Chibot Mk IX

I noticed this a while ago, note the incident in the below link is not caused by area fire but an intentionally targeting friendly troops. https://community.battlefront.com/topic/138840-night-combat-friendly-fire-casualty-caused-by-hmg/

I'd love to keep the Team B on BMPs, the 2 men team with assistant squad leader and RPK-74 gunner. They can function as the BMP-2's vehicle commander.

Braveheart - Guy thrown out of window.

Denial , Panic, Blame They are in the last stage. Lol, they cannot accept the truth. The truth that Ukrainian, an “inferior group of people” with a “corrupted regime’s” leadership and an “incompetent military” has secured strategic initiative. Hell, the “inferior people” can even achieve a “maskirovka”. That is totally unacceptable! That means: A, actually they are the “inferior group of people” (No, no one is going to admit that!), B, Russia is mismanaged by a more corrupted leadership, Russian military is far more incompetent than AFU. And we all know which answer they are going to choose.

Are you sure about that? AFAIK only UKR mountain infantry squad is consists of 3 teams.

This is a fantastic campaign. Just finished mission 3A, tactical victory, haven’t decide what is the next step.

"Better lucky than good". People has low expectation on our supreme leader's intelligence level, we all know he got his elementary school diploma a while ago(that's a secret joke in China) . But the chosen one has good luck, Putler took the lead of the formation and hit the minefield, so the chosen one has enough time to change his mind. And when we look through the history record, we would find out "Winnie the Pooh" throw away a lot of bicycles (another joke)...

Many other assets on the modern battlefield can deprive the opponent’s ability to mass the number. Tactical nukes, chemical agents, MLRS, long range artillery, air strike etc. It is a stalemate until side A can neutralize the side B’s ability to denial side A’s concentration of troops. But like discussed before, this is like a low efficiency, low return investment. Maybe as pervious discussion pointed out, instead of a massed troops conducting a breakthrough + maneuver, we should look into a projection of firepower with enough eyes and ears support on the ground That began back in Syria, right? https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/russias-new-tank-carousel-tactics-have-been-around-ages-185151 Tank carousel, it feels like the pike and shots age revives. And... I guess I don't have time to finish the rest of pages, so I would like to stop here and add some of my crazy thoughts My feeling is, this tank, infantry, ATGM evolution is very similar to the military evolution from late medieval to late renaissance age ATGM = spearmen --> pike phalanx other dismounted Infantry = swordsmen --> coseletes Artillery = longbowmen/crossbowmen --> arquebusiers --> musketeers and light field artillery Tank = knights --> Gendarme --> heavy Cuirassier IFV = dragoon Air force = Dragon? in the early Cold war era , the attacking side can mass his archer (Artillery), rain arrow and bolts on the head of poor infantry formation, thin their ranks and break some holes, then he gathers all his heavy cavalry (Tanks) to charge into the infantry formation, cut down any spearman (ATGM) who dare to stand his ground. It will be a glorious victory unless the heavy cavalry charge stopped by the other side's cavalry counter offensive or by the fire breathing dragon. Now, with technology development, spearmen become pike phalanx formation. the combined arms of infantry, ATGMs and artillery works as a Spanish Tercio. Heavy cavalry has a huge trouble in face of the Tercio formation. So the attacking side has to bring up enough musketeers (Artillery) to, not only to soften, but directly break the Tercio formation. Then cavalry can be committed into battle and cut down the routed enemy. In the meantime the attacking musketeers need their counter-cavalry protection, so attacking side needs to bring enough pikemen, swordsmen forward, building his Tercio. As you have mentioned infantry could cancel each other, allow armor to maneuver. However with pikemen's strong counter-cavalry ability, a second line pikemen formation could hold the cavalry at bay, give them little room to maneuver. Cavalry probably have to stop and wait for Tercio to catch up. So overall the heavy cavalry is likely to change their task accordingly, they will slowly give up the shock role, focus on harass the enemy (with pistol & carousel) and take up the role to chasing the routed enemy. The glorious day for heavy cavalry has passed, they have to wait for the next Gustav start a new military revolution and bring shock cavalry back online. Of course during the long waiting time, a dragon may dive down, turn everything on ground char and char alike.

Yes, but in US army vs US army CM quick battle, it is still better to keep Abrams behind. Send out an infantry screen forward. In the “couple of Javelin CLUs (unsuppressed) vs Abrams CITV” spotting competition, the Javelin team is the winner most of the time.

Thanks for sharing that, it brings back my memory of 300+ pages DCS manual reading

It does obscure the SAR surveillances, see the right below image. Now imaging RUS put two BM-21 on the ferry, it is very hard for the SAR operator to tell if those two trucks are civilian trucks or military target. At this moment , the targets can still be identified at the exit point, but it prolongs the UKR's OODA cycle. It changes from "Hey, two arty pieces sit on a ferry, they are going to arrive the other side of river in 20min. I need a battery of 155mm get ready" to " two arty pieces exits the ferry, they are heading towards residential area " Yes, they are plenty of other platform that can have a optical identification. Just like that thedrive article mentioned, people first thought Russian is building a new pontoon bridge via SAR but satellites image tells a different story. But it needs time to bring the optical surveillance on station (or spread information in timely manner, for example, visual contact by resistance fighters needs time to reach UKR HQ) . They could not provide an on-time update for Artillery PGM strike.

This engineering work can provide some protection to the ferry, it will obscure the SAR radar surveillances. I will be no surprise the two bridges are under 24/7 surveillances of MQ-4s, so maybe RUS are using the array of pyramidal radar reflectors to hide troops movement across the water via ferry. Of course obscure the surveillance on the river is not enough, they need more engineering work to extend the protection to ferry entry/exit point, vehicle assembling area, etc.

I am ok with that, they have 2A28 smoothbore gun so precision shooting is not the skill they are good at. In fact I think the shooting trough smoke agility is a little gamey, their surveillance radars don't have fire control abilities.

Well, the problem is : The On-map mortar fire support mission (target the left building) has the largest spread.

This has been discussed before. reconnaissance missions are crucial at operational level , unfortunately that is out of CM's scope So, in CM battles, most of the recon units you mentioned above don't have a unique or a significant advantage compare to other units. Feel free to use them as cannon fodder in CM. The only exception is Ukrainian Reconnaissance troops, BRM-1K with GSR is quite handy to see and fire through IR-blocking smokes. Each recon squad has 3 NVGs, while the regular UKR squad has none.

test scenarios and save files are here 1, test scenario 2, 120mm begin 3, 120mm end 4, 82mm begin 5, 82mm end

Is this a bug or WAD? On map mortar has a larger dispersion compares to off map one. I noticed this case in CMBS, later I will check if WW 2 CM and CMSF 2 , CMCW have the same issue. Please see screenshot below We have three buildings. I have the FO to issue a point target fire support order to the left building with 1 tube 120mm mortar on map. Another tube of on map 120mm will target the building in the middle directly. Then the building on the right side will be targeted by off map 120mm battery (1 tube/heavy/maximum fire mission) As you can see below: the on map mortar fire support mission has a very large dispersion. The dispersion circle’s radius is about 2.5 times of the off map mortar fire support mission. 82mm mortar has the same issue. 82mm's impact is too hard to see, so take a close look at it Left building Central Right Any reason on why?

Talking this from my memory, I don't think TOW Humvee has any issue in CMSF 2. But you got to keep crew turn out of the vehicle , that is the only way for them to use the Thermal sights on the TOW launcher.

Talking about rest & refit. I read this somewhere in June but forgot to save the link. It says UKR keep as many as 7 brigades in the rear for R&R and training. And even for the standard brigades in the frontline, many of them leave a significant portion at the rear, helps TD and reserves on the training. Is that correct?

There were lots of discussion on logistics in first 500 pages, when the war was still in the "maneuver" phase. I highly recommend below article as a quick start reading on this topic " FEEDING THE BEAR: A CLOSER LOOK AT RUSSIAN ARMY LOGISTICS AND THE FAIT ACCOMPLI" https://warontherocks.com/2021/11/feeding-the-bear-a-closer-look-at-russian-army-logistics/ This is an estimation based on idea situation. Russian Army , after the 2008 Serdyukov reform, has changed from Soviets' style deep battle to an army that will limit it's operation to no more than 50km. The relatively low number of trucks under the Army HQ should not be a big issue in a low intense - high tech warfare. But in this "WW I style bombardment" war, it has already become an issue. Part of the reason Russian crawling from Rubizhne, Popasna into Severodonetsk-Lysychans'k is, usually they running low on artillery shell after 3 days operation, so next offensive to push another 10km into UA defense line needs a week to buildup. Now , with ammunition dump move to a place >100km to the front line troops, the issue could become a disaster. Back in March when Russian tanks were 150km-200km away from the railhead they can barely keep 1/3rd of the force operational. And I would like to add one more thought here. This is not about Russian army or US army, this is more about the human nature (and many big corporations are likely to make the same mistake) . If a congestion happens and that reduces the frontline troops' received supplies significantly, the decision maker is very likely to push more trucks with supplies down the road, which in turn causes more congestions and reduce the received supplies further.

Yea, I was wondering the same thing. What's happening around Seversk? Two days ago TASS claimed "Источник сообщил, что Северск находится под оперативным контролем сил ЛНР и РФ" "Reliable source said that Seversk is under the operational control of LNR and Russian forces" While this is very likely a propaganda , I guess there are some skirmish/probe around the city?

Try this one when you get a chance CMBS Task Force Spartan Resolve v3.0

Another "Tiger/Ferdinand phobia"? Everything that move on tracks is a Tiger tank, anything they destroyed is a Ferdinand?

Looks like this thread will bring up China topic every 20 pages, inevitable destiny. Usually I will avoid because I believe this is off topic, also a lot of other members put some very good analysis and insights below. But I would just like to add some comments here. China is helping Russian to stabilize its currency and inflation level by importing Russian oil/gas at higher than market level price , exporting the low cost consumer goods. And that’s it, nothing else. There are speculation that Chinese leadership is pushing for companies ignore the sanction but no avail. US sanction on Huawei and ZTE looks too scary. With China locked in some political drama this year, none of the Chinese corporation has the initiative to challenge the sanction (which I will explain later) But the noise of “China is directly supporting Russia war efforts” will not go away. Almost every side is interested in to prove this is correct. America: making enough noise should remind the Chinese corporations don’t cross the red line, sending a clear message to the faction in CCP that pro business with western, Uncle Sam means business. To preserve our long time partner ship (and profits), you got to stand up and prevent such terrible things from happening. The threat of sanction should also reduce the volume of those panda hugger in Wall st, and make the international investor who want to invest into China think twice (OK, in the age of crazy inflation/recession, invest into America instead, I get it.) , Russia: Back in 2019, a journalist asked Mr Putin that in the age of trade war between China and US, which one Russian will be side with. Putin replied , “when tigers fight in the valley, the smart monkey sits aside and waits to see who wins”. And this “Smart” monkey made a fatal mistake, got trapped, tigers wandering around the poor monkey. Monkey’s only hope is to have the tigers fight each other asap. It looks like Putin and Xi had some kind of agreement during Beijing winter Olympic. Regarding how Russian can retaliate China if China refused to help, first , Russia can use the agreement to blackmail Xi https://www.newsweek.com/china-planned-taiwan-invasion-fall-alleged-russian-intel-leak-claims-1688449 If that doesn’t work as intended , Russia can look for a different option, leak all the secrets to the public. Pushing Uncle Sam to keep his promise and sanction China. After that it’s probably out of control but that is what Russia needs, a chaos. Now the most interesting one is China: President Xi’s inner circle has used all available resource advocating “blood alliance” with Russia. Although never admitted publicly, under the instruction of Publicity Department many news outlets and influencers spread the rumor says Russia has received tremendous war materials from China. Funny thing, this propaganda is for internal political struggle. Contrary to common popular belief, China is not a dictatorship. It is an oligarchy. Although people love to compare Emperor Xi to Chairman Mao, Xi is not a dictator yet. Of course, we can safely assume he wants to be the Emperor. And due to the fact that he have made so many enemies, he’d better to become the dictator to save his ass. So the scheduled ccp 20th party congress become a super important event. The country’s future, many elites families’ fate will be decided in this congress. Xi is facing a strong resistance at this moment. TBH it is unlikely he will be sacked in 20th party congress, but the opposition factions can block many important positions previously promised to Xi’s follower, which makes him a caged tiger without teeth. In order to secure his position, expand his territory, Xi must show the Party that under his leadership China has become 1, economic powerhouse: No one is going to deny that, but generally Chinese economic take a downturn under Xi 2nd term. It could face a crisis later this year. Of course, a projected western recession works in his favor. And a Chinese economic crisis works as a double edge sword, bad economic could damage Xi’s opposition factions’ power and influence, boost the message to all party members that we need an isolated, self-sustainable economic, and a STRONG LEADER 2, unification of the whole country: not going to happen this year, but maybe PLA can make a limit size operation, occupy Kinmen, Matsu and Taiping Island 3, successfully defend the population from pandemic: people will buy this in 2021, but with crazy strict lockdown this year, other factions interests have been badly damaged, it may have forced many neutral factions take the opposite side 4, China has taken the leadership of new world order: If Putin can come out as a victorious one. Or even a draw should be good enough, Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party will brainwash the population and make people believe that Nato and America is doomed. Empty word won’t help however, Xi must find a way to supply Russia. Unfortunately, most of the Chinese high-tech corporations, military enterprise are controlled by factions that is either hostile to Xi or don’t want to take a side at this moment. So, Xi’s inner circle must make a lot of noise, “Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak”. The propaganda campaign hopefully will convince some of the factions, that ignore US sanction and helping Russia is taking the side with the winning party. I know this sounds stupid and could backfire. No one guarantee this will work, but that is their plan.

It’s a coincidence that we had a similar discussion on a Chinese forum last week, identical questions. Take this with a grain of salt. Regarding TB-2 reduced showtime, here is one of the theory. After a three months high intensity operation, these birds need to stand down, repair and maintenance. I guess Baykar won’t hesitate to send a group of field engineers to do an field maintenance, but it is possible they need to be returned back to the factory to do the maintenance work. Another theory is Russian air defense capability improved in this static warfare. they have enough time build an air defense network supported by EW and AEW assets. One vs one, I will buy a Bayraktars’s win. But in a few vs many scenarios ,TB-2 is very likely to be detected and be shot down. Lack of a RWR system not only hurt TB-2 but almost all the drone on the arms trade industry. UAV operator has very limit situation awareness besides the narrowed FOV from the camera. A few destroyed TB-2 should deter Ukraine to use these precious assets for a patrol mission. But on the other hand it is not a big setback to Ukraine side, better to save them for something big, like a surprise deep strike. For the drone swarm and artillery tubes, we still need lots of arty tubes. No one can generate a drone swarm at this moment, Chinese companies have occupied almost all the commercial drone market, but that doesn’t mean China has the capability to mass produce commercial drone independently, dedicate military drone has more trouble on mass production. Now for the portable commercial drones, they are lack of the range to do the punch. Most of the quadcopter drones are designed with positive static stability, so even a small payload will dramatically reduced the range. In some case DJI drone carrying a hand grenade will have less range than a 82mm mortar. The discussion leads to one of the conclusions: in the near future at tactical level, drones and Arty are in a complementary relationship not a competition relationship. Let the Drones be the eyes, focus on the recon spotting, and let Arty do the punch. Another conclusion is, CH-4 Rainbow is a better UCAV compare to Bayraktar TB2. Guess not too many people outside GFW are going to agree on that