"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (11 Viewers)

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The fuel tank on the Storm Shadow doesn't seem large. Perhaps the Ukrainians are working on some means of increasing the fuel load, maybe an external drop away tank?

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Otherwise Ukraine will need to risk flying their Fencers well south over the Black Sea to get the Scalps within range. Perhaps as part of a big drone wave distraction.
The UAF just hosed Russian positions in Crimea with Storm Shadows launched from their Su-24s.
 
I am surprised to learn that there were regular troop rotations during WW 1. I didn't research the Great War much past the naval actions. I guess I just thought the land campaigns were akin to the Thirty Years War, with machine guns and aeroplanes.
When I get some time I will do a more detailed posting. My wife looked into her past and found a book on the division which a Great Grandfather of hers served in. It went into some detail regarding the training and day to day life of the unit and I was surprised as to how little time they actually spent in the front line trenches.

I need to find the book and the time
 
Aircraft are stretched with intersections (A320 -> A321) so why not try the same with cruise misiles to add more fuel?

Because airliners need to operate across a wide range of speed/weight/distance combinations. The same airframe must be capable of safe take-off, operation, and landing at min and max weights. Airliners have variable throttles to help accommodate all those differing conditions.

A missile typically doesn't have a throttle. It's designed to fly at one speed under far stricter weight conditions. Most missiles typically only have a single given operating weight, the only difference perhaps coming from different warhead options (if they exist). Add more weight and you need a bigger wing and/or more thrust....which means you're redesigning the entire airframe and engine combination, not to mention the flight control software etc.
 
A missile typically doesn't have a throttle. It's designed to fly at one speed under far stricter weight conditions. Most missiles typically only have a single given operating weight, the only difference perhaps coming from different warhead options (if they exist). Add more weight and you need a bigger wing and/or more thrust....which means you're redesigning the entire airframe and engine combination, not to mention the flight control software etc.


and on a missile the flight controls have a relatively small travel so if you extend the fuselage you need bigger controls or bigger travels to get the same movement.

Airliners handle the wide range of cg travel with variable incidence tailplanes which missiles do not have.
 
When I get some time I will do a more detailed posting. My wife looked into her past and found a book on the division which a Great Grandfather of hers served in. It went into some detail regarding the training and day to day life of the unit and I was surprised as to how little time they actually spent in the front line trenches.

I need to find the book and the time

I only recently started looking into the Great War but the more I learn, the more I am astounded at the logistical feat of getting so many men and so much materiel into a position to fight. And they did it all without computers.

The rotations between front-line, reserve and second-line trenches, coupled with the need to reconstitute units that suffered huge losses in major battles, was a feat in itself. We think of the big, pitched battles like the Somme in 1916, or Passchendaele the following year. However, there was a steady grind of losses when units were in the front lines. Artillery fire, snipers, trench raids (to the enemy, and the enemy raiding ours), all led to a continual trickle of losses, often 4-12 soldiers per day per battalion.

The organization necessary for the casualty evacuation chain was also remarkable. Unit stretcher bearers handing off to unit dressing stations, and then to Field Ambulances before further evacuation to the rear...absolutely remarkable. One of my relatives suffered a gunshot wound to the chest on the second day of the Somme, 2 July 1916. The following day he arrived at the 34th Division Collection Station at Dernancourt, then later that same day to No.45 Casualty Clearing Station, at Vecquemont, which sits sitting on the train line from Albert to Amiens. On 4 July, he was at No.11 Stationary Hospital in Rouen and the following day he was back in the UK. Just 3 days from being wounded to being back in Blighty...that's pretty rapid, even by today's standards.

I've pieced together the evacuation chain of another relative who didn't make it. It's pretty horrendous. Stretcher bearers carried him the first 2.5km from the front lines to the Regimental Aid Post (RAP), a journey mostly in trenches and then on duckboards. That journey alone must have taken an hour since it was entirely uphill from the front lines. From the RAP he was taken by "trench tramway", a human-propelled cart on rails, and then wheeled stretchers for another 1.5 km to the Advanced Dressing Station. Finally, he'd be loaded in a motor ambulance for the final 5.8 km to the Field Ambulance. He died at the latter and was buried nearby. However, the journey must have taken hours and, if he was at all conscious, must have been incredibly painful.

Sorry for the digression...back to the topic on-hand.
 
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About yesterday's HQ strike:


Ukraine launched a second missile attack on the Crimean city of Sevastopol early Saturday amid the country's counteroffensive against Russian occupation in the region.

Two missile strikes were intercepted in the air and debris damaged a pier and a park in the city, Gov. Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram. The attack comes a day after the Ukrainian military destroyed the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the city.

Ukrainian intelligence said that nine Russian military personnel were killed and 16 wounded by the headquarters strike, including the officer in charge of defending against Ukraine's counteroffensive in the Zaporizhia region.

That officer, Col. Alexander Romanchuk, is in "very serious condition," the intelligence official told Voice of America. Russian sources said the strike initially killed one person, but later amended the claim to say that he was missing.


 
The UAF just hosed Russian positions in Crimea with Storm Shadows launched from their Su-24s.
Yes, but that's through flying over the western Black Sea. To hit the Kerch Bridge the Fencers must either fly over the Sea of Azov or well south into the Black Sea near Novorossiysk. Either puts the Ukrainians in greater risk than launching out to sea west of Sevastopol.
 
Ukrainian Leo 1:

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What kit does Ukraine need to keep the offensive going over the autumn and winter? Warm and water/weather proof clothing and boots of course, but what about vehicles? How about track width extensions for the T-series and NATO-origin MBTs? In WW2 the Germans had Winterketten, is that still a thing? Today's modern MBTs rely on deep side skirts for protection, so that might prevent track extensions.

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How about LCACs to float over the snowy plains and landmines?

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