db_zero

Russia is not going to be in the microchip business anytime soon. Even in the US it takes time. Ground was recently broken in Arizona for a new chip factory and it’s going to be at least a couple of years before it operating. Also neon used in lasers for microchips is in short supply. Guess who produced nearly half the worlds supply…Ukraine. They supplied 90% of the semi-conductor grade neon to the US. If that’s isn’t bad enough helium is also facing shortages.

I’d prefer it was not even on the table, but Putin has raised the issue and sticking your head in the sand and pretending it will go away is the exact same mistake the West made in dealing with Putin in the past. Even Zelinsky didn’t think Putin was actually going to send in troops. Now we have large segments of the US in favor of a No Fly Zone and it was argued that most don’t even know what a no fly zone actually entails-a willingness to engage Russians over Ukraine and attacking ADA sites in Russia. You bring up nukes and now the response by many is “well most will probably be duds” There’s been a lot of Putin won’t do this or probably won’t do that which has proved to be incorrect. You go on TV and you see retired generals advocating more aggressive actions and policies that could easily lead to escalation. Back in 1950 the War in Korea which started out poorly suddenly changed. So did our posture and McArthur said China is nothing to be worried about…

I used Wikipedia to refresh my memory, but we have a better source-Ultradave-this is his area of expertise. I figured he would chime in on this and he didn’t disappoint, now we all are better informed.

There is a tactical nuke known as a neutron bomb that has a limited blast and is highly effective against tanks, dug in infantry and infantry embedded in buildings, bunkers, cellars and so on. It kills by giving off a high dose of radiation and those affected die by radiation sickness that takes place in hours. The radiation dissipates rapidly-at least that’s what was said when it was proposed to be deployed in Europe in the early 80s. It was very controversial at the time and no European government would accept it on its soil. The sick joke at the time was it would kill all the inhabitants but leave towns and cities intact and ready to be repopulated in a few days. I’m not a nuclear weapons expert so how much was actual fact and how much was media hype idk. I think the US scrapped all it neutron bombs. Russia I don’t know if they developed them or have any but it would seem this is the sort of nuke Putin would use if he intended to dig out entrenched opposition and take over and occupy territory with minimal damage.

Last item-Claymore mines configured to be consistent with Ottawa treaty. If we do send scatterable anti armor artillery shells they be consistent with the Ottawa treaty.

I agree with what your saying and you’re perfectly logical but then I think of how many believe in conspiracy theories or listen to people that horse pills protect you from Covid and I have to wonder. I’ve given up trying to convince a long time friend who is quite knowledgeable in many subjects that contrails is not the government deliberately spraying mind control drugs onto people. We’re not talking about just a few individuals but large segments of the population. Back in the Cold War days you didn’t have to explain why a no fly zone involving Russia was risking WW3. Now it seems you have to sit down and convince 3/4s of the population why that’s not such a great idea and comes with huge risks.

Even if they have a dud rate of 50% it’s not a comfortable thought. Russia has 6000 nukes 2000 are estimated to be tactical. Even if only 20% go bang and 100% of American nukes work as advertised that’s no victory in my book. I just saw a video where only 28% of Europeans supported a no fly zone over Ukraine, but 68-72 percent of Americans want the US to impose a no-fly zone. In the recent Presidential poll most Americans want the US to do more. Seems like we’re slipping toward a direct confrontation with Russia.

Idk…seems like most of the people who know Putin the best say if he gets desperate enough he’ll resort to WMDs. Chemical weapons is regarded as something of a “normal” weapon in Russia military doctrine and tactical nukes is also regarded in a different way than they are in the West. There is a distinction between the large city busting ICBMs and smaller low yield tactical nukes, some of which are smaller than ones dropped on Japan as well as neutron bombs.

Becoming clear the only area where Russia comes close to matching the west is nukes, which is a scary thought given how badly Russia is getting pummeled in the land, air and now sea category…

Russia has a relatively small military budget and navies are expensive to maintain. Most of the money for the navy goes into the submarine fleet and that isn’t much to write home about.

You made a good point and I forgot about the Ottawa Treaty so FASCAM is probably a no go. There was at one time research going on with artillery that would disperse smart munitions that had radar to detect tanks and attack from the top. The Army did buy from Europe some smart artillery rounds designed to target tanks, so maybe these were sent or the Europeans who manufactures these rounds will just send directly as they are designed to be fired from NATO 155mm guns.

Probably nothing more than a coincidence but on same day the White House announced they will be sharing intelligence and targeting information the Russian flagship gets hit and sunk. There is also a squadron of F-18 Wild Weasels operating in Europe and it was mentioned in a report they are capable of using their capabilities hundreds of miles away from within NATO airspace. These aircraft do more than just jam radars… Like I said nothing more than a coincidence. The US would never interfere like this in a war, just like Russia would never interfere in US elections.

People are saying it’s from a picture that was overexposed or large explosions produce a mushroom cloud…

All these unconfirmed reports of Russian ships getting hit but no major news outlets have reported it yet…I did see an MSN article that says to be skeptical of the event.

I’ll fess up…the ancient alien part was probably me. I was referring to the anti drone tech reportedly carried on the ship that was being tracked by strange object's-something that is quite common and NOTAMs have been posted about. and said if anti drone tech is light enough for a human to carry then it’s easy to mount anti drone tech on a tank…

Got to think the Russians have learned from their mistakes and this time around they will plan and do better recon before committing their main attack. I think we will see a pre assault artillery barrage the likes of which has not been seen since WW2. I also wonder if the Russians will use extensive smoke barrages to cover the battlefield. Even if Javelin’s and NLAWs have optics that can penetrate smoke it’s still a hindrance. If Russia has analyzed the Javelin’s optics it’s possible they could add substances to smoke to obscure or degrade the optics. Im going to bet that the artillery and shells provided by the US include FASCAMs and other artillery shells designed to disable, destroy or impede tanks and IFVs. In the past few weeks Javelin, NLAW and other weapons became household names. Don’t be surprised if artillery smart weapons become household names soon. We have some little known stuff designed for use against massed armored formations that aren’t well publicized and the Ukrainians themselves believe we will soon see a tank battle not seen since WW2.

Most of the new soldiers are basically kids with a few days of training so fire discipline is probably lax. Social media is probably another factor- a tic tok video is worth a lifetime of memories so getting a good video with an AT weapon is gold to many of these internet savvy soldiers.

That’s been known for some time. It’s easy to say buy and store more, but aside from the expensive of acquisition of ammo, storage is a major consideration. Not only is space a major consideration, but also keeping environmental factors under control is another. Militaries have a budget and a lot of items to budget for.

We don’t know that yet. As mentioned other systems are killing tanks and many vehicles were simply abandoned. We also don’t know if Ukrainians are just firing off AT weapons at abandoned vehicles just to do so. Some videos seem to suggest that No-standard doctrine on how many ATGMs isn’t going to be changed on a whim. Infantry is already carrying enough weight without adding more stuff to carry. These AT systems are not light and they are also bulky. Videos showing a preponderance of AT weapons with Ukrainian soldiers also shows they are not as weighted down as standard US soldiers-many don’t have body armor. Its possibly also wasteful and not necessary to start adding more ATGMs to NATO troops if other systems are capable of killing tanks.

US officials are meeting with defense industry leaders to discuss long range plans to produce more weapons. Supply chain issues and lack of skilled labor will also be discussed. Zelinsky asked for 2000 Javelin’s a week and based on estimates of inventory and production times it looks like 2000 a month isn’t going to happen. I’ve seen a few videos where about every other soldier had an AT weapon and I’ve heard estimates of the AT weapon to soldier ratio that sounded crazy.

Javelin/Stinger inventory and production estimates. https://www.csis.org/analysis/will-united-states-run-out-javelins-russia-runs-out-tanks

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This approach sends a message to any potential despot that the way to avert NATO/US direct intervention is to possess a nuke. The days of the post Soviet collapse where the West could go in and use its conventional military might to shape events is gone. We’re now back in the days Putin is more familiar with. The Cold War days where proxy wars were tightly managed so as to not lead to nuclear annihilation, only this time around the nuclear club has grown. Win or lose Putin has just re-arranged the game.

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If Russia didn’t have nukes NATO led by the US would do a 1991 Sadam job on Putin. If China didn’t have nukes an Xi got out of line the West would just remind Xi what we did to Sadam and Putin. This is why China is ramping up its nuke arsenal and why the West has been trying so hard to stop Iran. Back in the day the nuclear club was just limited to 3 players. Now its 9 with more on the way.