"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (3 Viewers)

[Admiral Beez]

True, but adding a fourth guy, who also has to load separate powder charges as well as ammo, into a tank force that's used to one less crewman, none of whom are loaders at all, on equipment they're unfamiliar with ...

Start with any Ukrainian tankers who are loaders on the ex-Slovak M-55 and captured T-62 tanks, plus temporarily take some of the loaders from self propelled artillery. Challenger's are single piece projectiles, so there's still a learning curve. Below we see a Challenger loader at work. It's quick work but I looks like something soldiers could be trained to do well enough in short order. The idea of the Challenger is first shot, first kill, so we're not needing incredible ROF.


View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e6hh-CoPKqU

 

[Admiral Beez]

I'm excited to see Leopard 2 tanks in mass formations rolling towards Crimea.

It has the potential to be the largest tank battle since Kursk. Command and communication will be essential, as you don't want everyone shooting at the same target.

 

[Snautzer01]

I don't think Russia ever depended on a domestically-flagged oil tanker fleet. There's no naval blockade of Russia - even if NATO and Ukraine/NATO-sympathetic nations ban their ships, merchant shipping can come and go. I assume foreign tankers will take the oil via the four main Western Russian ports (Primorsk, Ust-Luga, Murmansk and Novorossiysk).

Russian crude oil tracker

www.bruegel.org

Oil tanker - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"Panama was the world's largest flag state for oil tankers, with 528 of the vessels in its registry. Six other flag states had more than 200 registered oil tankers: Liberia (464), Singapore (355), China (252), Russia (250), the Marshall Islands (234) and the Bahamas (209)."

AIUI, Panama, Liberia and China haven't banned Russian oil shipments. Not sure about the others.

Its i think not what flag the ships sail unders but who owns them. Dont think any sane ceo would gamble his assets. Not only the ship but capital and his ass personaly. Boycot goes way beyond.

 

[Denniss]

With ships there's also the problem with insurance, if they have to pass national waters the'll have to provide insurance documents for their ship and cargo. I believe european insurers are forbidden to ensure them if the oil is traded above the price cap.

 

[GrauGeist]

Actually the practice started in Uganda in the mid or late 60's with President for Life Idi Amin who would line up all the "criminals" and give the second in line a sledge hammer. His job was to smash in the head of the person in front of him and then hand the hammer back to the person behind him and on it went. Refusing meant a far far worse death.

War hammers aside, I meant Wagner started doing it in Syria.

 

[Admiral Beez]

With ships there's also the problem with insurance, if they have to pass national waters the'll have to provide insurance documents for their ship and cargo. I believe european insurers are forbidden to ensure them if the oil is traded above the price cap.

Good point. But we'll need to see what the impact will be.

https://lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com/LL1142828/UKs-Russian-oil-insurance-ban-said-to-have-little-extra-impact

 

[RogerdeLluria]

I'm excited to see Leopard 2 tanks in mass formations rolling towards Crimea.

View attachment 702723

It has the potential to be the largest tank battle since Kursk. Command and communication will be essential, as you don't want everyone shooting at the same target.

As much as I would too be excited about the prospect huge tank battles, I'm afraid that we will not see anything of the sort. Small local skirmishes at most.

Since the advent of guided missiles and precision ammo, tank mission is to scare break-through enemy infantry, most tanks are killed by artillery, TOWs, manpats, ..., tank vs tank is a last resort. If your tanks have to fight enemy tanks you probably have done something wrong. Russians have lost 1614 (*) visually confirmed tanks, most of them in the very early stages of the war, very few if any have been destroyed in tank to tank combat.

(*) Ukraine claims 3118 tanks, and some data obtained from Russian units suggests that visual confirmation accounted for about 70% of the lost units, so probably the truth is somewhere in the 2000-2500 range.

 

[Admiral Beez]

(*) Ukraine claims 3118 tanks, and some data obtained from Russian units suggests that visual confirmation accounted for about 70% of the lost units, so probably the truth is somewhere in the 2000-2500 range.

When this war is over how is Russia ever going to be able to replace 3,000 plus MBTs? I've read that their max rate of production is about 200 tanks a year, and that was before sanctions on essential components sourced from the West.

 

[SaparotRob]

I hope it will remain an unsolvable problem for them.

 

[Snautzer01]

It is not 1944-45. It will.

 

[GrauGeist]

The last great tank battle was most likely during Desert Storm but unlike tank versus tank battles of the past, it was a brawl that lasted less than an hour, especially when air assets arrived about 2/3rds of the way into it - then the brawl turned ugly very quickly.

There have been a few tank on tank encounters during the Ukraine war and it ended as quick as it started, mist of the participants disengaged after initial contact.

The prospect of a grand Kursk armor slugfest has been relegated to history, to reside with great naval battles from the age of sail, cavalry charges and box formations of cohorts taking a line of battle.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Georgia's breakaway Republic of South Ossetia might synchronize its own referendum on joining Russia for September, as well. Also, South Ossetian officials have announced a vote on July 17, but two sources close to the Kremlin told Meduza that the plebiscite's date might be moved.

Looks like the separatist-mind ethnic Russians in Georgia may be rethinking their plans. With little hope now of Russian military intervention, the "South Ossetians" likely understand that any provocation whatsoever will spark a decisive military action by Georgia, who's just waiting for any excuse, to clear them out.

De Facto Leader Of Georgia's South Ossetia Suspends Planned Referendum On Joining Russia

The new de facto leader of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia has suspended a referendum on joining the Russian Federation announced by his predecessor.

www.rferl.org

The Georgians clearly know where they stand, and their justifiable Russophobia is strong.

Back to the U.S.S.R.: Russophobia is at its peak in Georgia

Paule Robitaille returns to the former Soviet Union, where she lived in the 90s, ahead of the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine

nationalpost.com

Georgians Grudgingly Accept Growing Russian Presence - The Moscow Times

Russian émigré Valentin Semyonov uses sausage as an icebreaker when he meets his Georgian neighbors. “This tastes just like the good old Soviet stuff!” the gangly 38-year-old says as he hands around sticks of salami, of which he appears to have brought an endless supply from his motherland.

www.themoscowtimes.com

 

[Admiral Beez]

Since the advent of guided missiles and precision ammo, tank mission is to scare break-through enemy infantry, most tanks are killed by artillery, TOWs, manpats, ..., tank vs tank is a last resort.

Good points. As an aside, do the Russians have TOWs and MANPATS in sufficient numbers that can reliably kill western MBTs? To kill a Leopard 2 I assume you'd want a top attack missile. How does the 9M133 Kornet compare?

On another tack, how long before this guy falls out a window?


View: https://twitter.com/gerashchenko_en/status/1615080819164434432?s=61&t=-lGA1VeoP7MGeJp1Sd7sZw

 

[Denniss]

The Kurds destroyed some Leo 2s with Missiles slamming into their weaker side.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The Kurds destroyed some Leo 2s with Missiles slamming into their weaker side.

Hitting the weaker side. The classic whey of killing a German cat.

 

[Frog]

An iraki army M1A1M was taken by a Daesh fired 9M133-1 Kornet E in 2016, but if I am well informed this tank export variant is devoid of the depleted uranium armor.

 

[Denniss]

Iraq has alrady enough radioactive contamination from panzer wrecks destroyed in the gulf wars, don't need more in their own tanks when hit.
Side armor has always been and will always be a weak spot on tanks hence the Schürzen in WW2 or the cages seen today

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Iraq has alrady enough radioactive contamination from panzer wrecks destroyed in the gulf wars, don't need more in their own tanks when hit.
Side armor has always been and will always be a weak spot on tanks hence the Schürzen in WW2 or the cages seen today

When we got to our Airfield near Tikrit in January 2004, there were destroyed tanks and aircraft and APCs littering the airfield that were destroyed during OIF. Command had to remind everyone to not climb around in them because of the depleted uranium.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Just think of how much scrap metal there will be in Ukraine when this is done.

 

[manta22]

When we got to our Airfield near Tikrit in January 2004, there were destroyed tanks and aircraft and APCs littering the airfield that were destroyed during OIF. Command had to remind everyone to not climb around in them because of the depleted uranium.

View attachment 702852View attachment 702851View attachment 702853View attachment 702854

The key word is "depleted."