Splinty
-
Posts
2,952 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
3
Posts posted by Splinty
-
-
When I was stationed in Germany for my first tour ('81-'84). There were Viet Nam style flack vests in our supply room, but never once did those vests leave there. As far as I know we only still had them because they hadn't been removed from the books yet.
-
33 minutes ago, Vet 0369 said:
In a war such as this, the age of the Commanding Officer is irrelevant. Even experience is only slightly more relevant. The most relevant factor is his or her ability to develop tactics to fit the situation. I don’t know what the issues were behind the Sr. Sgt.’s rants, but if one on my subordinates was going to the media behind my back, I’d get rid of that subordinate “for the good of the order” also. I don’t know about other military Services, but in the U.S.M.C., if a Marine Enlisted criticizes an officer within earshot of the Officer, it is a very serious offense. Although it is incomprehensible to me, I can imagine what would happen if the Sgt Major of a Regiment criticized the Regimental Commander in public, even if the Sgt Major had been awarded the Navy/Marine Corps Medal of Honor.
Same with the US Army.
-
At this point I don't even consider the UXO DPICM situation worthy of argument. Very little, if any DPICM or general purpose cluster munitions are going to be used anywhere that Russia hasn't already placed hundreds if not thousands of AT and AP mines. Areas that will have to be demined post war ANYWAYS. Whatever unexploded DPICM remains will just be another part of the clean up.
-
24 minutes ago, The_MonkeyKing said:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-expected-provide-cluster-munitions-ukraine-nyt-2023-07-06/
"In the aid package, which is expected to be well above $500 million in value, Ukraine will receive munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), Bradley fighting vehicles and Stryker armored personnel carriers, one of the officials said."
Seems this is happening for sure now.
Question about cluster weapons: Doctrinally how would the US have treated areas hit by DPICM or other cluster weapons? Or how was it done in the gulf war? Would US forces operate and maneuver normally in these areas?
I suspect the dud are nowhere near as dangerous as mines...
My Bradley ran over an unexploded cluster munition after the ground war in Desert Storm. It did explode, but the only damage was to one of the rubber track pads. Having said that, I wouldn't want to step on one. It would probably remove or shatter a foot.
-
48 minutes ago, womble said:
I never said MANPAD. I said "Mobile".
Over 10km, the treetop height from which AH are launching is pretty much irrelevant in terms of fuel/flight characteristics.
Stinger was designed originally in 1961. It's sixty years old, even if upgrades have been made. Seekers have improved "quite a lot" since then. It's entirely possible for a visual lock that doesn't need to be maintained so the missile sees the target before launch and can seek it out again, if it breaks visual contact. Missiles are a lot faster than choppers. Maybe it has to be a salvo of three to cope with lateral ducking, or maybe the missile just has to climb high enough to have a decent field of view behind whatever defilade the chopper is using. Conceptually, it's a piece of the proverbial, and well within current, even recent image processing.
The asset probably needs to be vehicle mounted, just to pack a large enough motor, but Startstreak can fight gravity one-on-one for 10000m of climb; even a modicum of aerodynamic lift should be able to let that same engine drive a payload ten clicks horizontally.
There's no certainty that even a full-on NATO effort could achieve total air superiority vs the latest Russian AD complexes; they've better SEAD than the Russians, but I don't think anyone was expecting Ukraine's Soviet-era AD to be able to deny even the Russians the freedom of the air, and it did, largely unsupported by Western systems. So even if ground-based AD is "second best", it may well be all that's available.
The Redeye, Stingers predecessor was developed in 1961. The Stinger didn't enter service until the early '80s.
-
1 hour ago, Yet said:
can anyone explain why Kerch br. is still standing if Ukr had Storm Shadow and its not part of logistics?
are the shadows not getting through air defence? or is it strategically important to still keep it standing?
I'm hoping that Ukraine is just biding their time, waiting for the most useful moment.
-
46 minutes ago, Vet 0369 said:
Three hundred forty meters was the max effective range that I was quoted the first time I qualified with the M16A1 in 1978. We qualified on a range with “known distance” (KD) targets. We qualified with open sights (“short and long range” rear aperture “flip sights,” and that stupid adjustable front post that you had to adjust with the point of a 5.56 round) no one had access to “optics” in those days except snipers, which could explain the difference between the two “max effective” ranges. The only rifle I qualified with from 1969 until that time was the M14, and I must say that I actually qualified with a higher M16 score (High Expert 240 out of a possible 250) than I ever did with an M14.
The maximum effective of an M16A1/2 over iron sights is 460m. That is the US Army standard. Although the longest ranged target on a pop up range was 300m.
-
2 hours ago, kevinkin said:
Amazon has been experimenting with drone delivers. What a way to confuse the RA. Is it hostile or a bottle?
I'm imagining a drone that drops a litre of vodka, followed by a grenade when Russian troops scramble out to get it.
-
11 minutes ago, Sojourner said:
Just human nature, the basal instinct when confronted with danger of "flight or fight" doesn't include surrender. Couple that with shell shock and they're probably not thinking rationally.
This.
-
3 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:
1. NoelReports passing along tantalizing information, in part from the defending Russian unit, that first line positions near Robotyne have been secured by Ukraine. This is significantly beyond the gray zone and is in direct path (highway) to Tokmak.
2. Just another Russian artillery position taken out. It never gets old for me!
3. This one goes out to our very own Splinty!
4. Russian liberators troll Russians with a video similar to the Ukraine MoD, only a tad bit darker:
Steve
I love my Brads! Get 'em boys!
-
4 minutes ago, Kinophile said:
Steve, we might be wrong....
Those are Americans. Take a closer look at the soldiers around the Bradleys. Those are US Army troops. And the Bradley facing the camera is nicknamed Candy in English.
-
1 hour ago, Kinophile said:
Graham is a political weasel, very good at feeling the political winds and sailing with them. Anything he says is only designed to make him look good, statesmanlike, irregardless of any vetting by the Ukrainians.
What they have probably done is used him to amplify the propaganda campaign, by telling him something Very Very Secret, and swearing him to Biggest Pinky Swear that he won't divulge, No Sir, You Have My Word.
He's the proverbial political sock puppet, and being used as such.
So in other words, he's no different than any other politician.
-
8 minutes ago, Billy Ringo said:
Now it appears that it was 5 drones, not 20+ drones. Armed with little explosives and, possibly, designed to not even detonate. It was symbolic, not destructive. But yet, here we are debating war crimes. A lot of "what-about" comparatives to exponentially different levels of destruction and intent. Trying to link Ukrainian actions to horrific events of the past--and it's quite possible this debate is nothing more than intentional Russian psy-ops to discredit Ukrainians and deflect from Russia's own behavior.
Let's put this in perspective. 5 light-weight possibly armed drones flying around a neighborhood of Moscow oligarchs versus Russia's intentional and repeated bombing of civilian infrastructure with heavy duty weapons for 14 months. There is no comparison.
Just my opinion, but how about we postpone this debate until if/when Ukraine actually starts intentionally bombing civilians? Until then, I think it's nothing more than Russian psy-ops.
I completely agree. Until Ukraine starts carpet bombing Russian cities this conversation is utterly irrelevant. Ukraine isn't -and most likely won't- deliberately killing Russian civilians.
-
32 minutes ago, DesertFox said:
Something going Boom near Ivanhrad SE of Bakhmut
You just Rick Rolled us!
-
2 minutes ago, JonS said:
Those antics folks are the worst.
I mean, imagine being opposed to fascism. The nerve of some people.
I think your autocorrect doesn't like Antifa. OTOH being opposed to anarchists doesn't make someone a fascist either.
-
2 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:
That is my impression too. If they have 5 Battalions it is more like 5 Companies, which is ~500.
Steve
In other words one battalion-.
-
11 minutes ago, Harmon Rabb said:
Zelensky informed about the creation of the Marine Corps in Ukraine (babel.ua)
Interesting, but I have to correct the author of the article a little. The USMC is its own service branch and not part of the U.S. Army.
Actually the US Marines are technically part of the US Navy, but generally are treated as their own branch.
-
7 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:
The system is fairly spread out, which makes it highly survivable in total. If a particular component is completely destroyed it likely means the others weren't damaged at all, or minorly. Here's a deployment picture from Turkey I dug up for reference:
Steve
I would also expect that the Patriot batteries around Kyiv are reasonably well protected by things like Hesco barriers and concrete T walls and the digging/fortifying process is ongoing.
-
1 minute ago, Artkin said:
Since the cold war is kinda coming to a close, we should be looking forward to reducing the amount of taxes we pay. The military budget is out of control. It's been getting significantly larger recently.
The Cold War isn't over. It's just switched opponents. China is in the process of becoming the new Cold War focus.
-
2 hours ago, Bearstronaut said:
A line from the US Army's Creed of the Non-Commissioned Officer is "Officers of my unit will have maximum time to accomplish their duties: they will not have to accomplish mine." Take of that what you will.
I think the 1st line of the creed "No one is more professional that I, a Non Commissioned Officer, a leader of Soldiers." plays a role in that too. There's a big difference in just being promoted to sergeant because someone has served long enough, and being a professional NCO.
-
On 4/5/2023 at 7:17 PM, StoneAge said:
I am having the same issue as OnePingOnly. When I click the desktop icon I get a blue spinning circle for a few seconds then nothing.
Have reinstalled both CMSF2 and CMBN and both do it now
I'm having the same issue with CMCW. I've tried doing a complete uninstall and reinstall, to include deleting all CMCW folders from my drive and still when I reinstalled the game I also got a few seconds of the Windows spinning circle and then nothing.
-
27 minutes ago, The_MonkeyKing said:
Technically Abrams also has a bunch of unprotected shells inside the hull next to the driver and next to the engine compartment. This is with full ammo load.
Leopard 2 has even more. Only 15 are in the turret blowout compartment and rest of the around 40 are "unprotected" next to the driver.
Nope. All the ammo besides the 6 rounds in the protected storage in the hull are stored in the separate turret storage compartment. THAT is with a full load. Western armies prefer to protect the lives of a trained tank crew rather than sacrifice barely competent conscripts.
-
4 minutes ago, The_MonkeyKing said:
What is the point of having ammo stored in hull unprotected in Western tanks as well?
The carousel rarely ignites and is actually lower and so better located than most Western tanks hull ammo.
What ignites easily on Soviet model tanks is the extra ammo that is stored all around the tank. It this point neither side uses storage outside the carousel anymore.
At least in the case of the M1 Abrams, the ammo isn't stored openly in the hull or turret. It's stored in an armored compartment at the back of the turret and is separated from the crew compartment by armored blast doors. The loader opens the doors with a switch to access the rounds. The ammo compartment has blast panels on the turret roof in case of an ammo cook off.
-
16 minutes ago, Huba said:
It looks like M2 in Ukrainian service will be called „Kitty Cat” (I do not dare to suggest another name, commonly used for both cats and ladyparts). UA are really good with social media and I love witty videos they usually post - but this one is just too much
This former Bradley crewman loves it!
How Hot is Ukraine Gonna Get?
in Combat Mission Black Sea
Posted
This war is far from over. I think Ukraine has a hard task ahead of them. But, I also believe they will regain all their lost territory.