Probus

Good to know. Not one of my regular haunts. Thanks Steve!

I saw alleged video footage of them being loaded on trucks on their way to Ukraine.

The HIMARS rocket systems the USA is giving Ukraine are totally capable of hitting targets deep in Russia. My jury is still out on if they should. If they do decide to, they should creep the fire in daily to scare/psych the Russians into thinking they are losing ground day by day. Bryansk was 50% the distance between Kiev and Moscow. 50%, 60%, 70%,... distance to Moscow daily is very ominous and paints a very negative picture for moral purposes. Also, lots of sabotage/coincidences occurring in Russia right now. Is anyone keeping track of the attacks on Russian soil? Also the method(s) used in the attacks?

I believe this was posted earlier. Can someone confirm the number of anti-tank weapons the USA is sending to Ukraine? Was Ward just summing up the AT weapons or are these in addition to the ones he listed (such as LAWs, Karl Gustov, etc...):

Regarding Moldova's neutrality, any country who declares itself neutral yet is anywhere near Russia is just asking to be invaded by Russia. They had better hop on board of NATO ASAP or be prepared for the consequences. About the only country over there that can truly stay neutral is Switzerland and that's just because its surrounded by strong NATO countries. I swear, if Russia was capable, it would air drop troops in neutral Switzerland as a purely 'defensive measure'. Google Thesaurus -> Russian to English NEUTRAL adjective AVAILABLE; UNCLAIMED; (awaiting invasion); (first come, first serve);

That's a Confederation.

You may have missed something Steve. What if the blame is Putin's? If Putin is calling the shots like Stalin did then nobody wants to blame him. That's gonna make it more difficult for the army to change tactics too.

Closing in on 600 pages! I just wanted to thank everyone for the extremely great content you guys have been posting and the really in depth analysis offered. I stay riveted to this thread, let me tell ya. It's so great my wife even quotes to me from it! Now that's saying somethin'!

Is this footage of infantry attacking a tank and also GoPro footage from the tank? I thought tanks were supposed to support the infantry in urban warfare not lead the way?!?

Here ya go @kraze: *Now with more pictures! I bet this has something to do with keeping the gas flowing to his country. Either that or he's just a dirtbag.

Has this story been confirmed: https://www.foxnews.com/world/germany-pledges-to-maintain-ukraines-military-equipment-says-direct-arms-support-has-been-maxed-out If true, how does it affect the Leopards?

Can someone link me or show me what the front lines look like now in the East and what Ukraine is up against? I am having trouble conceptualizing the front.

It probably won't be too long before we have a dedicated vehicle designed to counter drones. Something similar to an AEGIS cruiser in the Navy. Lots of ECM, 20mm, Lasers (to blind or kill drones), and small guided submunitions to take out swarms. The GBAD and Coyote are a start. https://news.usni.org/2018/06/04/marines-forward-deploy-portable-drone-killing-system https://www.armyrecognition.com/weapons_defence_industry_military_technology_uk/raytheon_demonstrates_m-lids_coyote_block_2_counter_uas_unmanned_aerial_system_weapon_station.html

Massed Infantry -=Defeated=- by the Machine Gun Machine Gun -=Defeated=- by the Tank Tank -=Defeated=- by Heavy Tank Heavy Tank -=Defeated=- by the ATGM ATGM -=Defeated=- by the Drone??? Drone??? -=Defeated=- by the ???EW AAA Light UGV Tank ???EW AAA Light UGV Tank -=Defeated=- by the Infantry (in trucks ) And on and on... But all those weapon systems, including the Infantry are still relevant on the battlefield. SOURCES:

As you can tell @Battlefront.com, I'm more of an avionics guy than a ground systems person. But here's a little window into some of what the USAF is up to (I'm sure you're already savvy to). @Huba, or should I call you Black Adder , you say tongue in cheek, but the USAF takes that seriously. It has rules regarding vehicles that operate autonomously just so we don't get ourselves into a SkyNet situation. Mostly -return home type commands if they lose the ability to control the vehicle remotely. But that is not always the case. Take, for instance, the new B-21. I was never privy to the OFP (Operational Flight Programming) for that vehicle (and obviously if I were we wouldn't be having this discussion), but the OFP for these kinds of vehicles have more of a -complete the mission and -return home type programming. And the drones designed to accompany an F-35 on attack/bombing raids, those reach another level of autonomy along side their human operator. I'm fairly certain those type drones are not operational yet, and if they were, the USAF wouldn't be shouting about it either. Those commands probably go a step further with -complete the mission, -defend the F-35, and -return home in high ECM environments. https://warriormaven.com/air/air-force-mini-drone-swarms-could-be-operated-by-a-b-21-or-f-35 The thing is, the drones used for air missions are in a much closer to 'pristine' environment than the ones used in the mud and sand on the ground, at least relatively speaking. As mentioned earlier, what happens when one of these UGVs becomes immobilized? I imagine a lot of future ambushes will center around this very situation.

In theory maybe, but in reality, on a muddy, dusty, or wet, salty, or gritty battlespace, maintenance is very important. I'm retired with over 20 years of military maintenance and logistics. The more complicated the electronics, the more things that can go wrong. With robotics, that tends to go up exponentially. Murphy's law. Now I say all that, but there have been some amazing advancements in redundant circuitry. I worked with what we called SRUs and LRUs (Shop and Line Replaceable Units). We were beginning to see advancements where if a circuit card failed in the field, on a mission, a spare circuit card in the 'box' could be reprogrammed using FPGA technology. Without boring you with too much detail, it was pretty amazing stuff. 20 circuit cards in a 'black box', 15 were duplicates and programmed on the fly. Mechanical parts, not so easy to make redundant I would imagine though.

Sorry, but the sub titles had me laughing so hard I was crying...

@The_Capt, I know the Russians haven't been all that savvy about finessing a situation, but if they used weather conditions that caused severe foggy/hazy conditions to attack in, would that really help or hurt the Ukrainian defense. It would make for better NLAW conditions but the longer range ATGMs may prove much less useful. I really wish Black Sea could come out with a pre-release that had all the Western AT weapons included in the TOE for the Ukrainians. Plus leopards, M113s,... so we could simulate the possible upcoming battles and see how the simulations match reality.

This is completely valid. If there is any kind of operational security (OPSEC) issues concerning the attack. Any trickery that probably went on, they can't release footage of the attack. That would show their hand and stop it from working again or even being a deterrent in the future. Once this no longer matters, then footage will begin to appear if it exists. But then again, maybe it was a 688 attack sub torpedo that sank it and Ukraine is just claiming the missiles hit it to cover for the real cause. He...he... "And I... was never here."

I don't know if you meant for that to be funny, but +1.

Nice! There aren't any good multiplayer games like Harpoon, are there? I played harpoon multiplayer twice (at least I think it was Harpoon. Pretty sure it was). It was a blast, but lenghty and buggy back then.

My brother just told me the Russian MoD has announced the Moskva has sank while being towed in heavy seas. Is that true?

Lol @kraze!

Any chance the Moskva hit a mine? That could cause it to capsize pretty quick.

That was painful to watch. You can just never let your guard down whether Russian or Ukrainian. It may be the last thing you do.