WWII and school

[FLYBOYJ]

I heard about that - Hanoi Jane style scum doing that to somebody shivering with shell-shock.

A person's entitled to their views but that's out of order, whatever your take on Vietnam was.

She's starting and anti-Iraq campaign right now. I hope she gets spat on again!

There's also a stereotype here of Eastern European technology being very clunky and unsophisticated.

I find that when I talk to pilots and other mechanics about the Eastern European aircraft I've worked on here in the states (Mig-15, Mig-21, L-29 and L-39). I find some things unsophisticated but yet other things just brilliant

 

[marconi]

Here's a stereotype about western armies.They say that electronic systems in modern weaponry is so fragile that it constantly breaks that is why Soviet weaponry is superior: it has no complex systems.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

In some cases yes, in most cases no.

 

[marconi]

Modification: US weaponry is based on microelectronics, while most of Russian is based on electronic lamps.That is why during the nuclear strike all of American weaponry will shut down because of EM-impulse and Russian won't.Question: Does anybody know how it is supposed to fight with the influence of EM-impulce?

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Modification: US weaponry is based on microelectronics, while most of Russian is based on electronic lamps.That is why during the nuclear strike all of American weaponry will shut down because of EM-impulse and Russian won't.Question: Does anybody know how it is supposed to fight with the influence of EM-impulce?

I could tell you that on aircraft "black boxes" (also known as LRUs - Line removable units) are shielded against EM.

That was an old folklore here that if the US was every attacked by the Soviet Union, all our electronics would die.

 

[marconi]

Yes, but still the problem exists.Such a great emition of electromagnetic energy can greatly influence on semiconductors.I suppose here must be some protection against it on all types of weaponry and technics.Some kind of shielding or something like that.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Yes, but still the problem exists.Such a great emition of electromagnetic energy can greatly influence on semiconductors.I suppose here must be some protection against it on all types of weaponry and technics.Some kind of shielding or something like that.

There is - within the LRUs. The structure of the box itself is the shield

 

[Medvedya]

I once heard that the first action the Soviets would take in a full nuclear strike would be to detonate a nuke high over the North Sea to fry all the electronic equipment before striking the bases.

 

[marconi]

There is - within the LRUs. The structure of the box itself is the shield

And what about other electronic components? Are they shielded as well as LRUs?

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Yes - it is a common practice to make much of the electronic equipment in combat aircraft LRUs. They could be easily removed and replaced, sometimes within minutes. I'm not an electronics guy but I seen some of the equipment and I know that they are designed to operate after nuclear, chemical or biological strikes.

 

[Udet]

All the former soviet republics are classified as some of the most corrupt nations on the planet (especially Russia, Ukraine, all the central asian nations and the caucasian Azerbaijan).

Last time I went there with my parents to visit my ill-grandmother in Moscow, helped me understanding further those corruption perception indexes are not exagerations.

There are many cities of the former soviet union(if not the majority) where mafia men, mobsters and other organized crime comodities have openly supplante the police force in the daily task of providing citizens with "security".


Marconi:

Former-Soviet Union´s technology might have been simpler and in fact better than the USA´s in some departments, but the cold war Soviet army suffered from the same anomalies observed in the Great Patriotic War´s Red Army: low quality and poor professionalism of most of their personnel.

I met a Czec military aircraft technician here who migrated to Mexico (married a Mexican girl) who went to Afghanistan in the mid 80s, as part of Czec technical/ground support team in soviet airfields -not for combat duties-; this guy is very familiar with Mig´s and Su´s and he told me soviet regular maintenance and ground damage control was extremely poor, and that is being "generous".

The soviet air force suffered lots of accidents due to such circunstance in Afghanistan, losing many pilots killed in action or missing action.

He recalls soviet fighters and helicopters with battle damage returning to base "hardly received any repairs or overhaulings". Soviet fighter and helicopter pilots and crews were in very "shameful" conditions. There were pilots that would openly admit to the Czecs they had been wearing the same pants and personal gear for weeks and weeks and were incredibly dirty and in sometimes ill-supplied.

Even if he never ever came close to battle action in Afghanistan, he told me the images of those poor soviet air men continues to be an awful sad memory.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

personnel.

I met a Czec military aircraft technician here who migrated to Mexico (married a Mexican girl) who went to Afghanistan in the mid 80s, as part of Czec technical/ground support team in soviet airfields -not for combat duties-; this guy is very familiar with Mig´s and Su´s and he told me soviet regular maintenance and ground damage control was extremely poor, and that is being "generous".

The people I worked with who imported Eastern European surplus military aircraft avoided purchases from Russia. Most of our stuff came from Czech Republic, Poland, or Romania.

 

[marconi]

Former-Soviet Union´s technology might have been simpler and in fact better than the USA´s in some departments, but the cold war Soviet army suffered from the same anomalies observed in the Great Patriotic War´s Red Army: low quality and poor professionalism of most of their personnel.

This is right not only for Red Army but also for army of Russian Empire.It's some kind of Asian mentality - to fight not by quality but by quantity.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Former-Soviet Union´s technology might have been simpler and in fact better than the USA´s in some departments, but the cold war Soviet army suffered from the same anomalies observed in the Great Patriotic War´s Red Army: low quality and poor professionalism of most of their personnel.

This is right not only for Red Army but also for army of Russian Empire.It's some kind of Asian mentality - to fight not by quality but by quantity.

If you talk to members of the US military (especially those who served in the 1980s) we were always told to be prepared to fight aganist superior numbers......

 

[Nonskimmer]

Just look at China.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Yep!

 

[Medvedya]

The real danger of course was that if in the event of a conventional attack by the Warsaw Pact they managed to make initial progess against NATO (as predicted by General Sir John Hackett in 'The Third World War') then the President would be faced with a 'Use 'em or lose 'em situation regarding the battlefield nuclear weapons available in Germany.

Well, I'm sure you can guess the rest..........

 

[FLYBOYJ]

The real danger of course was that if in the event of a conventional attack by the Warsaw Pact they managed to make initial sucesses against NATO (as predicted by General Sir John Hackett in 'The Third World War') then the President would be faced with a 'Use 'em or lose 'em situation regarding the battlefield nuclear weapons available in Germany.

Well, I'm sure you can guess the rest..........

Yep - and back then ole Ronny had an itchy finger......

 

[Medvedya]

Well, in this book it suggested that the WP attack began to grind to a halt through their inflexibility when it came to keeping the supplies, and thus the initiative going in the face of the increasing American power that would arrive in Europe.

Depends - if the brass could persuade Regan to hold his wad and prove that NATO was capable of 'holding the line' until the fresh reenforcements could really start begining to bite.

The crux, as always, would be to get the upper hand in the Atlantic to get the supplies, equipment and troops over to make this happen.

 

[Nonskimmer]

And there's me, in my second-hand British submarine, guarding the supply routes from Halifax.