BlackMoria

I don't know if actual numbers are available but just based on the anecdotal evidence of viewing hundreds and hundreds of videos, I would say, based on said videos, about 60% of videos I have seen have AK styles of weapons and the others show some western non-AK weapons. Just a completely unscientific guess on my part, it seems like Ukrainian special forces use NATO weaponry and optics. Foreign Legions uses lots of NATO gear (didn't in the beginning but I am seeing more and more recent Legion videos with NATO gear). Lots of NATO gear in Kraken, it seems. I suspect high profile units like the 93rd have lots of NATO gear. Probably newly stood up formations seem to use more NATO rifles than AKs. Again, just anecdotal evidence. Perhaps Haiduk or some of the Ukrainian posters can cast more light on this.

Damn, that is some fine 'south american snow' going up noses. I wonder what the Kremlin budget is for this commodity.

Merry Xmas to everyone. And my thoughts to all Ukrainians and Ukrainian Armed Force personnel everywhere. May all you CM players get kissed under the mistletoe and not get kissed by a Tow missile this holiday season.

Heh. Starshe Edda needs to learn what another 'geopolitical error' is. Attacking Poland or any other Baltic State. Damn, the Russian bear's face is already stung and badly swollen from sticking it into the Ukrainian wasp nest. And they want to do it again... with murder hornets this time. That is some cosmic level stupidity going on right now.

I found this interesting youtube video by Peter Zeihan about Russian overall motivations, economics and perhaps a view of what is to come. I found it very interesting. Zeihan sounds like knows what he is talking about, so I thought I would share.

Harsh! There is a lot of "coke lines snorted off of strippers asses" fueled delusions going on there. Bigger units? More units? Equipment with what, pray tell? That wasn't addressed. A whole of 'magical' thinking going on there...

"Ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?" I guess we will see if Russia can dance....

I envy you. 17 years of humping a ruck in full tactical fighting order means I can't run anymore. My knees are shot. Best I can do is a slow jog and only a short distance.

Welcome to the Theatre of the Absurd. Performance art at its finest.

Here's a thought - Russian wanted this guy because as a infamous arms dealer, they need him and his connections to get them arms. Seems obvious to me why the Russians want him now and didn't express much interest a few months ago....

Heh ... the North American auto industry decided that plastic bumpers would be a great cost saver. Not! I had a Dodge Caravan van. Very cold day and my daughter took it out and hit a huge a** porcupine crossing the highway. Explaining to the auto insurance people the porcupine shaped hole knocked out of the plastic bumper was a interesting exercise. Insurance adjuster: "Did you hit a rock or something?" Me: "No. A huge porcupine crossing the highway" Insurance adjuster: *blink*blink* "No way that was caused by hitting a porcupine." Me: "Here is quills as proof and pictures my daughter took, including the deceased porcupine."

Weather would be my savior where I live right now. I woke up to a rather brisk -32C this morning and it is only early December. Best of luck sending a drone my way other than by courier or mail.

This drone tech get into the hands of non-state actors like terrorist organizations or any a**holes with a axe to grind. Imagine ISIS or Al Queda smuggling several of these into a Central America country, the Caribbean islands or Cuba, where security might be a little lax for such things and then launching an attack on the mainland US. If no one but me as thought of this possibility, there is too few people with an imagination in the world. I have been thinking of this the past several days - if I was head of Cobra (a comic book terrorist organization) and I had access to this drone tech, what could I do with it? The ramifications of what I came up with would keep you guys up at night. And I am not the only smart guy in the room. Here is your appetizer - cargo container ship loaded up with several hundred of these drones and sit off shore of whatever country and do your terrorist attack. Sleep well tonight with that little thought of what is possible in the very near future....

I see the writing on the wall being of long distance warfare using drones. Soon everyone and their dog will have drones like the one the Ukrainians are nearly development of with a sizeable warhead and 1000 km range. It is a certainty at this point. So, warfare will be launching swarms of these drones at another countries military infrastructure and critical civilian infrastructure. We see that playing out right now - Russia is missiling Ukraine are a regular basis and Ukraine is showing they are getting the tech to do the same in response. That will up in tempo if Russia gets any more capability in that regard and Ukraine is soon going to demonstrate that "if that is how the game is going to be played, we will do it better". And don't think for a moment that militaries everywhere are not looking on with interest and taking mountains of notes. Besides drone tech, the next surge needs to be in some way to counter drone swarms of poor man cruise missiles with 1000km+ range. I don't have an answer to that but that is where this is headed so better start locking up the think tank people in rooms and have semi trucks of energy drinks outside those rooms because we need to figure this out... like yesterday.

Must of stood too close to a open window, perhaps.

I hope it is what is really happening. Ukrainian forces need to get across the river and encourage the russians to get off the riverline as a defense and encourage them to keep rolling away. Because unless that is done soon, a defense based on the Dnipro is going to harden up, making a push down the east side of the river the only real viable option to dislodge the russians in that area.

Definitely not the thing to do. This from a person whose tracked carrier has thrown a track three time. One of those was both tracks, an amazing feat, I am told. Not hard to do at all.... just plow through a forest of deadfall at high speed.

In Canada, on this our Remembrance Day - besides remembering the sacrifice of Canadians in various conflicts and peacekeeping missions, I am also very aware of the huge loss of life in service of the Ukrainian soldiers who fought for their homeland and their people. I am reminded all the time. In Manitoba, our province has a immense Ukrainian Canadian population and I can't go anywhere without seeing Ukrainian flags everywhere. And a lot of Ukrainian Canadians returned to Ukraine to fight for their ancestral homeland. Some will return home to Canada some day, others will not. The sad reality of war. So on this Remembrance Day, I raise my stein as in past Remembrance Days and intone that simple ancient Norse toast - "To Our Honored Dead!" I include all Ukrainian soldiers who have lost their lives thus far in that toast. They have truly earned entry into the Halls of Valhalla. Sláva Ukrayíni!

Damn! I have a library of over a hundred SPI games/games from S&T magazine. We obviously ran in the same type of gaming circles, just on different continents. Salute to a fellow wargamer/roleplayer.

+1 for the D&D reference!! Been playing D&D in its various incarnations since 1974.

All hail, our new dark overlord?!

Senior's housing and high school yards..... I am not being sarcastic. In the end days of the Third Reich, old men and high school kids were pressed into service. I remember a photo from the end days of WW2 with several American soldiers guarding some captured German teen boys, the youngest, which was 12 yrs old according to the photo. Russia could get there yet.

These drones aren't in the category of "we put hand grenades on RC airplanes with inertial guidance systems". Hand grenades don't do the damage in the photo. These Iranian drones are more like modern versions of German V1s from WW2 that are propellor driven and smaller.

Yes, objective and informed analysis should be our watchwords.... I agree. If that is an anti-tank ditch and the forward infantry / vehicle dig ins are supposed to be in that tree line, the damn ditch is too damn close to the defensive works. An anti-tank ditch needs to be close enough that it can be covered by supporting and directed fires from the defensive works but far enough out that the defenders can rain indirect fire from artillery or mortars on the heads of the attackers trying to win past the obstacle belt. The ditch is ... what... about 100 metres from the treeline, there abouts. Far too close for indirect fire without suppressing or inflicting casualties on your own forces, give the inaccuracy of Russian artillery. Properly prepared defenses are still a necessary component of the defense in the 21st century. But the emphasis in on the word 'properly'. My combat engineer buddy would look at that video and shake his head.

What is old is new again, I think the saying is. Russia does love kicking it old school. Except old school in the 21st century doesn't work.