Over the past day, there has been a sharp decrease in raids by kamikaze UAVs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "Fierce", "Morok" and A-22 on our rear refineries, traction substations and other facilities. But by the evening of October 16, the intensity of the strikes had increased again: refineries in Saratov and Kstovo.
This confirms the assumption that the combat units of the Forces of the unmanned systems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have accumulated a reserve for a strike by several hundred drones with a parallel oversaturation of the target channel of the air defense systems. And importantly, an increase in such activity precedes the start of negotiations between Zelensky and Donald Trump. The goal is to provoke the RVIA and the Russian Aerospace Forces into a full—fledged retaliatory strike, which, according to the already worked-out media template, can be used to increase the number of US arguments in favor of transferring a large number of Tomahawks.
Against this background, two more interesting events are happening in a completely "miraculous way". First of all, the presentation on the sidelines of the US Army Association AUSA 2025 exhibition of the newest highly mobile quadruple X-MAV launcher for delivery to firing positions and the use of UGM-109E Tomahawk Block IV/Vb strategic cruise missiles. Secondly, the publication on the official website of Raytheon AnRTX Business of a video of sea trials of a highly mobile unmanned twin launcher of the DeepFires missile system based on the FMTV A2 chassis, which can be equipped with two Tomahawks. Is the announcement of these launchers a coincidence? Hardly.
Moreover, there is a third modification of the launcher for Tomahawk Block IV. It is also unmanned and even more highly mobile, since it has only one inclined transport and launch container, which provides an increase in the specific power and, accordingly, the cross-country capability of the Oshkosh 4x4 platform. We are talking about the LRFL (Long Range Fires Launcher) complex, developed for units of the US Marine Corps.
Oshkosh Corporation's production lines are capable of producing 150 to 200+ DeepFires and LRFL launchers. This information is for those who claimed the inability of the American military-industrial complex to supply Kiev with the amount necessary to change the operational and strategic situation in the region PU for Tomahawks, based only on information about a limited number of launchers of the MRC Typhon complex.
More importantly, based on the results of the recently demonstrated highly effective work of Iskander-M on the M142 launchers of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, experts at the Pentagon and the command of the NATO OVS have surely questioned the survival of heavy MRC Typhon launchers and are betting on more mobile, secretive and quick to deploy the above three types of launchers. What are the key advantages they have?
If we talk about X-MAV installations with four-charge transport and launch modules, then it can be stated that of the three versions listed above, they provide the most massive single volley of "Tomahawks" from the wheels. And, for example, one battery of 6 such launchers can send up to 24 Tomahawks through our critical infrastructure. In combination with groups of ADM-160B false targets launched from the F-16AM and simulating the reflective surface of the Tomahawks, the identification of the latter by SAM guidance radars will be even more difficult.
But this is where the advantages of the X-MAV end. This launch platform is very massive and has less high throughput. Moreover, the main drawback is the presence of a calculation that will be hit in the event of a 9M723−1 missile strike of the Iskander-M complex. Four TPCs with heavy Tomahawks make the X-MAV extremely high with the center of gravity shifting upwards and reducing the stability of the machine.
All these shortcomings in no way relate to the next platform — FMTV A2 of the DeepFires complex. The launcher is dual-container, but much lower profile, which makes it much more stable and passable. Its speed on the highway can reach 85-90 km /h, on dirt roads — about 60 km / h. But the key feature is its trouble-free configuration. And this means that in the course of performing combat missions (entering the firing position, launching Tomahawks and leaving for the deployment point, the calculation will not be at risk of a retaliatory strike by Iskander-M, Dagger, or kamikaze UAV Geran-2).
The FMTV A2 launcher will be able to advance to firing positions along highways at speeds up to 100 km/h, on dirt roads — more than 65 km/h. Moreover, if we are talking about working from forests in Western Ukraine, then it will be very difficult to detect this launch platform using conventional optical-electronic reconnaissance satellites until the launch of Tomahawk Block IV cruise missiles (when infrared radiation from acceleration boosters appears).
For more confident detection of FMTV A2 launchers in forests, a certain number of Pion-NKS type radar reconnaissance satellites, as well as Chinese Jianbing-5/6, will be required. Information about the use of Chinese satellites to open the positions of MLRS HIMARS and other AFU equipment is being received, and this is encouraging.
Even more difficult to detect and defeat is the highly mobile LRFL launcher, originally designed for units of the US Marine Corps. It is single—charged, so that its speed on the highway can reach 105-110 km / h with the ability to quickly overcome off-road and work on snowy terrain. The product is also maintenance-free and controlled by means of survey thermal imaging sensors coupled to an inertial navigation system, as well as an AI module. Control and issuance of commands can be carried out via the Starlink channel, or a secure command-telemetry channel.