With Germany committing a 3rd Patriot battery for Ukraine, they have now dedicated 15 times as large of a proportion of their Patriot force as the United States has. We really need Congress to get the aid bill passed so we can start picking up slack. Related to that, it has been mentioned that some ...
Jump to postThere is some progress on air defenses over the last couple of days. Before going into detail, while this is good, it still exemplifies the same major problem that has plagued Western support for the entire war: we keep providing support reactively. We are able to predict what Ukraine needs at each ...
Jump to postThe US has consistently opposed allowing Ukraine to fight Russia on an equal footing by using US-supplied weapons to strike Ukraine, out of concerns about escalation (even though Russia has already long been using foreign-supplied weapons to strike Ukraine). I'm not going to challenge that decision ...
Jump to postPlease remember this the next time you see someone refer to the Hindustan Times or the Daily Mail. Hindustan Times wrote: The virus is approaching a critical threshold, and has the potential to cause a global pandemic, said scientists. Actual scientists wrote: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024...
Jump to postOn Patriot production, though this report does not mention the German plant, still preparing for production; https://mil.in.ua/en/news/patriot-sam-proves-effectiveness-in-ukraine-drives-surge-in-production/ For clarification related to my longer posts, there is some inconsistency in numbers cited i...
Jump to postHence why Ukraine has changed their official message to literally, " Give us the damn Patriots " I will temper my frustration with this situation by noting that I do think once the Ukraine funding bill finally passes, there will be more Patriots, NASAMS, etc delivered. I just think it wil...
Jump to postTatarigami presents himself as a former UA officer and provides his comments on the war at regular intervals. His last comments about the battle for Chasiv Yar paint a gloomy picture about the state of the current Ukrainian defense capabilities: .... https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1777381335339...
Jump to postThis interview of the Estonian Defense minister is about a week old and the main news is that Estonia has found about another million of shells on the market, of both Soviet and NATO standards. Apologies if this was already discussed here. Those shells can be delivered within 2 months, but the lead...
Jump to postWhat exactly is the purpose of the XB-1? Its nothing like the planned Overture. To test technology that will be used on the Overture Which would be? Tech for M 1.7 is all high TRL already. Still 100% vaporware IMHO (OK, 99.99% for effort) until they build a serious engine or fly supersonic for 4 hr...
Jump to postThere is a difficult article here detailing the situation for some of the men in the "Zenit" area south of Avdiivka. This gives a remarkable amount of clarity on the reports of men being left behind during the withdrawal, although it seems perhaps fewer than my previous impression had been...
Jump to postThis increase in the production rate was made possible thanks to an improved supply of black powder. France will actually re-cycle the black powder of old shells as a go-around of the current limitations of black powder production. Smokeless powder. Modern guns don't use black powder. Unimportant r...
Jump to postSuchomimus posted this update on the Sevastopol attack, seems like SCALP and Shadow were joined by Davy Jones sending Neptune; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnTwlzH4_eY https://mil.in.ua/en/news/ukrainian-navy-the-konstantin-olshansky-landing-ship-was-damaged-along-with-the-azov-and-yamal-landing...
Jump to postThe effects of the deliberate sabotage by a few clowns in Washington; https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/03/25/russias-glide-bombs-are-miracle-weapons-and-ukraine-is-still-months-away-from-fighting-back-with-f-16s/?ss=aerospace-defense I am honestly surprised at how some of these clowns hav...
Jump to postIt's good to see Ukraine continuing degrading the command and logistics of Russia in Crimea, but to what end? Do you expect any tangible results in the short to medium term? By tangible results, I mean that either Ukraine would be shaping the field for a more ambitious assault on Crimea, or expects...
Jump to postFurther drone development, being driven at a fast and potentially alarming pace, an existential fight does that; https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2024/03/21/ukraine-rolls-out-target-seeking-terminator-drones/?ss=aerospace-defense I had figured onboard terminal guidance was the next logica...
Jump to postDon't the bigger guns have the powder loaded separately from the projectile? From what I remember from visiting the U.S.S. Iowa anyway. The dividing line is at about the 5in range. Right. Ammunition types for large guns are typically classified as: - Fixed: the shell is secured to a casing holding ...
Jump to postI agree that airships carrying slung loads from near the port to the wind farm site strikes me like a more promising way to approach this. As noted previously, Cargolifter went bankrupt, but a vehicle of that size isn't needed to move turbine blades anyways. The CL160 was supposed to have a capacity...
Jump to postUnfortunately, they won't have the benefit of a gigantic stockpile of PG-7 rounds to strap to them. Don't worry about US small arms production. In case of war the infrastructure for small arms production can swiftly convert to producing PG-7 or other ordinance for military use. Just look at how man...
Jump to postThe fact that the American military industrial machine isn't in high gear is a huge problem for this US Administration. We still face multiple manpower and material shortfalls. Some, like surface ship procurement, were inherited from multiple administrations. However, some were made glaringly appar...
Jump to postThen there was the district where Putin's rival polled 10x the number of votes as Vlad himself. Needless to say, a "recount" was quickly organised. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1878811/vladimir-putin-humiliated-siberia-recount-nikolay-kharitonov Officials scrambled to have the res...
Jump to posthttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68592781 Putin only got 87% of the votes That's a big increase over the 77% he received in 2018. The rate of people ostensibly voting for someone other than Putin plummeted 43% since the last election. Not only that, but reported turnout climbed significantly, ...
Jump to posthttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68592781 Putin only got 87% of the votes That's a big increase over the 77% he received in 2018. The rate of people ostensibly voting for someone other than Putin plummeted 43% since the last election. Not only that, but reported turnout climbed significantly, ...
Jump to postOverall I think the recent UA attacks on RU oil and gas facilities is an excellent strategy. They need to keep striking while they are still being successful, before various counter-measures start having their effect. It reminds me a bit of how Speer said after WW2 that indeed the Allied efforts we...
Jump to postAt the rate things are going, drones will soon make artillery pieces just that many more targets. Artillery and armor may soon be useless. Even bunkers, dugouts and infantry. IMO it seems only air power, electronic warfare, and possibly new anti-drone devices (lasers) will be the breakthrough weapo...
Jump to postUsing these helo to launch rockets seems to me a waste of air lift. Would they be more useful supporting the bridgehead near Kherson? My opinion is no. If Ukraine has been using their helicopters across the river, they have done a good job of keeping it secret, but I would not expect them to be doi...
Jump to postIf there are pro Russian posters who can explain the Russian strategy and tactics, I would appreciate that too. I try to bring some of that type of information into the thread periodically, but such info tends to be scattered in a variety of places. I'll try to keep in mind the interest in this top...
Jump to postOn an unrelated note, Elon Musk has finally cut me off entirely from being able to read Twitter. Trying an unreliable workaround brought up a few recent posts of interest: Ukrainian fortification construction from the air. The style is very familiar to those following the news in early 2023: https:...
Jump to postAs Germany continues to concern over Taurus, really about the general attitude not the weapon, despite the efforts of their Foreign and in particular Defence Minister, at the very least they should dispatch ASAP replacements for those two launchers; https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/03/09/...
Jump to postBBC news making a more sombre reading on prospects today with the Russians reported to be advancing well passed Avdiivka. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68493215 In February, Russia captured the strategic town of Avdiivka. Since then, the invaders have advanced further west, and taken severa...
Jump to postAlso seems like the first HIMARs loss is confirmed. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/03/05/after-two-years-of-trying-the-russians-finally-destroyed-a-ukrainian-himars/?sh=57395925526b 25 miles from the front. I would say more significant than the loss of a single HIMARS is the ability of ...
Jump to postRestricting arrest warrants to one of two parties, while both appear guilty of the same transgression, shows bias. If anyone thinks otherwise, please do explain why. Short response: The ICC is not responsible for all crimes, but for the most serious. Among those that fall under its jurisdiction, wo...
Jump to postBy their nature, SOF ops are extremely hazardous, even the pioneer SOF unit the SAS, had serious failures early on. However, they learned persisted, as did others; https://mil.in.ua/en/news/the-sof-command-confirmed-the-loss-of-soldiers-in-the-kherson-region/ Yes, special operations are often high ...
Jump to postSuchomimus wondered about what went on in this engagement; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv-gueTTnxA I think the flash is just the light from the explosion reflecting off the dust being kicked up by the other vehicle. The dust simply isn't easily visible until the explosion, which illuminated the...
Jump to postNow that Russia has fully taken Avdiivka and started advancing west of the city, it appears Ukraine has also brought in part of the 47th Mechanized Brigade. The 47th is one of the new, western-trained brigades, and was heavily involved in the summer counteroffensive. I don't know details, but I bel...
Jump to postRegarding the ABRAMs tanks, I thought these were delivered at least a year ago but the internet says October 23 so only four months ago. This guy says they were saving the best for the offensive. They only have 30 tanks and now they might be getting desperate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCDSxD...
Jump to postBut now I read Macron is suggesting sending troops to Ukraine. Talk about recklessness. Whatever he meant by this (I haven't read the details but I'm under the impression is was bit provocative and not to be taken at face value), he should be aware that if our stockpiles area depleted, the count of...
Jump to postAlso, I believe these tanks are not the latest spec and maybe refurbished or end of life tanks, anyone know if that’s true? It is known that the Ukrainian tank does not gave depleted uranium armour. By the way it was theorized that M-1 was attacked, I don't think depleted uranium armour would have ...
Jump to postRegarding the PPS question - The UK is a sovereign nation and can form its own alliances as it deems prudent, including participating in collective self-defense as recognized by the UN Charter Article 51. This includes acting in defense of other nations under attack without recourse to existing all...
Jump to postI would like to make some observations that I believe still have a place in this discussion even if certain other posts are removed: 1) This discussion has not even remotely ignored the battle over Avdiivka. It has turned numerous times over the last 4+ months to the fact that Russia has made a rene...
Jump to postMeeting of European leaders in Paris... Without offering details, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has long opposed military supplies to Ukraine and has taken a position seen by some critics as pro-Russian, said ahead of travelling to Paris that several NATO and EU members were considering se...
Jump to postIt's a little bit ironic to think that 5+ decade old design might actually be nearly perfect for shooting down one of Russia's most modern , valuable aircraft today. That most modern RU aircraft first flew in 1978 ( ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beriev_A-50 ) based on a frame that first flew i...
Jump to postUkrainian Pravda alleges S-200 did the work. We'll see. Thanks for bringing that up. They claim to have info from a source within the GUR: https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/02/23/7443442/ It slipped my mind that I had also proposed that as a possibility for the previous A-50 shot down: https:...
Jump to posthttps://www.newsweek.com/nato-gives-ukraine-go-ahead-cross-putins-red-line-1872629 So now let's see what is the ramification. If France and UK give the go ahead, then I'd say airfields and shipyards in Russia are obvious targets. I believe he has said similar several times previously, and he is cor...
Jump to post... And yes. Moscovia delenda est. Russia needs to be terminated, with extreme prejudice. It's safer even to its own inhabitants this way. Not to mention to the humankind. I don't think this is a good way to put it, since it plays into Russian propaganda about the West wanting to destroy Russia, al...
Jump to postI don't think this is a good way to put it, since it plays into Russian propaganda about the West wanting to destroy Russia, allowing them to portray the Ukraine War as a fight for Russian survival, justifying further increasing the shift of more and more Russian resources toward the war. We are no...
Jump to post... I have have seen and read a few reports of soldiers on leave being surprised and somewhat shocked, dismayed, at what appears to be an absence of a sense of the war in cities like Kyiv, though aside from administrative capital city functions, other things are going on; https://www.youtube.com/wa...
Jump to postDrowned in the whole Navalny affair, this bit of Russia just being Russia: A Russian helicopter pilot that defected to Ukraine (getting an important cash reward in the process) has been found shot dead in Spain. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68337794 I don't think they'll even bother with a...
Jump to postDrowned in the whole Navalny affair, this bit of Russia just being Russia: A Russian helicopter pilot that defected to Ukraine (getting an important cash reward in the process) has been found shot dead in Spain. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68337794 I don't think they'll even bother with a...
Jump to postI have been waiting for a good time to post the following paper from two very level-headed analysts with a good track record for their insights, and who have visited Ukraine multiple times to interview Ukrainian soldiers and document from close up the dynamics of how this war is unfolding. Having ob...
Jump to postTo the south, a Russian large probing attack is repulsed, using mainly ATGM's and cluster shells; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XN1ptHyuPA That's big enough I wouldn't call it a probing attack. In the context of the typical scale of operations in this war, it's a major assault, coordinated from ...
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