Russian invasion of Ukraine

[Salt n Vinegar]

2 hours ago, Newbornbairn said:

Baws of steel on this guy

 

 

Some folk will do almost anything to get rid of these effing grey squirrels. 

[ICTChris]

10 hours ago, Mr Waldo said:

Interesting disparity in the death rates in the North Caucausas - Dagestan and North Ossetia have some of the worst rates, Ingushetia also pretty bad but Chechnya is one of the lowest.

I guess there will be an issue with identifying deaths from Chechen units, it depends how they are gathering their information.  Chechen units are normally technically under the command of the Russian national guard but in reality they are controlled directly by Kadyrov, same with the GRU and FSB units based out of Chechnya.  So deaths among those units might be lower than thought.  Or the reputation of the Chechens as messing about for TikTok and staying away from the front lines could be accurate.

[ICTChris]

Border reinstated 

 

[Jacksgranda]

On 14/05/2022 at 11:07, LongTimeLurker said:

Probably but not good from a radar evasion standpoint if it does as I am sure you are well aware my Airdire supporting friend. The outer edge of the claimed range means that anything coming out of Sebastopol should be in range from Odesa if somebody with access to a military satellite passes along the coordinates to target. No idea how good Russian missile defences would be against this but it appears to be the best that the Israelis have so maybe they are hoping to boost weapons sales by having the Ukrainians do another Moskva but with their system this time. Israel has to worry about what Russia will give the Syrians so this is a surprising development.

 

If it's anything like the stuff they've been using themselves the Syrians will maybe say "No, thanks".

[Jacksgranda]

On 15/05/2022 at 06:30, Moomintroll said:

iTs A cONsPIrAcy.

No, it's A Special Operation.

[Albus Bulbasaur]

12 hours ago, ICTChris said:

Border reinstated 

 

There's been a notable absence on this thread from some of the posters who at the start were simping for Putin. Realpolitik meant the Ukraine just had to give up it's territory for big bad Russia...

Edited May 16, 2022 by Albus Bulbasaur

[DMCs]

On 13/05/2022 at 17:43, Detournement said:

Erdogan will name a price. The man is a natural born gangster. 

The retaliation to Finland and Sweden joining will be Russian nuclear weapons in the Baltic and Kaliningrad. Great for America, shite for Europe. 

 

Europe being more serious about their own defence rather than piggybacking on American power is great for Europe. It's been a necessity for a while imo but unfortunately it's taken this war to get it going.

It's not 1995 any more and the US will be far more stretched over the coming decades. 

[Detournement]

1 minute ago, DMCs said:

Europe being more serious about their own defence rather than piggybacking on American power is great for Europe. It's been a necessity for a while imo but unfortunately it's taken this war to get it going.

It's not 1995 any more and the US will be far more stretched over the coming decades. 

All that's going to happen is American troops and missiles in Sweden and Finland just like they are here. 

[DMCs]

1 minute ago, Detournement said:

All that's going to happen is American troops and missiles in Sweden and Finland just like they are here. 

But that isn't all that's happening is it? German economic power is now going to be translated into military power, more countries with proximity to Russia are going to be in NATO and we are seeing more of a diplomatic unity on security questions then we have for at least 30 years.

[Sergeant Wilson]

8 minutes ago, DMCs said:

But that isn't all that's happening is it? German economic power is now going to be translated into military power, more countries with proximity to Russia are going to be in NATO and we are seeing more of a diplomatic unity on security questions then we have for at least 30 years.

Europe needs a strong Germany.

[DiegoDiego]

Couple of things that struck me as interesting this morning.

Since the start of the war Russia have been running a huge trade surplus. Imports down 44%, exports up 8%. This is what's keeping the ruble strong.

At current rates of supply to Ukraine, the USA's military will run out of stingers and javelins by the end of 2022. They last manufactured a stinger ten years ago.

[scottsdad]

6 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said:

Couple of things that struck me as interesting this morning.

Since the start of the war Russia have been running a huge trade surplus. Imports down 44%, exports up 8%. This is what's keeping the ruble strong.

At current rates of supply to Ukraine, the USA's military will run out of stingers and javelins by the end of 2022. They last manufactured a stinger ten years ago.

Javelins should be easy enough to make. Just cut down some trees, fashion into sticks, add a pointy bit on the end and away you go. 

[supermik]

1 hour ago, DiegoDiego said:

At current rates of supply to Ukraine, the USA's military will run out of stingers and javelins by the end of 2022. They last manufactured a stinger ten years ago.

Got to get rid of their old stock somewhere. Plus they want to get in there before the end of BOGOF kicks in

[dorlomin]

1 hour ago, DiegoDiego said:

At current rates of supply to Ukraine, the USA's military will run out of stingers and javelins by the end of 2022. They last manufactured a stinger ten years ago.

Javelin is the bottom tier of western anti armour systems. Its meant as a last ditch system for infantry when everything else has failed. Its been given to Ukraine as it took so little training. 

TOW is the main surface launched anti tank missile, but that is usually vehicle mounted. Its a much meaner system. The other main killers are things like Hellfire, Maverick and Brimstone air launched systems, the guns of our armour and then the ever increasingly bigger air dropped munitions and bombs that can be adapted as anti tank is a case of severe over kill. 

Plus artillery munitions from MRLS and systems like M777 (Copperhead laser guided, Gauntlet Excalibur) etc, I do not think that hoping the west runs out of missiles is a valid strategic choice at this point. 

 

[jagfox]

The end of an era...

 

A big opportunity for DonMak though...

Edited May 16, 2022 by jagfox

[jagfox]

 

 

[jagfox]

Spectacular image from within Azovstal.

 

 

 

[Newbornbairn]

Didn't know that we've had British Army & special forces training teams in Ukraine since 2016.

[DiegoDiego]

Javelin is the bottom tier of western anti armour systems. Its meant as a last ditch system for infantry when everything else has failed. Its been given to Ukraine as it took so little training. 
TOW is the main surface launched anti tank missile, but that is usually vehicle mounted. Its a much meaner system. The other main killers are things like Hellfire, Maverick and Brimstone air launched systems, the guns of our armour and then the ever increasingly bigger air dropped munitions and bombs that can be adapted as anti tank is a case of severe over kill. 
Plus artillery munitions from MRLS and systems like M777 (Copperhead laser guided, Gauntlet Excalibur) etc, I do not think that hoping the west runs out of missiles is a valid strategic choice at this point. 
 

The take I read is that the US strategy isn't to actively partake in wars anymore but instead fight by supplying the locals (it was put more eloquently than that and to the author's credit has been saying this for a few years now). To that end things like javelin are perfect as they require very little training, whereas more advanced systems wouldn't be able to be used by inexperienced reservists. Sending cutting edge weaponry to Ukraine or wherever else a war might pop up in the coming decade would be more expensive and less effective.

This really isn't my area of expertise though so rebuttals are welcome.

[Sergeant Wilson]

23 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said:

This really isn't my area of expertise though so rebuttals are welcome.

Well shut up and leave it to us experts.

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