Russia and Ukraine

[Pat Mustard]

*Nods*

Hard to break does not equal 'Indestructable'.

There's been a few Youtube vids of pilots recounting bringing the damaged birds home.

Pretty sure though, that such machines are still 'Right offs' even though they stayed under thier pilots till they made it back home.

Lose an F-16? Recover the pilot and strap them into a new one comming off the lines.

Lose an A-10? Nup, there ain't no more, no more.

Unless thre's rumblings in the American halls of power to make something new? Assuming you can pry the money out of the Airforce's hands. I've seen more than a few comments about the internet about the Airforce's "Love" for the A-10.

Time will tell, I suppose.

Cheers.

Of course it doesn’t mean ‘indestructible’ - no one said it did. But the US has nearly 300 of these planes in mothballs.

During Desert Storm, the USAF flew 8000 sorties with A-10. Five were destroyed. Five. So, it’s clearly destroyable, but not easily so.

Boru

Desert Storm isn't a good comparison with the Ukraine war. By the time the first A-10 flew the US has complete air superiority so no US planes were facing any counter-attacks.

[The Architect Of Fate]

For example, it looks as though these super-duper Abrams tanks which are going to fly in to rescue our man Zelensky are difficult to use because they require fuel that's different from other machines. This increases logistical and maintenance difficulties. And the reason they are built this way is because Rumsfeld used the Abrams program to enrich the Chrysler Corporation, which was struggling at the time. 

You're an idiot. The AGT1500 is a multifuel engine. You should perhaps take up the habit of fact-checking claims you come across. The engine wasn't built by Chrysler, either; it was built by Honeywell, as anyone who did even minimal reading to verify what he was repeating would have learned.

You're a low information blatherer who thinks he sounds intelligent when he deploys pseudorevolutionary rhetoric. Shit, I could have told you about the Turkish missile deal. And the F-35s weren't scrubbed because we were trying to control Turkey's purchasing. It was scrubbed because we did not want anyone to be able to examine the F-35 with a good modern radar under controlled conditions in order to defeat its stealth aspects. But that doesn't fit your tres-cool anti-American codswallop.

'Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool ... I think you can finish this thought.

Thar goes for finding your military facts from Youtube videos. too. There's a lot of junk there and one must be careful.

Bel consistently shows he doesn't understand anything about war or international affairs. They are simply props to spew Anti-American drivel. He and Winter should form a club.

[The Architect Of Fate]

Anyone who bashes the Abrams. I have three words for you. Operation Dessert Storm. It absolutely dominated every Russian tank it was put up against and the tanks the Russians are using now are the same older models it was designed to destroy.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Of course it doesn’t mean ‘indestructible’ - no one said it did. But the US has nearly 300 of these planes in mothballs.

During Desert Storm, the USAF flew 8000 sorties with A-10. Five were destroyed. Five. So, it’s clearly destroyable, but not easily so.

Boru

Desert Storm isn't a good comparison with the Ukraine war.  By the time the first A-10 flew the US has complete air superiority so no US planes were facing any counter-attacks.

They were facing SAMs and various anti-aircraft fire. A few dozen were badly damaged.

Air superiority isn’t much of a factor regarding A-10 (provided you have at least some other planes in the sky), as their function is close air support, not dogfighting. 

Given the Russian passion for armoured combat vehicles, there’s likely a very plausible role for the A-10.

Boru

[Thumpalumpacus]

Anyone who bashes the Abrams. I have three words for you. Operation Dessert Storm. It absolutely dominated every Russian tank it was put up against and the tanks the Russians are using now are the same older models it was designed to destroy.

Be aware that the Iraqi tanks in that war were export T-72s with weaker steel.

A-10s work at such a low level that Russian SAMs have, by necessity, a much shorter range. It's about radar sight-to-horizon; the lower the plane, the closer the radar must be. They're also incredibly maneuverable and equipped with chaff and flares. My dad worked on mating the AGM-65 with the A-10 at Ft Hunter-Liggett, and told me how they'd loiter behind hills, pop up, shoot a missile, and duck back down. May not apply to black-earth Ukraine, but could still be useful, and any Russian radar that could pick it up would be in danger itself.

[The Architect Of Fate]

Anyone who bashes the Abrams. I have three words for you. Operation Dessert Storm. It absolutely dominated every Russian tank it was put up against and the tanks the Russians are using now are the same older models it was designed to destroy.

Be aware that the Iraqi tanks in that war were export T-72s with weaker steel.

A-10s work at such a low level that Russian SAMs have, by necessity, a much shorter range. It's about radar sight-to-horizon; the lower the plane, the closer the radar must be. They're also incredibly maneuverable and equipped with chaff and flares. My dad worked on mating the AGM-65 with the A-10 at Ft Hunter-Liggett, and told me how they'd loiter behind hills, pop up, shoot a missile, and duck back down. May not apply to black-earth Ukraine, but could still be useful, and any Russian radar that could pick it up would be in danger itself.

While it's true the Iraqi tanks were weaker than their Russian counterparts I still think  Abrams has the edge. But yes that is a difference we should keep in mind.

[Leonardo17]

A change in russian leadership and a rethink of what russia is by a russian administration sounds great - unless you're Vlad the Bad. Sounds like shit then - so it can't happen as long as Vlad is still at the helm.

At the above, the f35 would be baller if it worked, which is the goal of the f35 project. They've not met that goal, despite the funding....that's true....nuts like to sprinkle their bad takes with true things. Gives them what they think is plausible deniability for being nuts. Thing is..I think we all agree...no matter our political persuasion, that weapons manufacturers always want more money to make weapons. They always want more oppurtunities to sell weapons. There really is something in the idea that the us mic told us that russian shit was so much better than it actually is so they could extraxct more greenbacks from us. They did do that, it seems.

Accept as the idea above points out it does work and it's critics are simply wrong

That’s not the biggest problem. There are rumors that Putin has some sort of cancer but it’s not verified.
 
The problem is that he might be succeeded by someone who is even crueler than him. Like Eugeny Prigozhin for instance.
 
So the ideal would be a less-insane leader that would at least put Russia back on a path of governance by the people. But is this even possible?

[Leonardo17]

That’s exactly what they told my President for 3 more month to convince him to buy Russian S-300 systems (which are not even being used and are sitting in a military warehouse) in return for being kicked out of the F-35 program (of which we were producing some key elements).

I hadn't heard about this, but it doesn't surprise me. The whole weapons exchange thing is done for politics or for graft, not effective defense. 

It's a way for the US to exert control over its obedient vassal states, and to enrich US manufacturers. Decisions are made based on political connections rather than what actually works. 

For example, it looks as though these super-duper Abrams tanks which are going to fly in to rescue our man Zelensky are difficult to use because they require fuel that's different from other machines. This increases logistical and maintenance difficulties. And the reason they are built this way is because Rumsfeld used the Abrams program to enrich the Chrysler Corporation, which was struggling at the time. 

https://spoilsofwar.substack.com/p/magic...-disasters

Anyway, CNN is saying the tanks won't arrive for a year. CNN lies constantly, of course, but only in pro-American ways, so we'll see. Lots of pledges of assistance like this are made for the headlines, and then when attention has shifted to the next thing the pledges are quietly forgotten. So let's see how many of these super-duper tanks really arrive.

1) The F-16’s won’t arrive for a few months. They need to train the pilots.
 
2) The German Tanks will arrive within weeks (the training time is shorter and it uses diesel, not jet fuel + I think the leopard is still the better tank in this war. The Total number of modern Tanks that will be sent to Ukraine in the coming months is 327. That’s the number Zelensky needed. French Tanks are coming too. (https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-recei...00258.html)
 
3) Now they need air defences, Migs and F-16’s. I don’t know about A-10’s. Why not just send them and see if it works (it’s an old type of airplane anyway) . I came to know that F-35 is the beast US fighter jet second only to F-22 Raptors which are very expensive but are described as the Ferrari’s of fighter jets. But Just like Eurofighter’s and Mirage airplanes these have very complex technologies and require a lot of training. The war will probably be over before Ukrainian pilots are trained on these systems. Besides Russia has about 20 next generation airplanes which cannot leave Russian airspace because they don’t want them to be shut down. So F-35’s would only be necessary if Ukraine wanted to invade Russia at some point (to bypass their air-defense system [S-300’s]) but this is not going to happen. So F-16’s should do so there can be more men (Both Russian and Ukrainian) who will be able to be with their families next year.
 
4) First paragraph. You know Greece is a rival country for Turkey since many years (I mean in geopolitical terms and influence in the Aegean Sea). Greece has about 20 F-35’s, 20 Mirage airplanes + a fleet of modernized F-16’s. Because he took the S-300’s from Putin, The One with Neo-Ottoman Ambitions was even denied equipment to modernize our fleet of F-16 airplanes. We are a country of 80 million inhabitants. The population of Greece is about 10 million. So (thank God) nothing is going to happens in the near future with Greece. But if something was to happen it wouldn’t look so nice for us if you know what I mean .
 
- But yes. At least we have some Soviet-Era missile missiles (which are only sitting in our military warehouse – instead of Patriot missiles by the way). But now everyone knows for sure that we are not a vassal state. (what did I just say? : 

[Leonardo17]

Soledar was a minor victory that cost the Russians huge amounts of troops and equipment and months of fighting. Proof Russia can't fight because if they could they would have won weeks ago and this imaginary encirclement Russia simps keep bleating about isn't going to happen. It's amazing Russia can lose battle after battle and the simps will keep saying they aren't losing yet they win one minor victory and they act like it means something...

As of today, satellite imagery shows that Russians are digging trenches in occupied territories. It looks like the new Russian offensive which will start from Bakhmut or from Belarus is not really going to happen. I think they know what’s coming although they are saying that modern tanks are not going to change anything. Another interesting fact: The size and capacities of the Russian army seems to have been overestimated since the Soviet Era. Russians are turning to relic tanks from the 1960’s which belong to museums or should be in the possession of some rich collectors for their war in Ukraine.
 
So for all these reasons, I think there could be some regime change with a more logical approach to everything in the coming months. (hopefully)

[Leonardo17]

Soledar is strategically important to Prigozhins bank account.  He'll have to round up some pows and stolen kids to work the salt mines, but that shouldn't be a problem.  Russia intends to build a bunch of labor camps and penal colonies in the occupied areas.

That’s a very good point too. In West Africa they are convincing local dictators to tell European states to leave the area. Than they come in to “support” local governments in their fight against some terror groups. And their payment is usually in the form of local resources especially mining resources. This is called “predatory strategies” and I am surprised to hear that the US waited this long to add them to their lists of terror organizations.    
 
Wagner is clearly destabilizing many parts of Africa and they do this for the predation of some natural resources. + I increasingly believe that they are an autonomous force in Russia. I think that Putin is answering to them more than them answering to Putin. So “What a mess!” I remember the final days of the USSR in the late 80’s. What a mess! Really.