MSBoxer

Did you point out that since Putin has already been pushed off of territory that he annexed, by their reasoning Russia has already lost the war?

It is great for cockpit familiarization, but in terms of tactics and coordination I am not sure it would be that helpful unless you were flying as a unit with instructors.

I have been flying with DCS for a decade or so and have been flying the Apache since beta. I can tell you switching from a Hind to the Apache is not easy. Granted I am by no means a pilot, but I have put in my sim hours. The AH64 is a different beast all together. I would think that an experienced helo driver could benefit from the DCS sim, perhaps reducing the training time by a bit but our pilots have been using sims for decades as part of training and we still have extended training periods.

I understand that. Just wondering if this would lead the member states to make the decision to get more involved. Thinking out loud more or less.

If Russia is found to be behind the Lithuanian pipeline, is this an Article 5 level event? Obviously there could be any number of causes other than sabotage, just wondering IF this would be enough to trigger larger NATO role.

All good here, no power loss and we have plenty of necessities. Thankful I was not in a trench on the front line.

Just to be clear. I don't fear a single match. I fear an eager nearby crowd with combustibles. Now back to my self-imposed temporary exile, but first I want to wish everyone the happiest of holidays. For me that is Christmas, but celebrate as you wish, safely with the ones you love.

And it looks like I am back to skipping pages of comments at a time. Again.

Steve, I completely understand your disgust and desire to share this, I am however not looking forward to the next week as others test to see if long standing restrictions have been loosened. There have been several episodes in this thread where I ended up skipping several pages due to continual political back and forth.

My comment was in jest, I refrained from using a smiley emoji so as not to cause emotional damage to one of our revered members

Perhaps the amount spent on defense is not really changing. It is just that due to the effect of sanctions and lowered productivity from conscription that their overall budget has lowered so much that defense spending that used to be 5% is now 30%.

I have to admit Putin, the sick bastard, played this well. The US had demonstrated for years that they would not trade Viktor Bout for anyone, including Whelan. Putin knew he was going to war and taking possession of a US celebrity was too good to pass up, extra leverage that the US had to acknowledge. The US tried to make a deal, Viktor Bout for 2 Americans, Russia replied that was not an even swap and said no to Griner AND Whelan, so the US made the swap. Griner for Viktor Bout. My question is why was the offer Griner and Whelan, never Whelan and Griner, or was Griner OR Whelan ever considered. If I had to guess, the same celebrity that made Griner such a tempting target also made her the priority to bring home first.

I saw this yesterday and had the same thought "Well that did not last long"

Build them with no bottom so you can nest the steel core for shipment, slap some concrete on them and drop in place. Instead of dragon's teeth you have Matryoshka teeth.

Is it possible that RU is incapable of exploiting the resources without western support, be it financial or technical? When the 2014 Donbass failed, and sanctions were put in place that western support was not forthcoming. Perhaps Putin thought that if he were able to decisively control all of Ukraine without contention with a puppet govt then support would be more forthcoming. Or could it be a denial of resources? I would think that a strong successful Ukraine is a threat to Putin. With so many familial connections between UK and RU it would be hard to hide. Similar to how West Berlin was a beacon of success shining just a few yards away from the relatively depressed East Berlin.

I remember it as pinecones, but I am getting old and the memory is not what it used to be.

No, but I had the Electro Shot!

Yes, but the technology for electric quads is here, power armor is still a few years off.

I like this thinking. Quads would also be my first choice to electrify for more silent operation. Lower power requirements, of course also reduced range. Then just fit any of our heavy equipment with the ability to charge the quad batteries. Quads could perform recon then pull back to main force to swap cells, or wait in place until heavier units advance with replacement. Hell you might be able to resupply batteries with larger drones.

Seems that last mobilization went so well that RU is asking more citizens to join the party.

Park one of these next to your artillery and drones won't survive long. Now this is possibly overkill considering the speed of most current kamikaze drones, so I am sure it could be downsized a bit.

Nope, Texas vs the U.S.

PEBSAC =Problem Exists Between Seat and Computer When I was in I.T. we used PEBSAK =Problem Exists Between Seat and Keyboard

I know that, and you know that, but does that matter to Putin? That is also why I expanded to WMD in general. Should be easy to fake with all of the US sponsored BIO labs laying around that area.

I am going to attribute this to my general pessimistic "Russia is capable of any atrocity" mind set, but I can't stop thinking that Russia is withdrawing their troops from the right bank and have left a tactical nuke or other WMD behind to activate once Ukranian forces have occupied. Their goal would be to destroy UK forces and blame UK for the first use of WMD. This is obviously a highly unlikely scenario, but it is stuck in my neural net.