kevinkin
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Posts posted by kevinkin
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9 minutes ago, kimbosbread said:
more powerful chips + machine learning advances will make cheapo autonomous systems possible in the 2020s and beyond.
Don't forget about innovations that increase lift/lower weight and extend battery life. I would love to just getting out of college with degree to work on these things. Alas, time flies almost as fast and a cheapo quadcopter.
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2 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:
Yes, this is a good point. Much of the criticism of how Ukraine is handling the counter offensive is coming from unknown sources. The think tanks also seem to be more-or-less onboard with the concept that NATO wouldn't do much better under the same circumstances. Maybe even worse.
However, I do suspect that there is some current of doubt running through military circles that amounts to "we trained them and they didn't do it right". It is more likely that than all of the anonymous sources having no active role in anything relevant to the war.
Steve
I don't think the Chairmen of the Joint Chief of Staff is an unknown source. And what I quoted above has been a point of discussion here for 6 plus months. Now it seems like minded advocates for Ukraine are realizing how this proxy war has been mishandled. All you have to do is watch the daily White House news conference to understand how incompetent the executive branch of US government has become along with the media trying to get answers on anything. Everyone seems out to lunch.
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This is a bit interesting:
The "Eagle Partner 2023" drill, while expected to be only a small exercise, appears to be the latest step in a long-term process of Armenian moving away from Moscow's influence because of the Kremlin's inability to resolve the ongoing Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
If you think Russia is barely hanging on, this is a data point to refer to.
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1 hour ago, Sojourner said:
What does that even mean? How does one know what NATO "expectations" are? Who speaks for NATO?
Good question. Perhaps it's less about the NATO organization than the security of Europe in the face of authoritarian nations like Russia. We might be using the term NATO as a short cut since Ukraine is not part of NATO but are considered the good guys. I think NATOs expectations were for a quicker, shorter and less deadly war where by Russia is punished and humiliated without the entire thing spiraling out of control. This is a work in progress on all those points.
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25 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:
NATO expectations are what isn't right.
Bingo.
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4 hours ago, holoween said:
to take heavy casualties in a comparable war.
Yes, I don't think the US Army can learn anything from UA as it relates to ground warfare like breaking through mine fields. There is not a chance the US would enter into combat where that would be a factor. We would play to our strengths and target the enemy's weaknesses not the other way around. Maybe at the squad level the US could learn a few tricks. But operationally even the Milley recently said the US could not do what we are asking UA to do given no air support.
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6 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:
I also think it is stupid to expect the UA to perform NATO standard doctrine without a force (including air) that is up to NATO standards.
I could not agree more and acknowledging this is very important. Many have been pointing this out for a year. The policy decisions are not matched up to the rhetoric. One of those have to change. I personally believe the rhetoric is fine, but the policy is too weak.
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24 minutes ago, dan/california said:
Very approximately it said that one of the West's greatest failures in this whole thing was never making decisions at war time speed.
Great point. The equation for kinetic energy (i.e. warfare) has a key variable - velocity.
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3 hours ago, kimbosbread said:
pupusas
I couldn't say it any better. BTW, as a chef, engineer, and chemist I never heard of those things. If I did, they were called something else. Anyway thanks. I try not to let a day go by without learning something new.
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There is a young kid at the US Open (Tennis) that's quoted “Sometimes,” Shelton said, “you’ve got to shut off your brain, close your eyes, and just swing.”. Does that work all the time. No. Does that work some of the time. Yes. But it's such an American way of putting things. It's the same thinking that NASA had in the 60's. Anything is possible if you just try.
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26 minutes ago, chuckdyke said:
Yes the smallest drone is the size of the common sparrow. Wait and we have mosquito size or even smaller.
I think drones will be defeated by some technology we don't know about yet. Not in my lifetime perhaps. Maybe there will have to be an international convention regarding their use. (Get it done quickly). For example, a mosquito sized UAV could be used to kill the POTUS, me, or my good friend next door. Without any thought they could make owing guns irrelevant.
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1 minute ago, acrashb said:
You wrote earlier that Prig had enough money to retire in grand style. But for people like him that's not the point - the point is power, and you don't get that in retirement.
I think the man was lulled into a false sense of security. That's the the way clans and organized crime work. I would assume he was having Stolichnaya on the the rocks when the a/c went down in flames. He never knew what happened.
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4 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:
I disagree. Part of the unwritten rules of the Russian power system is that if you "retire" you're safe. If Prig had agreed to hand over his business interests, which Wagner secured/protected, the MoD clan would have left him alone. For the most part the clans are interested in getting what they want more than they are exacting personal revenge. But he really would have to keep his nose out of things.
Steve
And I agree with you. Prig killed himself. It's beyond comprehension why the guy didn't "just fade away" and perhaps, maybe resurface at a more opportune time. I can't figure this entire episode out. I don't think anyone even in the CIA can. It's nuts.
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1 hour ago, kimbosbread said:
I suspect we’ll lose out to the Eastern Europeans in short order who are more “motivated” to put it lightly.
Very good point and thanks for acknowledging there is a problem in the US. It might not be so much about money (we, as a couple have plenty of that) or motivation (my spouse is a flag waving hero) but the US is just getting older and those we are accepting into our fold are too young at the moment to enter the work force as engineers. These types of things are never talked about in discussions on policy; they are sweep under the rug. Journalism is America hardly exits.
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4 minutes ago, Centurian52 said:
To your credit, you did not say anything about forcing anyone to do anything. But, it definitely seemed like you were implying that the world would be a better place with fewer people of certain demographics (people from the 3rd world). That is a very unsettling implication.
If I implied that certain demographics should be culled off the planet (which didn't) I apologize. However, we need to think that there are situations into which babies are born into hunger and illness needlessly. Someone used the term "spray of refugees" as mode of warfare. Whatever I said was lot more gentle and thoughtful than that.
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47 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:
The days of helicopters sitting around doing whatever they want to do are numbered.
Electronic warfare is a big topic in the US military, especially the Army these days. So big they reached to my spouse to come back to work! If you recall, she is an engineer with 35 years at Fort Monmouth. They closed down that shop and move the research to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. We are not moving. But I sense a lot of urgency in the reach out. I think they are on boarding a lot of people and need experienced people with solid credentials to manage the process.
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1 hour ago, sburke said:
sounds familiar.
Did I use the word "forced"? No. Conflating a known problem with a inhuman solution is not fair.
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2 minutes ago, kimbosbread said:
Completely unrelated to the war other than the weaponization of refugees of course, but the pressure from this will drive many conflicts in this century.
I agree. It has in the past too.
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1 hour ago, Centurian52 said:
advocating eugenics.
No, advocating responsibility; a difficult thing for mere humans to adhere to that's for sure.
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40 minutes ago, chuckdyke said:
I am afraid it will be over when the Russian flag will be lowered at the Kremlin.
Not in our lifetimes.
And what flag would raised? The stars and stripes?
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9 minutes ago, JonS said:
I mean ... South Korea has been a fabulous success story by practically any measure. I'm not sure how forced mass population relocation in order to make a few Americans feel better about themselves could improve on that?
I could not say it better.
The US can and has done very good things. The question is are they random events or planned by "smart" Ivy league people in DC. There is a point were education gets in the way of common sense. My parents, for example, never went to college but I would put any part of the US Federal government in their hands. They were that smart.
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7 minutes ago, danfrodo said:
you should delete this if you have any sense whatsoever, and hope it wasn't seen by the east coast forum admins who are probably asleep
Why? They are just words and thoughts. Nothing vulgar. Nothing attacking an individual. "spray of refugees" is harder language than I used by leaps and bounds. Give me a break.
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4 hours ago, dan/california said:
The thing about the dirt poor ones though is that the only trouble they are able cause anybody outside their borders is a spray of refugees.
Yep, the third world needs 100% complete access to birth control. And they should be paid to use it. "Paid to get laid" might work better than "Just say no". All we can do is try. There is tremendous demographic pressure on the northern hemisphere. It does not relate to Ukraine directly so I will stop.
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4 hours ago, Battlefront.com said:
As you said, Biden even ATTEMPTING to talk with Putin directly would be a diplomatic disaster in the making.
Steve
I don't disagree with that. But I am happy I asked the question. There is nothing wrong with thought experiments.
How Hot is Ukraine Gonna Get?
in Combat Mission Black Sea
Posted
Well maneuver warfare theory would disrupt any attempt by the enemy to do so. And it would not involve sending our kids headlong into minefields like the RA has had the time to set-up. These are not Iraqi minefields. I feel sorry of the UA troops having to so without flights of B52s completely demoralizing those Russians covering the fortifications.