L0ckAndL0ad

I find BMD-4M to be very sexy looking, but, just as BMP-3, it sucks as a personnel carrier, for obvious reasons. Other than that, I like optics package and IDF fire capability. Riding with MANPADS? Yeah, pretty widespread SOP. Having one ready while on the move is a must for modern combat environment. Check the first vid, with Typhoons, it's way more interesting IMO. ps: there's no such thing as "BRDM-4M" ADDED: They can't stop teasing! http://tvzvezda.ru/news/forces/content/201509051114-jumj.htm

Camo: yes, that's VDV camo. You can see for yourself, BMD-4M, BMP-3 and Kurg-25 next to each other, with the same camo. New teaser vid: http://tvzvezda.ru/news/vstrane_i_mire/content/201509051055-1p2w.htm This one cleared a lot of confustion for me. There are two variants of side panels for Kurg. One is floats+armor plate, second is ERA. We've all seen the first one (floats) on parade, and the ERA panel was shown here. In today's teaser they show floats and armor plate that's inside (tested vs 12.7mm).

Info descriptions in such vids for the most part are useless to us, since they describe the basic principles behind systems (ie how ERA works) for ordinary people that might be watching. So you don't miss much due to your lack of Russian. As for the top-down attack clips, yeah, I noticed that right away. Gotta wait for a full video on Sunday to get an idea of what's up. These are just teaser vids, might be mashed up. BTW, the ERA that the guy is showing in the NII Stali yard (or wherever that is) is 2S24, which is BMP-3M's ERA. 500mm/30kg are it's stats, not necesserally of Kurg's. And as for the reporter, I've already posted another episode of the same show here, with Typhoons. They're kind of rivals with Poligon. http://community.battlefront.com/topic/118480-armata-soon-to-be-in-service/page-71#entry1609171 There's been one on VDV anniversary (featuring BMD-4M): https://youtu.be/q7nyaSOyvZ8

You can see from the shadows on some shots that they use several small GoPro (or similar) cameras to film this. Either way, them Russians... They keep teasing us. Another teaser vid. Side armor is actually ERA (notes say 500mm RHA and 30kg per block). Also, the notes to the first video say that Kurg has changeable (delta 0.5m) clearance. https://youtu.be/EPNN8Kc17_A

You may have noticed from the first video that the hatches' positions have changed, compared to earlier photos. Those Kurgs that we've seen on parade had welding seams there. I think it's a very good sign, meaning that they are okay with changing stuff up till the end of field trials. Same is most likely true with internal equipment placement configs. Thumbnail shows the camo on the side: Full video should be up this Sunday.

And here's some live fire. You're welcome http://tvzvezda.ru/news/vstrane_i_mire/content/201509041559-ixvc.htm

Soon there'll be a test-drive video with Kurganets-25. Short teaser can be found here: http://tvzvezda.ru/news/forces/content/201509041408-vf9d.htm Camo-ed: ps: they promise some live fire footage

Forests suck! I find CMSF environment to be the best. Good balance tree-wise. I also tried CMFI demo once, and it looks very similar to RL Crimean environment, which is also less tree intensive (especially in the western part).

The most recent example. Today, Horlivka. Civilian houses and a freaking kindergarden get shelled. Zero military targets. https://youtu.be/frrbvD14QYo?t=49s Right? Those seps shell themselves all the time.

What kind of question is that? Is it a rhetorical one? All civilian lives matter, and Russia is rightfully blamed for leveling Grozny. We're talking about Ukrainians doing the same here. And they get a carte blanche. That's just an excuse. When terrorists capture a building with civilians, you don't just level the whole building. I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but in Ukraine, there's not a lot of such thing as "precision strikes". There's a bunch of indiscriminate shelling, frequently even in places where there are no military targets, and ordinary people get killed. And if anyone here believes when Ukrainian govt says that "those rebels shell themselves", well, I've got a surprise for you, they lie, to cover their own strikes that kill civilians. No need to go far, July 19th, they screwed up during their report briefing. First officer said that "it turned out to be true that DNR did try a provocative strike on their own territory, as we predicted", and then 7 minutes later, another officer comes and says that "they place firing positions inside living areas, so when we fire back, civilians suffer, so they need to stop putting firing positions in civilian areas". Should've gotten their story straight before doing the briefing. So they lie. And there's been quite a few accounts of shellings with no military targets nearby. By grids, on "suspicious targets", etc. Just like with Israelis, nobody's doing anything about it. And it's just the deaths I'm talking about here. There's a bunch of other crimes to talk about (human rights wise).

It is unlikely to be a Kurg, because then it should have boxy stuff near the door, for water jets. Boomer should have hatches in the roof in that area. So it's likely a T-15.

I don't understand what you're trying to say here, with all those Russia references. I'm talking about Ukraine. Media is just a tool. And Ukrainian government is a bunch of corrupt liars. The problem I'm pointing at here is that.. nobody cares about their lies and crimes. They've got a carte blanche. Comparing them to other entities changes nothing. Zippo. The stuff still gets into such articles, like that one from ECFR in the OP. It's a common narrative that gets repeated everywhere. I do not believe that it does not affect decision making cycle. Even simply allowing Ukraine bomb their own cities with civilians in them, is damage big enough for me. Because my close ones are there. And because my city might some day be next. You might not care about it, find it "acceptable casualties", or whatever, but I do not. This is kinda like Israeli confict. They keep killing civilians and nobody's doing anything about it. Same here. All people can do is brag about how Russia is evil and all. Blah blah blah.

Could anyone post some overview/preview screens of the maps from the campaign? And what's the average force size for missions?

Oh, you peeps are still going about economy? I see. Presumably, inside T-15.

The lie is a lie. Or not? Look, they've got WMDs! Ukraininan govt and special services don't lie. They don't need no pretences to get western support, to (not indiscriminately) shell cities and start offensives, because it's their land and they can do whatever they think is necessary. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article4514313.ece They should go to UNSC or US senate with this, to get the ball rolling. Is Powell still around?

Man, I've always had this feeling that something is wrong with how T-90A looks in CMBS, just couldn't tell what exactly. Now I know why Wonder how much RHA millimeters that difference is worth.

Huh? http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=338&Itemid=583

Impressed? LOL. I find such APS concept rather bad, seriously bad. First, it explodes right next to the vehicle. Practically, on the vehicle itself. No room for latency errors (explosion isn't directed at the incoming projectile, so a miss is a miss). Not to mention how violent such interceptions would be. Second, placement & coverage is very problematic. On top position it has to be higher than all the mounted equipment, or it'll interfere. On the sides, munition "explosion radius" should REALLY not exceed the distance between two munitions, or their "explosion planes" should not cross nearby munitions at all, or one munition will damage the other one. Not to mention that "explosion radius" might shift due to movement. And for top attacks, if explosion radius is actually that small, there'd be a hole in the coverage above the upper front hull (and symmetrically on the rear). So, very questionable concept. Czechs did better IMO:

For those who'd like to see a little glimpse of how the new training center in Mulino looks like (got officially open June 1st). Training sims for tankers, AFV crews, SAMs, RPGs, MOUT mock-up block, etc.

You don't.

Again, going for specific core functionality from the beginning of the project (= making a completely new APS Afghanit) vs trying to fit some additional functionality on existing system (= trying to modify APS Arena so that it could intercept top attacks) are two different paths, and the second one is much more difficult. And if one can't afford doing drastic changes to be able to go that second path, then he'll most likely fail. I meant A/K/B specifics. You've missed the question, so I'll repost it: Again, too generic.

Alrighty, let's go. We get the "usual Steve" behavior, mkay. Obviously, I do not understand anything. And I haven't said this: But then again, there's another giant problem with your statement. Customer's "wants" are optional for your product. They ARE NOT the core (i.e. tactical combat mechanics) of the product that the customer is looking to get. So, when talking military software, we're talking about things that are the core functionality that just HAS to be there. Or it won't get sold in the first place. Why bother with Afghanit, if they can just buy latest Arena off the shelf? The difference is in core functionality that they're looking for. I'm not naive, this is a pure reality that you're obviously not aware of. The question is only in numbers. Russia did employ Drozd in Afghanistan. They did SLAT bars on tanks. They did BMPs that can't swim due to additional armor side plates. (T-55D, T-62D, T-62M, BMP-2D etc). If US and Russia will be fighting on land, they'll get everything they have, including APS. The question is just how many.

Surprisingly sane paragraph in BBC article. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33003237 ps: don't aggro, I'm just passing by while having a cup of coffee, won't "fire back" anyway

I'm seriously busy nowadays, will respond later. In the meantime, very high res pictures of IFV turrets on T-15 and Kurg-25 https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6201/8955119.b/0_9c9d6_11c12796_orig.jpg https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/16183/8955119.b/0_9c9d5_e604b45e_orig

Well, that's the problem. When there's no specific point, one can't counter it. This is why I'm jumping into exact systems and engineering ideas behind them. Specific stuff. You are a programmer yourself, right? And you can clearly understand things I was referring to ("collision mesh" calculations in APS algorithms, OOP-friendliness, etc), so I was hoping that we're at least on the same page in terms of basic concepts of engineering behind such systems. I, myself, see no real problems in terms of programming these things. Same with engineering solutions, I've already explained them the way I personally understand them or would've done them myself. Even proper hardware latency can be achieved by doubling detection range, like I've already said. But coming and saying some generic stuff like "we don't know if they can afford to allocate resources to do everything at the same time", is what? An attempt to look into their management issues? They obviously have people who are tasked with prioritizing and resource allocation management. Hundreds of people involved. Hundreds of factories and R&D centers. Like, is there anything about them that gives out any warnings that they're doing it wrong? Without looking into specifics, you can't go anywhere further with this. And as of my "optimism", I don't understand, again, what the problem is. I know exactly what can be expected, in terms of worst case scenarios. I see quite a few things that I already dislike about newgen vehicles. What I do like is a general movement in the right direction with them, and yeah, it is quite optimistic so far. It's not like I'm being delusional and fanatic about it or something, I'm quite a sane and clean minded person, you don't have to tell me that I have to "think more critically". I already do. As for Steve's concerns about A/K/B development, you are really wrong, I share quite a lot of them, I've agreed with him on quite a few points so far.