"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (2 Viewers)

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but the F16 can do it all, and one type is a lot easier to support. In particular a single engine type
Agreed. If there's one NATO strike aircraft the UAF need to replace its MiG-29s, SU-25s, 27s, et al it's the F-16. It can do it all, and allows knowledge and logistics sharing with other new F-16 operators nearby, such as Poland. I expect we'll see the first squadrons in the UAF before Christmas.
 
It will be interesting to see who originated the shipment, and who arranged the logistics - one or both actors will be in serious trouble.
Agreed. The ambiguity of shipping container contents has always been an issue in Canada, and globally. I'm in the shipping biz and no one ever opens our containers to verify that the contents match the declarations. That's how most high end stolen cars in Canada end up in Africa.

Now, how do we stop drones from Iran or China?

 
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I know we are all talking about the A10, and in an ideal world the USA would be giving them to Ukraine as as tough bomb truck its unbeatable. But in the cold light of day logistics is going to be a significant factor.
With that in mind I hope the concentrated effort will go on the F16. Its a very capable fighter and GA aircraft. There are probably hundreds sitting in the desert which can be brought back into service at little cost and they have been used by many countries around the world so access to spares should be easier. Also there are many countries who will be able to train the Ukraine air and ground crews.

No doubt the F15 is a better fighter and the A10 a better GA aircraft, but the F16 can do it all, and one type is a lot easier to support. In particular a single engine type
F16 in compare to A10 is really difficult to support machine with quite sophisticated ground support system requirements, single F100 or F110 engine versus two TF34 really does no matter.
 
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The A-10 has a better design (engines above and partially shielded by twin tail-plates, which also provide redundancy), carries more weaponry, and has more armor. Roughly the same performance. Better avionics on the A-10 as well, not to mention the brrrrt factor.
Plus, the savings on weight and cost by not requiring an external Garmin GPS :silly:

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b1f8c120bb834344895c1dea5ec6e585.jpg
 
If true, it will be interesting to see how much effort the Russians and separatists put into relieving the surrounded troops - and how much damage they take in the attempt.
The other acid test is how long they hold out for. To hold out for long when surrounded takes a significant amount of courage and willingness to accept a huge amount of pressure both physically and mentally.

If your starting point in Morale terms is low then things can go south very quickly
 

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry said on Friday its forces had destroyed four U.S.-supplied high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) in Ukraine earlier this month.

Between July 5-20, "four launchers and one reloading vehicle for the U.S.-made multiple launch rocket systems (HIMARS) were destroyed," it said in a daily briefing.

Kyiv rejected Moscow's claims, calling them "fakes" designed to undermine the West's support for Ukraine.


Reuters could not verify battlefield reports.



If Russia reported that the Sun rises in the east, I'd set my alarm early to confirm or deny.
 
The UAF have begun to interdict supply lines in the south. They severely damaged the Antonivsʹkyy Mist (Antonivsʹkyy bridge) over the Dnipro river (I think on the 19th) to the point where it is closed to normal traffic.

"Antonivsʹkyy Mist · E97, Khersons'ka oblast, Ukraine"

There was a very nice photo of the damage broadcast by a Russian TV channel but it was taken down before I could download it. There was a graphic made from the photo showing the pattern of strikes, that I downloaded:

Antonivsʹkyy Mist.jpg


The UAF also blew up another ammo depot on the night of the 18-19th, this time in Nova Kakhovka (about 50 km up-river from Kherson).
Nova Kakhovka ammo dump go boom.jpg
 
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Agreed. The ambiguity of shipping container contents has always been an issue in Canada, and globally. I'm in the shipping biz and no one ever opens our containers to verify that the contents match the declarations. That's how most high end stolen cars in Canada end up in Africa.

Now, how do we stop drones from Iran or China?

Throughout my career in container shipping, container checks remained very rare, except for specific periods as after 9/11 and in some places near war zones. Inspections are costly, shipping lines hate them since it's hard to convince the customer to cover the costs of several hundred dollars per box. Sometimes, even several thousand.
Drones are not the worst things that can be hidden in a container, unfortunately. Club K system has been known for years...
 
Zelensky provided an update on Ukrainian daily military losses: "some 30 fatalities a day and around 250 wounded"
 
Throughout my career in container shipping, container checks remained very rare, except for specific periods as after 9/11 and in some places near war zones. Inspections are costly, shipping lines hate them since it's hard to convince the customer to cover the costs of several hundred dollars per box. Sometimes, even several thousand.
Drones are not the worst things that can be hidden in a container, unfortunately. Club K system has been known for years...
Club k Container missile system Club-K | Rosoboronexport
 
Throughout my career in container shipping, container checks remained very rare, except for specific periods as after 9/11 and in some places near war zones. Inspections are costly, shipping lines hate them since it's hard to convince the customer to cover the costs of several hundred dollars per box. Sometimes, even several thousand.
Drones are not the worst things that can be hidden in a container, unfortunately. Club K system has been known for years...

More ports need to install systems like VACIS (sorry for the marketing video (I'm not connected with Leidos) but it provides a good indication of the capability:

 

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