DesertFox
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Posts
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Days Won
6
Posts posted by DesertFox
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New schoolbooks for little Ivans. Look at the map print. Maybe a little premature...
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5 minutes ago, cesmonkey said:
Well for launching air-to surface missiles a MiG-31 would do as well. 929 Flight Test Centre in Akhtubinsk? How many of those pieces do they have?
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30 minutes ago, cesmonkey said:
While it's nice to see this wreckage, isn't the Su-57 Russia's newest fighter jet?
Are they beyond prototype status or is it on the same level with T-14 Armata?
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That could mean Eurofighters Tranche 1 in the not so distant future. We´ll see.
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1 minute ago, Lethaface said:
but imo the 2A4 doesn't offer much the 1A5 doesn't have.
Nope, I am not going to bite. You can compare 1A5 and 2A4 all over the internet. The sources are plenty.
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1 minute ago, Kinophile said:
What's the major work? Hull modifications?
Turret armor and 2nd thermal unit for commander.
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7 minutes ago, poesel said:
IIRC the conversion from A4/5 to A6 is quite extensive and time consuming. I'd rather take them as is. The A4 is more than good enough for this war and you'll never get back the lost time.
That´s correct. With A5 the Leo got hunter-killer mode, meaning cmd and gunner were able to independantly aquire targets via thermal. A6 got the L55 gun amongst other improvements.
Imho instead of upgrading to A6 (will take months if not years) it would be better to deliver L44 A4s and A5s and equip them with APFSDS silver-bullets (M829A1 and successors) instead of tungsten DM 33/43/53, if possible of course.
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5 minutes ago, Lethaface said:
We've read more about the 'wild' numbers from Poland before. Maybe they added a zero as a way to make a long nose to Russia? Anyway I'd refrain from placing bets on the 500 number.
Yeah, polititians and their statements. Who are we to believe what they tell us?
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2 minutes ago, Huba said:
The Prime Minister will also offer to provide Ukraine with longer range capabilities. This will disrupt Russia’s ability to continually target Ukraine’s civilian and critical national infrastructure and help relieve pressure on Ukraine’s frontlines.
Interesting. Storm Shadow cruise missiles?
STORM SHADOW / SCALP | Air Dominance, DEEP STRIKE | MBDA (mbda-systems.com)
UK minister is "open minded" over sending longer-range weapons to Ukraine | Reuters
UK ‘not ruling out’ giving Ukraine missiles to reach Russia (ukdefencejournal.org.uk)
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Turret throwing champion...
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Interview with german MoD in Ukraine:
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16 minutes ago, Huba said:
OK, so to clear the PL MLRS subject a little bit:
Up to now Polish Army only operates BM21 and RM-70 122mm MLRS. Some RM-70 are modernized to "Langusta" standard with digital automatic FCS, but there are still hand loaded and have a lot of obsolete features. MLRS are grouped in artillery regiments attached to divisions.
War in Ukraine resulted in our MoD embarking on an insane buying spree, which resulted in contract for the K239:
- 218 launchers were purchased, these will be mounted on Polish "Jelcz" trucks and equipped with PL comms and BMS
- 70 more are to be produced in PL under license (perhaps more in the future when manufacturing is all set up)
- contract included also more than 10K 239mm and 600mm missiles (roughly M31 and ATACMS unitary equivalents
This contract is valued at $3.55B. There are no more details available, our MoD absolutely sucks at communications and thinks it wise (or less problematic) to not give up more details on the future artillery force structures, details of what the contract entails regarding ammunition or any future shopping plans. There was talk about setting up production of K239 ammunition locally in PL, but MoD got silent about that recently too.Now for HIMARS. Of course buying just a single type of a given category of equipment would be just too easy, and we don't like it that way. So on top of the K239 our MoD also want's American MLRS.
We purchased a single HIMARS battalion way before the war started ( 20 launchers and some insignificant amount of ammunition). On top of that our MoD sent a letter of request for more, which got approved yesterday and is the source of all of this commotion. It allows us to purchase:-18 more HIMARS
- 488 launchers to be mounted on PL "Jelcz" trucks
- 500 pods (3000 rounds) of M30 missile
- 500 pods (3000 rounds) of M31 missile
- 500 pods (3000 rounds) of MLRS-ER missile
- 50 ATACMS Unitary missiles
Maximum price for all of this is $10B. Now this is are just maximum numbers that were approved and now negotiations for specific purchases will commence.
My comment on that is that this whole plan is insanely stupid and buying anything from this list (except maybe ammunition) absolutely doesn't make sense, for several reasons:
- absorbing the K239 will already be an enormous task is itself - manning, training, building facilities etc will be a huge undertaking
- the amount of ammunition in this LoR is absurdly low compared to number of launchers, it's just 3 reloads, what is the point of that?
- K239 can also reportedly fire US MLRS ammunition, so there's that...
- Korean ammo offers the same performance for much much smaller price (except the GMLRS-ER, Koreans just use 400mm missiles with similar range)
It doesn't help that our MoD is not disclosing any detail about the planned force structure, there are only some leaks. As far as one can tell, the division level artillery regiments are to be enlarged to brigades, probably with 2 MLRS battalions each. There are to be some corps/ commander in chief level missile brigades too, let's say 4 battalions each. This adds up to 20 battalions, typically with 18 launcher per, giving a required total number of 360 launchers. Which means that there won't be any huge HIMARS purchase as this is almost all covered by already purchased 290 K239.
This is all speculation though, and our MoD might very well be just crazy and plans to buy it all for some reason, perhaps bloating the forces to even more insane levels. It's hard to tell, cause the ex-Soviet culture of extreme secrecy is still present in MoD/ Army...
Edit:
There might be one way for this insanity to make sense. At the moment the older RM-70 are to be pushed down to brigades and used as DPICM dispensers. If these were to be replaced by HIMARS there ( around 20 more battalions) and we were to buy up the whole remaining US M26 stock/ start production of similar rockets locally, this perhaps would (very arguably) make some sense.
Thanks for the elaboration. That gives the announcement of the MoD the necessary context. Lets wait and see in which timeframe this vast increase in launchers will take place. They need to be produced and that takes time.
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9 hours ago, TheVulture said:
Or the person who wrote it up made a mistake somewhere.
I don´t think so, because the tweet posted by the polish MoD reads the following translated with google translator:
QuoteWielkie wzmocnienie polskiej artylerii coraz bliżej. Departament Stanu USA wyraził zgodę na sprzedaż Polsce prawie 500 wyrzutni Himars. Większość z nich będzie zamontowanych na polskich ciężarówkach. Zakupimy również zapas amunicji. Przystępujemy do negocjacji cenowych.
Google Translator:
The great reinforcement of the Polish artillery is getting closer. The US State Department has approved the sale of almost 500 Himars launchers to Poland. Most of them will be mounted on Polish trucks. We will also buy ammunition. We start price negotiations.
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14 minutes ago, Vanir Ausf B said:
Hmm. Reuters says the number of HIMARS launchers in the Poland deal is actually 18, a far more believable number.
Yeah, only problem is, that tweet I quoted is by the polish Minister of Defense. I guess he should know?
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Well, seems like they are preparing for the big show...
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Interesting to say the least...
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7 minutes ago, danfrodo said:
Exactly! If UKR goes for big offensive and commits much of its armored forces and it fails w heavy losses, then they are an infantry force. If they know they have hundreds of MBT, IFVs and AFVs coming online late 23 & early-mid 24, then they can be really aggressive. Like El Alamein Nov 1942: it took 10 very expensive days to break through but Monty knew he had to spend to get results and also knew if he failed he could retool and come back in a few months and punch again.
Exactly. Furthermore it is an enormous moral booster for UKR soldiers to know to have that western material support available.
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Tank action:
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5 hours ago, The_MonkeyKing said:
and even more Leo1 from Germany (adding to the original 88 number so 187 in total from Germany):
Rheinmetall will transfer 88 vehicles, and another 99 will come from FFGAdd to this 20 from Denmark and 40ish from Belgium company total gets close to 250. There are even more available in the western countries.
in CMSF in very scientific experiments
Leo1A5 vs T90 seem to be on bar with each other.
Both one-shot each others most of the time. T-90 has better survivability gets less shots off because worse spotting. Balances out.
Also even more M113 incoming from the Spain and UK.
Finally! The Chancellor refused this with scholzing around since 04/2022.
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2 hours ago, Dr.Fusselpulli said:
Yes, Panzerfaust 44 is the same as Panzerfaust Lanze, just a different name.
But as far as I know, they had the Carl Gustav at the same time. Maybe as "Panzerfaust 84"?True, I was trained on both back in 1988. PzFaust3 only came 1992.
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1 hour ago, Combatintman said:
The best online sources I have found are the regimental journals to be honest and trawling through the National Archives is not something that is within my bandwidth.
Good to hear that. Archival research wouldn´t be what I would do either if not being payed fulltime for it.
Leo1A5 vs T90 seem to be on bar with each other.
Combat Mission Cold War - British Army On the Rhine
in Combat Mission Cold War
Posted · Edited by DesertFox
Any chance you could squeeze in 1st Belgian Corps into the next module? It was BAORs southern neighbour in NORTHAG and holding the Kassel sector. AFAIK they directly cooperated with 1st Canadian Brigade in the 70-80s and also had some nice gear.
I Corps (Belgium) - Wikipedia