Best of 2024: military gear impacting Ukraine-Russia war

For the second year in a row, Defense Express grants its Absolutely Unserious and Entirely Conditional Weapon of the Year nomination. Last year, the nominees included the F-16, Gepard, FPV drone, Taurus, and B-21 Raider. This year, the contenders are:

The most secret weapon of 2024 is Palianytsia

On the occasion of Ukraine's Independence Day, it was officially announced that the new drone missile Palianytsia had been successfully used in combat. Following this, its official image was presented, featuring a cruise missile.

After that, with each successful Ukrainian strike on targets within Russian territory, the use of Palianytsia was assumed, and in Russia, any drone with a jet engine was believed to be the missile.

In reality, the specifics of the Palianytsia missile, its size, range, and even whether its image is just a designer's fantasy, remain unknown. Even though other similar products, like Peklo, have been openly demonstrated. And this is truly a good thing because it’s better to surprise the enemy than to announce your capabilities.

The most unexpected weapon - S-200

On January 14, 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces made history by becoming the first to down a long-range radar surveillance aircraft - Russia's A-50U - over the northern shore of the Azov Sea. On February 23, they reinforced this success by destroying another similar aircraft, which they believed would be safe over the Krasnodar region deep within Russian territory.

On April 19, 2024, a record for air target destruction was set at a distance of 308 km. This was the distance at which a Tu-22M3 strategic bomber was shot down, falling near the village of Bogomolov in the Stavropol region after flying several dozen kilometers following the strike.

Officially, at least in the last two cases, the targets were destroyed with the help of the S-200 SAM system, which was likely modernized. Without this upgrade, the system, which is essentially a stationary complex with a massive radar for target illumination, would have been inadequate for such long-range operations.

And considering that the S-200 was developed in the 1960s and entered service in 1967, this is truly the most unexpected weapon that forced Russia to abandon the use of the A-50. Because at greater distances, they simply can't see anything.

The longest wait for 2024 is M1117 Guardian

Despite the fact that it felt like Ukraine waited the longest for the multifunctional F-16 fighters, it wasn't quite the case. The F-16s were officially demonstrated on August 4, during the 20th anniversary of the Ukrainian Air Force. However, their official announcement came a year earlier, in August 2024, when the Netherlands made the announcement. Prior to that, there were only discussions about them. The longest wait, however, was for the American M1117 Guardian armored vehicles, which were promised but took much longer to arrive.

A total of 250 M1117 Guardian armored vehicles were included in the U.S. military aid package under the USAI program back in November 2022. Since then, there had been no updates on them until September 2023, when the issue of their refurbishment was raised in the U.S. Congress Defense Committee, revealing that the restoration program would take 18 months.

It wasn't until March 2024 that the first M1117 Guardian was spotted in service with the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Overall, the delivery of these vehicles set an "anti-record" compared to other weaponry and military equipment, taking 499 days. This is essentially an equivalent of the BRDM-2, and it's no surprise that this news became one of the most popular on our website for the year.

The most helpless weapon of 2024 is Zircon

On February 7, 2024, Russia used its hypersonic missile ZM22 Zircon for the first time in combat, a development that Russian dictator Putin had announced back in 2019. This weapon was touted as part of Russia's arsenal of "absolutely unparalleled" weaponry, but in reality, Putin's so-called Wunderwaffe turned out to be one of the biggest scams of the so-called Russian Ministry of Defense.

Instead of the promised 9 Machs, the missile reaches only 5.5 Machs on the cruising section and 4.5 Machs at the terminal stage. Instead of being an "aircraft carrier killer," it only has the capability to sink a corvette, as its warhead weighs no more than 150 kg. Instead of penetrating "all existing and future missile defense systems," two Zircons were successfully intercepted by an air defense system that was developed 10 years ago.

The only truth that turned out to be accurate is that the Zircon is indeed a real hypersonic missile, as it is equipped with a very expensive hypersonic scramjet engine, which, however, provided no advantage to the missile.

The most anticipated reveal of 2024 - Phoenix Ghost

In May 2022, one of the U.S. aid packages included the mysterious Phoenix Ghost 'kamikaze' drones. Little was known about them - neither their appearance nor technical specifications, only a vague description.

This secrecy led to speculation that every new long-range kamikaze drone might be one of them. It wasn't until October 2024 that they were declassified. It turned out that Phoenix Ghost referred to a series of 'kamikaze' drones from the company AEVEX Aerospace, with the name Phoenix Ghost representing the overarching project.

Under the Phoenix Ghost name, there were actually several drones: the Disruptor, with a range of up to 600 kilometers and a 22 kg warhead; the Dominator, which has a range of over 500 km or up to 1200 km depending on the engine, and a 16-kg warhead; and the smaller Atlas, which has a declared range of up to 120 km and conceptually resembles the Switchblade.

Later, the prices of these drones were revealed. A detailed analysis of their components showed a pragmatic approach, with the use of civilian-grade parts in their construction.