Machor

Without taking the thread OT - wow! Medvedev has always been portrayed in the West as the 'good cop' vis-a-vis Putin; even the latest BBC long read on Russia mentions "The ambitious project was launched during a brief liberal “spring” when Dmitry Medvedev took over the presidency. The constitution barred Vladimir Putin from running for a third consecutive term so Medvedev kept his seat warm." (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/russia_election ) Anyways, dropping the political discussion with some food for thought on Western foreign policy 'expertise' brought to my attention by Burak Kadercan's twitter feed: "Guilty Men:" https://www.the-american-interest.com/2017/04/24/guilty-men/

Are you referring to Sergei Ivanov? I believe you. Can you give the name?

Very interesting, thanks. It would be interesting to compare how South Korea, Sweden, and post-war Italy and Japan developed their defense industries - those being cases I could think of where exports were marginal or non-existent. I do recall reading that Japanese tanks are the most expensive in the world. Shhh, you just gave away the secret of Stryker.

"When whole communities go to war - whole peoples, and especially civilized peoples - the reason always lies in some political situation, and the occasion is always due to some political object. War, therefore, is an act of policy. Were it a game of CM complete, untrammeled, absolute manifestation of violence (as the pure concept would require), war would of its own independent will usurp the place of policy the moment policy had brought it into being" - Clausewitz That credit goes to @Oleksandr. If you read the part of the thread that starts several posts before Steve's post that I linked to, you'll find a most informative discussion of tank thermal sights, including what is probably the most that a US armor officer can disclose without violating OPSEC.

Beyond semiconductors and electronic engineering, there are challenges of materials and industrial engineering, which, for Russia, may be difficult to overcome as they require industrial reorganization and long-term investment:

@Sgt.Squarehead I am describing the perspective of the Turkish public that supports the Afrin operation, not making a normative statement.

Indeed, which is why I would love to try it in CMFG - Combat Mission: Fulda Gap.

Here's what Steven Zaloga has to say in BMP Infantry Fighting Vehicle 1967-94 (Osprey, 1994): "In the eyes of many Soviet tacticians, the BMP-1 was not entirely suited to conventional warfare. On a nuclear battlefield, NATO anti-tank guided missile and rocket teams would be severely inhibited by the contaminated environment; under such conditions it was argued that the BMP-1 could reign freely at the head of combined tank-motor rifle groups. But in a conventional war, there would be a profusion of anti-tank teams. The lightly armoured BMP-1 was especially vulnerable to the wide range of infantry anti-tank weapons available to NATO. The Red Army questioned how the BMP could be employed in these different scenarios, and concluded that new tactics were required. It was accepted that BMPs could be employed in actions where there was little resistance, such as during the break-out phase of offensive operations, or in pursuit of a disorganised enemy force. When resistance was strong, the BMP-1 would be used as part of a tank-infantry team with the infantry dismounted. A platoon of tanks would be placed in a wave in the vanguard, since they were better able to absorb the blow of anti-armour defences. Infantry would follow 200 m behind the tanks to help root out enemy anti-armour teams. The BMPs would follow no more than 300-400 m behind the infantry, providing fire support for the tanks, and preparing to move forward to pick up the infantry once the opposition was overcome." (pp. 10-11) "Bronegruppa (armoured group) tactics are an evolution of BMP tactics, but using the vehicles for missions without their infantry dismounts. When a company or battalion of motor rifle troops dismount and dig in for defensive fighting, the unit commander can take some of his BMPs away to form a central bronegruppa reserve instead of leaving them dug in with their rifle squads; this gives the company or battalion commander a mobile reserve, and counterattack force that can be held back until the enemy's objective is clear." (pp. 37-8)

I have no intention to take the thread OT; just a footnote to "the only truly progressive group:" For a scholarly take on the YPG, see the second half of "Twilight of the Kurds:" http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/01/16/twilight-of-the-kurds-iraq-syria-kurdistan/

I quickly looked up info only about the BMP-2, and found this: "The commander can exit the vehicle by two means - the hatch above him, or by spinning the turret to face the rear, and then going out through the passenger compartment. In the latter case, he must swing open the turret basket perimeter shield (shown below) to exit the turret." https://thesovietarmourblog.blogspot.ca/2016/05/bmp-2.html#comstat Given those restrictions for movement between the commander's position and the passenger compartment, I'd say the way this is modeled in the game for the BMP-2 is spot-on.

And where's 2016?... Ah, here we go! Seriously, Western non-interference in the fall of Aleppo [in which the YPG played a crucial part - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Aleppo_offensive_(February_2016) - which may not be known or was forgotten by folks in the West, but certainly not by the FSA fighters in Afrin] and the humanitarian tragedy around it profoundly impacted the Turkish public in two ways: - It relativized the ethics of war, so that any criticism today can be brushed off with "What about Aleppo?" - It did the equivalent of tens of billions of Qatari / Saudi petrodollars in pushing the Islamist / Jihadist message that democracy and human rights are only a smokescreen for a war against (Sunni) Islam [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_against_Islam ]. I have seen a realistic proposition for getting out of this mess only today: "What Washington must do about Turkey and Afrin" https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/02/05/what-washington-must-do-about-turkey-and-afrin/?utm_term=.b2d435ee9135 In short, pressure the PKK to declare a cease-fire inside Turkey, quid pro quo for limiting the operation in Afrin. It would still give Erdogan his victory for reelection, but lifting the state of emergency would at least restore constitutional order, no matter how flawed the constitution. The part that the proposition does not account for is whether the PKK would be willing to go along with this. After all, they have everything to gain from a state of affairs where the only outlet for Kurdish dissent is through their armed ranks.

My thoughts as well. The tank does not appear to have been in combat when the missile was fired; I think the YPG team may have infiltrated what was thought to be a secure area, or blended in with the civilians there. Also note the (white?) civilian car that was parked next to the tank, and sped away right after missile launch - proof that they detected the launch. In related news, the FSA intercepted a large shipment of ATGMs, including Konkurs, to the YPG, that originated from a town under Al Nusra control. The Syrian conflict's mess of disparate interests, loyalties, and alliances is certainly up there with the 30 Years War:

The missile has been confirmed as a Konkurs (AT-5): Five tankers - including a lieutenant - were KIA. Does a LEO2 have space for five people inside?: Presumably the destroyed LEO2, with a crewman who was KIA. I assume he was the loader, as he held the lowest rank:

A rule of thumb that I've picked up from playing Slitherine's Pike&Shot / Sengoku Jidai / Field of Glory 2 at their hardest settings is to give the AI a 50% point advantage, on top of whatever advantage it is already getting for attacking etc. To achieve this in CM, I increase the AI's points by 70% when I'm defending [the AI is very vulnerable to ambushes if you can set up one where the map designer didn't expect it], and decrease my own points by 40% when I'm attacking. If I give the AI even more points, that tends to kick in the "quantity has a quality of its own" phenomenon. I have been able to win total victories in CMBS rolling with Abrams against Russians in poor visibility, when I had the full 60% penalty for my own force. I remember that ancient movie every time I play against the AI - it should be made obligatory for all wargamers.

Bellingcat investigation by Nick Waters, an ex-British Army officer. Lots of images, an alleged video of the January 6 attack, and thorough analysis: "The Poor Man’s Air Force? Rebel Drones Attack Russia’s Airbase in Syria" https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2018/01/12/the_poor_mans_airforce/