spenaroo Posted February 22 Posted February 22 (edited) 1 hour ago, onetrack said: Possibly the part that will annoy the Ukrainians is that the Major General hadn't actually arrived at the troop assembly, he was still on his way, so they missed killing him. why.... chances are the general will make the same mistake. not the first time they have done this. last time they took out an actress/singer https://www.news.com.au/world/europe/chilling-video-shows-russian-actor-killed-singing-for-putins-marines-in-ukraine-revenge-attack/news-story/6844aa416ebbc98259fb8fac8ae82c0d and I seem to remember them doing the exact same attack on a general previous to that Edited February 22 by spenaroo 1
willedoo Posted February 22 Posted February 22 The Ukrainians are claiming another Su-34. If true that makes seven Sukhois in a week. 1 1
kgwilson Posted February 22 Posted February 22 It demonstrates the vulnerability of manned equipment. Ships, aircraft and tanks have been the favourite targets with pretty good success. Personally I don't think there is much of a future in manned hardware other than perhaps aircraft carriers and other large transport systems to get gear to the war zone and subs that can hide well. 3
willedoo Posted February 22 Posted February 22 Things aren't looking good for Ukraine. In some parts of the front line, artillery is reduced to a ration of firing a handful of shells per day. The Europeans are scrambling to find and fund more shells as soon as possible, but there's no joy coming from the U.S. due to putler's Republican allies. The fall of Avdiivka this week is typical of the way the Russians will advance. The city's pre war population of over 30,000 is now reduced to zero and the city is now just rubble. The Russians outgun the Ukrainians five to one in artillery, so they reduce towns to rubble and to the point where Ukraine can no longer defend. Once the civilians are gone, both sides are just fighting over destroyed buildings. The problem for Ukraine is that there's only two choices - retreat without a fight and hand territory to Russia, or to defend cities and towns in which case the Russians blast it out of existence. The only hope for Ukraine is that the Russian rate of advance will be slow due to their logistic problems. Two years on from the full scale invasion, Russia has a few scratches but is still very much in it. A lot of sanctions have been bypassed and Russia has countries like North Korea, Iran and China as reliable suppliers. Russia's economy is now on a war footing allocating 6.5% of its total budget to replacing losses on the battlefield. Also, the Russian economy is tipped this year to grow more than any of the G7 countries, so at this stage, their war effort is sustainable. Production of shells and missiles has ramped up, and an estimate by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think-tank, says Russia can now produce 125 tanks per month, more than enough to replace those destroyed. When you look at graphs of exports to countries like Georgia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan of high priority items that are covered by sanctions on Russia, there's a huge spike after the date of the Russian invasion. This is where they are getting their drone parts and high tech gear from. It's really just export laundering. At this stage, putler is in a much better position than Ukraine. His plan B was to stick it out and outlast his foes, and so far it's working. Biden's administration is forever leaning towards supplying this or leaning toward supplying that. He's been leaning for so long, it's a wonder he hasn't fallen over. 3
onetrack Posted February 23 Posted February 23 The Ukrainians must be very pleased with their latest hit on the Orcs. You'd think the Russians would have learnt after the devastation of their parading troops just one day ago - but no, they've been assembling in groups in a training area, and the Ukrainians found them again, and hit them again, with devastating results. The Ukrainians are using the HIMARS MLRS artillery with the M30A1 GMLRS missiles that contain tungsten balls, that explode over the target in the air. The results are impressive. The Ukrainians claim they got 200 Russian soldiers in this latest hit - but even if that figure is exaggerated, the Russians toll is certainly in the dozens again. It would be very pleasing if one of these M30A1's landed right near Putin, or hit an aircraft he was in, but Putin is ensuring he stays out of range. He took a 30 minute ride in a revamped Tupolev bomber yesterday, I bet the Ukrainians would've liked to whack that one out of the sky, like they've been taking down Sukhois recently. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13112375/Russian-troops-wiped-Ukrainian-HIMARS-missile.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13113589/Putin-taunts-West-taking-flight-Russian-nuclear-bomber.html 1
willedoo Posted February 23 Posted February 23 Russia has lost another Beriev A-50 early warning and control aircraft. Ukraine's Defense Intelligence claimed the shooting down of the A-50 near the Sea of Azov. https://www.stripes.com/theaters/europe/2024-02-23/ukraine-destroyed-russia-early-warning-control-plane-13097807.html 1
willedoo Posted February 23 Posted February 23 This is a screen grab from some Russian footage of the A-50 sending out decoy flares before it was hit. Here's a link to the footage for anyone with an Xcrement account: https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1761086281893687500 1
willedoo Posted February 23 Posted February 23 Also this morning are unconfirmed claims of yet another Su-34 downed. If true, the orcs will be starting to get really p*ssed off. If they have enough cruise missiles saved up, we could probably expect large scale attacks on civilian targets soon. Their usual retaliation is to bomb apartment buildings. 1
willedoo Posted February 23 Posted February 23 Due to the distance from the front line of a lot of these recent shootdowns, there's speculation as to whether the Ukrainians are using UAV's carrying air to air missiles. It probably wouldn't be that difficult to do. 1
facthunter Posted February 24 Posted February 24 It's a shame Putin can bomb any part of Ukraine with impunity, but will not have the same dealt to him. Nev 3
willedoo Posted February 24 Posted February 24 It's not looking like a very happy invasion anniversary day for putler. The Ukrainians have just claimed a shoot down of a Russian Il-22M airborne command post and radio relay aircraft. If all three are confirmed, the tally for one day's hunting is a Beriev A-50, a Su-34 fighter bomber and the Il-22M. The Beriev is the expensive one at around $350 million USD with a high experience crew of 15. The other two are about $35 million each, so all up over 400 million USD worth of aircraft. 1 1
willedoo Posted February 24 Posted February 24 It must be unnerving in a big aircraft like the A-50 AWACS plane to pick up incoming missiles on the radar. All they can do is lay flares and chaff and hope for the best. A bit like a big sitting duck. At least in a fighter, the pilot has maneuverability and speed as assets to help avoid a missile. 1
willedoo Posted February 24 Posted February 24 It will be interesting to see what comes out in the wash about these planes. All that's known so far about the Su-34 is that it disappeared from radar shortly after launching missiles. There's also some possibility the Russians shot down the A-50 themselves. One bit of Russian footage on Telegram suggests a Pantsir round launching in it's direction. It needs more video to surface to clarify things a bit. 1
willedoo Posted February 24 Posted February 24 Some Russian military bloggers are calling it friendly fire. I wonder if the Ukrainians can award medals to Russian air defence units. 1
willedoo Posted February 24 Posted February 24 I was watching a short promotional clip on the Ukrainian pilots training on the F-16. No doubt a challenge is learning the new systems after being used to mainly analogue MiG-29A's. One pilot said the F-16 is fun to fly and more agile than the MiGs. He said it felt like the plane wanted you to fly it aggressively. The F-16 would have to be one of the most successful fighters ever built. It's always been a favourite of pilots, some of whom have described it as the sports car of fighters. The visibility in them is second to none. It always intrigues me how they can optimise a pitot inlet for such a broad range of combat speeds and maneuverability. Simplicity seems to work well in the F-16. It's popularity extends to home simulator builders; it would have to be the most common military simpit build worldwide. 1
nomadpete Posted February 24 Posted February 24 Re: the alleged Rusky aircraft getting hit. Maybe the Ukrainians are very carefully hoarding their advanced devices. And judicially using them to best advantage. When you know you are outnumbered, it is wise to make every hit count. 2
willedoo Posted February 24 Posted February 24 1 minute ago, nomadpete said: Re: the alleged Rusky aircraft getting hit. Maybe the Ukrainians are very carefully hoarding their advanced devices. And judicially using them to best advantage. When you know you are outnumbered, it is wise to make every hit count. I think they have a huge potential in military equipment development. They have some smart people and a long track record in the industry. In Soviet times, a lot of the military gear was designed, developed and built in Ukraine. Kharkiv is where a lot of the tanks and armoured vehicles were built. I think they still have a tank plant in Kharkiv. If my memory serves me well, the legendary WW2 T-34 tank was a Ukrainian development at Kharkiv. Post 1991, they've developed a lot of their own gear. Anti tank systems, anti ship missiles and full air defence systems to name a few. Now they are full steam ahead in drone development and production. 1 1
red750 Posted February 24 Posted February 24 Russia has lost its appeal against Olympic suspension, meaning that Russian athletes can only compete at the Paris games as neutral athletes. No Russian team. 1
onetrack Posted February 24 Posted February 24 I read where there was speculation that the Ukrainians launched an air-to-air missile from a big drone to knock down the A-50. If that turns out to be true, that's a quantum leap in drone warfare. 1 1
nomadpete Posted February 24 Posted February 24 7 hours ago, onetrack said: I read where there was speculation that the Ukrainians launched an air-to-air missile from a big drone to knock down the A-50. If that turns out to be true, that's a quantum leap in drone warfare. I think it would be a Jab sized drone to do that (or Foxbat?) 1
willedoo Posted February 24 Posted February 24 I see that Ukrainian pilots have completed introductory training on the Swedish Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighters. Sweden still hasn't made a decision on supplying Gripens at this stage. 1
willedoo Posted February 25 Posted February 25 The Polish ambassador rips it up the Russian representative at the U.N. Security Council. 1
Jerry_Atrick Posted February 25 Posted February 25 Sadly, the news being reported does not coincide with the Polish ambassador's prognosis that Ukraine won't be subjucated: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-outnumbered-outgunned-ground-down-by-relentless-russia-2024-02-21/ 1 2
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