Calamine Waffles

They were fools. Russia has zero experience doing that sort of campaign. Even the Soviets had zero experience running that sort of campaign. And bombing defenceless civilians and freedom fighters/rebels in Chechnya or Syria does not count.

Any Ukrainian speakers might be kind enough to translate this interview? It's with Leonid Khoda, Brigade Commander of the 1st Siverian Tank Brigade that defended Chernihiv last year.

I'm pretty sure whatever consulting fees they are paying BlackRock are a tiny percentage of the aid they are getting. It's not like the US forces them to buy consulting advice from BlackRock.

An interestingly marked T-72A/M1

T-64BM2, actually. But yes, the transmission itself is limited to 5 kph in reverse.

Meanwhile, over in TankNet, the delusion continues:

8 rounds/minute is with the autoloader (MZ). With manual loading like on BMP-1P as it is being done here, it depends on the commander. They're pretty light projectiles (4-5 kg), and he can do this since he does not have to adjust the aim, otherwise it would be much, much slower.

A small infantry mortar in Russian/Ukrainian is called minomyot lit. "mine-thrower". Same thing like in German (Minenwerfer was a WW1 term for mortars). This distinguishes them from the huge mortars (mortira) like the 240 mm on the 2S4 Tyulpan.

This is probably the funniest Russian headline to come out of the war so far for me https://tass.com/politics/1535165

Love the M-46. In other news, the ZSU's 30th OMBr is the proud owner of a brand new T-90M Proryv-3.

A blast from the past with a genuine vintage T-62 obr. 1962/67 g. (no loader's cupola, no laser rangefinder, no add on protection)

https://www-moscowtimes-eu.translate.goog/2022/11/11/20-trillionov-na-veter-krupneishaya-v-rossiiskoi-istorii-gosprogramma-proizvodstva-oruzhiya-ostanovlena-posle-provalov-v-ukraine-a26303?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Yeah, but I imagine next they will justify it by saying he's as smart as Barclay de Tolly, drawing the Ukrainians into a trap like Napoleon in 1812.

That narrative is already forming with even Kadyrov praising the decision to withdraw.

There is a hatch in the bottom of the tank, but the driver might have been injured or disabled.

There is a good thread by Constantine about armoured HMMWVs in Ukrainian service and operating alongside tanks. According to Constantine they are used because they are cheap and abundant; IFVs would be preferable, but there are not enough of them and too expensive.

Western air forces did not have one because it doesn't really fit into their doctrine and until relatively recently there was no real threat that required such a long range missile. That, however, is changing, which is one of the reasons why JATM is being developed.

I mean 1997 was 25 years ago, so it's hardly 'new' by any stretch of the imagination.

People also tend to forget Russia is not the only one with tanks in cold storage. https://militaryland.net/news/ukraine-forms-a-new-airmobile-brigade/

T-80 uses an NSVT, not DShK, but it is a good video.

Pretty good video of proper tank-infantry coordination

Kharkiv is one of the main Ukrainian industrial cities, so it makes a lot more than just BTRs. Two of the biggest Ukrainian tank production and repair facilities are there (Malyshev Tank Factory and KhBTZ).

Specifically I'm interested in what he has to say about the role tanks played in the counteroffensive, if he has more to say, thanks.