£130 million Russian ‘Blackjack’ nuclear capable bomber hit in Ukrainian attack

Ukraine launched a drone attack at the Russian Engels airbase where Vladimir Putin’s prized £130 million “Blackjack” long-range strategic nuclear capable bombers are based.

Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency are assessing the damage as four explosions were heard at the airbase were the Tu-22, Tu-95 “Bear” and the Tu-160 “Blackjack” bombers are based.

Regional governor Roman Busargin said that they had “eliminated” all the drones over the base.

He said, “The air defence system worked promptly and effectively.

“There were no casualties or damage to infrastructure from falling debris.”

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In its latest intelligence update, the Ministry of Defence in London said: “Russian military doctrine places high emphasis on the use of camouflage and deception techniques (often known as maskirovka) to enhance the survivability of Russian forces, as well as conceal their operational intent.

“The lack of effective employment of maskirovka was one of Russia’s key operational failures in the early phases of the invasion of Ukraine.”

The briefing continued: “Russian forces have highly likely been making efforts to increase and improve their employment of maskirovka techniques to mitigate the heavy losses sustained over the past two years in both the Black Sea Fleet and Aerospace Forces.

“At Russian air bases, maskirovka applications include decoy dummy models of aircraft and tyres on wings of planes. According to reports there are also painted silhouettes of airframes at nine Russian air bases.

“In the maritime domain, vessels of the Black Sea Fleet have black paint on the bow and stern, likely to make their warships appear smaller and a less appealing target.”