I thought this was also interesting. I’m not a military tactician so I don’t know the validity but it makes sense to me
I think they were in total shock how quickly Ukraine beat the fuck out of them. It must've been demoralizing.
So this account has been getting mass reported for actively recruiting for wagner and it’s still up https://twitter.com/devendraganesh1?s=21&t=SHTqOQT0csfSlSCAiYekTQ
I've got to be honest, it seems pretty obvious that UA is just waiting for a three to one advantage before starting the offensive. That combined with newer, better weapons and the fact that they seem pretty good tactically I think will make the difference. Wagner is again doing the heavy lifting for the RuAF.
Not going to dig up the tweets but saw some interesting points over the weekend about how, yes, the K:D ration for Ukraine in Bahkmut has been a good investment to date (sounds weird to say that when talking about people dying) but that the K:D ratio has changed over the past few weeks to too high a cost for Ukraine. No longer worth to ROI in man and machine. Also saw some tweets about some new western trained troops being sent to Bahkmut. There is also a massive industrial park in Bahkmut with massive deep tunnels etc... that is setting up for another azovstal situation... Again, too much work to go find the tweets but very well laid out from your usual places. I think the K:D ration work was done by Rob Lee. So anyway, I am still supportive of taking the strategic W in Bahkmut but tactical L and slowly pull troops out to next lines while preserving the western trained troops and equipment for the spring offensive. *Posted by an American with no military background whose biggest personal inconvenience currently is pollen count outside
Rob is probably right on the money with what we know *publicly*. He isn't privy to US intelligence or the like, so you've got to think (hope?) UA general staff knows some things we don't.
Wagner seems out of energy and RAF is reorganizing again its assault groups- maybe this is why they held Bakmut. Time will tell
It's infuriating to watch footage like this. All needless deaths. I hope UKR kicks them all out asap.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2023/03/13/russia-us-weapons-iran/ Spoiler Russia is sending Iran some of the US-made weapons and equipment it captured in Ukraine to undergo “reverse-engineering,” according to a report by CNN, citing sources. Moscow’s forces have reportedly been collecting Western-supplied defense systems left on the battlefield whenever they capture territory. According to the sources, they already possess US-made shoulder-fired weapons such as Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger anti-aircraft systems. These weapons are flown straight to Tehran to dismantle and analyze, probably so the Iranian military can make their own versions. The sources also claim that Russia’s move to provide its ally with Western weapons will incentivize Iran to maintain its support for President Vladimir Putin’s war. Previous Incidents The US is already aware of Iran’s ability to reverse-engineer weapon systems from its enemies. Tehran’s Toophan anti-tank guided missile was reportedly reverse-engineered from the American BGM-71 TOW missile in the 1970s. In 2011, the Iranian military intercepted a US-made Sentinel drone and created its own version that crossed into Israeli airspace in 2018. “Iran has demonstrated the capability to reverse-engineer US weapons in the past,” the Center for a New American Security’s Jonathan Lord said. He added, “Iran could do the same with a Stinger, which could threaten civil and military aviation throughout the region. A reverse-engineered Javelin could be used by Hamas or Hezbollah to threaten an Israeli Merkava tank.” ‘Not Widespread’ As of this moment, it is still unclear if Iran has successfully reverse-engineered any US weapon captured by Russian forces in Ukraine. However, US officials do not believe the issue is widespread. Kyiv has reported any losses of US-donated weapons since the beginning of the war. However, they admitted that the issue is very difficult to track.
He added, “Iran could do the same with a Stinger, which could threaten civil and military aviation throughout the region. A reverse-engineered Javelin could be used by Hamas or Hezbollah to threaten an Israeli Merkava tank.” I'm sure Iran has had its hands on Stingers since the 1980s (Afghanistan) and Javelins since 2003 (Iraq and then later, Afghanistan and Syria) That's the hard copies of the devices. There's also hacking and other industrial espionage.
Yeah, no kidding talk about Plus, if they do it and the asshole Israelis go through with things, it's just another excuse for a strike. Woooo military industrial complex, but they should be thinking about that, too.
Now imagine all the reverse engineering they and China can do now that they're partners with and will have access to all the US weapons we've sold to the Saudis.
Regarding that tank and apc rolling into that trench line… is there no fear of an rpg attack from those Russians? They pulled right up to the trench like me making a quick run to Home Depot.
*snicker* Imagine running your 4th generation fighter into the wing of an aircraft capable of a blistering 200mph and that pretty much exclusively flies in a circle.
I was running an exercise once with the Army and their task force commander asked us to do a "show of force" (basically you fly an aircraft real fast and real low over the enemy to show you you can hit them pretty much with impunity) with an MQ-9 we had. I had to tell him "well sir...we can do that but it's going to take about 20 minutes to get down low enough to do that and another 20 to get back up to operational altitude."
Next time pop some chaff into its air intake when it flies up behind. (*no idea if reapers can carry chaff pods. edit: it can: https://theaviationist.com/2021/01/...eals-self-protection-pod-for-the-mq-9-reaper/)
It's amazing how bad Russian pilots are. On more than one occasion they've done intercepts of recon aircraft, came in too hot because they got excited, and then done a little "my bad" wave out the window to the pilot.
This site is really cool. It shows Russian videos and pics around Eastern Europe/Russia https://eyesonrussia.org/
Maybe? The MQ-9 is about the same size of the A-10 but it's not that heavy. My wild ass guess is the MQ-9 didn't take a lot of damage either but because it's about as maneuverable as a flying park bench and the pilot is in Arizona, they just lost control of it. Flankers are damn good aircraft so if the pilot didn't panic it's probably ok.
US military official says the Russian Su-27 was "almost lost, as well" during the incident cite: https://www.eucom.mil/pressrelease/...to-us-unmanned-system-in-international-waters
I can’t understand how the flanker hit the prop. It’s pretty tucked in between the tail surfaces of the reaper.
Russians being shitty and dumping fuel on a reaper multiple times before clipping the prop and making it ditch in the black sea....SHOCKED The Global Hawk still seems to be doing its thing over the black sea. Guess it is too high for them to mess with?
Pretty hilarious russia told Wagner they could use prisoners on the front lines because the Russian army needed them to do that