cesmonkey
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Posts posted by cesmonkey
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https://thehill.com/policy/defense/3663008-12-3-billion-for-ukraine-included-in-continuing-resolution/
$12.3 billion for Ukraine included in continuing resolutionQuoteThe proposal would allocate $3 billion for weapons, logistical assistance and intelligence support under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and up to $3.7 billion in presidential drawdown authority.
The measure would also appropriate $1.5 billion to replenish stocks of U.S. equipment provided to Ukraine or other countries who have supported Ukraine at the request of the U.S. through presidential drawdown authority.
A separate $540 million is included to increase production of critical munitions to replace defense articles sent to Ukraine or other countries that have supported Kyiv.
The bill also allocates $2.8 billion for continued military, intelligence and other defense support for Ukraine.
Aside from security assistance, the bill includes $4.5 billion to help maintain the operations of Ukraine’s government, including its ability to maintain macroeconomic stability and provide basic citizen services, as well as $35 million to respond to potential nuclear and radiological incidents in Ukraine.
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3 hours ago, MikeyD said:
I was genuinely surprised to see TOW being used in Ukraine. If its a question of ATGM supply-and-demand, one would imagine we have a lot more spare in-storage TOWs to provide than any other system.
This was announced on August 19th.
QuoteThe second in this kind of missile category is for the land domain, we're providing TOW missiles, so 1,500 TOW missiles.
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You can find some more info on the developments in Dagestan from this local newspaper's web site with Google's translations turned on:
https://chernovik.net/
Of course, they are likely not permitted to tell the whole story.
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offers this interesting quote from General Atomics spokesman C. Mark Brinkley
Quote“If you think HIMARS [the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System] changed things, put some Gray Eagles in the air and see what happens next,” Brinkley said. “No one wants to see the significant gains made by the Ukrainians erode due to inaction.”
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7 minutes ago, akd said:
This is a really, really dumb sentence. Korea? Cuban Missile Crisis? Vietnam? Israel during several wars? Etc. All raised the prospect of warfare were nuclear weapons were an option, but rejected for a various reasons, some of the same that will likely lead to rejection of use during the current war.
Semantics. It's not the first time we are facing the prospect of a nuclear attack since WWII. But we are facing the prospect of the first nuclear attack since WWII.
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Someone want to do a break-down of the recent video WarGonzo posted of a failed Ukrainian attack near Pinski? Two tanks and 2 APCs moved advanced an came under artillery fire overseen by a drone, apparently. One tank was knocked out so the rest retreated.
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The "KP" correspondent, Alexander Kots, still disputes the Ukrainians are having success in the Kharkiv region.
Читайте на WWW.KP.RU: https://www.kp.ru/daily/27441/4643885/
Google translation:
QuoteMeanwhile, the military-civilian administration of the Kharkiv region does not consider the attack on the suburb of Balakleya an offensive
In various pro-Ukrainian channels and channels with a not very honest history of maintaining a page, you can read news about an alleged offensive by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But it's not! Panic is deliberately induced in Telegram channels, unreliable and frankly false news are posted. Do not trust this information, - advised Tass in the CAA.
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6 minutes ago, DesertFox said:
Disgusting! This is telling. He has no remorse to what the orcs are doing there and that they are the aggressor. He is only complaining that they are ill prepared and bad lead.
... except in the last part of the video he says he doesn't understand why they are there shooting at "their brothers".
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57 minutes ago, Battlefront.com said:
A former head of the CIA's Russia group should know better
From the bottom of that article in The Hill:
George Beebe is director of grand strategy at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He is a former director of Russia analysis at the CIA, and a former staff adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney on Russian affairs.
From which you can go to:
and find:
QuoteAs a research institution, we expose the dangerous consequences of an unaccountable, overly militarized American foreign policy and present an alternative approach that promotes local ownership and resolution of local issues.
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Sober reminder that offensive actions are not without costs.
This WSJ reporter interviews wounded Ukrainian soldiers and their doctors in the South:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukrainian-soldiers-say-they-are-advancing-in-the-south-but-at-a-cost-11661983338 -
Short video showing the various weapons ships the US and UK will soon be sending to Ukraine:
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I hadn't seen this posted yet.
This is the Vampire anti-drone system the US announced yesterday they would be delivering to Ukraine:
https://www.l3harris.com/all-capabilities/vampire
And I found this part of the DoD press briefing from yesterday interesting where he discusses why Western aircraft and ATACMS are not currently being sent:
https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3138872/undersecretary-of-defense-for-policy-dr-colin-kahl-holds-a-press-briefing-on-se/QuoteSo, you know, as it relates to future aircrafts, fourth generation aircraft, for example, even if we were to provide those now, they wouldn't arrive for years, so we've been focused on as it relates to their fighter aircraft on what they need for the to support the current efforts to hold in the east and perhaps going on a counter offensive.
As it relates to the future of aircraft, let me tell you where we are in the process. So, Secretary Austin has tasked the office of Secretary of Defense to work with the Joint Staff and European Command, essentially on a future-forces picture of kind of the Ukrainian force for the mid- to long-term.
Obviously, this is done in close consultation with the Ukrainians It is, after all, their military, and we're really trying to be very deliberate and disciplined about what type of Ukrainian force matters in the next 12, 24, 36 months. Under any range of scenarios. It could be a scenario in which the war continues, it could be a scenario in which the violence ebbs because there's an agreement or because it just dies down a bit. But even in that instance, the Ukrainians are going to need to defend their territory and deter future aggression.
So, we're trying to be very deliberate about what systems we think makes the most sense for Ukraine to have in that context, and also matters very much—can they sustain it? Can they afford it? Because, of course, you know, billions of dollars of international assistance is not, you know, may not be something 10 years from now, or 20 years from now. So, these also have to be systems that Ukraine itself can sustain. But I can tell you that fighter aircraft remain on the table, just no final decisions have been made about that.
Yeah, as it relates to ATACMS. So, I think as most of you are tracking, you know, we've been we've provided 16 HIMARS systems, which are precision rocket, multiple launch rocket systems, a number of other Allies have provided similar systems the Brits and Germans in particular have provided M-270 systems. The HIMARS is a truck, it launches the rockets off the back, the M-270s, launches the same rockets, but essentially off the chassis of a Bradley fighting vehicle type of armored vehicle.
We have provided them guided multiple launch rocket systems, or GMLRS, that have a range of, you know, around 70 or 80 kilometers, we have provided them with hundreds and hundreds of these precision guided systems, and the Ukrainians have been using them to extraordinary effect on the battlefield.
It's our assessment that the most relevant Munitions for the current fight are the GMLRS. And so, we have prioritized getting the Ukrainians, the GMLRS they need, not only to hold in the east, but may generate some momentum elsewhere in the country.
It's our assessment that they don't currently require ATACMS to service targets that are directly relevant to the current fight. You know, we'll obviously continue to have conversations with the Ukrainians about their needs, but it's our judgment at the moment that we should be focusing on GMLRS, not ATACMS.
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19 minutes ago, Huba said:
Some details about the new security package for UA:
6 NASAMS batteries ( I assume on top of the previously ordered 3?) plus 3 or 4 IRIS-T systems add up to a 13 battteries of modern SHORAD. This should be enough to provide a continuous SAM belt along the line of contact (more or less). Great news !
Here's the DoD version:
where it states:
Six additional National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) with additional munitions for NASAMS
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From a cynical point-of-view, you would think the U.S. Air Force leadership would be screaming their head-offs urging POTUS to give A-10s to the Ukrainians. They've been asking Congress for permission to retire them for years because they view them as obsolete. If they were easily shot down by Russian fighters and air defense over Ukraine, they could smugly tell Congress, "I told you so!".
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If the Ukrainians have ATACMS then the DoD is putting out misinformation to counter that idea:
https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3134558/senior-defense-official-holds-a-background-briefing/QuoteAnd then I think your last question in terms of ATACMS, -- if I covered all your questions accurately, right now we see that the Ukrainians are able to successfully target Russian key capabilities, key command-and-control nodes, logistic nodes, and they're doing that with the existing GMLRS, with the existing HIMARS.
unless someone besides the U.S. is providing them.
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Somewhat off-topic, but then, a lot of things on this thread are ...
Several newspapers reported on recent wargames conducted by CSIS in Washington D.C. on what might happen in an invasion of Taiwan by China. Below is a link to one of the articles that is not behind a pay wall:
What-if war game maps huge toll of a future US-China war over Taiwan
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2022/08/11/2003783337
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2022/08/china-taiwan-tensions-flare-us-faces-shrinking-window-deter-conflict/375514/
https://breakingdefense.com/2022/08/a-bloody-mess-with-terrible-loss-of-life-how-a-china-us-conflict-over-taiwan-could-play-out/ -
23 minutes ago, Cederic said:
Hmm. Drones receive radio signals, have to decrypt them and assess their validity before they can discard them.
That takes power.
Overwhelm a drone with a high volume of control signals and even if none of them are accepted, it's using battery power. It may also be in danger of overheating its CPU - they won't be designed for continual running.
It wouldn't be instant but even if all you do is stop the drone having enough power to return home, your opponent has one fewer drone.
(I'm not sure how viable an attack that is, but it passes the smell test for plausibility)
If you could convince it's GPS that it was rapidly losing altitude, that might make it climb like crazy?
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46 minutes ago, OldSarge said:
An interesting part of his announcement was this:
https://news.yahoo.com/us-pledges-1-billion-more-171353324.html
So, the possibility of western aircraft isn't completely off the table.
Maybe if the British took the lead, others would eventually follow?
Wikipedia says they have some Eurofighter Typhoon that are scheduled to be retired anyway:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_United_Kingdom_military_aircraftQuote[1] Of the 22 two seat trainer aircraft[9] 16 Tranche 1s have been progressively withdrawn and scrapped under the RTP requirement[10] which started in late 2016[11][12]
All Tranche 1s to be retired by 2025.[13] -
I thought the below article was interesting:
I'll quote what I consider to be the most important paragraph:
QuoteIn fact, when military gear is designed with usability in mind, the results are promising. For example, “The Ukrainian military has gotten its troops trained on using the HIMARS remarkably quickly; they were deployed on the battlefield within weeks of their arrival,” Grid reported. Why is this advanced precision artillery system so easy to use? Because Army acquisition professionals worked hard to make it so. “We updated the user interface from a human factor standpoint as the software intuitively guides the Soldier through the conducted mission,” Amber Marsh, HIMARS software sustainment division chief, told an Army magazine. “We strive to make the interaction with the software as easy and intuitive as possible for the end user.”
HIMARS shows it can be done. The rest of the acquisition community would do well to follow suit.
HIMARS’ Hidden Superpower and Other Acquisition Lessons from Ukraine
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2022/08/himars-hidden-superpower-and-other-acquisition-lessons-ukraine/375420/ -
1 hour ago, Huba said:
In an amazing piece of RUMINT I just came across, RU is negotiating deployment of DPRK expeditionary corps in Ukraine. No way to treat this seriously, but the concept itself and it’s potential ramifications are just too hillarious not to mention it.
I'm sure South Korea wouldn't mind.
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48 minutes ago, dan/california said:
I keep reading several Ukrainian sources that say the U.S. has a bunch of the older towed M198 155mm howitzers parked in the desert somewhere. Does anyone know if this is true? Are they in useable condition? Does the Pentagon consider part of some war reserve plan and doesn't want to let them go?
Maybe here?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Army_Depot
https://sierra.army.mil/
You can look in the Satellite view of Google Maps in the area north and see hundreds of parked armored vehicles and other equipment -
This is an interesting conversation. In addition to Kofman, they have a Ukrainian reserve colonel on the podcast:
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Any confirmation of this?
How Hot is Ukraine Gonna Get?
in Combat Mission Black Sea
Posted
The KP correspondent, Alexander Kots, offers this advice to those about to be mobilized:
What to take with you when mobilizing and how to behave: a list of things and tips for mobilized
https://www.kp.ru/daily/27451/4654593/
Here is a snippet
(Google Translation)