sburke

I'm about to go solar if that helps. Though the effort of mining for the stuff that goes into solar is probably f'n up someone else's life. Back to Ukraine - looks like from the earlier pics the partisan effort in the south is making Russian appointees a bit uncomfortable. DPLR folks have got to understand that isn't going to stop there if Russian support to those puppet states falters.

freer rein? They launched an f'n war that is causing turmoil around the globe. Where did they hold back.. oh wait yeah those folks who still think Russia can win this and feel there is another gear.

successful mine clearing operation RA style. Goal of operation - clear the mines success rate - 100% you can't argue with sucess!

we need M113 in Black Sea!!!

In all likelihood they would have just made the situation worse. Yeah, they might be quiet, but quiet doesn't mean they have stopped. If anything, this could convince elements that removal of the current leadership is the only option and make them susceptible to being used by other forces opposed to Putin. When the mobsters are stirred up and unhappy with their current capo, they start looking for options to change the management structure. Watching the situation in Moscow is like watching a season of the Sopranos.

why don't we just hit the guys issuing the orders with that weapon that blenderized Ayman al-Zawahri and call it a day?

why not? Russians are okay with forgiving him for the atrocities committed on his own people.

30 km is not truly an attack into the depth though. (Kharkiv to the Russian border is under 40km to give perspective) You haven't really managed to dislodge the enemy and create a bird dog scenario. And apparently it is out of reason as RA can't manage even a couple kilometers despite massive expenditure of artillery ammo. I think @The_Capt outlined many many pages ago what kind of frontage would be required to push your armor through and secure your supply lines with the range that current AT weapons alone have. It was a ridiculous amount of space and even then it only protected your logistics from AT weapons not precision arty. The push in Desert Storm of a few hundred km did create the tempo for what you are suggesting in that the Iraqi army now had to consider large scale movement of units exposing them to air and long-range assets. Replace the situation in Iraq and put the US 3rd Army in Ukraine and things would get a lot more complicated to the point that both Steve and The Capt question how effective the US might actually have been.

That is one expensive bird dog.. and once it runs out of fuel in enemy territory it is an expensive bird doghouse. The weakness that it really faces in the discussion on these pages isn't the tank itself (though there is that as well) but the logistical tail it requires. In Desert storm the US against a weaker enemy did need an operational pause to allow supply to catch up and later had to spend a lot of effort to keep those supply lines clear. This against an enemy with no drones, nowhere near the level of commitment of its civilian population and no external enemy supplying tons of the latest military hardware and ISR. remember that 40 mile column back in March? Kyiv: Here's what we know about the 40-mile-long Russian convoy outside Ukraine's capital - CNN

slight change. hell it is like the Russian war plan was essentially a flash mob raiding a 7/11. For those not in the US, yeah that was a thing.

Well one thing I can say for Russia. When they decide to dig a hole for themselves, they go deep. I am having a hard time figuring out how long and what it will take before there is any consideration for normalization of relations. I don't think you can consider this a cold war situation as there really is no military threat, but a cold shoulder era yeah.

actually not really true, yes there have been varying AT weapons from ATRs through AT guns, PF. PzShk and BAZ. The issue now is proliferation, range and probability of kill. Now you don't even need to see the tank with your Mk 1 eyeball to kill it whereas prior. IF you had a weapon in range to kill, odds are you'd be spotted and at risk the tank would get you first. I don't think anyone has said the tank hasn't still played some role in Ukraine, just that it isn't used as it was designed and meant for. That being the case considering the expense and effort to keep it in the field and protect it, is there a better way to accomplish the role it is doing now? The parking garage may affect that but there are only so many of them.

partisan activity that showcases why Russia decided to put off that plebiscite. Russian Proxy Leader Killed by Car Bomb as Ukraine Vows to ‘Fight to the End’ (msn.com)

It seems that any country that hopes to fight this kind of war needs to address at its heart one major issue. Having an infantry force capable of performing on this battlefield. Conscripts don't cut it. A professional highly skilled force is absolutely necessary. While the actual battlefield weapons like AT and AA can be made to be user friendly till it is almost point and shoot, the coordination and utilization of high tech capabilities independently on the battlefield means having to really focus on that NCO corp and having an infantry force that is trained to a level to be useful. I think this is another area Ukraine has a major advantage. Its infantry is highly motivated and frankly overall better educated than the enemy they are facing and have been able to adapt and learn with a developing NCO force that facilitates that process. Russia might get some of these toys onto the battlefield, but its force structure denies them the ability to truly master the capabilities they provide. Russian society isn't geared for people to think for themselves. That is going to be a prerequisite for a soldier to be successful in this space.

Simple - don't invade a country if you don't have an exit plan and don't assume you can change the nature of a country just because on face value you'll make the average person's life better. People aren't logical.

I think you just have an inherent fear of parking garages. On The Best Defense: The Parking Garage - Outdoor Channel

I think a few questions would need to be answered first. 1. What is the role now of an AFV? 2. What does that mean for design specs? 3. what do those design specs require in a power train? 4. What impact will this have on the logistical trail? That last one has fundamentally changed. The US has historically been really good at that piece, but in this new world it is questionable how well we can protect it. It seems technology is going to be directed towards a more distributed logistical model possibly driven by autonomous vehicles supporting a smaller more lethal unit size with more independence and high level access to ISR and a secure battle net to be coordinated with an overall view of the battle space. In the @The_Capt words. Mass precision trumps everything. There are a limited number of players in that space. Maybe only really one if you plan on an extended campaign. I am not confident that China over the next couple decades will continue to be able to fuel it's military growth. At some point a decision may be forced to scale down and focus on an economy that has some real cracks in its foundation. On the other hand unconventional warfare now has a whole lot of additional weapons in the tool box and isn't quite as vulnerable to mass precision. Though hiding a bomb in a prosthetic leg.... A prominent Taliban cleric is killed in an explosion in Kabul : NPR

and I thought he meant Viagra...

LOL nice response

This is the problem I have in trying to understand Russian actions. I'm simply not sure I can. It is like trying to understand the attraction to Qanon. I simply can't make the jump. So trying to read the tea leaves as to WHY some part of the Russian power spectrum might do this and why Russians don't go WTF? to their gov't just aren't items I think I'll ever be able to wrap my head around.

ha you non believer! Russia is finally forcing us all to face the true terrifying reality of spontaneous human combustion! Terrifying Cases of Spontaneous Human Combustion - Slapped Ham or sumfink

oh no you missed it. Here I'll correct that for you a 12 year old girl took her mother on holiday, blew up a high-profile Putin supporter Tom Clancy style, and then walked back over the border to Estonia with her 29 year old mother vicious insidious Ukrainian kids!

This Ukraine Situation Report: Russia Building Pontoon Bridge Into Kherson (thedrive.com) makes me think of this

Interesting if true - this bit came from a daily mail article. No idea if Felshtinsky is very reliable, but he did coauthor something with Litvinenko.

maybe both if it is true he switched vehicles at the last moment. When they were offing oligarchs they were doing the whole family.