db_zero

I'm seeing reports that Ukraine is seriously concerned about running out of artillery ammunition. They are using thousands of rounds a day. They have Russian artillery, not Western artillery at the moment and the 40,000 rounds the US is sending isn't going to last long. I was under the assumption the 40,000 rounds was for the 18 155mm howitzers being sent, but it may be Russian ammo we had in storage that can be used with the Russian artillery Ukraine has? it looks like the Russian artillery Ukraine is using is different calibers. Can you use 155mm ammo in 152mm artillery? I would think not. I also believe some of the Ukraine artillery is 122mm and the rocket launchers are a completely different story. I remember years ago I was told the Russians developed 82mm mortars so they could use captured 81mm mortar ammo, but it doesn't sound like its possible to use 155mm ammo in a 152mm gun doesn't make sense. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-may-begin-new-offensive-soon-us-officials-say-ukraine-runs-stoc-rcna24655

Looking at the 18 SP guns the US sent and the radar that tracks incoming rounds. 18 SP guns doesn't sound like much. My guess is 18 is a number that can be competently maned and maintained by the Ukrainians at the moment. These are not typical artillery pieces. The 40,000 artillery rounds sent. Are they mostly HE rounds or are some smart rounds and rocket assisted too? These 18 SP guns sent are designed to shoot and scoot with a high degree of speed and accuracy. They were designed for use in a fast moving environment in mind. It may have been an artillery war since 2014, but I don't think what the Ukrainians have is in the same class of what the the US is sending in terms of digitization and integration to advanced fire control techniques. Probably a reason why the Russians bitched so much about the latest shipments of arms. The last thing they want to see is Ukraine in possession of dozens or hundreds of modern US SP artillery. These 18 SP guns will up the Ukrainians artillery game considerably. In layman’s terms it’s like going from a DOS PC running on a 1980 PC to a Windows X running on modern hardware.

When and if the big offense takes place we’ll get a taste of what artillery is about. Some of the speculative article I’ve seen say it will be an artillery war.

Be interesting to see if RC-135s or other assets are also operating out of places like Turkey or further north than the Ukrainian area to triangulate what they pick-up. They’re getting real life training and practice.

Don't about this particular product, but Fujitsu Ni-CD batteries are some of the best ones to get, but you have to be careful. Some are still made in Japan and high quality, while others made in China using machines shipped to China to be used for cheaper labor, but sold under the Fujitsu name are not as high quality. One of the conditions for opening shop in China is you play by their rules and turn over everything to them so they can learn.

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Question to anyone who might know or have an idea... Playing around in CMO and some of EW (electronic warfare) aircraft have effects that extend quite a distance. It looks possible to remain in friendly/neutral territory or in international waters, turn on the EW warfare gear and affect unfriendly nations radar/SAM guidance, ship radars and so on miles away. Its was reported a few weeks ago that the US deployed a squadron of F-18 Growlers to Europe. These have an offensive ECM load out that has quite a range of effects when used. It appears they could easily stay in NATO territory, turn on the ECM and the effects would easily extend into Ukraine. Over international water they could easily have effects on any ships within their ECM gears range. I've heard of some reports the Russians may be jamming GPS. What is the international law in regards to this sort of activity-if any? In peacetime and during conflict. Is interfering with a combatants use of the electromagnetic spectrum considered an act of war like blockading? Or is it something along the line of providing weapons and supplies, but not actively taking part in a conflict? Don’t see anything on this seems like a grey area. I've heard of people losing TV reception and other effects to electronics when presumably military exercises were happening and jamming aircraft presumably turned their gear on.

Took me a while to get down. I set the Moskva 60 nm South of Odessa as reported. I then placed 3 Bayraktar drones near the Moskva. I had a Klub-M-Tel ground based SSM (only Russian based one I could find for Ukraine). I has a NATO AWACS operating from NATO territory feeding intel data. I fired the Klub SSMs at the Moskva using Engage Target Auto modeand when the entered the air search range of the Moskva I would move the Bayraktars over the Moskva and harassed it and I got hits. Seems like I had to be on top of the Moskva to get this to work. Below is a shot from one of my earlier unsuccessful attempts. Klub-M-Tel does seem to have an attack profile different than what was actually used. I'll try Harpoons later.

My guess and its only a guess is if you look at a map of the natural gas reserves in Ukraine a wide sweeping movement would put a vast majority of those natural gas reserves under Russian control. Another issue is water. Ukraine cut off the water supply to the Crimea and it caused crop failures and water rationing. Russia wants to control water flow so the Crimea has access to enough to meet its needs. Neon for lasers used in microchip production. Last thing the West wants is Russia in control of a good portion of the global supply. Lithium is also a potential factor. Behind every war there is usually a economic and resource issue behind the stated "noble" goals. It may not be completely rational from a military point of view to attempt a wide sweeping offensive, but it wouldn't be the first time a dictator insisted on military strategy based on resource reasons as opposed to sound military strategy.

Good use of FS 2020. I took a look at this article and it mentions that in one of the potential what ifs (Scenario 2) is Dnipro becoming a key piece of terrain and if so that implies heavy urban combat. Looks like this person believes the main axis of the offense is further West. https://mwi.usma.edu/what-comes-next-in-ukraine-three-scenarios/ In another analysts I read that many of the potential battlegrounds have already been fought over since 2014 and are heavily entrenched with towns and industrial areas interspersed between open areas, many of which are already heavily damaged and defended by the most experienced Ukrainian units. Whatever the case I would have to believe that control of the roads and hubs that links roads will be critical. Keep hearing its not the strategy, operational and tactical stuff that matters, but logistics. If that's the case then a lot of the towns and other areas cannot be bypassed, but would have to taken and controlled otherwise your supply line become vulnerable. In the late 42-43 phase of the war in the east the Germans made good use of strong points that the Soviets would have to assault or bypass at great peril.

It’s going to be an interesting balancing act. Governments running massive deficits, raising interest rates from basically zero to combat out of control inflation, while increasing defense spending, subsidizing industries and feeding the rest of the world to keep the pot from boiling over. The global safe haven and holder of the global reserve currency the USD has a Fed that has signaled it will raise rates aggressively to combat inflation and will unload 95 billion a month in MBS off its books for the foreseeable future. Its going to get interesting…

Ukraine not only produced wheat but also potash and fertilizer prices have gone through the roof. I recently saw a report that manure sales boomed and sellers are sold out. A lot of the fear is based on the supply disruptions that took place resulting in the Arab Spring. Countries like Yemen were highly dependent on Ukraine for wheat. There may be supply from countries like India but can they afford to pay the higher prices. One thing is for sure wheat and fertilizer has spiked we’ll just have to wait and see.

There may be more to it. I’m not the expert on the subject but I follow it a bit as I’m an investor in many markets. Wheat is sold in the futures markets and and supply disruptions causes prices to increase and that’s the issue. Many people are living day to day and can barely get by so any increase in prices means they can’t afford it or have to get by on less. Also the price of fertilizer has gone through the roof and farmers will have to pass the cost down to consumers. Farmers in some areas may plant less due to the sharp increase in fertilizer costs. The war has caused a disruption to the supply of potash. India may have a great harvest but will they be able to get the wheat to where it’s needed? The whole supply chain and shipping issues may come into play. There is also some concerns about the ability of FCI to store all the excess wheat.

Africa is going to see major famine. The poor all around the world are going to get priced out. The developed world will secure its food supplies first and can afford the higher prices. Going to see major unrest all over and governments fall. Arab Spring 2.0

If and when this war ends and Ukraine retains ports and access to the sea, Germany or Sweden should sell Ukraine one of their excellent diesel subs. One or 2 of these would make life hell for the Russian navy. Looks like the only Ukrainian sub was a crappy old Foxtrot captured by Russia in 2014.

If you have the hardware to run at 4k it’s amazing and a black hole for your wallet with all the add ons you can get. Roads, power lines, scenery, cell towers, smokestacks, global shipping, weather add ons to name just a few. The H145 Helicopter is my favorite.

Sounds like Mother Nature is against Putin. Seeing reports there is unusually heavy rain in Ukraine.

According to this report the Moskva was sailing in a predictable path that made it easy picking. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10720215/Russias-Black-Sea-flagship-Moskva-SUNK-Moscows-defence-agency-admits.html

There are just so many variables and when you factor in the random dice and other factors you come up with all sorts of results.

Nothing I know of at the moment that simulates modern Naval/Air combat like Harpoon/CMO. There is IKE for CMO, but I haven’t tried it yet and it not seemlessly integrated into CMO.

What experience level did he set Moskva at? We definitely don’t know all the fact and may never know in our lifetimes. Set up CMO with the Moskva and then set up with US AWACS, F-18 Wild Weasels and other assets set to a strictly “neutral” role and then try with just Ukrainian assets without US/NATO assets and see what results are.

We don’t know the true facts yet but you would think if it was really an accident and not a missile attack other ships in TF would have stuck around and assisted.

That’s a good question, but to be fair there probably were other ships in the TF but tens of miles away and they may have fled. Unlike WW2 ships in modern TFs are widely dispersed. Also Seems like the Russian Navy has same mentality as the Army…don’t give a damn about the men serving under you or other ships just scattered and ran.

I about to say the major flaw in CMO is lack of integrated multi-player. Playing against another human is what would take it to the level of Combat Mission-that’s what sets CM apart. No AI can match another human. I get bored with CMO after a while because I can predict what it’s going to do… There is some PBEM out for it but I haven’t tried it yet and there is little on the matrix site so seems like it’s not officially supported. I’ve asked for wego and MP features but in surveys seems like most players are more interested in the “chrome” stuff.

I’m surprised not more is being discussed on the Matrix boards. CMO is a good sim. The database is extensive. Covers air as well as naval aspects and like CM a professional version is used for training. Based off the game Harpoon. I bought my first PC just to play Harpoon. Really shouldn’t be surprised the Moskva sank. Russian damage control has always been questionable, unlike the Western navies where DC is taken very seriously. Russia ships are toting a lot of weaponry and it makes it look intimidating but also just more to go bang and burn. The designs of Russian ship especially older one have flaws. Just like their tanks that have ammo stored in a way that is dangerous to operators.