May 07, 2022, Sergey Ishchenko, Svobodnaya pressa
In the Ukrainian segment of the Internet, Kyiv launched a countdown to the alleged destruction of the Crimean bridge. How? With what? From where? The organizers of the information venture do not explain anything of the sort. Just a digital clock ticking in the background of a picture with the caption “Crimean Bridge Will Fall”. Hour “3” – May 9. That is, on Victory Day.
No one, anywhere, certainly doubts that nothing of the sort will happen on May 9. And much later? Everything is more complicated here.
Yes, we are defending this strategic bridge to Russia from all directions, almost on par with the Kremlin. Yes, today in Ukraine there is absolutely nothing in its arsenal that, at least theoretically, would allow it to at least dream of at least scratching this “path of life” for the sunny peninsula. But in exactly the same way, for example, I do not doubt for a second that Kyiv and its foreign sponsors are also working right now and with full effort to make such a threat to us a reality. Hopefully not on May 9th. At least once.
And in this context, I would pay close attention to such a message from Turkey. At the very end of April, important news came from there from the Baykar company, which produces the Bayraktar TB2 attack drones, which became famous all over the world after the Nagorno-Karabakh war. The developers of this weapon reported that they were able to go far in creating a much heavier and much more powerful high-altitude reconnaissance and strike UAV – Akinci – compared to the Bayraktar TB2. A week ago, with its help, the Turks for the first time successfully attacked a sea target with an aerial bomb from a height of 6 kilometers and with the help of laser targeting.
Now what is this most advanced Turkish Akinci UAV?
Designed for air strikes against ground targets deep behind enemy lines. And also for conducting operational-strategic aerial reconnaissance. Including radio engineering.
The practical flight ceiling of the apparatus is 40,000 feet (approximately 12,200 meters). At the same time, the drone can stay in the air for up to 24 hours and at the same time move at a cruising speed of 240 kilometers per hour (maximum speed is 463 kilometers per hour). Thus covering more than 5000 kilometers for each flight.
Compared to the Bayraktar TB2, the heavy Akıncı has much wider capabilities and solves a much wider range of tasks. In particular, it has a maximum take-off weight of 6,000 kilograms, against 700 kilograms for the Bayraktar TB2. The maximum load is 1500 kilograms against 150 kilograms. That is exactly ten times more. To do this, the wingspan of this flying monster is greater than even that of an American multi-role fighter such as the F-16. Approximately 20 meters.
In general, the Bayraktar Akinci is comparable in size to the American reconnaissance and attack UAV MQ-9 Reaper. The weapon can be carried under the wings on eight points of external suspension. Its arsenal includes free-fall bombs Mk-81, Mk-82, Mk-83, including those converted to precision guided weapons (JDAM), and small guided bombs MAM-L and MAM-C, which are the main armament for the Bayraktar drone TV2. In addition to them – 70 mm laser-guided CIRIT missiles, as well as air-based L-UMTAS ATGMs with a launch range of 8 kilometers. And for self-defense – short-range air-to-air missiles Bozdoğan with infrared guidance and Gökdoğan with active radar guidance.
But the main threat to us is that this winged robot could serve as a launch pad for an air-launched cruise missile. For now – the Turkish SOM (Turkish: Stand-off Mühimmat Seyir Füzesi) with a flight range of up to 275 kilometers, designed to arm the F-35 fighters.
And there, who knows? After all, according to the Minister of Science, Industry and Technology of Turkey Nihat Ergun, his country is ready to launch a cruise missile with a target destruction zone of up to 500 kilometers. Will they hang it on Bayraktar Akinci too?
And finally, most importantly for Russia. From the very beginning, Ankara took up the creation of this drone side by side with Kyiv. The best Ukrainian engineers have been actively involved in designing under this program for several years. As a result: Ukrainian AI-450T engines are the basis of the Bayraktar Akinci engine. This is in the intelligence gathering version. And in the striking version – the MS-500 engines of the same nationality. Both these and other units are produced by the world-famous Zaporizhzhia company Motor Sich.
Naturally, payment for the Ukrainian participation in the creation of Bayraktar Akinci includes the delivery of these rather cool machines primarily to Kyiv. It is unlikely that exactly at the beginning of December 2021, the ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey, Vasyl Bodnar, will publish on his Twitter account a layout of Bayraktar Akinci with “tridents” on the wings and a significant inscription: “For now the layout, but I hope it will become a reality soon .”
And now, as a popular TV show said, “Attention is a question.” Why didn’t Russia, whose troops are now a few tens of kilometers from Zaporozhye, smash this huge factory brick by brick? I will add: as before, without any regrets, in the course of the decisive demilitarization of Ukraine, we acted with almost all other giants of its military-industrial complex. Such as the Kharkiv Instrument Manufacturing Plant named after Shevchenko, the Zhytomyr Armored Plant, the Lviv State Aviation Repair Plant, the Ukrainian Plant for Energy Machinery (Turboatom), the Mykolaiv State Enterprise NPKG Zorya-Mashproekt, etc.
All of them, I repeat, are already in ruins. And practically the only efficiently functioning machine-building facility in Ukraine – Motor Sich – continues to work as if nothing happened. Including the Turks, whose Bayraktar Akinci is about to become a direct threat to the Crimean Bridge, the Crimea and the Black Sea Fleet. At the same time – for many completely ground objects in the deep back of Russia.
Of course, we are not allowed to look into the safes of the operators of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, who work out the sequence and timing of strikes on the territory of Ukraine with high-precision cruise missiles in deep secrecy. But I would venture to make certain assumptions.
I believe there is our tacit agreement with China regarding the amazing survival of Motor Sich. Well, it’s just that Beijing, most likely in partnership, asked Moscow, if possible, to refrain from damaging this particular enterprise. Because, in fact, the Chinese have long and rightly considered the Zaporozhye engine-building superplant as theirs. Although temporarily brazenly stolen from Kyiv on the orders of the Americans.
Let me briefly recall this amazing and at the same time absolutely unscrupulous military-commercial saga with regard to China.
In 2016, a number of companies linked to China’s Beijing Skyrizon Aviation Industry Investment actually bought a controlling stake in Motor Sich, which at the time had lost the Russian market. And at the same time, on very favorable terms, he concluded a loan agreement with Kyiv for 100 million dollars.
In 2019, Motor Sich exported 45 AI-322 and 22 AI-25TLK turbojet engines to China with a total value of about $98 million. The importer of AI-322 was AVIC International Holding Corp. (39F, AVIC Center, Huafu Road 1018, Futian District, Shenzhen). Components for aircraft engines AI-222K-25 and AI-322 were also delivered.
According to the press in Kyiv, in the summer of 2019, the Chinese indirectly controlled about 75 percent of the Zaporizhzhya enterprise’s shares. All this greatly displeased the Americans, who were sure that the Chinese obtaining new technology from Ukraine would allow them to dramatically advance their own missile program. That was very little. Through Beijing, the US was certain, Iran was able to tap into the same life-giving technological source.
Therefore, in August 2019, specifically for the destruction of the Ukrainian-Chinese deal around Motor Sich, the then-adviser to the President of the United States, John Bolton, visited Kyiv. The meaning of his meeting with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky was the following: “Vlad, do what you want, but there should be no Chinese in Zaporozhye.” This is written by the American publication The Wall Street Journal.
Instantly, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) became extremely interested in the arrangement with the Chinese. They began to investigate this case on the fact of violation of Article 113 “Sabotage” of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Then the Shevchenko District Court of Kyiv intervened in this story and arrested part of the shares.
Finally, in March 2021, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine decided to show Beijing the middle finger, not dollars. And without any compensation they returned Motor Sich to the state ownership of their country. The Chinese, rightly offended by this blatant robbery, initiated a $3.5 billion investment dispute against Kyiv and hired a number of international law firms.
However, such trials, as experience shows, are a long process, not for a year. And here it is: the Russian troops are almost at the very walls of Zaporozhye!
What do you think: whose property will Motor Sich become if Russia soon takes control of this city and at the same time manages not to lay a finger on its main enterprise? Moreover, if the retreating Ukrainian military themselves do not grind him to dust with explosive charges according to the principle “No one can have you!”?
Surely in Moscow, with such a happy development of events, they will remember our strategic partners from China in due time. And they will definitely restore justice much faster than various arbitration courts out there. For the mutual benefit not only of our two countries, but also of Ukraine liberated from the Nazis.
UPDATE From the file of “Svobdnaya Pressa”:
In the fall of 2020, Turkey already wanted to become the owner of Motor Sich instead of the robbed Chinese. A few months later, in April 2021, President Zelensky announced that he had a positive answer ready for Ankara. Probably aligned with the US.
According to the Kyiv press, Zelensky offered Turkey “about 50% of the shares of Motor Sich”. According to Kyiv, this enterprise should be interesting for Turkish investors, as it produces aircraft engines for Turkish drones.
