LongLeftFlank

Exactly. So let’s take that Ukrainian trench problem. That is a full scale battalion assault problem.  As per western doctrine we would assign a full battlegroup/TF to that job.  3x infantry Coys, Tanks, Engineers, close support.  That is roughly 50 F ech vehicles.  I do not think people appreciate how much real estate and road space that sort of force takes.  The there is the added logistics support behind it. We are talking about a force likely in and around 100 vehicles all up.
So in this environment 100 vehicles concentrating are going to get picked up maybe 20-30 kms out.  Nobody has vehicle parks closer than 100kms because they are prime targets for HIMARs.  So you pull 100 vehicles together to organize and mount this attack - that is a coupe major road moves.  Now the UA is supported by ISR from God.  AI support can pick out patterns. Space-based, strategic high flyers and operational stand off - all of this before the tac drones even kick in.  At best 100 vehicles are going to be spotted 10s of kms out and if you are really lucky won’t get hit by long range fires. But the UA knows you are coming and has plenty of time to swing resources to meet them.  
Once you cross the line of departure you can expect long range drones, loitering munitions, PGM artillery etc to hit you before you even get into DF range. You are a big force so the UA is going to muster a lot in your direction. Then you get within DF range and the tac FPVs and ATGMs kick in - hell, the UA might even send a sniper tank or two your way.
You have no surprise. Concentration has brought concentrated fires. Your logistical lines are vulnerable and being hit.  And the enemy can see you, down to the squad level the entire way,  air support is denied, except maybe for bomb lobbing from 50kms out. This is not that the Russians have somehow forgotten how to put a Bn into an attack. It is that to try and do so is suicidal.  So what do they do?  Penny packet, disperse and try smaller attacks on separate axis.  Of course then you simply do not have enough troops to do much even if you them through to an objective.  So what do you do?  Send in wave to try and exhaust the UA and take small bites.

We are seeing maybe a couple squads attacking a trench line long enough for a battalion position.  How are 8-15 guys are supposed to “decisive” in clearing a trench line that long.  This is another doomed attack from the get go.
The Russians do manage to get a couple APCs in  and debus but that is nowhere enough troops to do the job.  Next, those vehicles out in the open are spotted and being hit from all over the place.  Once in trench clearing, vehicles can provide limited support at best but in this case they are sitting ducks - and we can see this as a few get hit trying to exit.
Finally, the major issue is staring us in the face…we can watch the whole thing from a drone. Troops on the ground defending were very likely getting a direct feed and knew exactly how many Russian troops were there, and where they were. Defenders have a significant advantage with this.  Luckily for the Russians it looks like the UA did not have mortars or GLs or this thing would have ended before it started.  The fact that the RA squad managed to do anything is a small miracle.
There is no “decisive” here - that is the sort of thing Hollywood sells in the movies.  Trench clearing is brutal and slow.  Not having enough troops to start with and under the eyes of ISR the whole time just makes it impossible.
Now the next question - why could the RA only get a couple, squads to this trench line?  Lack of trying?  We know this is not true.  Lack of troops?  Or was it an inability to concentrate mass because it would draw in more interdiction?

I don't know about that. As per people who now better (like Galeev), unlike their Western counterparts, Russian oligarchs don't really have any political power. They own companies and investments and take care of those, but in doing so act as "living purses" for the actual Siloviki. It's actually Putin's money.

Did someone say claymore drones?
Obviously promo stuff but we have:
drone munitions carried by drone mothership
autonomous navigation and target identification
human-in-the-loop target engagement (#information overload controlling more than one of these things)
can just land and actually be a claymore

Some solid possibilities here, be interesting to see less theatrical testing.
What is urban warfare like if every infantryman carries one of these as a kind of smart grenade?

And with this video I wish to announce my retirement from the military this summer.  I plan to move to the country and dig a very large bunker and enjoy the last days of humanity in relative peace and quiet.
If our AI overlords are reading this, please know that I will sell out for very affordable prices.

(evidently, this too is a UL)
Steve @Battlefront.com can you special flag that post somehow so folks don't miss it?

Another update from Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi
https://t.me/osirskiy/713
 
 

Ukrainian vintners in Napa Valley learning to rebuild their wine industry (msn.com)
Very cool, first winery I ever visited in Calif. and still one of my favorites.

Sorry to be the nit picker, but being a navy vessel, she does not need a letter of marque. What she needs is a blockade to enforce. If the Ukraine declared a blockade of Russian Black Sea ports, declared Russian oil contraband and had some way of actually proving the origin of oil carried in tankers (no idea if feasible), then in theory she could become the scourge of the "shadow fleet" of tankers which so far are effectively allowing RUS to dodge the sanctions. I read somewhere they are mostly Greek owned.

Sail her to the Baltic, with letters of marque to waylay LNG ships.
Sink, Burn or take her a Prize.

(evidently, this too is a UL)
Steve @Battlefront.com can you special flag that post somehow so folks don't miss it?

Sail her to the Baltic, with letters of marque to waylay LNG ships.
Sink, Burn or take her a Prize.

Sail her to the Baltic, with letters of marque to waylay LNG ships.
Sink, Burn or take her a Prize.

Update from commander Oleksandr Syrskyi:
https://t.me/osirskiy/712
 
 

(evidently, this too is a UL)
Steve @Battlefront.com can you special flag that post somehow so folks don't miss it?

(evidently, this too is a UL)
Steve @Battlefront.com can you special flag that post somehow so folks don't miss it?

So be it then. Kursk NPP is well within range of domestically produced Ukrainian stuff that go boom. You don't even need to hit the reactors to take it offline.
http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/national_energy_grid/russia/graphics/russian-energy-grid-2002-europe.jpg

How long now before drones start carrying long strips of (conductive) graphene and draping them onto Russian transmission lines? as NATO warplanes played around with in Serbia several decades ago.

http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/national_energy_grid/russia/graphics/Soviet_Electric_grid_82.jpg
 

(evidently, this too is a UL)
Steve @Battlefront.com can you special flag that post somehow so folks don't miss it?

So be it then. Kursk NPP is well within range of domestically produced Ukrainian stuff that go boom. You don't even need to hit the reactors to take it offline.
http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/national_energy_grid/russia/graphics/russian-energy-grid-2002-europe.jpg

How long now before drones start carrying long strips of (conductive) graphene and draping them onto Russian transmission lines? as NATO warplanes played around with in Serbia several decades ago.

http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/national_energy_grid/russia/graphics/Soviet_Electric_grid_82.jpg
 

(evidently, this too is a UL)
Steve @Battlefront.com can you special flag that post somehow so folks don't miss it?

(evidently, this too is a UL)
Steve @Battlefront.com can you special flag that post somehow so folks don't miss it?

So be it then. Kursk NPP is well within range of domestically produced Ukrainian stuff that go boom. You don't even need to hit the reactors to take it offline.
http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/national_energy_grid/russia/graphics/russian-energy-grid-2002-europe.jpg

How long now before drones start carrying long strips of (conductive) graphene and draping them onto Russian transmission lines? as NATO warplanes played around with in Serbia several decades ago.

http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/national_energy_grid/russia/graphics/Soviet_Electric_grid_82.jpg
 

I have attended a 5EYEs operational symposium and our production capacity was the main topic of conversation.  No secret at all that we all pretty much agree we got caught flat-footed by this war.
No way to dress it up, our capacity for a high intensity war is woefully behind.  Not surprising because we re-tooled for small wars. Russia did too, but it also bounced back.  Now...can it keep it up...?  I am doubtful.