Russian Ukraine shenanigans

[FLEA]

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/american-army-veteran-ukraine/

 

So found an interesting reddit group of people working in and for the Foreign Legion. 

Apparently lots of chaos going on in the foreign legion, and lots of deserters. One redditor and US Army vet said "this is a different kind of war than Afghanistan" to which another Army veteran replied "it's the same war, you're just now the goat herder." 

Seems the reality of fighting a ground war against an enemy utilizing air to ground fires has been extremely traumatic to many, including experienced combat veterans. It's something western militaries have largely been immune from. 

Some other issues I picked up on was a complete lack of OPSEC. Apparently lots of people joined who lacked military experience or who were doing it to enhance their social media following. They were posting photos with geographic meta data embedded in the image file to prove they were there to their followers, which is presumably what Russia used to derive the target coordinates for major camp attack a few days ago. 

 

[ClearedHot]

RPAs remain an asymmetric advantage for the Ukrainians. 

 

[Sua Sponte]

Arnold with a message to Russians.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/tg915y/arnold_schwarzenegger_has_a_personal_message_for/

[pawnman]

Lot of Tupolevs running with their transponders on...

 

[hockeydork]

This should be playing all over the news networks. Best concise breakdown I've seen.

[ClearedHot]

Semi-modern armor meet RPA's spotting your demise. 

Crazy video, might be a combination of artillery and RPG/NLAWs?  About midway through dude on top takes a hit and goes flying like a meat bag, reminiscent of things we did with the 105MM back in Afghanistan.  War is a horrible thing and the Russians are being made to pay for every inch they gain...or lose.

[Danger41]

13 hours ago, FLEA said:

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/american-army-veteran-ukraine/

 

So found an interesting reddit group of people working in and for the Foreign Legion. 

Apparently lots of chaos going on in the foreign legion, and lots of deserters. One redditor and US Army vet said "this is a different kind of war than Afghanistan" to which another Army veteran replied "it's the same war, you're just now the goat herder." 

Seems the reality of fighting a ground war against an enemy utilizing air to ground fires has been extremely traumatic to many, including experienced combat veterans. It's something western militaries have largely been immune from. 

Some other issues I picked up on was a complete lack of OPSEC. Apparently lots of people joined who lacked military experience or who were doing it to enhance their social media following. They were posting photos with geographic meta data embedded in the image file to prove they were there to their followers, which is presumably what Russia used to derive the target coordinates for major camp attack a few days ago. 

 

This is why I don’t put a ton of stock into people talking about all the combat experience of our current military forces (myself included). This is a totally different animal in terms of combat from Iraq/Afghanistan. 
 

Also, April 15, 1953 is a long time ago and I hope people don’t think air dominance just happens in modern combat. 

[DirkDiggler]

 

The purge continues.

[fire4effect]

4 minutes ago, DirkDiggler said:

 

The purge continues.

And we think a letter of reprimand is bad

[FLEA]

7 minutes ago, fire4effect said:

And we think a letter of reprimand is bad

I mean you can make the argument that this level of incompetence is dereliction of duty at the GO level and certainly in our own military there would be UCMJ consequences for that. 

My take is that lots of corruption goes ignored in the Russian military so long as people think you're still doing your job. But when you're involved in that corruption and then you blunder this badly, well, you sort of hung yourself with your own rope, and we are probably about to see that. 

[Lawman]

I mean you can make the argument that this level of incompetence is dereliction of duty at the GO level and certainly in our own military there would be UCMJ consequences for that. 
My take is that lots of corruption goes ignored in the Russian military so long as people think you're still doing your job. But when you're involved in that corruption and then you blunder this badly, well, you sort of hung yourself with your own rope, and we are probably about to see that. 

If we shot a few people for their failure we might actually have a working replacement for the 135…

Just saying… modern problems, very old working solutions.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DirkDiggler]

52 minutes ago, fire4effect said:

And we think a letter of reprimand is bad

Honestly I’d have preferred they kept the corrupt, incompetent guys; it’d make it easier for the Ukrainians to kept killing Russians.  Unfortunately the replacements might be better at their jobs.

[Sua Sponte]

1 hour ago, Lawman said:

If we shot a few people for their failure we might actually have a working replacement for the 135…

Just saying… modern problems, very old working solutions.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It works everyday. 

[Prozac]

1 hour ago, FLEA said:

I mean you can make the argument that this level of incompetence is dereliction of duty at the GO level and certainly in our own military there would be UCMJ consequences for that. 

My take is that lots of corruption goes ignored in the Russian military so long as people think you're still doing your job. But when you're involved in that corruption and then you blunder this badly, well, you sort of hung yourself with your own rope, and we are probably about to see that. 

I dunno. If you try and save a few bucks by buying cheap Chinese knockoff tires for your Army’s trucks (amongst other questionable decisions) while sharing the spoils with your fat, rich, corrupt entourage, maybe it’s time to look in the mirror when said army gets bogged down in the Ukrainian mud and subsequently dismembered by a motivated enemy. But that’s just me. Probably not much of a solace for the guys about to get shot tho. Oh well. Something, something about sleeping in the bed you’ve made. 

[Lord Ratner]

1 hour ago, FLEA said:

certainly in our own military there would be UCMJ consequences for that. 

That's a bold statement

[Lawman]

It works everyday. 

Yeah ok boss.



Insert Bradley Replacement, JAGM, M-4 replacement, Osprey, Comanche, JSF…. Just keep surging into the humor equation whatever wonderful example of our acquisitions process until you can find one funny in your head.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FLEA]

1 hour ago, Lord Ratner said:

That's a bold statement

Yeah so actually what was in my mind when I wrote that is the fuck up in Afghanistan and how noone was accountable for that despite demands. Here is Putin holding his senior officers accountable and we are all so ingrained at this point that accountability doesn't exist that we find it shocking. 

Like, nothing says these people are being executed or purged yet. But honestly a few years in prison I think would be an appropriate sentence if a US general embezzled his funds instead of improving readiness and then subsequently fucked up the most important mission of his career's history. 

Now if all of these dudes just end up "missing" that's probably a little eyebrow raising but nothing indicates that yet. 

[jazzdude]

Yeah ok boss.



Insert Bradley Replacement, JAGM, M-4 replacement, Osprey, Comanche, JSF…. Just keep surging into the humor equation whatever wonderful example of our acquisitions process until you can find one funny in your head.

I doubt anyone now would claim the KC-46 program is a success story-lots of lessons learned that will hopefully be allowed to the future (though I wouldn't hold my breath). I'm surprised no one got fired for it (though former asst secretary for acquisition Druyun did end up going to jail for a few months for corruption, since she personally benefited significantly from the tanker lease debacle).

That being said, the KC-46 is flying operational missions now. Hopefully the program follows the trajectory of the C-17 program: troubled program that overcame significant design problems and threats of program cancellation due to performance deficiencies (some of which still exist to this day and likely will never be fixed) that eventually became the backbone of the mobility fleet. For KC-46, I guess we'll know in a few years when/if the RVS gets fixed.

[ClearedHot]

Narration says two SU-25's were shot down but there is a lot going on here and you can't tell if the first explosion is an aircraft going down or #2 poorly executing a safe escape from his or lead's drop.  Regardless, it is clear at least one SU-25 went down and the guy ejected out of the envelope.  You can see his seat hit the dirt aft of the impact site.

The Frogfoot is a great attack aircraft, but the Ukrainians have forced them extremely low in the the AAA and MANPAD threat.

 

[Prosuper]

On 3/16/2022 at 8:11 PM, SocialD said:

 

 

The guy who taught me to fly tailwheel was a WW2 tank driver.   Dude never talked about his time over there, and as much as I wanted to hear his story, I never brought it up.  He did have a shadow box hanging in the hangar, dude had 2 Silver Stars, 2 Bronze Stars w/V device and a Purple Heart.   Most humble and unassuming dude I've ever met.  I can't even imagine what he saw/experienced, what a generation!

This article says the Sherman had a 580% loss rate. A Poor Defense: Sherman tanks in WW2 – University of Illinois Archives

[Prosuper]

10 hours ago, FLEA said:

I mean you can make the argument that this level of incompetence is dereliction of duty at the GO level and certainly in our own military there would be UCMJ consequences for that. 

My take is that lots of corruption goes ignored in the Russian military so long as people think you're still doing your job. But when you're involved in that corruption and then you blunder this badly, well, you sort of hung yourself with your own rope, and we are probably about to see that. 

You can make the argument why the Russian military can't fight besides the tactics and doctrine, the Russian society in general. The corruption has been around since the Tsar's. Has Russia ever been a society that has ever been one of laws instead of corrupt tyrants? Putin was himself a bag man for his political boss before he became Mayor of St Petersburg. Makes me wonder when he shakes his nuclear saber, does he have to spray WD-40 inside the scabbard to remove it. Missiles take a bunch of upkeep; I wonder if they even keep a warhead on top of the ones in the silos. Back in the day our Atlas birds had to keep fuel in the tube for structural strength so the war head would not come down crushing the tube, right before I joined an Arkansas silo had an explosion when a mx troop dropped a wrench and punctured the skin and the fuel exploded. Just thinking a Russian General knowing that his birds would never fly just kept one looking good in case the boss showed up and padded his budget and bank account.

[uhhello]

2 hours ago, Prosuper said:

You can make the argument why the Russian military can't fight besides the tactics and doctrine, the Russian society in general. The corruption has been around since the Tsar's. Has Russia ever been a society that has ever been one of laws instead of corrupt tyrants? Putin was himself a bag man for his political boss before he became Mayor of St Petersburg. Makes me wonder when he shakes his nuclear saber, does he have to spray WD-40 inside the scabbard to remove it. Missiles take a bunch of upkeep; I wonder if they even keep a warhead on top of the ones in the silos. Back in the day our Atlas birds had to keep fuel in the tube for structural strength so the war head would not come down crushing the tube, right before I joined an Arkansas silo had an explosion when a mx troop dropped a wrench and punctured the skin and the fuel exploded. Just thinking a Russian General knowing that his birds would never fly just kept one looking good in case the boss showed up and padded his budget and bank account.

What I've been saying but it only takes one 🙂

[Pooter]

Refueled on the 46 many times and it's fantastic. Meanwhile the newest block update on the 135 has turned it into an autopilot-off shitshow. 
 

From where I sit, the remaining airframes not qual'd to refuel on the 46 boils down to majcom risk aversion rather than actual aircraft capability. 

[Pooter]

4 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

Narration says two SU-25's were shot down but there is a lot going on here and you can't tell if the first explosion is an aircraft going down or #2 poorly executing a safe escape from his or lead's drop.  Regardless, it is clear at least one SU-25 went down and the guy ejected out of the envelope.  You can see his seat hit the dirt aft of the impact site.

The Frogfoot is a great attack aircraft, but the Ukrainians have forced them extremely low in the the AAA and MANPAD threat.

 

Yeah that first explosion doesn't look like a frog foot crash. Don't know what it is but the airplane that does go down leaves a much longer trail explosion and the fireball doesn't go nearly as high in the air. Also seen conflicting reports that these were Ukrainian frog feet(?) although it seems highly unlikely

[Sua Sponte]

5 hours ago, jazzdude said:

 

 

I doubt anyone now would claim the KC-46 program is a success story-lots of lessons learned that will hopefully be allowed to the future (though I wouldn't hold my breath). I'm surprised no one got fired for it (though former asst secretary for acquisition Druyun did end up going to jail for a few months for corruption, since she personally benefited significantly from the tanker lease debacle).

That being said, the KC-46 is flying operational missions now. Hopefully the program follows the trajectory of the C-17 program: troubled program that overcame significant design problems and threats of program cancellation due to performance deficiencies (some of which still exist to this day and likely will never be fixed) that eventually became the backbone of the mobility fleet. For KC-46, I guess we'll know in a few years when/if the RVS gets fixed.

 

RVS 2.0 is being tested.