Tonight, the AFU launched 5 "Flamingo" missiles, apparently targeting the ...

Tonight, the AFU launched 5 "Flamingo" missiles, whose target, apparently, was the Votkinsk plant producing "Iskanders" in Udmurtia.

All 5 missiles were shot down by Russian air defense.

As "CyberBoroshno" reports, achieving a 100% shoot-down rate was possible thanks to the Russian A-50U AEW&C aircraft being scrambled, which detected in time the missiles flying along the Volga River, in a blind zone for ground-based radars.

I will give some details from this note that, it seems to me, are very important for understanding the nuances of the confrontation between Ukrainian missiles and Russian air defense.

▪️The map shows the "Flamingo" route, compiled by the OCHI AI system, from the moment they entered Belgorod Region to the moment they were shot down before Votkinsk in Udmurtia. The missiles were flying approximately from 1:10 to 3:00.

▪️At about 0:40, the Russian Aerospace Forces scrambled an A-50U AEW&C aircraft, which patrolled in the area of Ulyanovsk Region, Samara Region, and Bashkortostan - these zones are marked with red circles on the map.

▪️This gave the Russians the ability to detect the missiles better specifically over rivers and difficult terrain, where ground-based radars are traditionally blind.

▪️The "Flamingo" route was fairly standard: a corridor toward Volgograd, then along the Volga.

▪️The first shoot-downs occurred in the Engels-Balakovo area (marked with orange dots). The remaining missiles headed toward Ulyanovsk, then made a detour through Chuvashia, using the terrain to avoid being seen.

▪️When they re-emerged over the Volga in the direction of Kazan, aviation shot down some more of the missiles. The last missile that reached Votkinsk was then shot down by a ground-based SAM system.

▪️The main factor behind the shoot-down was not so much the air defense itself as the timely scramble of the A-50U, which closed the gaps in the ground-based radar field over rivers and forested, hilly terrain.

▪️In Factum draws the obvious conclusion that, in order to increase the effectiveness of Ukrainian strikes, it is necessary to finish off the remnants of the Russian AEW&C aircraft that are still functioning.

▪️According to In Factum, the Russian Aerospace Forces have about 5 combat-capable A-50/A-50Us left. In total, their air fleet had about 10 of them; 2 to 3 were destroyed by the AFU, and two more are presumed to be non-functional.