"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (1 Viewer)

[tomo pauk]

I'm not familiar with the Brimstone missile but it sure has a descriptive name.

Anti-tank missile, uses the Hellfire parts as 'muscle', and British-made millimetric-wave radar as 'brain'. Using it as an ground-based anti-ship missile is doubious unless the enemy ship closes under 8+- km close to the launcher.
Brtitish (and/or other countries') shipment of Exocets or Harpoons would've been a far greater threat to the Russian ships.

 

[at6]

I've seen this idiot's FB page - the crap she posts is beyond the fringe of reality.

And there's actually people who beleive her fantasy-trippin' bullshit.

Penny Giorgalis Stafyla

Information!

Alright. I had to look this b*tch up. Hope she chokes on a "bent carrot".

 

[Macandy]

Brimstone can also be deployed from UAV's and Helicopters.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

A senior U.S. defense official says the Pentagon is seeing "limited offensive operations" by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, which the U.S. views as a "prelude" for larger Russian attacks still to come.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia's offensive in eastern Ukraine has begun, and Russian officials have made similar comments.

The U.S. official stressed he was not attempting to contradict these statements.

Rather, he says, the U.S. sees Russia doing two things: building up its forces in the east and conducting limited attacks in preparation for larger ones to come.

Russian forces are stepping up troop movements and artillery fire outside two eastern towns, Donetsk and Izium.

The U.S. believes Russia is trying to avoid the mistakes it made during its initial invasion, when it didn't have enough food, fuel and other supplies needed for an extended fight.

And in a related article:


Since the weekend, Ukraine's second-biggest city, Kharkiv, has been shelled incessantly by Russian forces. Officials say three civilians were killed on Tuesday.

The governor says that the shelling has intensified in the past few days and that residents should stay underground as much as possible.

Previous strikes on Kharkiv had been concentrated in the northern suburbs. But Russian troops are now lobbing shells and missiles closer to the center of the city.

Denis Parkhomenko, a 22-year-old programmer now living in a metro station near the center of the city, says that more than 50 days into this war, he can no longer tell whether things are getting better or worse.

"We just adapted," he says. "We just know what we must do."

Residents just know that when they hear the whizzing of the missiles and the pounding of the shells, they go underground.

Both may be read here.

 

[SaparotRob]

A senior U.S. defense official says the Pentagon is seeing "limited offensive operations" by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, which the U.S. views as a "prelude" for larger Russian attacks still to come.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia's offensive in eastern Ukraine has begun, and Russian officials have made similar comments.

The U.S. official stressed he was not attempting to contradict these statements.

Rather, he says, the U.S. sees Russia doing two things: building up its forces in the east and conducting limited attacks in preparation for larger ones to come.

Russian forces are stepping up troop movements and artillery fire outside two eastern towns, Donetsk and Izium.

The U.S. believes Russia is trying to avoid the mistakes it made during its initial invasion, when it didn't have enough food, fuel and other supplies needed for an extended fight.

And in a related article:


Since the weekend, Ukraine's second-biggest city, Kharkiv, has been shelled incessantly by Russian forces. Officials say three civilians were killed on Tuesday.

The governor says that the shelling has intensified in the past few days and that residents should stay underground as much as possible.

Previous strikes on Kharkiv had been concentrated in the northern suburbs. But Russian troops are now lobbing shells and missiles closer to the center of the city.

Denis Parkhomenko, a 22-year-old programmer now living in a metro station near the center of the city, says that more than 50 days into this war, he can no longer tell whether things are getting better or worse.

"We just adapted," he says. "We just know what we must do."

Residents just know that when they hear the whizzing of the missiles and the pounding of the shells, they go underground.

Both may be read here.

The bacon is for Patron.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Finally Canada.... sheesh...

 

[Admiral Beez]

Senior Kremlin insiders in high-level posts in government and business believe Russia's invasion of Ukraine was a "catastrophic mistake that will set the country back for years", ten sources told Bloomberg.

 

[JDCAVE]

I found this interesting in the NYT:

"The Pentagon has urged manufacturers to ramp up production. So far, some 7,000 Javelins have been given to Ukraine, about a third of the total American inventory, which will probably take three or four years to replace, wrote Mark F. Cancian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington."

More on this here:

Will the United States Run Out of Javelins Before Russia Runs Out of Tanks?

The United States has supplied Ukraine with thousands of Javelins, but U.S. inventory is dwindling. Will Javelins inflict enough Russian combat losses to produce a battlefield stalemate before Ukraine runs out of its most effective anti-tank weapons?

www.csis.org

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I found this interesting in the NYT:

"The Pentagon has urged manufacturers to ramp up production. So far, some 7,000 Javelins have been given to Ukraine, about a third of the total American inventory, which will probably take three or four years to replace, wrote Mark F. Cancian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington."

More on this here:

Will the United States Run Out of Javelins Before Russia Runs Out of Tanks?

The United States has supplied Ukraine with thousands of Javelins, but U.S. inventory is dwindling. Will Javelins inflict enough Russian combat losses to produce a battlefield stalemate before Ukraine runs out of its most effective anti-tank weapons?

www.csis.org

Interesting article, seen similar posted on other outlets. What I find funny is this;

"The Pentagon has urged manufacturers to ramp up production."

Like the manufacturer is going to start pumping these items out without funding!

 

[GrauGeist]

Something that comes to mind when I read articals about the "U.S. is running out of (insert name of weapon here)".

The U.S. isn't going to deplete it's full inventory of any particular type of weapon and many of the stocks being supplied to the Ukraine are most likely older inventory (rotating stock).

Add to that, all the combined weapon systems being provided to the Ukraine from other nations will mean that no one will run their inventory below sustainable numbers.

However, the one thing that's not being mentioned, is how much Russia has used so far versus their inventory numbers.
They have been pounding Ukraine cities and other targets for nearly two months with missiles, rockets and artillery - how is their inventory holding up?

 

[buffnut453]

However, the one thing that's not being mentioned, is how much Russia has used so far versus their inventory numbers.
They have been pounding Ukraine cities and other targets for nearly two months with missiles, rockets and artillery - how is their inventory holding up?

I guess the answer rather depends on how much we believe any numbers emerging from Moscow. Serendipitously, this was just posted by the BBC:

Russia's Ministry of Defence claims its forces have hit 1,053 Ukrainian military facilities overnight.

In a Telegram update this morning, the defence ministry said it had destroyed 106 artillery firing positions and shot down six Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles.

It said its forces hit 73 military assets of Ukraine, among them:

• Four command posts
• 57 areas of Ukrainian manpower and military equipment
• Seven strong points and four ammunition depots
• Six tanks and nine armoured vehicles and
• One Msta-B howitzer battery weapon

It added that a high-precision missile strike killed up to 40 Ukrainian military personnel and destroyed seven military equipment units.

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation said it continues "the special military operation in Ukraine".


Now I'm definitely not a maths whiz but, by my calculations, they specifically identified a total of 192 items down to individual pieces of equipment. So what on earth were the "1,053 military facilities" that they claim were struck. That sounds like an awful lot of ammo going downrange for precious few tangible results.

 

[GrauGeist]

Russian math - take the total number, divide by three.
Then take that number and divide by half.
That is the "rounded up number" that *may* be close to factual.

 

[buffnut453]

Russian math - take the total number, divide by three.
Then take that number and divide by half.
That is the "rounded up number" that *may* be close to factual.

I think that works in reverse too, for example to calculate real numbers the Russians are trying to hide. If you take the approx 1500 military casualties that they acknowledged a few weeks ago, double it and then triple that number you get....drum roll, please....9,000 which falls right into the estimates Western nations were applying at the time (IIRC 7,000-11,000).

You're a scary man, GrauGeist!

 

[Crimea_River]

Finally Canada.... sheesh...

You make it sound like we've done nothing until now. This, according to a 6 week old article, is what we had committed by early March.

• 4,500 M72 rocket launchers and up to 7,500 hand grenades;
• $1 million towards the purchase of high-resolution modern satellite imagery;
• 100 Carl-Gustaf M2 anti-tank weapons system launchers and 2,000 rounds of ammunition;
• 1,600 fragmentation vests and 400,000 individual meal packs;
• $25 million in helmets, body armour, gas masks, and night vision gear; and
• Two C-130J tactical airlift aircraft and a team of 40-50 personnel to deliver aid and support.

Yes, these commitments are small in the grand scheme of things and I don't know what else has been committed since. However, I am aware that an additional $500 million has been budgeted for ongoing aid.

I'm not proud of our numbers and, like you, wish we could do more and hope that we will. My concern here is that, though Canada already has a deserved reputation for being a laggard when it comes to military spending, we don't need to further undermine this perception by inferring that we've been sitting on our hands and doing nothing in this fight.

Let's applaud the commitment to send the artillery and keep our fingers crossed that our red tape doesn't prevent it from being loaded on to our C-17s starting today.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I'm not proud of our numbers and, like you, wish we could do more and hope that we will. My concern here is that, though Canada already has a deserved reputation for being a laggard when it comes to military spending, we don't need to further undermine this perception by inferring that we've been sitting on our hands and doing nothing in this fight.

Let's applaud the commitment to send the artillery and keep our fingers crossed that our red tape doesn't prevent it from being loaded on to our C-17s starting today.

Fair point. It's just the artillery could have been loaded onto a pair of CC-177s a month ago. What are those two C-130Js doing? They're short ranged transports.

But if anyone is a laggard it's not us, it's the Germans. They're sending more aid to Russia through continued oil/gas purchases than they're sending to the Ukrainians.

 

[SaparotRob]

The bacon is for the "back bacon" in those meals.

 

[SaparotRob]

I read an article that said basically the equipment is getting to western Ukraine but that there is a logistical logjam that is preventing the equipment from getting to the front. Anyone hear about it?

 

[WARSPITER]

However, the one thing that's not being mentioned, is how much Russia has used so far versus their inventory numbers.
They have been pounding Ukraine cities and other targets for nearly two months with missiles, rockets and artillery - how is their inventory holding up?

This point is very important and is what many including myself have been wondering about for a while.
Given the missile and other ordnance use in Syria coupled with current use what is the capacity for the Russian military industry to replace
these items ?

Sanctions are already hitting Russian industries with the tank industry already grinding to a halt.

Parts for normal maintenance of vehicles and aircraft also come to mind let alone the need for equipment repairs/replacements due to war damage.

The expenditure in ammunition sounds like it is high and can it be sustained given the Russian lack of ability to fund it.

Ukraine has been given an ongoing lifeline in equipment they can use while their opposition may well be unable to continue current 'spending'
levels into even the near future.

 

[buffnut453]

The expenditure in ammunition sounds like it is high and can it be sustained given the Russian lack of ability to fund it.

Not only is the ammo expenditure high, it's also not being used wisely from a military objectives perspective. Using munitions just to flatten a town isn't going to advance any realistic military objectives. This comes back, yet again, to the apparently poor identification of aims for this war. If you have poor aims, then your objectives won't be realistic/achievable. You then expend weapons that don't advance your cause. We should not forget that it's the Ukrainian civilians who are paying the price for that lack of effective military thought.

 

[vikingBerserker]

I wonder if they are trading oil for ammo with China