Lethaface

Wrong, very.

That's unfortunately how many ministries are often run. I like to hyperbole and it's not like there's nothing at all getting done in any ministry (although it often feels that way). But preventing the political representatives from getting into uncomfortable situations in the parliament/press/wherever and preventing them having to do things which later can be harmful (risk management), simply has the highest priority for the people working directly for those representatives. Which are usually the highest ranking officials working for the ministry. And the minister covers for the prime-minister/chancellor. That's how the game works, unfortunately. Although dire times have been a catalyst for more business-minded governance in the past. Perhaps it will also in our times. PS yes catching the posts up lol, I had weekend.

I hope my previous oppo is still in the race, didn't get a file / message from him anymore since a day or 10. But the games were mainly played and especially in my US game it wasn't a fair fight. So I understand if he threw the towel. Although I don't really know what happened, it's not like I never have RL things getting in the way of gaming stuff.

yes file is there.

@jheinrichk first file send (just clicking), please also send your first file so we don't have to wait on eachother for setup GL & HF!

Well said.

Liked. We're also at the Patriot stage, which I'd consider as premium Western AA. Let's see whether fighter aircraft will be added to the mix.

I can recommend some books by Adam Tooze about this subject ('crashed'), so I agree that economy, military and political stuff are intertwined. But in this case one subject is geopolitics/macro-economics and national pollitics, the other are the reality of war/the operational/tactical situation at the front. It would indeed be great if the former would cater to the latter, but that's not how it works.

I don't but others here will. IIRC 500+, closer to 1000.

It's not like Ukraine doesn't have tanks.

Because we don't have the 'send tanks button' we can argue about it until we are stiff and cold but that won't bring any tanks/whatever to Ukraine.

And obviously what should to be done is that the 'coalition of the willing' of countries which support Ukraine select a package of stuff which to support Ukraine with. Move from the dozen type of IFVs send to one type, preferably a modular platform. The same idea goes for all capabilities, make it as easy as possible for Ukraine to integrate send stuff into their forces. 'We' can organize that in theory. This was probably already stated in this thread 1939 pages ago and many times since. Unfortunately that doesn't help it become real.

From the comfort of my war-free chair I prefer to separate the subjects of what's happening at the front and other/political stuff, in this moment, Ramstein. They are different perspectives. From the front the question has been and will always be, 'give weapons'. Even if Leo2s are given a green checkmark tomorrow, there won't be an armored fist crushing through the Russian lines into the rear the day after.

He's also quite visibly uncomfortable on most of the images/video's that get posted of him during interviews/talks. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't sit out his term, although I don't know how usual that is in Germany.

Indeed if there's political will and mutual cooperation a lot can be done quickly. But looking at things glass half full, already a lot has been done and there is more unity compared to a year ago. Of course there are always the backroom talks where things are actually discussed before they are presented in the public during the meeting. From a mutual cooperation pov it's a good sign that Polish MoD Blaszczak signalled constructive talks, in general that's how one get's to results (even if nothing has been achieved so far) ;-). In my opinion too much has been played through the media about these subjects the last few months. That might also be of influence in the way certain countries politicians behave themselves. Under pressure people can do strange things.

Maybe after this endeavor the average german will be more compelled to vote for visionary, decisive leadership. That has not been the case for quite a while imo. One of the negatives of coalition party politics is the type of people it attracts, especially in 'dull' times. The type of leadership needed for times / matters like these are probably working somewhere in the German industry.

If we really go on delivering F-16s that would be a show of leadership I'd applaud. I don't like this Hoekstra but that's not relevant. However I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow some ex-airforce general comes on the wire and says that delivering any significant number of F-16s isn't feasible short term. It's easy to say we are for donating Leo2s because we don't have any. Basically it's just financing / giving money. Anyway compared to Scholz I think our government is handling the Ukraine effort quite well. But let's see what actually materializes, I'm not really fond of speculating / expectation building before the facts are on the table.

This is what I've been thinking about for a bit, but then in an automated distributed system. X number of drones keep scanning for targets and reporting them to the 'system'. The target is automatically 'appointed' to a gun (or several) which are in range. That gun fires of a (salvo of) round at the target and moves again. One could have a human in the mix approving identified potential targets or just have it autonomous. You can make it more complex by adding a BDA 'service' which uses a drone from the pool to assess whether the target has received 'sufficient' rounds. Or adding various type of artillery systems/munitions in the mix and have another service/system component match the target to the type of munition/system. But that's 'extra'. If a drone or howitzer becomes unavailable, one can just 'plug in' a replacement as long as they are in stock. And voila: you have an 'self repairing' automated distributed artillery carousel on a continuous attrition mission.

Didn't realize the crappy range of the gun. Lol in CMRT I had a Jagdtiger make a 2200m kill against a SU-122. Anyway point taken, standoff distance is of course always preferable if effective. My thoughts were more towards what a speed speed advantage could bring in the current war. With a decent ranged directfire AT gun I'd imagine a drone coordinated fast 'glass cannon' could be useful tactically. If only based on CM experience: the hellcat concept in a modern environment.

If properly this can be done as secure or even more secure compared to 'papertrail' procedures. But indeed some of the data can be very harmful in the wrong circumstances. Especially if combined.

Retro fitting that perspective to the current war could mean the French AMX-10RC could make a lot of sense due to it's speed. Spot something with drones/whatever, relay it to the vehicle and have it race to a fire position, fire a couple of shots and put the throttle again towards 'safety'. A bit oversimplified I guess. But raw speed will definitely be helpful preventing you being selected as a target for a guided PGM during the enemy OODA loop, or help from being effectively targeted/struck.

Fear of losing their power / position. The more and closer I've worked with ministries, the more it has become clear that their usual modus operandi is 'protect the minister from falling'. At least the higher ups. Because of this Ministries are by definition the most untrustworthy organizations that exist. If the political reality changes, they will throw anyone under the bus without a second thought. Anything which could result in uncomfortable questions in parliament are addressed in such a way that, should a parliamentary inquiry ever be held, the responsible minister/secretaries can't be blamed for something they did (wrong). So instead of actually deciding or doing something about a problem, they instigate 'investigative enquiries' to shine more light on the matter (i.e. send money to the consulting firms). Which take ages and then lead to new discussions and the process repeats itself. 'Business case', 'quickscan' , memo's and whatever vehicle they can imagine will be put in front of this cart. These political games are very hard to identify / cut through from outside. The only thing which works to stop this risk management fiasco of 'getting nothing done' is ensuring that the risk of doing nothing become greater than doing something. That's often easier said then done and can obviously backfire in another direction. So without being on the privy side of what's happening inside the German goverment, this smells like the usual suspect imo.

I have to admit it's a good one.

I agree, but that's exactly the problem with our democracies. The last few decades the politicans/parties which have implemented 'what must be done' always got punished by the voters, which is coupled with the rise of populism / extreme wing parties. So, not saying that's the case in this instance, doing the 'just' thing might lead to the next party in power undoing all of that and much more. Plus politicians and political parties don't like losing votes, which has unfortunately become the largest influence on policy (risk avoidance).

Could be. I think he's just scared and trying to hold on to daddy/mommy's pants before stepping into the unknown without 'support'. That's even mostly serious, anyway I think he's mainly scared of internal political consequences compared to Rus actually declaring war or nuking Germany. But, all speculation.