(warning Aviation content)

Ukrainian air force Mig29 coming across a supposedly Russian su-25 on the first or second day of the invasion.

You couldn’t make these things up.

Demining the Fields.

https://en.defence-ua.com/industries...tion-3887.html

...I really dunno what to make of this :confused:

The partisan damaged rail bridge to melitopol.

Spectacular timing for tank war games in Russia!


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....1a9c3205b.jpeg

https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/...sia/68582.html

It is interesting to see the list of countries participating.

Thats a crack team of Tankers right there!!!

Well, Japan is getting increasingly vocal (and pissed) about the Kuril islands. Unlikely to escalate into a full conflict but the situation is not easy.

Translation

Well the whole of the northern Caucasus is an area to watch. If Putin falls and Russia has internal disorder don’t xpect Chechnya or th other republics not to stir up trouble.

Lots of anger at the disparate casualties in Ukraine as their men and sons have been fed into the meat grinder.whilst those in Moscow and S Petersburg have been spared…

And when the Chechens fighting for Ukraine head home they’ll undoubtedly take lots of experience and equipment with them - and volunteers and logistic support.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chechnya

https://jamestown.org/program/russia...orth-caucasus/

https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/ch...ns-in-ukraine/

With regard to artillery wearing out - a catastrophic failure in the field:

"Footage of an Ukrainian 2S7 failed when firing"

https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFoota...eb2x&context=3

Russia now recruiting those over 50 to go to Ukraine….


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....afeec5924.jpeg

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2a8d3361e.jpeg

I have to say that -given the reputation of the Chechen as very tough fighters and the recent history of the brutal Russo/Chechen wars - I have been puzzled that Kadyrov is able to rule without any apparent internal discontent ( at least on what I read ) and giving enthusiastic support for Putin. Reports I have seen (linked on this site ? ) have shown that the Chechens were being treated like Moscovites in that their leaders were able to choose their engagements and chose the less risky ones. I recall them being in the rear of the fight for Kyev ( and part of the atrocities in the villages there ? ) and also as late-comers for the battle for Mariupol and the Azov steel-works.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....392c9b5718.png

Balls of steel, looks like more bullsh*t Russian propaganda, you would not lift and carry those little blighters anywhere.

I would expect the next immediate flashpoint to be belarus if the ukrainians win. Theres a LOT or trained and equiped belarussians. While they wont be able to take western heavy hardware, cant imagine ukraine will much if any effort to prevent them taking ukrainian / ex soviet / captured russian hardware with them

Let's just correct that little word :)

Well the rail bridge from Melitopol is well and truly shut, even Gupta in North West Frontier wouldn't cross that one

It will buff up. Give or take a year or so.

Putin has boasted to arm Russias allies with the latest arms technology: "[Russia] is ready to offer partners and allies the most modern types of weapons - from small arms to armoured vehicles and artillery, combat aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles"

my question is: what is most modern type of Russian weaponry that might be of interest after showcasing their efficiency in the war in Ukraine? Tanks? Frigates? S400's? Fast jets?

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...es-2022-08-15/

If you go a bit further down in the article, he also alludes to those who weren't at the fair as being girly-men, or something like that.
I'll bet a nickel that he was addressing Latin American and South American customers. ;)

Why do I suddenly feel the urge to rip my shirt off, splash myself all over with Brut (cringe) and jump on the back of an unsaddled horse and have my photo taken??

But first, let Hans and Franz pump (clap!) you up! :E

Well Nutty, that would go rather well with your hairdresser's car, don't you reckon ? :O:O

One would imagine that Putin's best bet would be to arm/ rearm and equip his own mob first?

Rather a lot of heavy gear may be left behind when the retreat gets under way. Putin cannot even trust his people to disable any serviceable ironmongery.

I would suggest he doesn’t ask his generals what they want - their responses might resemble that of Galland to Goering…

Of course and the miserable state of the Russian army was discussed in some detail last week when Ruslan Pukhow, director of the Institute for Strategy and Technology ( part of the Defence Ministry ) - and supposedly an intimate of Putin - gave an interview to a Russian journalist which was astonishingly frank.

https://www.focus.de/politik/ausland...132941476.html

I also read somewhere this week that existing export orders for India and Egypt are being delayed to allow the equipment (tanks, I believe ) to be diverted to RF.

Had the great pleasure and honour of meeting and chatting with both Adolf Galland and Robert Stanford-Tuck in New York in the early 1970s.

I wish Putin had someone honest and straight-talking he could rely on to give him a few home truths.

Really? Surely best if he is misinformed by sycophants.

Guessing he really needs the cash

I'd read the Indian helo acquisition had been cancelled due to concerns regarding Russia's ability to supply spares.

I doubt Putin would tolerate someone telling him what he doesn't want to hear. Shooting the messenger comes to mind...

https://warontherocks.com/2022/08/en...ffense-part-i/

ENDING THE IDEOLOGY OF THE OFFENSE, PART I

…..The ongoing war in Ukraine has shown that indications and warnings are a risky gauge on which to base decisions about the flow of forces into a theater. For Russia, whose deployment distance is stepping across a border, while the United States must cross an ocean and all of Western Europe, it is especially fraught. The Chinese advantage of proximity similarly creates challenges in defending Taiwan and elsewhere in the region.

These realities, coupled with the ever-growing threat to air bases and seaports from long-range precision fires, only complicate the getting-to-the-fight challenge. Even if there is sufficient warning, as there was in Ukraine this February, deployment could be stalled because of trepidations over fears of escalation or provoking enemy aggression.

What is needed as a first step in establishing regional deterrence in the Pacific and Europe is an assessment of what bare minimum has to be in place before a crisis to assure partners and allies that the coalition can credibly deter. This will include allied contributions, so the demand on U.S. forces will be less than shouldering the entire burden. If what is in place is not sufficient for the plan, it will likely not get there before the onset of hostilities….

Ironically, all the technologies that have been and are being developed for rapid, decisive offensive operations turn out to be even more formidable in the defense. They deny our adversaries surprise and enable us to dispose our forces where they can most effectively defend against attack. Consequently, as Alex Vershinin notes: “Emerging technologies in the fields of network, artificial intelligence, and space are shifting the balance back to defenses.” He continues by stating that the United States may have missed this shift and that the consequences are significant: “Unable to fight a short decapitation campaign, the United States may be forced into a prolonged attrition campaign, at unacceptable political costs.”

In the next part of this essay, I will turn to how the war in Ukraine can help the Department of Defense better understand the ascendance of the defense, so it can better prepare for the military problems it faces now and in the future.

This is worrying, and might result in a regime change in Belarus? as I hate to think of the repercussions. I wonder if this is why the radar was taken out.

He probably did at one time. They fare as well as (worse actually) those who spoke truth to our most recent former president.

With some 85% of the population opposing the war, seems like a courageous move for the last dictator in Europe. That is a fair amount of firepower that they are playing with, presumably they don't mind being on the receiving end of all the capability Ukraine has to hit them should they desire to be a party to Putin and his war crimes. They have already been in the game as an accomplice and now they want to add to the disgrace? Of note however, many of their citizens have been working with Ukraine against Russia, that should be a red flag to the dictator as to the potential for his grand plan to backfire.

What's the significance of today's explosions in Russian-occupied Crimea, and could it potentially be even more significant than the HIMARS attack on a Russian ammunition train two weeks ago?

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...ys-2022-08-16/

Russia's Black Sea fleet struggling with effective sea control, UK says

Aug 16 (Reuters) - Britain said on Tuesday that Russia's Black Sea Fleet is currently struggling to exercise effective sea control, with patrols generally limited to the waters within sight of the Crimean coast.

The Black Sea Fleet continues to use long-range cruise missiles to support ground offensives but is keeping a defensive posture, the British Defence Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin…

The Black Sea Fleet's currently limited effectiveness undermines Russia's overall invasion strategy, in part because the amphibious threat to Odesa has now been largely neutralised, the intelligence update added.

“At a press briefing Monday, following his meeting with President Volodymer Zelensky in Kyiv, Defence Secretary Austin said the United States just shipped five battalions of 155mm howitzers and their munitions to beef up Ukraine’s long-range fires.

He expected allies to do likewise in the coming days.”….