Machor

I think it's safe to say there will be very few prisoners taken of these fellas.  Do they have any idea what they are walking into?  and I am guessing they were 'volunteered' by Assad in thanks for all the murder and mayhem provided by Putin in Syria.  I hope they all die, and soon, and badly.

For anyone but Charles, impossible.
 
P.S. answering Machor.

Jon,
I fear you may have thought I was taking a jab at you; the jab was at the authors of the articles you cited in your footnote. The factual mistake may not affect your argument, but is that true for their arguments as well? Moreover, anyone who hasn't watched the film closely may well come to believe their false version, given the authority of academic publication.
Actually, it formed the very basis of the prof's new reading of a certain literary text. Her unfounded assumption that one character was serving in the Guards allowed her to claim that another character related to him represented the Russian Crown. Without the hussar=Guards equation, her reading simply falls apart.
And yes, I have checked her publications and she has since published the paper in a book by a most prestigious academic publisher. Which means that not only did she, a world-class academic, knowingly publish false information, but also that the peer-review process and her editor in the very least never questioned her hussar=Guards equation. It also means that there is now this authoritative false knowledge out there which will be cited by others and grow into more false knowledge.
Sorry to take your thread OT - I feel strongly about this since I believe contemporary fake news/alternate facts/relative truths have their origin in Deconstruction, and how many humanities scholars took advantage of it to slither into positions with $$$$$$ salaries.

Kudrin
Medvedev

Certainly US military technology taken overall is way ahead of Russian's. But if you take the rest of the pack then Russia is more than competitive except for very specific areas and sometimes is even ahead of the curve. You can take turbine blades for materials science or military grade electronics where your latest iPhone is many times if not many magnitudes more impressive as a computational platform than F-35 - and Russia produces sensible amount of industrial semis. The major problem for Russian military production is not that they are unable to produce a toy at a certain technological level but rather that there's little if any market for such a toy (if it's of Russian origin ). Russian military budget alone is peanuts compared to US's so Russia cannot afford both big series production and/or too high a per unit cost. And with cutting edge equipment R&D is a major part of your per unit cost so you end up in a vicious circle. A half-measure to alleviate this is to put up with a lower per year output while trying to stick to the same series production numbers by extending production timeframe. You'll run into different kind of troubles - high maintenance costs, "teething problems", subtle or not-so-subtle differences between equipment within the same series - but still it may let you jump over your head a little bit.
There was this idea that Russia may spend a hell of money overnight and come with a totally updated army in an eye blink - hordes of Armatas AND Boomerangs AND Kurganets, 5th gen fighters AND Stealth bombers AND a full lineup of new transport planes. The idea was peddled by people who know nothing about the economics of high-tech business and sometimes have reasons not to know 

Nope, I'd say Russia has much more diverse MBT base. Russia is old Soviet zoo PLUS newly minted ones. And many variants going under the same name actually differ from one another - changes to transmissions, engine, targeting etc. You can imagine what a waste of resources it is. Having incomparably lower military budget Russia has many times more platforms in every class.
In early eighties Soviet Union did a strategic assessment of how well it can stand against Chinese Army. And the conclusion was in conflict limited to Far East the Soviet Union would need to resort to nuclear weapons to stop a potential Chinese thrust. Mainly due to logistical issues - limited road network, a sole railway link etc.

Ok, if you're going to post stuff, you should probably have a slight idea as to what it is you are posting. 
The United States has over 4,000 Abrams in its active inventory. The Russians have less than 1,000 operational T-90s. 
The meme of red hordes died a long time ago. Continuing to base all future conflicts on this assumption is both ignorant and embarrassingly wrong. 
The West, specifically the United States, has both a quantitative and qualitative advantage over the Russian military. This has been the case for decades now. 
Please, please let this terrible meme end. 

With the scarcity of modern FLIR systems on Russian tanks, I highly doubt they will even see their enemy before being knocked out. Of course I speak for the many tanks which have been left in storage. 
Thermal scopes have dramatically altered warfare.

I think, this will be interest for you in this topic. Except Russian forces, look, how much armored vehicles have "mined" DPR (1st Army Corps) and LPR (2nd Army Corps). In comparison with some Westernm armies.
My familiar, former Ukr army serviceman and one of LostArmor experts, has complited huge work - he identificated from photo and video of enemy resourses almost full number of armor in DNR and LNR srvice. With aid of LostArmor resourse, of course.  I've asked him make infographic in English for you and he did it. Click to enlarge. 
 

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

@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. 

I want to once again open the discussion on APC and IFV squad usage for RU side.
How is it done IRL?
Every vehicle has a dedicated commander's spot.  All traditional inter-platoon and inter-company coms are concentrated around vehicle command posts. Squad Leader (SL) occupies vehicle command post unless platoon commander (PC) or platoon 2IC (P2IC) are seating there. In that case SL must sit in the back with his squad.  PC and P2IC are seated in separate vehicles (1 and 3) thus establishing comms chain and company cohesion.   Vehicle 2 command post is usually staffed by squad 2 SL or by platoon political officer in times of war.  PC used to dismount vehicles and P2IC used to always stay in the vehicle, but with introduction of C4 systems and secondary thermals on some vehicles both stay inside.  SL must dismount and control his squad from outside the vehicle in combat. So effectively vehicles 1 and 3 traditionally took the initiative and vehicle 2 followed without the commander seat occupied. In CMBS we are not given the option of splitting our platoon command, but the lack of a commander negatively affects vehicle spotting and performance. I always leave the command team inside the vehicle they are in so at least one is fully operational. I sometimes also split a scout team from squads to man a second vehicle. 

Usually ammo explosion is caused by accelerating rapid burning of propellant charges in confined space and is indeed much slower. But sometimes the explosion is instant and powerfull -  like here  (I've seen some similar ones before).
I guess such quick and powerfull explosion is caused by _detonation_ of 120mm HE or HEAT warhead which causes further _detonations_ of other warheads and/or propellant charges (which can detonate too in specific conditions). Detonation is very different process than rapid burning, happens almost instantly and causes astronomical overpressue values, even in unconfined spaces. Such force can easily shred a tank to pieces, even if it has all hatches open.
Not every exposion is caused by detonation of high explosive. It could be also very rapid burning of several propellant charges at once triggered by HEAT jet, causing so rapid and great overpressure inside the tank, that hull sides were torn off before the turret flew away. Very rapid burning of several propellant charges at once could look very similar, hard to tell for sure what happened.
One thing to note - If such powerfull explosion (caused by cumulative jet detonating one of HE or HEAT warheads) happened after hit into the turret bustle magazine,  the armored wall between ammo and crew compartment would probably be not enough to save the crew... I know there is work on insensitive munitions going on - the propellant charges are harder to ignite and harder/impossible to detonate, high explosives  and primers/caps are less sensitive to overheating in case of fire, but I doubt that HE used are insensitive enough, to not detonate if penetrated by cumulative jet.... anybody knows if such insensitive high explosives (not triggered by direct cumulative jet hit) are used in tank rounds ?
edit: I checked internet and it seems that insensitive explosives can be _to some extend_ resistant to penetration by shaped charge jet. Especially by smaller ones. Greater the energy (mass, velocity) of the jet, smaller the chances that the explosive will not be triggered.  I think there is little chance that typical tank round's warhead will not detonate when hit directly by  jet from powerfull ATGM warhead. Second thing to consider - if the rounds used by Turkish military in their Leo2s use modern, insensitive high explosives / propellants at all. 
 

Hello all,
i just wanted to let you know about my latest discovery.
When my brave pixelsoldiers leave BMP or BTR there is leader missing. This is known to all of us. Some of us split the squad and bring somebody back to help spot better. Some of us bring another man or men there. I usually bring there single soldier - Igla trooper. Also known to all of us.
And here is the point i was doing wrong all the time.
In editor or QB i just bought Igla trooper - loaded it into the BMP or BTR and then during the game when other soldiers left the vehicle i was sure that there is this Igla soldier there and that he is helping to spot better! I was sure he is in the position of the leader!
I was soooo wrong!
The position of the leader depends from how your soldiers enter the vehicle! Usually i just bought the Igla soldier, loaded him inside and send them all to fight.
I discovered that in the editor or during setup i must unload everybody and then load 1st soldier or soldiers i want later to play the leader role. When you save it in the editor it stays like this in scenario too. 
So probably all of you out there knew this before, if not use it to fight better
 
http://

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:
 

"Black Market Sold Drones Used in Russian Base Attack"
https://www.thedailybeast.com/black-market-sold-drones-used-in-russian-base-attack
"... days before the unique, jury-rigged drone bomber surfaced in the attack, a seller in a rebel social media arms market based in Syria’s Idlib province posted an advertisement for an identical-looking model of rickety homebrew drone along with similar munitions, casting serious doubt on Moscow’s tales of high tech transfer.
...
... the black market drone advertisement, posted on Dec. 31 in a Telegram arms market where rebels trade everything from motorcycles to machine guns, suggests that the weapon may have been available to any rebels who had the cash to buy it. The seller offered the drone alongside two small, grenade-sized munitions. “Brothers,” the author wrote next to pictures of the weapons, “reconnaissance plane which drops shells for sale.”
...
In a Facebook post after the air base attack, Russia’s defense ministry wrote that its electronic warfare systems defeated six of the drones and that its Pantsir air defense systems shot down an additional seven during the attack. Photos accompanying the post reveal a nearly identical drone to that seen in the Telegram arms market with the same boxy fuselage covered in green plastic wrap and tape, capped by a wood casing surrounding the engine.
Captured munitions from the photos posted by the Russians also show starkly similar munitions to the ones offered on Telegram, with semi-transparent casings, white plastic fins, and a thick metal hook to attach them underwing. The bombs contain “BB’s embedded in epoxy around an explosive core and then placed in an aerodynamic plastic shell,” says Nick Waters, an analyst who researches for Bellingcat, an investigative journalism nonprofit. “They were designed for fragmentation rather than destroying planes.”
But the Hmeimim incident wasn’t the first sighting of that particular model of slapdash drone in the wild. On Jan. 1, the day after the black market drone posting, Saray al-Areen, an Assad regime-aligned militia, posted pictures of another identical drone with similar munitions fragments on its Facebook page, writing that it had captured “two aircraft with munitions outside of Qeraha and Jablah,” villages not far outside the Russian air base at Hmeimim. “The explosions heard today at noon are the results of these shells,” the group advised.
The capture followed a New Year’s Eve attack on Hmeimim which killed two Russian troops and which Russian authorities subsequently described as a mortar attack.
Then again on Jan. 2, wreckage from what appears to be another of the same model drone surfaced in a separate attack. The Russian publication Rusvesna published pictures of wreckage sporting the same same green tape, plastic and plywood-covered engine, claiming that the aircraft had been launched by the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham rebel group at a Russian military engineers’ training facility in northern Homs province before being shot down by local troops.
The aircraft has a unique, improvised design, which doesn’t appear to come from any known commercial models or kits, suggesting a stronger connection between the drone offered for sale on Telegram and the models captured by Russian and Syrian forces. “From what I can see, this ‘drone’ was fabricated using wooden parts and tape. Perhaps the servos and engine were purchased online, although it’s more likely been scavenged from a model airplane,” says Mike Blades, a drone industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan."

Drone attack on an airfield  - new one on me
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42595184
The drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), used in the attempted attack were basic in design, Russian news site Lenta reports.
The UAVs featured an engine taped to a wooden frame, which carried two "home-made mines", it added.

RUS MoD statement highlights:
1. Both Navy's Tartus and Air Force's Hmeimim were attacked.
2. There were 13 drones, 7 were taken down by Pantsyr SHORAD, C&C chain of the rest was taken over by ECM. Three of them blew up at landing and three landed intact.
3. The technology used in drones provides control over them at a distance of up to 100km.
4. The rest is barometers, GPS, actuators and the rest of what they call "advanced" technology...

I was kinda joking with CIA part, but then...
MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/. A US Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft was detected cruising between Tartus and Hmeymim during a UAV attack on the Russian military facilities in Syria, which was carried out by terrorists, a source in the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.
"…it is a strange coincidence that during a UAV attack on the Russian military facilities in Syria, a US Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft was cruising for more than four hours over the Mediterranean Sea at an altitude of 7,000 meters," the source said.
http://tass.com/defense/984293

I dunno what you guys are on about...

Best wishes for the new year to you all, apologies for not saying it at the appropriate time.....I was in no fit state! 
PS - That last one looks more SU-100 to me. 

I think that's an optical illusion and they water is the same height in both instances.
Road signs and traffic lights have always been in the game.
Mord.

considering the Tiger bug had the position of a crew member affect spotting I'd have to say yes. Looks like it's the gunner too.   Submitting ticket

false flag attacks are nothing new.  here is one by Nazi Germany in preparation for the invasion of Poland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleiwitz_incident
Definitely a viable option for a back story for any CM modern conflict. You could even create a scenario of the actual false flag attack as the beginning of a campaign.  Have the entire campaign be the initial steps to war.  Has some advantages as the forces involved should be small with out all the additional support elements that are typically there for a regular conflict campaign.  If you want to make sure that all the possible units including US are involved have it occur as a training campaign is being undertaken with NATO forces so as to explain the unusually rapid response by units with limited support.   Could be really fun.