poesel

The German Bundeswehr plans to increase its numbers from 183.000 to 203.000 in 2030 (IIRC). Problem is, that not enough young people are interested in a career as soldier to reach those numbers. It is already reckoned that this target will be missed. I guess other armies will or do face the same problem. Is unmanned a way out of this? Just by the name of it you need less people because its not manned (d‘oh). But you still need people to operate it, but I have no idea if the total logistic chain for an UGV is more or less than a comparable tank. Also, the job requirement for unmanned is more technical and less crawling through the mud. That might make it more attractive to prospects. So is unmanned a win-win for future armies?

No. The 135 come from Danish, Belgian & German stock IIRC. Those Italian would be on top.

I wonder when we will see flamethrowers. Or is there a silent agreement on both sides not to use them?

Please don‘t take this post as bait for country bashing. It is just facts. Europe (EU & non-EU) has now twice the amount of (pledged!) support for Ukraine. Dark blue is short term, light blue long term support. Took us a while but it is not that the US bears the brunt of the support alone anymore. Article in German. https://www.ifw-kiel.de/de/publikationen/aktuelles/ukraine-support-tracker-europa-sagt-jetzt-doppelt-so-viel-unterstuetzung-zu-wie-die-usa/

We never saw a video, or did we? https://defence-blog.com/russia-announces-armata-tanks-pullback-from-ukraine/ Traps on mines: https://twitter.com/Heroiam_Slava/status/1697994294534017302 and a nice joke: https://twitter.com/DefMon3/status/1698259322755580209

A bayonet? Really? I thought that fad had run its way in WWI...

Very well put. One thing to add: one reason why Germany and Japan were treated so well by the allies was that they were needed vs Russia and/or China. Without that, I guess the willingness to forgive would have been a bit less. The willingness of Ukraine to forgive Russia or Russians will pay out in good PR in the West, which translates to money or things like EU membership. Ukraine has managed to stay the 'good guy' in a horrible war. When the war ends, it needs to stay that for its own future. That will be a very hard thing to do - not to pay back what the bastards have done to you. But the West is not in this war, we are only observing. And the West will judge Ukraine by its own standards, which are not adjusted by having been into that war. Winning the war is only halfway to peace.

I really shouldn't link to articles nobody can read... This article is from a German newspaper and TV station, not the government. The government actually says nothing about this. Nil, zip, nada. Theres probably currently no interest in finding out. Btw, the tip came from the Dutch secret service. It was relayed to the US and Germany. The tip stated that the attack would happen during that NATO maneuvre in the Baltics. When that tip reached the German government that date had already passed and it was thus discarded as false.

There were some Russians ships with turned off transponders in that region just prior to the explosions. They could have placed the explosives or try to remove them. We don't know. Pro (Russia is the culprit): they tried to evade the fines for not delivering gas by force majeure Contra: why would they destroy a big source of income? Yes, but I don't mean they couldn't do it. I meant that they couldn't do it without being caught afterwards. Their track record hasn't been that good lately. Quite the contrary. The documentary displays the facts as far as they are known to the public and refrains from presenting a conclusion. But it does list the options. That includes those that most of us probably dislike.

SPIEGEL has a long article about the destruction of Nord Stream (paywalled, German): https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/nord-stream-anschlag-in-der-ostsee-die-spuren-fuehren-in-eine-richtung-in-die-ukraine-a-befcbfbb-b1cd-4912-aeaa-56bef4dd8047 They did it together with German TV ZDF who made a documentary (I'm not sure if this is accessible from abroad): https://www.zdf.de/politik/frontal/doku-fall-nord-stream-spurensuche-ostsee-andromeda-gas-pipeline-explosion-russland-sabotage-ukraine-krieg-100.html TL;DR: it was done with a small sail boat with 6-man crew, specialists have confirmed that to be feasible Russian activities at the time & place likely were attempted countermeasures all trails lead to Ukraine & Ukrainians Zelensky's involvement highly unlikely, but maybe lower rank, nothing proven could be Russian false flag - biggest counterargument is that they didn't botch that highly complicated mission German government is unusually tight-lipped & has no real interest in solving the case (now or maybe never)

Sorry

I agree with you on the point, but not on the details. We mutually recognized each other in 1972 (BRD & DDR). We did not give assurances to NATO, but between 1970-73 in several contracts to the SU, Poland, DDR, the Allies & Czechoslovakia. This included special legalese to allow a possible reunification with the DDR.

I'm a great fan of IKEA and Swedish meatballs (köttbullar), but I can not recommend köttbullar from IKEA. Totally bland and without taste. No match for those you get in Sweden. I'm nitpicking here. When Germany entered NATO, East- and West-Germany were already two distinct states. So that is not a good comparison. After the reunification, the eastern part of Germany only became NATO territory after the Russians left. That maybe a model. But I doubt that will ever happen because of economic reasons. Pausing the war and 'building it up' may work for the military, but not for the civilian infrastructure. That is expensive to repair and easy to destroy. After unpausing, Ukraine would have to build that AGAIN.

Maybe a bit late to ask, but why do you bold some parts of location names, like the 'o' & 'i' in Novopetrykivka? Thanks.

One reason not to drop Kerch Bridge maybe that it makes retreating easier. Having a way out lessens the resolve of the defenders. IIRC that's from Sun-Tzu, so nothing new. Actually, the Russians should drop that bridge as soon as push comes to shove in Crimea.

Pictures of Tor-M1 having been hit by a M30A1 round (sorry for the format).

Thanks for the explanation. Do you think that Ukraine is really trying to reduce corruption in earnest? During war, corruption usually flourishes because so many things are running out of normal bounds. This makes it twice as difficult to fight. OTOH, the government can be a bit more drastic with the punishments.

Zelenskyy fired all the heads of the regional recruitment centers. @Haiduk - could you maybe comment on this?

No - as far as Germany and all other UN countries (except for the usual suspects) is concerned, it is not Russian territory. It was built illegally without the consent of Ukraine. Btw, this 'patch' is highly criticized here. It is seen as either a delaying action or as an insult to Ukraine, or both. The pressure is getting higher to deliver Taurus now and not draw it out like with the Leopards.

That's the spirit.

Sorry, this is not directed at you specifically, but could we get a short summary, what the article is about? People sometimes just post a link without comment. Sometimes you can deduct the content from the URL, most of the time not. This leaves the reader with the decision to click on that link and thus find out if interesting or not. So a little piece of description would be helpful for everyone. Thanks.

Update to this: pundit said that Germany will drag her feet as long as the US won't supply ATACMS. Basically the same as with the Leopards - no cats without Abrams (at least promised at the time). I hope that this time the necessary preparations have already been done and Taurus could be delivered ASAP when and if the decision will be made. Btw. I retract my notion about the usefulness of the missile. Its abilities seem to be on par with SS/SCALP.

That anti-drone 'net' used to be a tent! How long until we see two-stage munitions for drones? Not long, I guess.

These guys got 30-50 Euros each. I'm starting to wonder if it weren't a good thing if the West would just do the same. Openly, of course - just to show the public that this is possible.

Taurus has no stealth ability (Storm Shadow / SCALP have) and is sub-sonic. That means its survivability would be very low in this war. SS & SCALP are built on the same technology, while Taurus is different. An extra adapter to the Su-24 would have to be developed (I guess). As much as I wish it not to be, Taurus is rather useless here and also expensive to employ.