DreDay

Absolutely, although we have not seen any clips with those engagement ranges yet..

I agree 100%. My only point was that un(or lightly) protected missiles don't tend to stay on top of armored vehicles very long; especially in intense combat engagements. That's not a matter of training - that's just the physicality of it

How long are those ATGMS going to last? Or for that matter, will they even make it to battle? Need I remind you what had happened to the Tunguskas of Maikop brigade in Grozny?

Armor - yes; although I am not convinced that it's necessary when taking out VBIEDs. Ammo - it's not so simple. The 100mm cannon on a BMP-3 can take out enemies in most fortified positions while 30mm AC could not even dream of that...

Thank you for the link, I remember some Ukrainian official calling it Pinocchio or something like that.

I agree, that was definitely part of the thinking; but by the same token - Russian government simply could not just stand by as their compatriots in Donbass were being suppressed. I they did - that would have brought an idea of overthrow in Kremlin much more so than corruption or bureaucracy. Or you know, maybe they could try giving common civil rights to their Russian minority and try to get along with Russia? It's not going away anywhere any time soon, you know.. I agree. It appears to me that absolutely nobody knew what to expect there; least of all Strelkov...

Thank you for your colossal and thought-provoking material. I just have one question - who exactly was implementing those far superior operations in the West at the same time?

I agree with you that resolution is not as good as AH-64D; but some of those targets get engaged out to 8km..that's no joke!

What do you think were the goals of Russian military adventure in Ukraine? Also, I don't for a second believe that Russia fancies invading Latvia; But if "polite men" were to find themselves in Riga; it would already too late. In general, Soviet military had always acceled in quick and relatively non violent takeovers of other countries; so Crimea should not have been a shock to those that are in the know... You can't drink away a talent - as the Russians like to say.

What makes you say that? What advantages does it have over up-armored BMP-3?

True. Just to add-on to your point - not only did they continue developing them; but also oversaw their heavy use in Iraq and Syria...and even Ukraine if we are to believe ZSU command...

Just to be sure that I understand it correctly - here are some questions: Is it fair to say that Ilovaisk was originally defended by locals like Givi(who was born and raised there)? I seem to remember Mr Putin making a statement that the troops encircled in Ilovaisk could leave with honor, but they had to surrender their weapons. Was that not discussed between Russian and Ukranian command on site? Did the Ukranian columns not attempt to take all the weapons with them when leaving their camp? Were they not asked by Russian officers to hold off for 15 minutes, while they tried clarify the situation with their command? Did the Ukranian CO not ignore this request by ordering his subbordinates to "break out"? Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to accuse the Ukranians and to abdicate the Russians. I would just very much to appreciate hearing your honest thoughts on that. Thank you!

That is one of his criticisms and also the reason that he was kicked out from Russian IPSC (where he was quite successful up until then). I personally reserve my judgement without seeing the full course setup, so take it for what it's worth...

This video is from Alexander Petrov's training seminars. He is a civilian contractor (ex mil though) that has his own take on "tactical" firearms training; kinda like we have guys like Costa and Haley... His seminars are attended by some Russian SF personnel, but they are not equivalent to actual unit training.

No doubt. One question that I have though (outside Saudi issues) is the performance of turbine engines in high altitude. I remember hearing that their performance gets significantly downgraded when you get high above the sea level. Is there any truth to that, or is that just an old wife's tale?

Right, what I had meant is that the Russians seem to feel that something that weighs as much as a SAW (i.e. PKM/PKP) needs to be firing a full rifle cartridge; so they don't have a place for a "true" belt-fed LMG firing 5.45x39 in their doctrine.

I see, so basically army and navy spetsnaz assets have been taken from GUR and integrated into an independent branch? That makes sense. BTW, Russian SSO is also independent of GRU and subordinates directly to the chief of general staff..

That's part of it. In addition, Russian military experts seem to be of a belief that something as heavy as a SAW (as in PKM/PKP) should be firing a true rifle round and not an intermediary cartridge in order to fully compliment infantry squad's range and firepower. BTW, as far as I know RPKs are only left in service with Naval Infantry; while all other infantry formations have equipped their squads with PKM/PKP.

Is it correct to assume that Ukrainian SSO consists of 3rd and 8th Spetsnaz regiments or are they a separate force from "army spetsnaz" as in Russia?

On that note - are you aware of any efforts to spin off any significant production of small arms ammunition (since Luhansk plant is not an option at this point)?

I don't believe that there is any subsonic ammo in 7.62x54. If there was, it probably wouldn't perform much better than subsonic AKs... There is a reason why the Soviets had to design a whole new family of munitions for AS/VSS.

I would love to be mistaken here, but I don't think that there is much of a "targeting logic" involved; just a basic dispersion coefficient...

I was aiming for vehicular targets, obviously it can hit a broad side of a barn at longer ranges than the ones that I had listed

I have actually done extensive testing on RPG-7 and RPO-M behavior back in a day. Here is the gist of my findings - PG-7VL will always miss its targets past 250 meters. It absolutely does not matter how experienced/unsuppressed your operators are and how good good the weather is. In real life, it is capable of being effective at twice that range under perfect conditions. RPO-M will always miss a small house at distances over 200m, again its range far surpassed that in real life when dealing with area targets. When it does manage to hit a small house with an infantry squad inside (from point-blank range of course) it fails to inflict any casualties or even heavy suppression 90% of the time. It is also completely incapable of penetrating light armor of BTRs and MTLBs; which makes it completely useless in this game.

Surprisingly balanced and objective article that foregoes most propaganda and just reports the facts on the ground. I only wish we could get more of those...