IMHO

It would be really really interesting. Turkey paraded Leo-A4s on Afrin borders as well. YPG has many TOWs and an unknown number of Javelins. But they're mostly in the North-East of Rojava not in Afrin. Against the backdrop of the US applying enormous pressure not to let YPG use US-made weapons against Turkey and Assad trying to extract its price for letting further reinforcements through SAA-controlled territories...

Can you differentiate between "my ATGM PtoK is almost zero against your frontal projection" and "your ATGM team will die one second after the launch and before missile hits the tank"? Because the first case means I need to maneuver my ATGM to hit sideways or from behind. But the second case means my infantry more or less does not possess long range AT capability at all. Or I rather pay 1.5 ATGM team for every launch against the tank whether taken down or not. Well... I guess Trophy must be wasteful spending then, right? Since ATGMs stand no chance against composite spaced armor...

@kinophile, @kraze, I'd rather limit my point to acquisition. Turrent traverse or ATGM probability-to-kill could be argued over but almost instant ATGM team acquisition is a pure fantasy. It makes ATGM a kamikaze job. To reliably kill a single Abrams one needs two ATGM teams as one team is quite often killed even before the missile hits the target. To face a platoon of Abramses one better have a whole ATGM company/batallion as M1s share targeting data. If the painted tank somehow misses the launcher and gets destroyed then his/her bros will finish ATGM for sure. @kraze, a lab scenario will look like a tank facing away from ATGM team at say 1-2-3km distance, then ATGM launches at the tank. I'm playing since June or July 2000, will I count as a veteran? My point is this behaviour pretty much throws away a lion's share of scenarious of pure infantry vs. moders armour in Europen-like plains. But certainly we can always agree not to use Quake rocket jump

Not quite right... Ehhh... CMBS' LWR-equipped tanks (like M1) acquire ATGM-launchers almost instanteniously. What is the basis for such a behaviour when real life LWRs (Thales, Leonardo) give you 30/45 degrees sector??? Instant target acquisition in a 30/45 degrees sector at a distance of 2-4km??? Why not have an Abrams with an ion-gun then? And it has profound impact on the gameplay. In real life (Yemen, Syria) we see tanks being burned every time they are careless enough while facing an ATGM-armed opposition. In CMBS a platoon of Abramses can simply drive through the whole map blasting everyone around.

Drone cams: DNR/LNR artillery hits UKR positions. In no way the video is recent so no relation to the current status and/or events - just an interesting feed.

Those were VK away URLs that were curiously rebuilt. Here are the working ones. You can get an English language listings by simple product search. https://m.ru.aliexpress.com/s/item/32832867713.html?trace=wwwdetail2mobilesitedetail&productId=32832867713&productSubject=Pixhawk2-Developer-Kit-Intel-Edison-Carrier-Board-GPS-Module-PIX-Open-Source-Flight-Control-For-RC&spm=a2g0v.10010108.1000016.1.e16a5acMOWDbU&isOrigTitle=true#autostay https://www.readymaderc.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11_30_38&products_id=919 https://m.ru.aliexpress.com/s/item/32793902104.html?trace=wwwdetail2mobilesitedetail&productId=32793902104&productSubject=Original-DLE-61CC-Gasoline-engine-DLE61-for-RC-Gasoline-Airplane&spm=a2g0v.10010108.1000023.4.27acf48fwhl7XQ#autostay

Google translate... About the drones on Khemeymim. I people in a personal garbled equipment, which identified on the personnel in TV news. Presented photos: 1. Iron for the flight by GPS. Pixhawk2 Developer Kit. On Ali is 33,161 r. ($ 529), the same iron, accurate to 1 cm, costs about 60,000 rubles. ($ 1000). Ref: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Pixhawk2-Developer-Kit .. 2. This is how the flight mission in the mentioned Pixhawk2 Developer Kit looks like. I do not know myself, but they say you can set any action, then turn the frame with the video camera, or detach the BB (computer, figli) 3. Video transmitter for video signal, respectively (for operator control). Frequency 1.2Gz, power more than 5W. The original costs $ 120, China should cost half as much. Original: https://www.readymaderc.com/store/index.php?main_page .. 4. A graph showing that it is enough to stand on a hill of 100 meters and fly at an altitude of 100 meters so that the flight range is more than 60 kilometers. 5. That's how Ali looks like an internal combustion engine, for airplane models, 61 cube, which was shown in the news. The product is not available, but taxes can be found. Already with monitoring electronics. The price is 23 344 р. ($ 409) (reference: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-DLE-61CC-Gaso ..).

@akd, sorry, I didn't get your point. My fault. I just wanted to say that I do agree with you that RUS MoD PR is doing great disservice to MoD itself when they drag into discussion as feeble an "evidence" as Poseidon flight.

ECM took over control of the six drones. Means drones used simple analogue protocol. ECM wouldn't have had time to quickly decode an encrypted control channel. A swarm and an unencrypted exchange do not sit together well. Actually, imho, unencrypted comms is what breaks MoD's story of heavy use of a foreign advanced technology. The correct MoD press release should say: "We thought we were fighting brainless camel-f###ers but it turns out they know the math and are able to Goggle things. We weren't prepared for these." PS BTW, do you remember an RQ-170 story?...

Turkey's loosing the most should the current SAA Idlib offensive succeeds (and so far An-Nusra front is crumbling). Turkey's now effectively controlling all of Idlib but here's the map of de-escalation zones as agreed in Astana and reported by Turkish press.

RUS MoD PR continues in its remarkable tradition of passing off video game clips for combat reporting. I'd rather be careful with them and many Russian wanna-be-politicians. In many cases these acts are not the signs of official beliefs of sorts but rather holier-than-thou PR stunts meant for internal consumption.

MOSCOW, January 10th. / TASS /. The unmanned aircraft attacking Russian military facilities in Khmeimim and Tartous on the night of January 6 were launched from the de-escalation zone Idlib, the Russian Defense Ministry said on January 10. "The launch of the drones was carried out from the area of the village of Muazar, located in the southwestern part of the de-escalation zone" Idlib ", controlled by the armed formations of the so-called moderate opposition," the Russian Defense Ministry's commentary published in the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda says. In this regard, the Russian military department sent letters to the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Turkey, General Akar Hulusi and the head of the National Intelligence Organization Hakan Fidan. "The documents indicate the need for Ankara to fulfill its obligations to ensure compliance with the regime for the cessation of hostilities by the armed forces under control and to intensify the work on setting up observation posts in the de-escalation zone of Idlib with the aim of suppressing such attacks by the UAV [unmanned aerial vehicles] ", - noted in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-summons-russian-iranian-envoys-over-syrian-regime-strikes-in-idlib-125487

Yes, Google.Maps does this. Moreover G.M with no tips and tricks applied is not a real map from geodesy point of view

Google-translated RUS MoD statement: The system of ensuring the security of the Russian airbase "Khmeimim" and the logistics center of the Russian Navy in Tartus on the night of 5 to 6 January 2018 successfully prevented the attack of terrorists with the massive use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) With the approach of the dark time, the Russian air defense facilities at a considerable distance identified 13 small-sized air targets of unknown origin approaching Russian military targets. Ten UAVs were approaching the Russian airbase "Khmeimim" and another 3 - to the point of logistics in Tartus. Six small-sized air targets by Russian electronic warfare units managed to take control, intercepting external control. Of these, 3 were planted in controlled territory outside the base, and 3 more UAVs at detonation detonated from a collision with the ground. Seven UAVs were destroyed by the regular air defense missile systems "Pantsir-S" of Russian air defense units carrying round-the-clock combat duty. There are no injured or material damage to Russian military facilities. The Russian air base "Khmeimim" and the point of the MTO of the Russian Navy in Tartus continue to operate in the planned mode. Currently, Russian military experts are carrying out a detailed analysis of the design, technical stuffing and homemade ammunition, captured drone UAV. As a result of the decryption of the data of the intercepted UAV, the exact place of their launch is determined. Terrorists for the first time massively used UAVs of aircraft type, launched from a range of more than 50 kilometers using modern guidance technologies based on satellite GPS coordinates. Technical expertise of captured aircraft showed that such attacks can be carried out by terrorists from a range of about 100 kilometers. Engineering solutions used by terrorists in attacking Russian facilities in Syria could be obtained only from one of the countries that possess high technological capabilities to provide satellite navigation and remote control of the dumping of professionally assembled improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in designated coordinates. All UAV terrorists are equipped with barometric sensors and servo-drives to control the elevator. In improvised explosive devices of terrorists attached to an aircraft-type UAV, fuses of foreign manufacture were used. Currently, competent Russian experts establish channels for supplying terrorists with these technologies and devices, as well as the type and origin of explosives used for IEDs. The fact of use by militants of drone unmanned aerial vehicles of an aircraft type indicates that the militants have transferred technologies that allow carrying out terrorist acts using similar UAVs in any country.

@akd, Dec, 31: 1. Official and semi-official information is it was MRLS and mortars. Rockets were shot down by Pantsyr but mortar rounds could not have been. 2. Everyone's impression MoD is hiding something. Either full extent of casualties and damage or methods of attack or who might be the perps or something else. Jan, 5-6 1. MoD does not mention CIA they talk about "a country possessing advanced technical capabilities". I guess they may have worded it this way for a reason as the most obvious culprit could be Turkey. 2. You're right, overall tone is quite ridiculous. Seems like RUS MoD PR people do believe a plane flying is pure magic.

@John Kettler, I have no direct information but I'm sure it will be so. Like in case of one track under repairs there should be two way movement over the remaining track.

RUS MoD statement highlights: 1. Both Navy's Tartus and Air Force's Hmeimim were attacked. 2. There were 13 drones, 7 were taken down by Pantsyr SHORAD, C&C chain of the rest was taken over by ECM. Three of them blew up at landing and three landed intact. 3. The technology used in drones provides control over them at a distance of up to 100km. 4. The rest is barometers, GPS, actuators and the rest of what they call "advanced" technology...

It's 47 train pairs a day. I.e. 47 trains in each direction.

Jan, 08, 2018

Oleksandr, can you provide proof pics? T-Rex is "designed" on top of T-64 chassis. It simply has no space to put three crew members in line in transverse configuration. As a background, UKR MoD cancelled the tests of the last chef d'oevre of the same origin - a military-donated T-64 dozer rebuilt into IFV. The only means available to the crew to observe the battlefield and target the weapons were cameras - no old school optical devices. And the cameras installed were taken from COTS home intercoms. Their plastic circuit boards and fasteners didn't survive the vehicle moving, they were breaking up under vibration. That might seem as an unfortunate design choice to be corrected later on should we forget that the vehicle was created by "Azovets" Engineering Group of 23 or 24 (literally!) hobbyists building "tanks" part-time by crowdfunding from a populace of an average annual salary of less than 3K USD.

I wonder if NYT does list anyone as a source/proof... I guess someone sitting too many a mile away from both the Kremlin and Syria. May be sipping a cocktail and browsing Google News

Why I always read the topic as "Failure to lunch..."