"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (7 Viewers)

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How many operational Ka-50/52 can the Russians have left?

Back in June 2023 it was reported that fifty out of a fleet of 150 had been lost, or 1/3 of the fleet.


It has to be demoralizing to climb aboard your attack helicopter and knowing you're likely going to die. And for what? Not the defence of Russia or saving your people, etc…. but for Putin, the Kremlin or the oligarchs? I'd be thanking the AFU for wrecking my bird on the ground.
my bet is no more than 30, with assumption that they in fact took 10 new ones delivered since beginning of this year..
 
You are of course correct, but if you want to hit command centres which are underground, or if you want to hit stores and ammo dumps deep behind the lines, you need the the later versions

Right. Again, I suspect they're retaining the more-modern variants to guarantee a toothy response to any potential problems with China.
 
There are few competitors, but we still don't get to run rampant and charge what we want.

Exactly. Take IDIQ contracts (Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity) as an example.

For those unfamiliar with IDIQ, these are large contracts placed to enable rapid acquisition of solutions and services. They are often multi-billion dollar deals in total but each award is substantially smaller, and there are always literally dozens of vendors who bid for and are accepted onto the IDIQ contract vehicle. Companies bidding on IDIQ contracts must specifically identify their labour rates, fee mark-ups, other overhead costs etc. Since there are multiple vendors, the Government has a clear understanding of whose prices are competitive and whose are more expensive.

Just another example of the checks and balances within the acquisition system.
 
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BRUSSELS, Oct 19 (Reuters) - NATO is stepping up patrols in the Baltic Sea following recent damage to undersea infrastructure in the region, the transatlantic military alliance said on Thursday.

"The increased measures include additional surveillance and reconnaissance flights, including with maritime patrol aircraft, NATO AWACS planes, and drones. A fleet of four NATO minehunters is also being dispatched to the area," NATO said in a statement.

The move followed announcements by authorities of damage to a Baltic Sea telecom cable connecting Sweden and Estonia and to a Finnish-Estonian pipeline and cable at around the same time earlier this month.

Officials from the countries involved have said they have yet to reach firm conclusions on who caused the damage or whether it was accidental or deliberate.

"We continue to monitor the situation closely, and we remain in close contact with our Allies Estonia and Finland, and our partner Sweden," said NATO spokesperson Dylan White.

"NATO will continue to adapt its maritime posture in the Baltic Sea and will take all necessary steps to keep Allies safe."


 
BRUSSELS, Oct 19 (Reuters) - NATO is stepping up patrols in the Baltic Sea following recent damage to undersea infrastructure in the region, the transatlantic military alliance said on Thursday.

"The increased measures include additional surveillance and reconnaissance flights, including with maritime patrol aircraft, NATO AWACS planes, and drones. A fleet of four NATO minehunters is also being dispatched to the area," NATO said in a statement.

The move followed announcements by authorities of damage to a Baltic Sea telecom cable connecting Sweden and Estonia and to a Finnish-Estonian pipeline and cable at around the same time earlier this month.

Officials from the countries involved have said they have yet to reach firm conclusions on who caused the damage or whether it was accidental or deliberate.

"We continue to monitor the situation closely, and we remain in close contact with our Allies Estonia and Finland, and our partner Sweden," said NATO spokesperson Dylan White.

"NATO will continue to adapt its maritime posture in the Baltic Sea and will take all necessary steps to keep Allies safe."


"A fleet of four NATO minehunters is also being dispatched to the area," NATO said in a statement."

Hmmm... I wonder if those are related to the helicopter-borne underwater laser imaging system that we developed at Kaman Aerospace 30 years ago. It sure was far superior to the old minesweepers.
 
The Russians seem to be having problems with the Kerch Bridge. It's far too important for them to leave it unprotected, but its also becoming a burden to protect.
But it appears the country's military is facing another setback as the Kerch Bridge connecting Russia and Crimea is now a "security burden" for Moscow, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.

The MoD said the "vital link in sustaining Russia's occupation of Crimea and its forces in southern Ukraine".

A recent report added: "However, it is now almost certainly a significant security burden requiring multi-domain protection, including the use of air defence systems and crews who would otherwise be deployed elsewhere." it goes on to say "Russian security forces' confidence in their ability to protect "this large and vulnerable structure" will continue to be threatened by the "ingenuity" of Ukraine's military", the report continued


All of this implies that the Russians AA equipment is getting stretched and it's getting difficult to defend everything.
 
Amir Weitmann (Likud party) live on Russia Today: "Russia will pay the price!"


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7eHvIAgsa8

Epic !!!

This particular public 'scolding threat' was both sobering as well as amusing.

What purpose was realized by publically threatening Russia on RT? Does Israel have any retribution scenario against Russia that ultimately - if it hurt Russia enough to classifiy as retribution - doesn't result in a large glass parking lot where Israel exists today?

I get the MADD threat ultimately implied by Russia strike Israel and US at same time, but where does Weitmann think his threats strengthens Israel, if Russia simply ignores his threats? Boots on the ground in Ukraine - with Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinians and Iran on the other side of your fence? Assasinations? Covert actions via proxies that are impossible to detect?

What scenario enables Israel to not only survive but gain relative strength to go 'adventuring' against Russia? There are zero guarantees of even Syria and Iraq and Saudis not uniting depending on how Israel conducts operations in Gaza. They must clearly count on US to be the elephant in the room vs Iran and Syria.

Can they count on US?
 
This particular public 'scolding threat' was both sobering as well as amusing.

What purpose was realized by publically threatening Russia on RT? Does Israel have any retribution scenario against Russia that ultimately - if it hurt Russia enough to classifiy as retribution - doesn't result in a large glass parking lot where Israel exists today?

I get the MADD threat ultimately implied by Russia strike Israel and US at same time, but where does Weitmann think his threats strengthens Israel, if Russia simply ignores his threats? Boots on the ground in Ukraine - with Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinians and Iran on the other side of your fence? Assasinations? Covert actions via proxies that are impossible to detect?

What scenario enables Israel to not only survive but gain relative strength to go 'adventuring' against Russia? There are zero guarantees of even Syria and Iraq and Saudis not uniting depending on how Israel conducts operations in Gaza. They must clearly count on US to be the elephant in the room vs Iran and Syria.

Can they count on US?

I read that statement as a signal of an Israeli about-face on the Ukraine war (they'd been very lukewarm, wanting to keep tensions out of Syria). Now that they're in the sorta same boat, Israel can't reasonably expect other nations to want to help Israel even as Israel had denied help to Ukraine. So I think this might be a result of US pressure to mouth the right words.

That is, I believe, the ulterior motive in play here. Everybody and their housecat knows Israel can't really hurt Russia without going nuclear.
 
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