Machor
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Posts posted by Machor
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36 minutes ago, Rice said:
Ok, but as I mentioned, the game still has gone on sale multiple times during the war. Are we going to conveniently forget that? How is that not dangerously close to profiteering as is?
Mate, I've been checking the BFC website religiously since CMCW was announced, and unless I somehow missed something, they've NEVER had a sale neither before nor after the beginning of the war; in fact, I don't remember BFC having a sale EVER - I do remember Steve saying that they don't have sales as a company policy.
If you're talking about the sales on Steam, I remember well how BFC resisted calls to sell there for years, and some CM titles appeared there only recently after BFC got involved with Slitherine/Matrix Games [which I very much support]. Therefore, you should be sending your complaints to Steam.
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Future CMBS - be it new modules or a completely new title - will have to have ATVs:
"American... I like American."
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8 hours ago, Beleg85 said:
Interesting is that this girl seem to be serve as common infantry sergeant on frontlines, not medic/staff officer as many women in uniforms do. It's curious how common it is in Ukrainian army.
There have been many posts about this over the years by @Haiduk, who could give concrete figures; AFAIK, it's quite common.
And, as you can tell from the (family) names of soldiers, this is represented for the Ukrainian side in CMBS as well.
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Let’s Use Chicago Rules to Beat Russia
Why the U.S. adversary is a lot like Al CaponeBy Eliot A. Cohen
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/07/madrid-nato-summit-2022-russia-ukraine/661494/
QuoteCarl von Clausewitz observed in his classic On War that “the maximum use of force is by no means incompatible with the simultaneous use of the intellect.” That means, in part, acting thoughtfully but with the utmost effort, understanding that war is more bar fight than chess game. Or, to put it in the simpler words of Jim Malone, Eliot Ness’s counselor in The Untouchables, “You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way! And that’s how you get Capone.”
Al Capone is an apt analogy for what the West confronts in Russia: a particularly noxious mix of Mafia mentality, hypernationalist ideology, and totalitarian technique. Elegance is not the Russian way, and it cannot be our way. This is the light in which one should measure the accomplishments of NATO’s recent gathering in Madrid.
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What the Biden administration still struggles with is the ultimate purpose of Western assistance to Ukraine. At his press conference, the president said that the United States and its allies would not “allow Ukraine to be defeated.” That is the wrong objective. It should be, rather, to ensure Russia’s defeat—the thwarting of its aims to conquer yet more of Ukrainian territory, the smashing of its armed forces, and the doing of both in a convincing, public, and, yes, therefore humiliating way. Chicago rules, in other words.
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The Western allies will not invade Russia, nor will they overthrow its regime directly—one day, hopefully, Russians will do that. Putin is motivated by imperial fantasies of imitating Peter the Great and other, even less savory Russian leaders. And Putin’s successor, should the Russian leader die or become incapacitated while in office, will likely be no better. For evidence of that, one need only consult the ravings of key advisers such as Nikolai Patrushev. If and when the battles cease in Ukraine, Russia’s intentions to expand and subjugate its neighbors will remain.
The good news here is that if one sets aside misleading memories of World War II and the Cold War, and disregards the ominous mutterings of experts who exaggerated Russian capacity before the war, then it becomes obvious that Russia is a weak state.
Russia’s GDP is less than that of South Korea. Its leadership is afraid to openly mobilize its middle class, so it refuses to declare war and send young men from Moscow and St. Petersburg to the slaughterhouse that is the Donbas. Its generals are, for the most part, incompetent, which is why purges of them continue. It is scraping the bottom of its manpower barrel and so raises to absurd heights the age level of potential service members. Corruption and indiscipline have rotted out its maintenance and low-level leadership. What it has is Cold War–era stockpiles of weapons and munitions (and those are huge, but finite); some pockets of excellence, for example its railroad units; and utter disregard for human life throughout the chain of command.
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The solution—which cannot be publicly declared—is a NATO-within-NATO. Germany, France, and Italy have the largest economies in the European Union and in theory should carry the most weight in European-security decision making as well. But they cannot. Germany, the proverbial Hamlet of nations, is fatally compromised by its unwillingness and inability to make good on military commitments, and its recent sordid past in enabling Russia’s growth and stranglehold on European energy supplies. France is domestically torn, while the overweening vanity of its presidents makes it difficult for them to get a receptive hearing from lesser mortals. Italy, as ever, produces statesmen on occasion, but not statesmanship.
A nascent coalition of powers is, however, willing to take Russia seriously and has the muscle to thwart her while bringing less resolute European states along. The Eastern European and Baltic states, with Poland in the lead, know Russian tyranny firsthand, and are ready to stand up to it; the Scandinavian states, in particular Finland and Norway, are almost as intent; the English-speaking external powers, including the United Kingdom and Canada, are similarly alive and determined. It is to this core group that American statecraft must look.
The British chief of the General Staff recently described the Ukraine crisis as a 1937 moment for the West. It was an acute historical comparison. In that year the Sino-Japanese war began, setting the stage for World War II. In that year the West had before it choices that could have avoided the horrors of a far worse conflict, but it ducked.
To their credit, in the current moment, Western leaders are performing far better than did their counterparts 85 years ago—but not yet well enough. We’re dealing with Capone, and while, like Eliot Ness, we need to stay within the constraints of law and basic decency, we also need to apply Chicago rules.
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Ukrainian CAESAR showing off high ROF:
On 7/5/2022 at 11:48 AM, BlackMoria said:they are snorting lines of coke off of a stripper's ass and then getting in front of a camera
it is:
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I'm starting to think we were wrong to call Putin 'Putler'... we should be calling him 'Putini' instead, remembering how Fascist Italy was able to take Ethiopia and Albania after great effort and losses, and had to be bailed out by Nazi Germany in Greece and North Africa.
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Interesting tidbits in this article:
Ukraine prepares a counter-offensive to retake Kherson province
QuoteWhere the Ukrainians are pushing, the Russians are fighting back hard. Serhiy, a Ukrainian territorial-defence soldier working behind Russian lines in Vysokopillya, just across from Zelenodolsk, says the enemy has built reinforced bunkers under the ground. When they try to push the Russians out, they return in greater numbers. “Their ten becomes a hundred,” he says. One village base has four air-defence units defending it. Ukraine’s task has been hindered, the soldier complains, by locals who did not flee the occupation and are being used by Russian troops as human shields: “We can’t shoot at our own people.”
A handful of locals are collaborating with the enemy, he says. Girls as young as 15 have been recruited by the Russians. In early June, Serhiy’s company discovered a 40-year-old artillery spotter during a random search. The man’s near-clean mobile phone gave him away. The phone had just one computer-game app installed. Closer inspection revealed the game was, in fact, a tool to record co-ordinates and receive cryptocurrency payments. “The bastard had mapped out our hardware movements over the last month,” he says.
The exposed lowlands of Kherson mean that any Ukrainian advance there feels the full force of Russian artillery. There is already talk of serious losses in the areas immediately south of Zelenodolsk. An attempt to cross the Inhulets river at the village of Davydiv Brid in May—essential for a second-prong attack on Kakhovka—was particularly costly. “They were baited into the line of fire,” says Victoria, a farmer who lived in Davydiv Brid until it became impossible in mid-May. “A lot of our men lost their lives.”
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Lucky to be alive, Victoria has not moved far from danger. She is again living near the front line in Zelenodolsk, housed there by local volunteers. Like many of Kherson’s mostly poor refugees, she has no money for anything else. She left everything behind in the village: her house, her cows, her chickens.
But she insists that not all the Russian soldiers were villains, and she even felt sorry for the youngest ones. Some were fellow Ukrainians, conscripted “after going out to buy bread” in occupied Luhansk, in the east. Those boys paid for everything they took from the village shop, she says—first in hryvnia, later in roubles—and even said “thank you” in Ukrainian. But when Russian positions came under serious attack, the Luhansk units were fortified with angrier colleagues from Russia itself.
The shifting attitudes in Davydiv Brid offer a warning of what may happen in Kherson if Ukraine’s counter-offensive gathers pace. “Anton”, the pseudonym of a former official who fled to Krivyi Rih in late May after being asked to head a collaborationist authority, says Russia has generally tried not to upset locals too much. This was a conscious decision to co-opt the population, he said. But if that changes and the occupiers are forced out of Kherson, there is little to hold them back. Things will turn nasty, and quickly. “The Russians will be angry as hell, and lash out, but the partisan resistance will be just as fierce,” he said. “The locals will simply tear the Russians apart.”
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The first crowdfunded TB2 for Ukraine by Lithuania - which was later donated by Bayraktar - is about to be delivered, and it came with a special paintjob:
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akd already posted this, but reposting for folks who can't read Russian: That bridge is now protected with decoys against radar-guided missiles:
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Amateur hour social media use and news report reveal Russian smuggling operation:
Turkey detains Russian-flagged grain ship from Ukraine
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62010113
QuoteA cargo ship carrying grain from a Russian-occupied region of Ukraine has been detained by Turkish customs authorities, according to Ukraine's ambassador to Turkey.
Vasyl Bodnar says "We have full co-operation. The ship is currently standing at the entrance to the port, it has been detained by the customs authorities of Turkey".
We've tracked the Russian-flagged ship, the Zhibek Zholy, on its route from the Ukrainian port of Berdyansk, to Karasu on the Turkish Black Sea coast.
It is not clear where its cargo came from or how it was obtained, but Russia has been accused of stealing grain from areas of Ukraine it controls - allegations Russia denies.
Berdyansk is in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region, on the Sea of Azov.
News of the ship's departure from Berdyansk was announced on social media app Telegram by Yevhen Balytskyi, who was recently appointed by Russia as governor of the occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia.
Mr Balytskyi said 7,000 tonnes of grain would be sent to "friendly" countries.
He added that ships from Russia's Black Sea Fleet would be "ensuring the security" of the journey, and that the port had been cleared of sea mines.
He later edited the post, taking out references to the ship's cargo and destination.
A video news report about the departure of the ship has also been shared on several pro-Kremlin Telegram channels showing it along with a Russian naval vessel in a harbour, which was identified as Berdyansk by the reporter.
Comparing the video footage with satellite imagery of the port, we have been able to confirm that it was filmed in Berdyansk.
The weather conditions in the video and the angle of the shadows along the harbour suggest it was filmed on the morning of 28 June.
Some features along the ship's hull, such as its name, were blurred out in the video. But we have confirmed that the ship that left Berdyansk is the same one now lying off the Turkish coast, based on images from the Telegram posts as well as eyewitness accounts given to a Ukrainian shipping expert.
We have also been able to track the earlier movements of the Zhibek Zholy as it made its way towards Ukraine to pick up its cargo.
On 22 June it travelled from Turkey, dropping off its cargo at the Russian port of Novorossiysk. As it then approached the Ukrainian coast, its tracking signal was lost - suggesting it had been switched off.
The signal only reappeared on 29 June as it headed back south away from the Ukrainian coast. This tracker also reports the depth at which the ship lies in the water - and it indicated that the ship had taken on cargo.
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Quote
The data, provided by Semantic Visions, a defense analytics company, includes major Russian state media outlets in addition to thousands of smaller Russian websites and blogs. It gives a view of Russia’s attempts to justify its attack on Ukraine and maintain domestic support for the ongoing war by falsely portraying Ukraine as being overrun by far-right extremists.
News stories have falsely claimed that Ukrainian Nazis are using noncombatants as human shields, killing Ukrainian civilians and planning a genocide of Russians.
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The common Russian understanding of Nazism hinges on the notion of Nazi Germany as the antithesis of the Soviet Union rather than on the persecution of Jews specifically said Jeffrey Veidlinger, a professor of history and Judaic studies at the University of Michigan. “That’s why they can call a state that has a Jewish president a Nazi state and it doesn’t seem all that discordant to them,” he said.
Despite the lack of evidence that Ukraine is dominated by Nazis, the idea has taken off among many Russians. The false claims about Ukraine may have started on state media but smaller news sites have gone on to amplify the messages.
Social media data provided by Zignal Labs shows a spike in references to Nazism in Russian language tweets that matches the uptick in Russian news media. “You see it on Russian chat groups and in comments Russians are making in newspaper articles,” said Dr. Veidlinger. “I think many Russians actually believe this is a war against Nazism.”
He noted that the success of this propaganda campaign has deep roots in Russian history. “The war against Nazism is really the defining moment of the 20th century for Russia,” Dr. Veidlinger said. “What they’re doing now is in a way a continuation of this great moment of national unity from World War II. Putin is trying to rile up the population in favor of the war.”
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A key feature of Russian propaganda is its repetitiveness, Ms. Richter said. “You just see a constant regurgitation and repackaging of the same stuff over and over again.” In this case, that means repeating unfounded allegations about Nazism. Since the invasion, 10 to 20 percent of articles about Ukraine have mentioned Nazism, according to the Semantic Visions data.
Experts say linking Ukraine with Nazism can prevent cognitive dissonance among Russians when news about the war in places like Bucha seeps through. “It helps them justify these atrocities,” Dr. Doroshenko said. “It helps to create this dichotomy of black and white — Nazis are bad, we are good, so we have the moral right.”
The tactic appears to work. Russians’ access to news sources not tied to the Kremlin has been curtailed since the government silenced most independent media outlets after the invasion. During the war, Russian citizens have echoed claims about Nazism in interviews, and in a poll published in May by the Levada Center, an independent Russian pollster, 74 percent expressed support for the war.
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On 6/29/2022 at 8:23 PM, Beleg85 said:
I hope Erdogan will not flick again during ratification process. Do you think he can do that?
Going by his statements after the summit, he wants something concrete that he can display to his power base as a sign of his strength, and faces in handcuffs that have been extradited from Finland and Sweden check the box, so I expect him to put pressure in that direction.
However, it appears the operation planned against the YPG has been cancelled - I assume this is where Biden 'had a talk' with him.
On 6/29/2022 at 8:23 PM, Beleg85 said:Also not to whitewash PKK past terrorist acts, but TAK are already separate group and terribly fishy one at that...
The TAK are indeed fishy: I am not aware of another terrorist organization that has been active for almost two decades, where we know nothing about the organization's leadership nor structure.
They are also uniquely tolerated by the PKK, which has historically never allowed other organizations to operate on its turf: It eliminated all rival Kurdish organizations in the 80s, and went out if its way, while fighting very hard against the Turkish military in the 90s, to fight and destroy TİKKO in Dersim.
I can also add a personal insight: After I made 'sergeant' (OR-4/E-4), my fun activity during night watches was to check senior NCOs' desk drawers for documents stamped 'secret' that they were too lazy to return to the safe - good ole days without security cameras. Most interesting among my finds were intel reports about teams of bombers that had been dispatched to known cities and coastal resorts, and these operatives were always dispatched from PKK bases in northern Iraq or inside Turkey. Thus, back when TAK started its business, it was relying fully on the PKK's infrastructure.
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck... The only arguments we have for the TAK being independent of the PKK are statements by the PKK, TAK, and PKK sympathizers who want it delisted as a terrorist organization.
That being said, the PKK gets its hands dirty without TAK branding as well:
PKK kills young teacher after abducting him in Turkey’s east
PKK terrorists abduct, kill 2 shepherds
On 6/29/2022 at 8:23 PM, Beleg85 said:they usually go berserk when it fits Erdogan; I wouldn't be surprised if they start to bomb again just before next elections.
The TAK cannot be a false flag operation run by Erdoğan because they started when Erdoğan had recently become the PM and did not have control over the state security apparatus. Also, TAK bombings reveal another pattern: They almost always carry out an attack after the PKK suffers a heavy loss, clearly indicating their morale-boosting mission for the PKK.
However, it is true that their attacks have helped Erdoğan win election victories, and there is no need to seek a conspiracy behind this: The PKK LOVES Erdoğan!
Think about it: Arguably the worst human rights abuses against Turkey's Kurds since the military junta of 1980 were committed during Çiller's campaign against the PKK, yet few cared in the West. She was Turkey's first woman PM, had a PhD from the US - she oozed 'progressive', and few cared to look beyond.
Now, in Erdoğan, Turkey has a face that openly expresses his disdain for all who aren't practicing Muslims, keeps promising to turn a UNESCO world heritage site into a mosque and eventually does it, keeps calling Germans and Dutch (?) 'Nazis', and still manages to rub most Islamic countries the wrong way as well - wouldn't you LOVE your enemy to have a face like that?
Moreover, by jailing HDP politicians since 2016, I'm sure Erdoğan has done wonders for the PKK's recruitment. Thus, I too expect TAK bombings to restart before the elections, and the reason is pretty straightforward.
This wasn't photoshopped; just a regular day in 'Türkiye':
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Since there was some discussion on the UK training that Ukrainian troops are now receiving, I am curious to hear if the pros can comment on what they're seeing in this BBC coverage - and for @JonS, Kiwi gunners are involved as well:
Ukrainian troops being trained in the UK
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-61973635
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3 hours ago, Haiduk said:
Battery of Russian 2S3 SP-howitzers being destroyed by artillery of 81st airmobile brigade
What are the 'axes' referred to in the tweet?
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4 hours ago, poesel said:
Also lost were Qingdao
And one reason Tsingtao is such good beer is because the brewery was founded by Germans.
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On 6/28/2022 at 5:02 PM, Beleg85 said:
The details viewed from Turkish side:
https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu/status/1541853998138986497
Theoretically it is quite a lot, the question is if Erdogan really got something extra under the table and what will be execution of those agreements. I hope Kurds are not sold out again.
@acrashb @The_MonkeyKing @Aragorn2002 @Lethaface
There's nothing in the MOU that changes the status quo:
- The PKK is a designated terrorist organization in the EU [And with very good reason; see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pınarcık_massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yavi_Massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Market_massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2016_Dürümlü_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdistan_Freedom_Hawks#Attacks ], so Finland and Sweden are already bound by that.
- Finland and Sweden did not recognize the YPG, the PKK's Syrian arm, as a terrorist organization.
- Whatever arms embargoes Finland and Sweden may have imposed on Turkey, Turkey wasn't trying to buy arms from them.
Solid gains for Turkey would have been Germany and France lifting restrictions on arms exports, and the US agreeing to sell the F-16V upgrade kits. It is not clear if Turkish diplomats seriously thought that they could get these, since the objection to Finland and Sweden joining NATO was raised by Erdoğan as an afterthought. These two tweets are the most realistic assessment:
@Huba @Battlefront.com @billbindc @dan/california
The Biden administration was already supporting the sale of the F-16V upgrade kits to Turkey before Erdoğan's objection to Finland and Sweden, and according to Aaron Stein, the administration's support is genuine: It will be awkward for them to be selling F-35 to Greece - which already has Rafale, F-16V & Patriot - while Congress refuses to sell Turkey Viper upgrade kits for old airframes. Bob Menendez (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Menendez#Awards_and_honors ) may potentially do damage that extends into the promised post-Erdoğan era, as there are already voices in the opposition arguing for a partnership with China.
For now, Plan B seems to be going for Typhoon, and the UK is very encouraging, but getting greenlights from Germany and France would be a challenge.
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Ukraine received 50 Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones since Russian invasion
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/russia-ukraine-war-tb2-bayraktar-drones-fifty-received
"Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov revealed on Tuesday that Ukraine has received 50 armed drones from Turkish arms company Baykar since Russia's 24 February invasion.
In a Facebook post Reznikov thanked Ukrainians and Baykar for the donation of three Bayraktar TB2 armed drones following a social media fundraising campaign that collected $20m to buy three of the aircraft.
Baykar on Monday said it refused to take the money and would instead donate the drones to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people."
"Reznikov said Ukraine and Turkey are continuing work to build a joint Baykar plant in Ukraine to locally build drones, an agreement that was signed before the war.
“Ukraine's plans to buy Bayraktar are also large-scale,” he said. “Since 24 February only, the Ministry of Defence has armed our military with up to half a hundred 'airplanes'".
Reznikov added that Ukraine has already signed a memorandum of understanding for more drones, which were expected to be delivered in July.
“We have also received a new request from the command of the armed forces of Ukraine and thus, in the near future, almost all capacity of the Baykar Makina plant [in Turkey] will be focused on meeting the needs of the armed forces. It's about ordering dozens more drones,” he added.
Ukraine and Turkey have close defence industry cooperation, a relationship that has flourished in recent years.
Ukrainian companies also produce the Baykar’s engines, and Turkey was known to have sold more than 20 Bayraktars to Kyiv over the course of the past two years. Reznikov’s information significantly increased that number.
Frequent flights between Turkey and Poland over the last two months indicate that Turkey has continued to deliver TB2s and its MAM-L ammunition to Kyiv.
In January, Al-Monitor reported that Ukraine got a 30 percent discount for the TB2 drones, paying approximately $7m for each."
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Sooo... about the 'Death of the Tank':
The Army Just Selected Its First Light Tank In Decades
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/the-army-just-selected-its-first-light-tank-in-decades
"For the first time since the Cold War, the U.S. Army is set to acquire and field a new light tank. The service announced today that General Dynamics Land Systems has won its Mobile Protected Firepower program competition and has been awarded a contract worth up to $1.14 billion.
The initial Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) contract award will cover an initial low-rate production order of 96 vehicles. The Army expects to take delivery of the first examples, from an initial lot of 26 MPFs, in December 2023 and have its first unit fully equipped with them by 2025. The service presently plans to buy a total of 504 new light tanks, with most of them arriving by the end of 2035."
"The GDLS MPF design, which is set to public receive a formal name this fall at the Association of the U.S. Army's main annual convention in Washington, D.C, is based on the company's Griffin II. Its main armament is a 105mm gun – unlike the 120mm type found on the original Griffin demonstrator – mounted in a turret derived from the one on the M1 Abrams tank. It uses a version of the fire control system used in the M1A2 System Enhanced Package Version 3 (SEPv3) variant"
"Griffin II was itself derived from the Austrian-Spanish ASCOD armored vehicle series, which also formed the basis of the much-troubled Ajax infantry fighting vehicle for the British Army. GDLS has also put forward another version of the Griffin, known as the Griffin III, as a contender for the Army's Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) program, which is focused primarily on finding a replacement for the service's Bradley fighting vehicles."
"The MPF program began in 2015 and the Army down-selected to designs from GDLS and BAE Systems in 2018. BAE Systems' entry was based on the M8 Buford Armored Gun System (AGS) light tank, which was developed for the Army in the 1980s under a separate program that was then canceled in 1996.
The M8 had been slated to replace the service's last light tank, the M551A1 Sheridan, a Vietnam War-era design that had an overly complex 152mm gun/missile launcher as its primary armament. The last M551A1s were retired from active duty service in 1997. A small number of Sheridans remained in inventory for use as mock enemy vehicles during large-scale training exercises until 2003."
"Under the Army's current plans, the majority of the new MPFs will be spread across four battalions. These units will provide additional armored firepower for the service's dismounted Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (IBCTs), which currently only have light tactical vehicles – Humvees that are now in the process of being replaced by Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) – armed with .50 caliber M2 machine guns, 40mm Mk 19 automatic grenade launchers, and TOW anti-tank missiles, for organic mobile fire support
“The answer is in the name," Army Maj. Gen. Ross Coffman, director of the Next Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team, told reporters when asked what the primary mission of these vehicles would be earlier today, according to Breaking Defense. "It’ll give the light infantry units a mobile, protected firepower that … can remove impediments on the battlefield [like light armored vehicles and fortifications] to ensure our infantry women and men make it to the objective."
Exactly how these vehicles will be deployed and employed would seem to remain to be seen. Light is relative in the case of the MPF design, which is is said to be around 38 tons. This is only around two tons lighter than the Army's new M2A4 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, but is 20 tons heavier than the M551A1. It is of course substantially lighter than the Army's latest versions of the M1 tank, which are over 70 tons.
The Army had originally described MPF more in terms of a spiritual successor to the Sheridan, which was not only air-transportable, but also air-droppable. The requirement for the new MPF to be parachutable onto the battlefield was subsequently dropped. A single Air Force C-17A Globemaster III cargo aircraft is expected to be able to carry two of them at a time when flying them to forward airstrips.
It's unclear whether any of the Army's airborne formations will now receive these new light tanks. However, a picture, seen below, from the previous test that the service released today shows an MPF flying an 82nd Airborne Division flag.
The Army's selection of a winning MPF design also comes amid a renewed debate about the future of tanks and other heavier armored vehicles based on observations from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The MPF program itself had first emerged as part of a broader shift in focus within the Army, and the U.S. military as a whole, toward being better prepared for more conventional conflicts in light of Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014 and its subsequent support for separatists in that country's eastern Donbas region.
Regardless, a quarter of a century after the retirement of the M551A1 from combat duty with no direct replacement in the wings, the Army is now set to begin buying a new fleet of light tanks."
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The BBC have updated their article with an interesting tidbit, which shows that we truly are witnessing world history in the making - if Covid didn't convince you of that:
Russia in historic foreign debt default, reports suggest
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61929926
"Russia has defaulted on its overseas debt for the first time in more than a century after missing a Sunday deadline, reports suggest."
"The last time Russia defaulted on its foreign debt was in 1918, during the Bolshevik Revolution when the new communist leader Vladimir Lenin refused to pay the debts of the Russian Empire.
Russia's last debt default of any kind was in the 1998 as the country was rocked by the rouble crisis during the chaotic end of Boris Yeltsin's regime. At the time Moscow failed to keep up payments on its domestic bonds but managed not to default on its overseas debt."
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The Russian KT: Turret-cam view of T-90M in action (with authentic sound):
Technicals will no longer be associated with the third world after this war:
And yet another supplier of Ukraine - Azerbaijan:
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Rare video of what appears to be a Ukrainian tank company making a stop while moving in column towards Bakhmut [The direction stated in the tweet is contested.]:
Now that the defenders of Severodonetsk are out, we have more footage of the urban fighting there - note the Dushka:
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Interesting claim being made - by an account we've hitherto trusted - that the initial assault on Kyiv had an airborne component which was cancelled at the last minute; would call for a reassessment of the reasons for Russia's failure if true:
How Hot is Ukraine Gonna Get?
in Combat Mission Black Sea
Posted
Ukrainian PzH 2000 in action; this time we get to see the autoloader:
Video of the flag-raising operation on Snake Island: