MSBoxer
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Posts posted by MSBoxer
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7 minutes ago, JonS said:
Yeah, lol. The idea that a $60 game can make you an effective attack helo pilot is just so gosh darn cute.
If that were true, I should be Chairmain of the Joint Chiefs, given the number of hours I've put into CM.
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.
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30 minutes ago, Zeleban said:
there is an excellent Apache helicopter simulator, where any more or less persistent person can figure it out: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/ru/shop/modules/ah-64d/
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.
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4 minutes ago, DesertFox said:
There is no automatism or automatic trigger. The member states will decide how to act and which measures to take.
Some explanations here:
NATO’s Article 5 Collective Defense Obligations, Explained | Brennan Center for Justice
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.
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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. -
5 minutes ago, danfrodo said:
by the way, how'd you do there in Iowa during the great storm of Dec 2022? Looks like very cold there and still there's ~40mph winds? I hope you have not lost power.
Kind of a blessing and curse in UKR to have mild temps since all the polar air seems to be in N America. Makes the front a quaqmire but also keeps folks from literally freezing to death.
All good here, no power loss and we have plenty of necessities. Thankful I was not in a trench on the front line.
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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.
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44 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:
No doubt this post is going to cause some waves here, including a half dozen people posting that I shouldn't be getting into "politics". Sorry, this is too important to sweep under the rug...
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. -
2 minutes ago, NamEndedAllen said:
If that suggests that Putin held the war budget constant, the rest of the full national budget would have to be the variables to hold that much expense steady. Implying a reduction of 25% of expenditures elsewhere in the budget. And THAT would be a quite large hit for anyone’s budget! Not to mention an entire nation.
Another explanation might be that the announcement is just propaganda. Of course that would imply that Putin was not telling the truth…
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
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1 hour ago, womble said:
And what's going to happen to the rest of "whatever the Russian Government usually does"?
If other nations struggle to spend 2% of their budget on defense, how can the Russians shake loose so large a proportion of revenues? I know they aren't exactly supporting an NHS/DHSS-standard social safety net...
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%.
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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. -
2 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:
Gather round everybody! I have some shocking news! Germany is reneging on its pledge to meet it's 2% GDP defense spending requirement. Sheesh, just when we started to give them some good press for the Gepards.
Steve
I saw this yesterday and had the same thought "Well that did not last long"
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3 minutes ago, Kinophile said:
That looks like concrete plaster on a steel pyramidal box?
Maybe we should bear down on the endemic corruption aspect?
If we look at these through the eyes of an enterprising supply Col. General Korruptovich, well then:
- Don't pour full, proper re-barred concrete pyramids. They're heavy and awkward. Need numbers of Private Konskriptoviches. = costly. Bad, very bad.
- Instead use these...box things...with concrete cast over them - looks just like dragons teeth but lighter.
- Scale it up to thousands of them and transporting them now uses a lot less fuel than the heavier, fully concrete ones = savings (yay good)
- You can stack more on a truck, use less trucks and get them to the site quicker = savings (e.g if you charge for 10 trucks but use 6)
- You can also place them quicker, getting the job "done" with your reduced workforce and crucially photographed sooner. = kudos up the chain, make the bosses look good = CYA in advance
- Also use unpaid Mobiks so again = more savings
So if I wanted to make a tidy sum and I was in charge of making, transporting and placing these...things...then even just off my civvy head there are lots of opportunities to make money and superficially, on paper and in photographs, achieve the desired end result - long lines of "dragon teeth" snaking across the landscape. Everyone's happy, paid off, looks good, state media giving great play to your work, and because there's a war on, further contracts are pretty much a given.
Nice.
Oh and look, there's talk of doing this on the entire UKR/RUS border...time to do some measurements on ye fiendish Kapitalist google maps...
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. -
1 hour ago, Kinophile said:
Nah I suspect you're reading too much into the tea leaves, esp. Re Wagner/bakhmut.
Opportunistic political land grab, motivated by cultural chauvinism and an unbridled ego seems more fitting.
If resources were the aim then by any measure Russian oligarchy would have economically raped the Donbass, hot cease fire or no. But they didn't, which implies that it was viewed as Putin's playground, his project and not for sharing.
Putin has no interest in long term investment or economic exploitation of the Donbass - we know this because he has done othing to foster it. He views it as both a military and cultural front line, the bleeding edge of Ruski Mir, not a plunderable national economic asset.
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. -
20 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:
This is akin to our long ago jokes about Finns knocking out Russian tanks with toothpicks during the Winter War.
I remember it as pinecones, but I am getting old and the memory is not what it used to be.
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No, but I had the Electro Shot!
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9 minutes ago, dan/california said:
All the logistics you just proposed would be equally necessary for either system. But a Quad can't hide in a random drainage ditch the way a person can. Can they build armor that would still let a person do that? I don't know, but I suspect they are trying.
Yes, but the technology for electric quads is here, power armor is still a few years off.
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1 hour ago, Thomm said:
Why not use quad bikes instead of fantasy power armor?
They should transport the weapons just fine, and the rider could dismount for extra mobility.
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.
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Seems that last mobilization went so well that RU is asking more citizens to join the party.
QuotePutin signs law to mobilize Russian citizens convicted of serious crimes
From CNN's Uliana Pavlova
Russian soldiers under the partial mobilization train in Rostov, Russia on October 21. (Arkady Budnitsky/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law Friday that allows for conscripting citizens with un-expunged or outstanding convictions for various serious crimes.
Russians convicted of murder, robbery, larceny, drug trafficking and other grave offenses under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation can be called up for military service, according to the law.
That makes it possible to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people who have been sentenced to probation or have recently been released from colonies who were previously forbidden to serve.
The only group of criminals exempted from the decree are those who committed sex crimes against minors, treason, spying or terrorism. Also excluded are those convicted of the attempted assassination of a government official, hijacking an aircraft, extremist activity and illegal handling of nuclear materials and radioactive substances.
The Kremlin has already mobilized an additional 18,000 soldiers above its goal of 300,000 to fight in its war in Ukraine from the general male population of Russia, Putin said Friday.
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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.
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43 minutes ago, Baneman said:
Scotland is in the World Series ?
( sorry, couldn't resist )
Nope, Texas vs the U.S.
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22 minutes ago, Bannon said:
I’m not even sure what this means. A missile just fell off the pylon? There has got to be more to this story.
PEBSAC =Problem Exists Between Seat and Computer
When I was in I.T. we used
PEBSAK =Problem Exists Between Seat and Keyboard -
12 minutes ago, sburke said:
that would be tough as Ukraine has no nukes.
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.
How Hot is Ukraine Gonna Get?
in Combat Mission Black Sea
Posted
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?