July 20, 20222 yr On 7/19/2022 at 10:46 PM, Cult Icon said: I see what you mean, as stuff like this can happen. It appears to be happening to Poland right now. Poland is buying a lot of US gear now, particularly expensive US M1 Abrams tanks, HIMARs MLRS, PATRIOT AA, etc. while offloading the legacy Soviet gear (T-72 etc) to Ukraine. This benefits US arms manufacturers but is not necessarily economical for Poland... with large scale warfare having more equipment is more important than small or zero tactical gains from equipment that costs several times more per unit. Yes, that's another example. The US arms manufacturers are quite agile, as they always manage to get support from those in charge. Whether it's Bush, Biden or whoever, they always manage to find political support. On 7/19/2022 at 10:46 PM, Cult Icon said: It seems like the Republicans consider China the #1 threat (economic and military) and the Democrats consider the Russians the #1 threat (military). From following this war it appears that China is adopting a semi-neutral stance towards Russia. I never really understood the partisan rationales. I thought Obama considered China to be the big threat. Human behavior is so hard to predict... but what's even more surprising to me is that people tend to 100% align with their perceived "side". Like if you endorse one party, you tend to align with them on all stances.
July 21, 20222 yr On 7/20/2022 at 5:30 PM, Enrico_sw said: Yes, that's another example. The US arms manufacturers are quite agile, as they always manage to get support from those in charge. Whether it's Bush, Biden or whoever, they always manage to find political support. This has been going on right now with the 4 HIMARS guided MLRS launchers. Lockheed Martin is getting a lot of press over their use and potential orders. At the same time this covers up news the massive Russian artillery offensive as people focus on the claimed results of 4 launchers... Now there will be more HIMARS for Ukraine from the US HIMARS - Google Search The Russian version of the HIMARS is the Uragan, which also uses guided projectiles at a 70KM range. Maybe Lockheed Martin's projectiles are better/newer but certainly the Uragan and other larger Russian launchers are several times cheaper. BM-27 Uragan - Wikipedia Before it the other 'game changers' were the Turkish drones, switchblade drones, and US howitzers. The US howitzers and Turkish drones underperformed in Ukraine and took very high losses. Most of the US howitzers are no longer operational as of June according to Ukraine's land forces logistics General. The problem with the howitzers was they kept on getting knocked by Russian counter-battery fire. Not surprising as the Russians have between 10-6 to 1 superiority in shells and rockets. + unfortunately, I haven't seen Lord of War. There has definitely been exposes about these practices, and also what really goes on with the IMF.
July 22, 20222 yr Russian documentary about the Battle of Mariupol. The footage appears to be of DRP militiamen, including the "Somali" battalion. The Russian state has tended to hide the participation of Russian army forces, downplaying their role and focusing on the civil war aspect as if it's organic. By simply banning cell phone use, they greatly minimize the digital footprint of the army. At the edge of the abyss documentary - The battle for Mariupol (odysee.com)
July 23, 20222 yr Russian army, equipped with silencers, with helicopters overheard. The sniper has this buttplate that many soldiers have. He removes it and uses it as a matt while lying prone. Some PMC Wagner mercenaries
July 23, 20222 yr US ground forces 2021 (IISS), Tanks and artillery. Even the US doesn't have that much compared to Russia. Air force is a different story, the US is far superior here. No wonder Ukraine is not getting the 3000-2000 artillery pieces it needs. The US, the most funded military in the world, only has some 4,300 heavy artillery pieces itself... US Army and Army Reserve: ARMOURED FIGHTING VEHICLES MBT 2,509: 750 M1A1 SA Abrams; 1,605 M1A2 SEPv2 Abrams; 154 M1A2C Abrams; (ε3,700 more M1A1/A2 Abrams in store) ARTILLERY 5,469 SP 155mm 1,023: 900 M109A6; 123 M109A7 (ε500 more M109A6 in store) TOWED 1,339: 105mm 821 M119A2/3; 155mm 518 M777A2 MRL 227mm 600: 375 M142 HIMARS; 225 M270A1 MLRS MOR 2,507: 81mm 990 M252; 120mm 1,076 M120/ M1064A3; SP 120mm 441 M1129 Stryker MC US Marine Corps: ARTILLERY 1,452 TOWED 812: 105mm: 331 M101A1; 155mm 481 M777A2 MRL 227mm 40 M142 HIMARS MOR 600: 81mm 535 M252; SP 81mm 65 LAV-M; 120mm (49 EFSS in store for trg)
July 23, 20222 yr France and UK- both not prepared for large scale warfare either, just like Germany. Too few tanks and artillery, barely anything to send to Ukraine. France, 2021 IISS: ARMOURED FIGHTING VEHICLES MBT 222 Leclerc ARTILLERY 265+ SP 155mm 108: 32 AU-F-1; 76 CAESAR TOWED 155mm 12 TR-F-1 MRL 227mm 13 M270 MLRS MOR 132+: 81mm LLR 81mm; 120mm 132 RT-F-1 United Kingdom, 2021 IISS: ARMOURED FIGHTING VEHICLES MBT 227 Challenger 2 ARTILLERY 598 SP 155mm 89 AS90 TOWED 105mm 114 L118 Light Gun MRL 227mm 35 M270B1 MLRS MOR 81mm 360 L16A1
July 23, 20222 yr Quote AOC's Fake Handcuffs Reveal Politicians Have Become Influencers—and Nothing More https://www.newsweek.com/aocs-feigned-handcuffs-reveal-politicians-have-become-influencers-nothing-more-opinion-1726177 https://nypost.com/2022/07/20/aoc-defends-fake-handcuff-stunt-at-abortion-protest/ Meanwhile, the new generation of US politicians is nothing but a joke. Not that this is a new practice to manipulate information...
July 24, 20222 yr 21 hours ago, Enrico_sw said: Meanwhile, the new generation of US politicians is nothing but a joke. I don't envy political life, to always be obsessed with what others think of you and operating in the realm of delusion & fantasies. The trade-off for having wealth and influence is too steep. Sounds like hell to me. It is better to be a hidden billionaire, influencing things from the shadows lol.
July 24, 20222 yr Finland IISS 2021: Pretty well armed for such a tiny population. Best armed by far in the Baltics. ARMOURED FIGHTING VEHICLES MBT 100 Leopard 2A6 (100 Leopard 2A4 in store) ARTILLERY 672 SP 122mm 49: 13 K9 Thunder; 36 2S1 Gvozdika (PsH 74) TOWED 288: 122mm 234 D-30 (H 63); 155mm 54 K 83/ GH-52 (K 98) MRL 56: 122mm 34 RM-70; 227mm 22 M270 MLRS MOR 279+: 81mm Krh/71; 120mm 261 Krh/92; SP 120mm 18 XA-361 AMOS
July 24, 20222 yr On 7/20/2022 at 5:30 PM, Enrico_sw said: Human behavior is so hard to predict... but what's even more surprising to me is that people tend to 100% align with their perceived "side". Like if you endorse one party, you tend to align with them on all stances. Trump the dear leader likes Putin and Russia. It seems like conservatives/republicans tend to be more favorable to Russia from a cultural POV, kind of like they are perceived as the last bastion of Christian values left in the West. Also there is an isolationist viewpoint that the US should leave NATO and let the Europeans fend for themselves. Leaving NATO would require the Russians to not be a threat. This would lead to a small defense sector over here and less MIC fabricated wars. Trump also held these views.
July 24, 20222 yr The Russian artillery offensive seems to have ended on July 19th. So it was July 6-19, or almost 2 weeks of shooting. It is likely that they are low on ammunition right now and reloading.
July 24, 20222 yr On 7/19/2022 at 12:58 AM, SympathysSilhouette said: The "woke" U.S. military would obliterate the Russian invading force in one targeting cycle if they wanted to. Numbers (airforcemag.com) IMHO: Overall the US airforce is far superior. The Iraqi air campaign saw something like 2/3rds of the ammunition was expensive guided types, and the force output was 700 sorties a day. The Russians in Ukraine put out 300-200 sorties/day typically with less use of guided ammunition. I think in a conventional, non-nuclear war US airpower would be several times stronger. However if the Russians mobilized for war their artillery and tank forces are far more numerous and they would have conscripted infantry. It seems like their strategy is to focus on strong missile forces, electronic warfare/Anti-aircraft (like long ranged SAMs S-500), so basically they would be fundamentally defensive while the US would be offensive. The bulk of the real damage on the ground would be done with Russian artillery, supplemented by missile strikes. Russian anti-aircraft power would be a major threat to US air operations. https://www.benning.army.mil/Armor/eARMOR/content/issues/2017/Spring/ARMOR Spring 2017 edition.pdf In terms of artillery, the US does respect Russian artillery. Overall it appears that Russian artillery is superior to US artillery but is hampered by inefficiency, they use too much unguided ammunition and the results in Ukraine are too slow. The Russians have a lot of artillery drones, the skies in Ukraine are filled with them but they are weak compared to the US in high end UAV. Russian tank forces were respected for their great mass but Ukraine has damaged their reputation. It appears that the tank- neither US or Russian will no longer be a decisive weapon in the future, there are powerful anti-tank weapons everywhere now. American professional infantry forces are not only much larger than the Russian but higher quality. But in a total war situation, the Russians will have superiority in reservists and conscripts if the US doesn't conscript anyone. If the US conscripts we will be stronger. US logistics and naval power is far superior to Russian, as the Russians rely on railroad troops and railroads.
July 25, 20222 yr The Russian Way of Warfare: A Primer (rand.org) 2017 comparison between US brigade and a Russian brigade, the decisive difference is in artillery. US Brigade has 18 155mm SP howitzers, the Russian Brigade has 36 x 152mm SP howitzers and 18 x 122mm SP MLRS organic. The Russian artillery is also longer ranged than the American. Besides this there are separate artillery brigades in the Russian force structure that have heavier equipment, like SP 203mm guns and 300mm SP MLRS with satellite guided rocket projectiles. The advantage of the US however is that the US Brigade combat team is composed of professional soldiers. The Russian Brigade, in a war scenario, would have its infantry ranks composed mainly of reservists and trained conscripts. The professionals would be the leaders, tankers, artillerymen, logistics, specialists etc. So the Russian infantrymen would be of a lower standard than the US. The significant difference in artillery would have to be made up by US corps artillery and US airpower. The Russian doctrine is extremely artillery dominated, while in US thinking they see artillery as a supporting arm, the Russians see it as the decisive arm. Russian infantry and tanks support the artillery, not the other way around. The US and US culture in general (and entertainment, movies, games, etc.) on the other hand are the opposite, they fetishize elite infantry and spec ops to the point where the US has a special forces army. In the Ukraine the pop observers have failed to notice the 900 pound gorilla- that the Russian combat battalions are very good at defense. They have defeated all Ukrainian counterattacks except for one at Kharkiv, and this was due to the thin defenses more than anything else. The recent defeat of two Ukrainian brigades in the south by one encircled Russian battalion is case in point- the Ukr brigades pincered the battalion, and the Russian response was to saturate the Ukr brigades with superior artillery fire and force them to retreat. They achieve a routinely solid defense despite the Ukr's vast, many multiples superiority in raw infantry numbers. I believe this is due to the work of the Russian artillery, which defeats Ukr attacks at the staging/assembly areas (with missile and air strikes at times) and at the approach. The Russian infantry/spetznaz troopers are mainly the forward observers for the artillery, until they are ordered to move up and seize shattered areas with tank support.
July 26, 20222 yr Books/articles sourced from Russian tactical manuals: Russian military combat doctrine 2017, sourced from Russian literature and tactical/doctrinal manuals: 2017-07-the-russian-way-of-war-grau-bartles.pdf (army.mil) Maneuver defense: 2Grau_Bartles21.pdf (army.mil) Soviet artillery planning in the tactical defense ADA231788.pdf (dtic.mil)
July 26, 20222 yr According to this journal article, in 2016 the Russian 152mm GPS/GLONASS-enabled artillery shell cost $1,000. The U.S./ NATO 155mm M982 Excalibur artillery shell cost about $80,000 to manufacture. In 2022 the cost of Excalibur has been significantly reduced though. Charles K. Bartles, “Innovation, Cost, and Compromise Regarding the ‘God of War,’” OE Watch Online, June 2016
July 27, 20222 yr Shooting a Kord heavy machinegun with a scope: Kord machine gun - Wikipedia Strange weapon. In the US the 50 cal. MG is used but is much heavier and not man-portable to this extent. The gun appears to have a lot of recoil, but the rounds are certainly useful for shooting through walls and barriers.
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