The absolutely unserious and generally only nominal "Weapon of the Year" award is presented by Defense Express for the second time. Last year, the nominees included F-16, Gepard, FPV drone, Taurus, and B-21 Raider. This year:
The Most Secret Weapon of 2024 - 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, after which its official image was displayed, showcasing a cruise missile.
Since then, in every successful attack by Ukraine on targets within the territory of the Russian Federation, the effective use of "Palianytsia" has been noted, while in Russia, they see it in any drone with a jet engine.
In reality, however, the parameters of "Palianytsia," its dimensions, range, and even whether its image is merely a designer's fantasy remain unknown. Even though other similar products, such as "Peklo", have been openly demonstrated. This is indeed wonderful, as it is better for the enemy to face surprises rather than announcements.
The Most Unexpected Weapon - S-200
On January 14, 2024, the Armed Forces of Ukraine became the first in history to shoot down a long-range radar detection aircraft - the Russian A-50U, which was over the northern coast of the Sea of Azov. On February 23, this success was solidified, and another similar aircraft was destroyed, which thought it would be safe deep within its territory over the Krasnodar region.
On April 19, a record was set for the range of destroying aerial targets - 308 km. It was at this distance that the long-range bomber Tu-22M3 was shot down, which, after being hit, crashed a few dozen kilometers away near the village of Bogomolov in the Stavropol region.
Officially, in at least the last two cases, the targets were destroyed thanks to the S-200 air defense system, which was evidently modernized; otherwise, it would have involved the use of an extremely archaic, essentially stationary system with a monstrous radar for target illumination.
Considering that the S-200 was developed in the 1960s and was adopted into service in 1967, it truly is the most unexpected weapon that forced Russia to abandon the use of the A-50. Because from a greater distance, they see absolutely nothing.
The Longest Wait of 2024 - M1117 Guardian
Despite the feeling that Ukraine waited the longest for multifunctional fighter jets F-16, this is not entirely accurate. F-16s were officially showcased on August 4 during the 20th anniversary of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, they were officially announced a year prior, in August 2023, when the Netherlands made the announcement. Until that time, there had only been discussions about them. Meanwhile, the longest wait since the promise has been for the American armored personnel carriers M1117 Guardian.
0250 of these vehicles were included in the arms assistance package from the USA under the USAI program back in November 2022. Since then, there has been no news about them until September 2023 when the topic of their restoration was addressed in the defense committee of Congress, revealing that the restoration program would take 18 months.
Only in March 2024 was the first M1117 Guardian spotted in the ranks of the Armed Forces. Overall, their transfer became "record-breaking" compared to other weapons and military equipment, taking 499 days, referring to a direct analog of the BRDM-2. 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 - "Tsirkon"
On February 7, 2024, Russia first used the hypersonic missile ZM22 "Tsirkon" in combat conditions, the existence of which was announced personally by Russian dictator Putin back in 2019. This development was placed in the pantheon of absolutely analogous weapons by the Russians, but in reality, Putin's wunderwaffe turned out to be the biggest scam of the so-called Russian Ministry of Defense.
1Instead of the promised 9 Mach, there were only 5.5 Mach during the cruise phase and 4.5 Mach at the terminal phase. Instead of being a "carrier-killer," it only has the capability to sink a corvette, as the warhead weighs no more than 150 kg. Instead of breaking through "all existing and prospective missile defense systems," there was a successful interception of two "Tsirkons" by a missile defense system that was created 10 years ago.
2The only truth was that the "Tsirkon" turned out to be a real hypersonic missile, because it indeed has a very expensive hypersonic scramjet engine, which provided the missile with no advantages.
The Most Anticipated Revelation of 2024 - Phoenix Ghost
In May 2022, one of the arms assistance packages from the USA included unknown kamikaze drones Phoenix Ghost. Almost nothing was known about them, neither their appearance nor their tactical and technical characteristics, only an extremely vague description.
This level of mystery allowed people to see them in every new long-range kamikaze drone. Only in October 2024 were they declassified. It turned out that they referred to several kamikaze drones from AEVEX Aerospace, with Phoenix Ghost being the name of the overall project.
Under this name was hidden the Disruptor drone with an operational range of up to 600 kilometers and a warhead weight of 22 kilograms. The Dominator with a range of over 500 or up to 1200 km depending on the engine and a 16 kg warhead. Additionally, a small Atlas drone, which has a claimed range of up to 120 km and conceptually resembles the Switchblade. Prices for them were later revealed.
A fairly detailed analysis of the components used to assemble these drones also emerged, showing a rather pragmatic approach with the use of civilian components.