 2023-05-01 00:00|| || Front Page|| [7 views ] Top

#1 Deactivated ICBM storage site hit. Large explosions and fire from stored solid rocket fuel. A propaganda attack since the Russians knew those old ICBMs were stored there for more than 30 years.

Ukrainian sources say it was 38 old ballistic missiles (SS-24) with 1,800 tons of rocket fuel. They were stored at the Pavlohrad Chemical Plant. They were not decommissioned due to lack of funds. (This was the case until 2019)

Posted by Enver Slager8035 2023-05-01 00:29|| 2023-05-01 00:29|| Front Page Top

#2 Russian socialist media showed videos of a wrecked train.

Posted by badanov 2023-05-01 08:24|| 2023-05-01 08:24|| Front Page Top

#3 Vial Le Wiki:
SS-24: NATO reporting name Scalpel was a cold-launched, three-stage, solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile ... It came in silo- and rail-based variants, and was armed with 10 MIRV warheads of 550 kt yield. All missiles were decommissioned by 2005 in accordance with the START II.

tl;dr: Cold War era first-strike multiple-warhead ICBM

Apparently, *all* means some. The START II agreement was only kinda sorta implemented. A bit like Minsk II, eh? Perhaps it is the Roman numerals.

Solid fuel means you can pop them off on a whim without a lot of setup activity. MIRV means Multiple Independently-targetable Reentry Vehicle aka "warheads". I can see why the Russians might want to take 38 of those off the board. "Bah, old Soviet era junk!", you say. Like that old soviet recon drone the Ukrainians repurposed into a cruise missile?

Posted by SteveS 2023-05-01 09:21|| 2023-05-01 09:21|| Front Page Top

#4 A Minotaur IV, that is, a re-purposed Peacekeeper ICBM (MX) solid fuel rocket is being launched from Vandenberg in a few weeks.

With a NRO payload.

So, they don't just have to be left laying around because there's no money to break them down.

There was a time when you could see a nice satellite picture of a couple dozen Titan first stages laid out at AMARC. They've been dismantled.

Posted by M. Murcek 2023-05-01 09:37|| 2023-05-01 09:37|| Front Page Top

#5 Russian socialist media showed videos of a wrecked train.

Was it this train that was blown up in Bryansk?

To top it off, the Russians are passing off the cruise missile attack on a high rise apartment block in Uman killing 23, including 6 children, was really a Ukrainian attack on occupied Donbass.

Posted by Enver Slager8035 2023-05-01 11:19|| 2023-05-01 11:19|| Front Page Top

#6 Solid fuel means you can pop them off on a whim without a lot of setup activity.

Those missiles would have been disassembled and the guidance and electronics removed. You don't think the START treaties would have left them in flyable condition? And nearly 40 year old solid propellant, stored in a non-temperature controlled environment, is asking for trouble.

Posted by Enver Slager8035 2023-05-01 11:28|| 2023-05-01 11:28|| Front Page Top

#7 To top it off, the Russians are passing off the cruise missile attack on a high rise apartment block in Uman killing 23, including 6 children, was really a Ukrainian attack on occupied Donbass.

Ukrainian SAM gunners in the past have been known to fire their missiles low enough they hit nearby buildings.

Russians say were a Russian cruise missile hit the high rise, it would have been leveled.

Posted by badanov 2023-05-01 11:53|| 2023-05-01 11:53|| Front Page Top

#8 Except that there are many videos of Russian cruise crashing into high rise apartments and taking out only a group of apartments. Liars lie.

Posted by Enver Slager8035 2023-05-01 12:00|| 2023-05-01 12:00|| Front Page Top

#9 Play it again. SAM? Both sides lying? I'm shocked!

Posted by Maggie Untervehr2452 2023-05-01 20:09|| 2023-05-01 20:09|| Front Page Top

#10 1,800 tons of rocket fuel going off.

Posted by Enver Slager8035 2023-05-01 20:12|| 2023-05-01 20:12|| Front Page Top

23:54 trailing wife
23:04 Whiskey Mike
22:17 DooDahMan
21:57 ruprecht
21:50 SteveS
21:44 Frank G
21:42 Frank G
21:40 ruprecht
21:36 lord garth
21:24 Super Hose
21:18 lord garth
21:00 DooDahMan
20:57 Whereger and Tenille5738
20:57 DooDahMan
20:47 Frank G
20:19 Chris
20:12 Enver Slager8035
20:09 Maggie Untervehr2452
19:33 Shung Untervehr7115
19:14 SteveS
18:12 M. Murcek
17:48 Maggie Untervehr2452
17:12 trailing wife
17:11 jpal