Re: Iran Buys 24 Sukhoi Su-35

I'm more suprised that Iran didn't opt for the Su-25 over the Su-35. :D The Su-25 is no longer in production. Russia started the Ukraine conflict with around 200 frogfoots. They are used extensively in Ukraine. Even if we disregard the planes shot down thus far (six?), regular wear and tear on thei...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

The statement made earlier today that NL would consider transferring F16s was made by the minister of foreign affairs (Wopbe Hoekstra). However, according to PM Mark Rutte this will not happen. He considers F16s to be a step too far, because they are offensive rather then defensive weapons. How do ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

The War Zone has an article about Dutch F-16 being donated to Ukraine https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/dutch-open-to-transferring-f-16-jets-to-ukraine The statement made earlier today that NL would consider transferring F16s was made by the minister of foreign affairs (Wopbe Hoekstra). However...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

One approach to sorting out the tank supply paralysis... Leopard tanks are held by ... the Netherlands, ... We, The Netherlands, don't own tanks. Around 2010ish we sold the remaining ones to FInland. about a dozen or so were not sold. But these where sold around 2015ish to Germany. They upgraded th...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

I think part of the German reluctance to send their own tanks is that they now realize that they've let things get so bad that they won't have enough if they need them. What possible use does German have, or might have in the mid- to near future, for tanks. Short of a Klingon invasion, their only p...

Re: Has tom cruise flown a jet?

Don't know what you mean. at least for Top Gun one and two many shots were filmed in the air. The actors actually flew in the backseat of those Hornets and Tomcats. I believe he owns the L39 you see in Top Gun II, so he flew those sequences in the movie. Link to a segment There was a L39 in TopGun ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

6 days later, Military Sealift Command is unloading Bradleys in the Netherlands. The ship that delivered them would have had to already been loaded and underway to reach Vlissingen so soon after the announcement. While the Army describes the delivery as a routine-sounding unit rotation for the dete...

Re: Classified Documents from Biden’s VP days found in office

As with the documents at Mar-A-Lago, there must be an investigation. Unlike the documents at Mar-A-Lago, Biden is cooperating fully. Fully? If he was being "transparent" like he said he would be he wouldn't have waited so long to say something. These were found on November 2nd. Why are we...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Toward the end he let slip a comment a out F-18s. Wonder what is that all about. Maybe we can speculate why F-18 on the Ukrainian War Aviation thread. F-18s would probably be a better fit then F-16s. Their carrier capability makes them more rugged, which would be a plus for Ukrainian airports. Poss...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

It does IMO give some impetus to start a discussion within the US military about the need for MBTs in general and Abrams in particular in the future. How likely is the US to be in a future battle where MBTs can have a big influence relative to their cost and their logistical demands? But that's OT ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

It does IMO give some impetus to start a discussion within the US military about the need for MBTs in general and Abrams in particular in the future. How likely is the US to be in a future battle where MBTs can have a big influence relative to their cost and their logistical demands? But that's OT ...

Re: 6 Year Old Shoots Teacher

scbriml wrote:

alex0easy wrote:

Future GOP congressman.

He's certainly ticking all the right boxes.

Take a bow, Sir!

Re: Kevin McCarthy makes history... first in 100 years to fail Speaker vote

So what concessions and promises where made to get the final votes?

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

(disclaimer, map includes some occupied Ukrainian territory -- Crimea; from which russia draws conscripts; but doesn't include other occupied Ukrainian territories -- Donetsk and Luhansk regions, from which ruskies are running something close to total mobilization) It’s a weird projection, but I th...

Re: Cheques/checks - do they still exist where you are? If so, how widely are they used?

Never seen one in the Netherlands in the 41 years I’ve been around.

Seen them used in England around 2000, though not sure if they still use them.

Re: Nearly half of Brits say Prince Harry should lose his title, survey suggests

I still find it amazing we're arguing over kings and queens in 2023. What an archaic and stupid system. Living as subjects of an inbred family line of stuck up out of touch people. Preposterous! Not every monarch is stuck up or out of touch. Just like not every president is aware of what's going on...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

According to this, UNVERIFIED, reddit link, there are strikes all over Russia. Kursk, Rostov, Voronezh, Belgorod, Novosibirsk, Surovikin and St. Petersburg are mentioned. For those not up to date of Russian geography, Novosibirsk is about half way between Ukraine and the pacific ocean! That’s very v...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Russia is almost certainly following this approach in an attempt to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences. However, there is a realistic possibility that Russia will break this pattern to strike again in the coming days in an effort to undermine the morale of the Ukrainian population over the new year h...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Phosphorus wrote:

Alas that place is too far from area of Ukrainian cotrol

Re: Economic Crisis Looming in Russia

Aaron747 wrote:

Where do things go from here for the world's 11th largest economy?

Re: 10 Years Since Sandy Hook Shooting

There's no such thing as "Shoot to wound" and you're not in a movie, you'd probably miss legs. Yes there is such a thing as shooting to incapacitate. But you need police training a bit more advanced then what’s typically found in the US. Dutch police, for instance, are trained to aim for ...

Re: 10 Years Since Sandy Hook Shooting

I can see one scenario where gun ownership is heavily restricted. A close family member of a Congressperson or Supreme Court justice is the victim of a random shooter. I don’t think that would be enough. After everything that’s happened, anything short of the entire capitol hill daycare center gett...

Re: 10 Years Since Sandy Hook Shooting

Yesterday marked the 10 year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. This was a very shocking event that has since become quite common in schools across the United States. Surprised no one has posted on this yet. https://www.wfsb.com/2022/12/14/its-been-10-...

Re: Trump Digital Trading Cards

The site now claims they're sold out! Are there really that many idiots in America? Maybe Eric bought them so he could get to speak to his dad? Or, as with so many NFT’s, it is all a money laundering scheme. All those funds from the have to end in Trump’s hands somehow. He can’t just openly do it l...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Ukraine has a desperate need for fighters. Slovakia has unused fighters. Slovakia wants to supply them to Ukraine. Simple. What has this to do with NATO? Purely hypothetical, maybe the USA wants to delay handing them over because they are working on upgrades to be fitted to the Slovakian fighters? ...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Given their AD could not even stop an aging, converted large drone from penetrating one of their strategic weapons sites, at Engels Air Base, I doubt they are bring down HIMARS rockets, save for a few lucky hits. I took it to mean launchers, which they have been claiming destroyed once they arrived...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Maybe true, keep an eye on the Oryx site, they do visual confirmations not Russian BS. Do they also track individual missiles? Anyway, I suppose that if Russia really blew up two launchers along with a stockpile of 70 missiles, that there would be nothing left to identify except for a giant crater.

Re: Republican's and mail-in ballots

Forcing media outlets to present both sides was a terrible policy? Okay, how? While it is good to have different points of view, these should be reported honestly and fairly. If 99% of scientists and professionals say one thing (say: vaccines help or elections are fair), and 1% say something else, ...

Re: Republican's and mail-in ballots

Do the Republican's have a mail-in ballot problem? Yes, they have a problem with mail-in ballots. A problem you already identified, namely: They used to be among the biggest beneficiaries They used to be the biggest beneficiaries, past tense. Now the democrats have a larger benefit, and all of sudd...

Re: Mar-A-Lago raided by FBI.

Maybe that;s what he meant when he said he'd drain the swamp.
Through him a lot of murky attorneys have been retired.

Re: Trump Organization found guilty on all counts of criminal tax fraud

" However, a felony conviction could impact its ability to do business or obtain loans or contracts." This rhat here is the most important part of the sentencing... So what? He already had to go to dubious lenders in Russia and the middle-east anyway, because western banks won’t touch him...

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

It sounds like the long range strikes into Russia conducted by Ukraine were done using Russian kit. Does Ukraine have enough of this kit for strikes to make a military difference or are they just symbolic? A bit like the Doolittle raid on Tokio early on in WWII? Even if it is symbolic, it is not us...

Re: World Cup 2022 Football Thread

It’s amusing to see how a silly football song by a pair of comedians irritates some people. It really is sad. Most countries will have songs about how they are the best and they are champions. I know the Netherlands has a few, even though we only won the '88 EC. We did make second place in the worl...

Re: NATO and related topics discussion

Belgium is down to 2 frigates and their replacements are only going to have half the VLS tubes as their Dutch sisters. I'm sorry, but 8 cells just isn't enough in today's world. They're just being cheap. You could say the Belgians are cheap, and the USA are wise. Another way to look at it, is that ...

Re: Trump calls for termination of Constitution

I suppose that’s one way to change the second amendment.

Re: Shooting at Wal-Mart in Chespeake, Virginia

Guns are tools, but that does not imply that they should be available to all with little to no background check or training. A car is a tool, but requires a license to operate as well as proof of insurance and regular (annual) safety and environmental inspections. Same goes for planes, trucks, medic...

Re: Shooting at Wal-Mart in Chespeake, Virginia

Here's an interesting statistic. Belgium has a population of 11.48 million and had 1164 murders in 2018. Michigan, which includes Detroit, has a population of 10 million, had 747. The two murder rates are from the same site, so should be comparable. https://www.bing.com/search?q=belgium+population&...

Re: World Cup 2022 Football Thread

Messi is the world’s most successful player, the most Balon D’or wins. But is he truly the GOAT? One would say he would have to win a World Cup to take that mantle, One would not say that, or should not anyway. Football is a teamsport, it does matter how good you individually are. If you are playin...

Re: LATAM A20N ground collision during takeoff run at LIM

77west wrote:

That's more to do with if the computer decides there is not enough runway to safely stop. Not for collision avoidance.

Re: Shooting at Wal-Mart in Chespeake, Virginia

LabQuest wrote:

Because he doesn't fit the narrative being spouted in this very thread.

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

Does Ukraine have pilots trained to fly them? If not, it will be interesting to see how many hours pilots need to convert. As the BBC article says: "In the last six weeks, Ukrainian crews were trained in the UK to fly and maintain the aircraft - to provide search and rescue capabilities."...

Re: Musk, Twitter News and Discussion Thread

Tugger wrote:

he will work to make Twitter an AI controlled content distribution platform with minimal human intervention and staffing.

Re: Russian Invasion of Ukraine - *Discussion* Thread

art wrote:

60+ Gripen C (I guess) should become available in the next 5 years.