Flares on Russian Cruise Missiles?

It looks like some KH-101 missiles may be equipped with flare launchers, although those flares may be set to be fired at specific waypoints.

[RyanMcBethProgramming]

It looks like some KH-101 missiles may be equipped with flare launchers, although those flares may be set to be fired at specific waypoints.

[SilverStarHeggisist]

Anyone who believes their enemy to be stupid, is someone who's lost the fight.

[joso]

I totally agree with your analysis on possible IR flares on cruise missiles. I recall seeing a supposedly Ukrainian photo of a Russian cruise missile wreckage which showed a flares dispenser’s front panel (level with the fuselage skin) with 8 or 10 exit holes visible. Must have been about 6 months to a year ago. Did look like it was designed so from the start, not hastily modified.

[maxk]

Russian General: Wow, when did we get missiles with flares?
Soldier: They were there the whole time, just had to unlock the feature
General: howd uou manage that?
Soldier: Simple, we just stoppped doing the engine inspections. Eventually they all unlocked this feature

[subjectc]

They're indeed learning for now.. definitely won't change their doctrine after the war.

[Ghostndamendment]

According to habitual line crosser(who does air defense as his real job) this does not work, because anti missile systems don’t use heat seekers

[raico]

this cheap upgrade just makes it difficult for the expensive missile to be destroyed by much cheaper manpads, some people here seem to think that the russian thought that this could stop radar missiles.

[Tsirkon]

Anyone who believes their enemy to be stupid, is someone who's lost.

[Scudboy]

Russian cruise missiles have been using countermeasures for quite a while. Theres photos floating around of a crashed Russian cruise missile from about 2013/2014 showing the countermeasures launcher. The thing to remember is that cruise missiles are not as fast as traditional air to air or anti-aircraft missiles. They mostly fly subsonic over very long distances, usually flying low until they reach their target. They generally don't fear ground anti-air threats due to the fact most AA radars are calibrated to find targets much higher and faster than a cruise missile. By hugging the terain CM's can avoid most AA radar as they have a minimum height to detect a target. Also since they are so low, they can not only evade most AA radar, most AA missiles would have to launch in such a way they would either over shoot the CM or possibly even reach the target before they are fully armed. The biggest threat CM's face is air to air missiles launched by enemy aircraft. Most of those missiles can be safely launched at targets much easier than an AA missile cam be launched from the ground. I'm not sure about any Russian CM's that have automated threat detection, but thats not out of the realm of possibility. Also, Russia has launched CM's with dummy warheads before, at the start of the Ukraine war, pretty much to send the message "if this was an actual nuke you would be dead" kind of a threat, the those CM's were of a much older variety from the 70's.

All of the above is a gross over simplification of the tech involved, so depending on the AA systems and the model of the CM its all apt to change. Russia is not as far behind the US in war technology as some like to believe. The biggest difference is in how fast can Russia bring that tech to the battlefield, how much they can afford to deploy, and how quickly they can replace that tech.

[donwyoming]

Flares & chaff dispensers would seem to be a lot of added weight and complexity to a missile. Would be smarter to make a stealthy missile than one that announces its presence popping flares.

[DtheD]

I think you are finally learning. The first rule of warfare engagement is NEVER underestimate your enemies!

[kimchunchu]

I admire your memory.... partly because you have so much neat stored knowledge, and partly because you can memorize all those acronyms...THAT is an accomplishment.!!

[RexarThundrax]

Hey Ryan I love your content so much man! ❤ Thanks for all your hard word on keeping us informed so well brother.

[innexum]

Apparently those flares only dispersed at termial phase and also has RF decoy "heedle clouds" for false radar readings.

[scbtripwire]

Wtf is with these usernames followed by a hyphen and random characters ? Weird.

[frankblack]

Russia is definitely learning…I hear they are producing a really high-quality black and white ultra HD tv that puts all the others to shame

[alanrichardson]

Learn something new which each and every video you post, thank you so much bro keep it up 👍

[ianmurray]

Awesome video per usual and love the RCMP t shirt! 🍺🫵🤟🇨🇦🫡🇺🇸🤟🫵🍺

[spritesever]

EDIT: Can y'all stop critcizing me foringing this up?
I did not speculate what I wrote in this comment. I am just bringing up what I have seen others speculating, in hopes of diversifying the discussion.
Don't shoot the messenger.

Some have speculated that the video in question is actually of a missile who's engine is embarrassingly falling apart, with the debris being burned up and looking like flares.
Still, I wonder how effective that would actually be to avoid air defense.
I know of decoy missiles like the US-made MALD, but those distract AD with their flight pattern, not heat signatures.

[LegoPictures]

How about we focus on the corruption at home