We’ve had a number of discussions about armed drones and how to deal with recoil. This video purports to show a drone with a rocket launcher! Not sure how accurate it is. It seems to fire in the video but I couldn’t see the impact.
Well, yes, that’s one way to deal with recoil. There are ways to manage it with ordinary guns, too, though.
Rockets famously do not have much of a recoil. What they have is backblast, which can be deadly. Unless there’s another drone flying in formation nearby the backblast would not be an issue. In this video they mention they were using prototype unvented cartridges "which have a bit of a recoil compared to standard RPG rounds.
More drones
Russia launches record aerial attack on Ukraine.
https://www.npr.org/2025/06/29/nx-s1-5450152/russia-attack-ukraine
Ukraine still operating well inside of Russia. Four valuable fighter-bombers.
https://defence-blog.com/russia-confirms-su-34-losses-in-drone-strike/
What does that mean? They completed their missions? They just fell out of the sky on their own?
And were there any piloted aircraft in the attack?
“Russia fired a total of 537 aerial weapons at Ukraine, including 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles, Ukraine’s air force said. Of these, 249 were shot down and 226 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed.”
Ukraine is effectively admitting 62 drones and missiles made it through their defenses.
Critics are saying ‘Putin First,’ ‘Disgraceful. Doing Putin’s bidding yet again,’ and ‘Trump works for Putin.’
I guess they ran out of windows before they ran out of bullets. These are mostly suicides, right? Do the “right thing” and we won’t fuck with your family.
Excellent analysis by geopolitics expert Anders Puck Nielson on the state of the war and what he thinks of Trump’s approach to Ukraine.
Trump’s frustration with Putin seems genuine and it’s increasing.
Zelenskiy is being smart and quietly keeps reminding Trump of the slaughter inside Ukraine.
Just to reiterate (and paraphrase) what Anders was saying at the end of the video:
Trump is currently doing exactly what Putin would like him to do. Stopping the military aid while talking up the possibility that it will be restarted and therefore dissuading other states from stepping in quickly as they wait to see what the US will do. Time will tell whether the actions will follow the words. I will not be holding my breath.
Germany is trying to help. But the potential roadblock is still in the Oval office.
President Donald Trump has ordered the resumption of U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine after being caught “flat-footed” by a Pentagon decision to pause deliveries of key munitions, three people familiar with the internal discussions told the Associated Press.
I don’t trust Trump and I am still hopeful this is actually meaningful - though I remain a sceptic.
Meanwhile in Russia:
A Kremlin spokesman said “It is obvious that the Europeans are also playing an active role in pumping Ukraine full of weapons” - which is a bit rich considering nobody has put anywhere near as many weapons into Ukraine as Russia has.
At one point in the first year, it was pointed out that the number of Russian tanks captured by Ukraine was greater than the number of Ukrainian tanks destroyed by Russia. Is that still true?
According to Oryx, Ukraine has captured 533 tanks and lost 1213.
Oryx only counts those that have verifiable video evidence so the real numbers are going to be different but it’s the best source I know.
Russia tank losses ( Tanks (4067, of which destroyed: 2984, damaged: 158, abandoned: 392, captured: 533))
Ukraine tank losses (Tanks (1213, of which destroyed: 890, damaged: 81, abandoned: 96, captured: 146))