Kinophile

"Whipped" = losers? unemployed?

Exactly what I was mumbling about.

https://www.reuters.com/world/india/kites-battle-drones-farmers-take-police-during-india-protests-2024-02-15/ Barrage balloons 2.0

https://defence-blog.com/russia-military-receives-new-batch-of-upgraded-t-80bvm-tanks/

https://interestingengineering.com/military/meet-the-shoolika-mark-6

Yup never underestimate the excitability of selfish fools. WH doesn't seem particularly "angry". Definitely a plus in the Russia = Bad narrative.

Putting a lot of faith in a soviet era torpedo. Plus does UKR actually have them? They're almost 5 tons... That's a heavy weapon, to be fired from a heavy-ish platform, no? Plus stuck in its current capabilities. The suicide drone approach is much more reliable, smaller, easier to move on land and hide it, faster, networkable and can be expanded...?

https://mil.in.ua/en/news/netherlands-joins-coalition-to-supply-ukraine-with-drones/

https://en.defence-ua.com/analysis/how_many_russian_landing_craft_left_in_black_sea_after_caesar_kunikov_has_sank-9516.html

https://mil.in.ua/en/news/nammo-sweden-to-produce-shells-for-ukraine-around-the-clock/

https://defence-blog.com/ukraine-develops-new-robotic-mini-tank/

The flip side is Biden using it to remind people that Russia is actually a threat, making a pro-Russia stance in the House more tricky. Timing seems...opportune.

Yeah I was stunned by that. He's of an age to 1)Remember Goldeneye and 2) use his bloody eyes and see CCCP on the side. Surely he's being metaphorical?

Now this is a New Year's Resolution I can get with.

@Haiduk etc

The lack of even convoying is baffling, from a logic POV, but entirely in form for previous Russian behavior (Eg large ammo dumps galore even a month after HIMARS Happy Time began). I certainly agree, the USN, RN and to a much lesser degree RAN and others have been developing TTP for counter swarm/small boat attacks. The USS Cole attack really got attention and that was 24 years ago. Iranian shenanigans in the Gulf have kept the subject relevant.If the Houthis do try USV attacks (unlikely) @ then we'll see what the Westerns have built in. I suspect they're watching the BSF **** everything up and thinking what I'm thinking - this could easily be avoided or mitigated by very simple expedients with existing tech and tactics. More modern tech plus simple additions like NVG for sailors on watch, more CIWS using even just HMGs, better watch alertness to the potential threat, and extra search lights and most importantly, training training training would make the attackers job harder and harder. Previous Ivan behaviour is to delay reacting, finally learn something and half *** the implementation. Eventually they get quite good at it. This is fine (sorta) with land forces, with hundreds of vehicles to burn through as you extricate your head from rectum, but the BSF is big, heavy and limited in numbers. How long until it is combat ineffective as a force? It's core heavy ships are still dangerous AF but seem very cautious and leery of committing to sea dominance. Will they be able to field their own UAVs? They've done couple of small attacks but nothing since and there are no hot, heavy UKR ships to attack. @sburkeI think there's two bingo cards - BSF vessels that are still afloat, and then the diverse possible weapons and tactics UKR could use. https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fi-have-to-say-my-bingo-cards-looking-good-v0-v3xri6tps0ob1.png%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3D9f62daf73fcd3b32769bec9a58c9df6e6c13614e UKR certainly has a taste for large military transport vessels... Ivanovets is listed in that graphic above but id be surprised she could withstand this kind of double tap...

Air drones. Have there been sea drone attacks also? I'm still waiting for the UKR to put air drones on their sea drones, use them to hit the ship bridge on the approach and really up the odds of a successful strike.

Called it! Also how they took out the Ivanovets - I think that was up to 10 drones involved f and at least 2 hit the same spot. No ship at sea can resist being hit repeatedly and quickly in the same exact hull section. Not guaranteed to sink but very guaranteed to lose mobility, which is death in a swarming attack. Even a carrier would feel the effects and anything quick and serious enough to hit that would do an enormous amount of damage with compounding kinetic energy, especially I suspect, on the second hit. Some Observations: It's a very gentle sea state 1, With clear weather and clear of the coast. The mad bounce of the drones is a reflection of their speed rather than the waves. (The image above is very nicely accurate to the drone v ropucha size comparisons) . Despite the loss of previous lone ships, including a missile corvette (!) the Kunnikov was not escorted. No search lights, very little point defense and no air cover. Why was it alone? Why has the BSF not yet enacted convoy-ing? Why does such a large an important vessel have no air cover on call? Why is the AVFR not immediately strafing? The ship wasnt far from shore, easily within coverage range for extended overwatch. Doesn't have to be this ship in particular, just an area/corridor with attached air assets. There have been exercises against drones that developed effective counter-tactics. Improved point defense and observation for sure, but also travelling at least in pairs, using organic air assets (if you dont have a helo then a ship you're with should have one (ideally 2) and also launching small boat counter attacks. There is a serious concern with the last about confliction (point defense on the ship could hit your own boats) but that is still solvable with good fire command and training. Any one of these would have impeded the attack and stacked together would have seriously degraded the chances of success. There's a LOT the Russians could have done with the assets and existing tech they have that would have been vastly more effective than just sailing a non-upgraded HVT unescorted in open waters and clear weather through a war zone with a previously successful known enemy attack tactics.

As per Haiduk

So this thread is now called, "How Hot is The American General Election Gonna Get?"... Just so I'm clear. For myself.

A little more details: https://www.flightglobal.com/safety/ural-a320-forced-landing-crew-made-unreasonable-decision-to-divert-inquiry/155755.article Trying to blame crew error but the machinery shouldnt be failing in the first place. They cant fly it out so dismantling in situ. https://airlive.net/news/2024/01/12/ural-airlines-finally-took-decision-to-scrap-the-a320-that-landed-in-a-field-near-novosibirsk/

Nicely put. Not getting at The_Capt, just a succinct description of something we all fall into from time to time.

Exactly. Against what advancing ZSU forces? In 2025?