December 16, 20223 yr 31 minutes ago, Mlodj said: One workaround is to use "contractors" to man the sites if they want them in theatre rapidly. If they gave the Ukrainians new build systems off the production line, the lead time is now years, which means the Ukrainians would be able to operate the systems without U.S. support. In any event, there needs to be a conscious, public decision if U.S. troops are going to be put in harm's way. 100% However, this is America. Dice will be rolled and stupid people will be making the decisions.
December 16, 20223 yr 20 hours ago, Bill said: Well look at that. This was posted 20 hours ago, the fraud @Abracadabra was logged in 17 hours ago but obviously had no response to the disgusting pieces of sh!t his comrades are.
December 16, 20223 yr 1 hour ago, downundermike said: Well look at that. This was posted 20 hours ago, the fraud @Abracadabra was logged in 17 hours ago but obviously had no response to the disgusting pieces of sh!t his comrades are. He’ll just say it was staged to make Russian liberators look bad or that it was actually Ukraine torturing them.
December 16, 20223 yr 2 hours ago, downundermike said: Well look at that. This was posted 20 hours ago, the fraud @Abracadabra was logged in 17 hours ago but obviously had no response to the disgusting pieces of sh!t his comrades are. I posted it originally back on Wednesday at 5pm - he never acknowledged it: On 12/14/2022 at 5:05 PM, JohnSnowsHair said: Ombudsman: Children's torture chamber found in liberated Kherson Ukrainian authorities discovered a room that Russians used to detain and torture children during the occupation of Kherson, Dmytro Lubinets, the Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada, said on Dec. 14. According to testimonies from locals, other torture victims in the facility knew that Ukrainian children had been kept there by Russian security services, who had called the room "the children's cell.” The children were given little water and almost no food, Lubinets said. According to locals' testimonies, the children were subhect to psychological abuse at the hands of their Russian captors, who told them that their parents had abandoned them and that they would never return home. One 14-year-old boy was arrested and later tortured just for taking a picture of broken Russian equipment, Lubinets said. "We recorded the torture of children for the first time," said Lubinets. "I thought that the bottom could not be broken after Bucha, Irpin... but we really reached the bottom in Kherson." The video that @Mlodj shared above referenced this story as one of the rationales for the Biden administration deciding it was worth the risk to at least posture towards sending Patriot missile defense systems.
December 16, 20223 yr 22 minutes ago, Alpha_TATEr said: that's because @Abracadabrais a yeast infected pusssssaayyyy Yep, logged in 19 minutes ago and had nothing to say. Almost 24 hours later and @Abracadabra can still not find any false propaganda to reply with.
December 16, 20223 yr Fresh Missile Barrage Leaves Cities Across Ukraine Without Power Or Water In Sub-Zero Temps Quote "Another wave of massive Russian attacks on energy infrastructure," Ukraine's Energy Minister German Galushchenko announced Friday, describing a large Russian barrage of dozens of missiles across major cities. "There will be emergency power outages," he added. Air raid sirens have been blaring throughout the day in this latest wave of strikes, which resulted in electricity and water outages in multiple cities and towns amid sub-zero temperatures. Commander of Ukraine’s Armed Forces Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi tallied that Russia launched 76 missiles at critical infrastructure throughout the country. He then claimed that national air defenses were able to intercept and down a whopping 60 of the missiles. 16 missiles knocked out 50% of the grid? As Zaluzhnyi says, the troop morale is in the crapper.
December 17, 20223 yr 17 hours ago, downundermike said: Your thoughts @Abracadabra It's a lie. The country that stabbed Anastasia 30 times in the **** would never.
December 18, 20223 yr '1984,' George Orwell's novel of repression, tops Russian bestseller lists George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984," set in an imagined future where totalitarian rulers deprive their citizens of all agency in order to maintain support for senseless wars, has topped electronic bestseller lists in Russia. The novel is the most popular fiction download of 2022 on the platform of the Russian online bookseller LitRes, and the second most popular download in any category, the state news agency Tass reported on Tuesday. The English author's novel was published in 1949, when Nazism had just been defeated and the West's Cold War with its erstwhile ally Josef Stalin and the Soviet communist bloc he now led was just beginning. The book was banned in the Soviet Union until 1988. Orwell said he had used Stalin's dictatorship as a model for the personality cult of the all-seeing Big Brother, whose "thought police" force cowed citizens to engage in "doublethink" in order to believe that "War is peace, freedom is slavery." But some see contemporary echoes in the rule of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has eradicated political opposition and critical media from the public sphere in his two decades in power, as well as rehabilitating the memory of Stalin. ya think?
December 18, 20223 yr Yeah a lot of people refer to this as Putin's war, and it's not just his. It's Russia's war. Putin gave the order, but the propagandists are advocating unfathomable acts, and the Russian soldiers are carrying them out. F em all.
December 18, 20223 yr LINK Quote WAR IN UKRAINE A road to war paved with mistakes By Anton Troianovski The New York Times Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war was never supposed to be like the debacle that is unfolding for the Kremlin’s forces in Ukraine. When Bill Burns, the director of the CIA, traveled to Moscow last year to warn against invading Ukraine, he found a supremely confident Kremlin, with Putin’s national security adviser boasting that Russia’s cutting-edge armed forces were strong enough to stand up even to the Americans. Russian invasion plans show that the military expected to sprint hundreds of miles across Ukraine and triumph within days. Officers were told to pack their dress uniforms and medals in anticipation of military parades in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. But instead of that resounding victory, with tens of thousands of his troops killed and parts of his army in shambles after nearly 10 months of war, Putin faces something else entirely: his nation’s greatest human and strategic calamity since the collapse of the Soviet Union. How could one of the world’s most powerful militaries, led by a celebrated tactician like Putin, have faltered so badly against its much smaller, weaker rival? A New York Times investigation found a stunning cascade of mistakes that started with Putin — profoundly isolated in the pandemic, obsessed with his legacy and convinced of his own brilliance. The story — based on secret battle plans, intercepts and interviews with Russian soldiers and Kremlin confidants who have known Putin for decades — offers new insights into Putin’s state of mind, the stunning failures of his military and U.S. efforts to prevent a direct war with Russia. The primary takeaway from Russia’s setbacks is that they have roots that were in place before the first shot was fired. Materials recovered from battlefields point to the military’s overall lack of preparation: a map from the 1960s, a Wikipedia printout on how to operate a sniper rifle and a wildly optimistic timetable for Russia’s invasion. Reached by phone inside Russian hospitals, wounded soldiers described being sent to war with little food, training, bullets or equipment — and watching about two-thirds of their platoons get killed. One soldier recalled asking how to use his rifle just before heading off to battle. Inside the Kremlin, Putin planned the invasion in such secrecy that even Dmitry Peskov, his spokesperson, said in an interview that he learned of it only once it had begun. Anton Vaino, Putin’s chief of staff, and Alexei Gromov, Putin’s powerful media adviser, also said they did not know in advance, according to people who spoke to them about it. The Russian military, despite Western assumptions about its prowess, was severely compromised, gutted by years of theft. Hundreds of billions of dollars had been devoted to modernizing the armed forces under Putin, but corruption scandals ensnared thousands of officers, leaving the leadership ranks thin. Once the invasion began in late February, Russia squandered its dominance over Ukraine through a parade of blunders. It relied on old maps and bad intelligence to fire its missiles, leaving Ukrainian air defenses surprisingly intact, ready to defend the country. Russia’s vaunted hacking squads tried, and failed, to win in what some officials call the first big test of cyberweapons in actual warfare. As a whole, Russia’s armed forces were so stodgy and sclerotic that they did not adapt, even after enduring huge losses on the battlefield. While their planes were being shot down, many Russian pilots flew as if they faced no danger, almost like they were at an air show. Likewise, Russian soldiers, many shocked they were going to war, used their cellphones to call home, allowing the Ukrainians to track them and pick them off in large numbers. Even battlefield gains proved problematic for Putin’s military. Stretched thin by its grand ambitions, Russia seized more territory than it could defend, leaving thousands of square miles in the hands of skeleton crews of underfed, undertrained and poorly equipped fighters. Many were conscripts or ragtag separatists from Ukraine’s divided east, a large number with gear from the 1940s. Their Ukrainian opponents, however, with new weapons from the West in hand, were able to beat them back. Yet, Russian commanders kept sending waves of ground troops into pointless assaults again and again. As the multipronged crisis has unfolded for Moscow, one consistent thread remains: the man at the top. Putin divided his war into fiefs, leaving no one powerful enough to challenge him. As the initial invasion failed, the atomized approach only deepened, chipping away at an already disjointed war effort. Now Putin’s fractured armies often function like rivals, competing for weapons and, at times, viciously turning on one another.
December 18, 20223 yr 50 minutes ago, DaEagles4Life said: Evidently this is an incident from back in the summer.
December 19, 20223 yr The devil is in the details Quote The temperature in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, recently dropped to 25 degrees and Ukrainians are freezing as Russian airstrikes are pounding the country’s vital infrastructure, cutting off electricity and heat and depriving them of drinking water. But "General Frost," on which the Russians have relied for centuries to help defeat the country’s enemies, has also turned its weapon against President Vladimir Putin’s soldiers. The Russian forces, who have been fighting, on Putin’s orders, against their Slavic brethren for 10 months, are reportedly dying from hypothermia because their uniform no longer holds up to severe Eurasian winters. The fiasco stems from several odd decisions made by the post-Soviet military leadership and by Putin himself. The Soviet Red Army uniform was a poor man’s version of the Imperial Russian Army dress from the 19th century. In the run-up to World War II, when Russia had the largest army in Europe, approximately 2 million soldiers, Moscow prioritized low-cost but effective couture, compared to the pompous, flashy designs favored by the czarist generals. The uniform was practical, with no frills other than a bright distinctive insignia worn by senior officers that made them easy targets for German marksmen. The winter wear included a greatcoat or half-length fur coat, a cap with ear flaps and thick felt wool valenki footwear worn by the Russian military and civilians alike for hundreds of years. Designed for extreme Russian winters, the uniforms helped the Russians forces beat the French in 1812 and the Germans in 1941-1945. Napoleon Bonaparte admitted that the Russian winter was largely responsible for the disintegration of his army. Many of Hitler’s lightly clad NSDAP troops also froze to death. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, eager to shed their communist heritage, various post-Soviet defense ministers introduced changes to the Russian uniform. Army General Pavel Grachev, who was Boris Yeltsin’s defense minister, instituted changes that made the Russian uniform resemble NATO’s. An exception was the officer field cap that proudly sported a new Russian national symbol, the double-headed eagle, which the soldiers dubbed "mutated chicken." Igor Sergeyev, who rose to defense minister in 1997 under Yeltsin but was fired by Putin in 2001, made Russian military dress look like that of the U.S. Army. And Anatoliy Serdyukov, who was also fired by Putin, ordered winter uniforms to be slim and tailored. But the biggest uproar in the ranks erupted after the radical changes made by a famous fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin. Known for his theatrical styles, Yudashkin’s evening gowns are displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the California Museum of Fashion in Los Angeles and the Museum of Fashion and Textile in Paris. He dressed Raisa, the wife of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, and his work appeared in Elle and Vogue. Russian soldiers, however, did not appreciate the talents of the first post-Soviet couturier who claimed to have visited the factories that produce uniforms for the French, Italian and Israeli militaries to gain expertise. Service members complained that the uniform was made of cheap synthetic material, making them too hot in summer. Its pockets were too small and didn’t fit a mobile phone or identification papers and other documents. Velcro patches fell off, buttons disappeared within two weeks, stitching came apart, and color faded after a couple of washes. The uniform was also inappropriate for combat because it made a rustling sound with movement and melted in fire. Most importantly, the "designer" uniform was also too flimsy for Russian winters, because instead of natural textiles, like cotton, linen and wool, it was made of new high-tech materials. The Russian soldiers joked that at minus 15 Celsius they started jumping up and down to keep warm, and at minus 20, they couldn’t wait for the enemy to shoot them to spare them from freezing to death. Putin’s current defense minister banned Yudashkin’s invention the minute he assumed his post in 2012, prompting the famed fashionista to blame the Russian military authorities for "playing Dolce & Gabbana" rather than following his design recommendations. Current Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made a series of his own innovations. Since Shoigu has no military experience himself, he didn’t want to visually appear as being outranked by his army men. Shoigu introduced the limit to the number of medals worn on the ceremonial military dress to 10, allowing only those earned in combat. Until then, Russian servicemen participating in military parades on Red Square decorated themselves with several dozen medals arranged in four or five rows that didn’t fit on their chests, many of them civilian and, therefore, meaningless. The most radical change to the Russian uniform was introduced by Putin himself. In September 2020, by presidential decree, Putin banned the famous Russian military papakha headdress, which was worn by Russian, and previously Soviet, generals and high-ranking offices. Made of the fur, skinned from 3-day-old baby lambs of a special breed called Karakul, these hats kept the Russian generals warm because the fur bristles were thick, densely set and water-repellant. But Putin and Shoigu chose to replace the $317 papakhas with much less costly $79 caps made of rabbit fur. With the vain Russian military brass having prioritized style and copying the West over functionality in the post-Soviet uniform, it is hardly surprising that their forces are shivering to death as winter sets in on the battlefield. While the troops look dapper during the famous Russian military parades, pleasing Putin and his lieutenants, they are making good-looking corpses, too.
December 19, 20223 yr Could be sabotage or it could be Russian incompetence. They relied heavily on Western technical support to run their oil industry, and most of that has left. Quote An enormous explosion at a Russian oil and gas field is fuelling suspicions key facilities are being targeted in sabotage attacks linked to Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Dramatic footage of the event shows Armageddon-like flames shooting into the sky at the Markovskoye condensate treatment in the east Siberian district of Ust-Kut, Irkutsk region. More than 1,000 square metres are believed to have caught fire in the blaze, which spread rapidly due to ‘jet fuel’ stored at the facility. At least seven people suffered injuries in the blast, which occurred just three days after a similar explosion at another oil facility in the nearby city of Angarsk, which was so loud it was compared to an earthquake or plane crash. In the video of the latest blast, a breathless worker at the plant can be heard saying: ‘Vanya we are f****d, the plant exploded. ‘They told us to evacuate. And as we started fleeing, it exploded.’ Following the explosion, Russian authorities rushed out a statement declaring the blaze to be over even though it was clearly still burning in the remote region. A report on the Telegram messaging app said firefighters gradually brought the fire under control and were putting out remaining small outbreaks. There was no danger to other units of the field or to residents, it said. Governor Igor Kobzev failed to mention the explosion heard by witnesses in his statement, and claimed: ‘The fire was extinguished at the complex natural gas treatment plant at the Markovskoye field. There is no threat to residents.’ He posted on Telegram: ‘According to the Emergencies Ministry, there were no deaths. ‘Seven people were injured. Two people in serious condition were taken by air ambulance helicopter to Bratsk. Four in moderate condition were taken to the Ust-Kut town hospital.’ Apart from burns, one of the people with injuries suffered frostbite. Mr Kobzev admitted 155 firefighters were deployed seeking to control an inferno some estimates said had spread to 10,700 square feet. The incident is believed to be a sabotage attack aimed at damaging Russian infrastructure linked to the war in Ukraine. The plant is privately owned by Irkutsk Oil Company, one of Russia’s largest private oil companies, and is a key player in the Siberian economy. Putin has recruited tens of thousands of his fighters from Siberia, and the Irkutsk region has suffered a high mortality rate. The facility produces crude oil as well as condensate and natural gas, and is co-owned by Russian billionaire Nikolay Buinov, 55. The explosion and initial fire started soon after 11pm local time on Sunday. Officials say the blaze will not spread, and a probe has been launched into the cause of the explosion and fire. Recently there have been explosions and fires at shopping malls as well as energy facilities, raising fears of sabotage against Putin’s unpopular war in Ukraine, which has seen more than 100,000 Russian killed or injured. Two such infernos have ravaged major malls in Moscow this month.
December 19, 20223 yr 1 hour ago, Mlodj said: The devil is in the details Dollars to donuts they charged just as much for the cheaper version and pocketed the difference.
December 19, 20223 yr Quote Medvedev's message to Poles, Americans & Britons Yesterday's statements by N. Medvedev were not random at all. Russian Security Council Vice Chairman Dmitry Medvedev outlined legitimate military targets for Russia via his Telegram channel. According to his statements, legitimate military targets for Russia may include the military-political leadership of the enemy country and the armed forces of other countries that are allies of the enemy country. Dmitry Medvedev said that during the current conflict with Ukraine, the question of legitimate military targets is interpreted in different ways, but there are "rules of conduct during war (jus in bello), which are rooted in sacred sources." In detail: "What are considered legitimate military targets today? Under the named rules of war, these are: Any enemy troops (legal and illegal combatants) not formally withdrawn from their armed forces. All military and auxiliary equipment of the enemy. Any objects related to military infrastructure, as well as civilian infrastructure that contributes to the achievement of military objectives (bridges, transport stations, roads, energy facilities, factories and workshops, at least partial fulfillment of military orders, etc.). The military-political leadership of the enemy country. The armed forces of other countries that officially entered the war, which are allies of the enemy country, and the objects located on their territory, referred to in paragraphs 1-4. Today, however, there is a basic question: can the hybrid war, which NATO declared de facto in our country, be considered the Alliance's entry into the war against Russia? Can the supply of a huge amount of weapons to Ukraine be considered an attack on Russia? And accordingly, the military objectives of the North Atlantic bloc are listed in paragraphs. 1-4 of this note? The leaders of NATO countries sing with one voice that their countries and the entire bloc are not at war with Russia. But everyone knows very well that everything is different...". War News via Google Translate
December 19, 20223 yr JDAM Quote Ukraine may be in line to receive Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, precision air-to-ground weapons, as one of the latest additions to the supply of arms flowing from the United States and its allies. The JDAM would provide the Ukrainian Air Force with an entirely new capability to attack precise coordinates on the ground while offering a degree of standoff protection to the launch aircraft, although any such transfer remains unconfirmed for now. According to an article in The Washington Post, which is based on disclosures from unnamed U.S. officials, the Biden administration plans to supply JDAM kits that "convert unguided aerial munitions into ‘smart bombs.’” Each JDAM kit consists of the guidance package and control section, tailfins for steering, and strakes attached to the bomb for stability and a limited gliding capability. This kit is then mated to an existing bomb body, normally a variant or derivative of the ubiquitous Mk 80 series of weapons. Broadly speaking, the JDAM kit can be mated with 2,000-pound Mk 84, 1,000-pound Mk 83, and 500-pound Mk 82 ‘dumb’ bombs, as well as the penetrating versions of these same weapons. Interestingly, The Washington Post report also brings up the possibility of some kind of ground-launched weapon, although there is no known ground-launched JDAM derivative. Ukraine has, however, recently been connected with the possible transfer of the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb, or GLSDB, a precision strike weapon based on the air-dropped Small Diameter Bomb. In its basic form, the JDAM guidance package uses an inertial navigation system (INS) and a GPS receiver, which together ensure that the bomb can hit its chosen target with a high degree of accuracy (within tens of feet) in any weather. It is ‘fire and forget,’ in that the launch aircraft can turn away and run after release. Should the GPS signal be jammed or otherwise unavailable, the accuracy is reduced, but it is still within the weapon’s effective blast area in most cases. Although unpowered, the JDAM provides a degree of standoff range, being able to hit targets at up to about 15 miles away with launch from a typical fast-jet's speed and altitude. For Ukraine, the JDAM would offer the advantages of a high degree of precision to attack Russian ground forces and other objectives, as well as a relatively low cost. In the 2021 Fiscal Year, the U.S. Air Force paid an average of $21,000 for each JDAM kit (including the multi-mode Laser JDAM kits). Meanwhile, a standard, unguided Mk 82 500-pound bomb cost $4,000, increasing to $16,000 for a 2,000-pound Mk 84 unguided bomb. This compares to the average of $70,000 the U.S. Air Force paid for a single AGM-114 Hellfire missile in the same period, or over $1.2 million for a single AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) round. The Laser JDAM remains a possibility for Ukraine, too. Although integration would be more challenging, the Laser JDAM’s dual-mode GPS and laser guidance would, in theory, allow attacks on moving targets. The basic JDAM is limited to striking targets with fixed coordinates, although it can do this in all weather, while the laser version is restricted to clear-weather use. However, the laser version would require a targeting pod integrated with the aircraft, or a designator on the ground, to make full use of its capabilities, although it can also be used in standard GPS/INS mode. It’s still unclear at this point whether President Biden has actually approved a transfer of JDAMs to Ukraine, although the fact that officials are now speaking of such a development at all is significant. The Washington Post article only mentions JDAM kits, rather than the associated bombs they would be mated to. Logically, they would simply be combined with Mk 80 series bombs, a fairly straightforward process, and there seems no reason why the U.S. government would not supply them. A much less likely possibility would involve combining the JDAM kits with some of the Soviet-era freefall bombs currently in the Ukrainian inventory, although there is no guarantee this would even be feasible. The issue of integrating the complete JDAM rounds with the Ukrainian Air Force’s existing combat aircraft would pose the biggest challenge. Potentially, the MiG-29 or Su-27 fighter jets, the Su-24 strike aircraft, or even Su-25 ground-attack aircraft could carry JDAMs, although each would require a degree of adaptation to ensure that the interface between the jet, the weapon, and the pilot in the cockpit worked as required. It seems likely that Ukraine would employ the JDAM in a pre-programmed mode, with target coordinates inputted on the ground before flight. This would remove the flexibility to retarget in flight, but would still offer valuable precision with some standoff range against known targets. There is, of course, a precedent for the Ukrainian Air Force taking existing Western-sourced precision-guided munitions and adapting them for use by its Soviet-era fighters. The Ukrainians appear to have relatively quickly made modifications to both MiG-29 and Su-27 jets that allow them to use AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile, or HARM, weapons. The U.S. government also has experience in integrating the JDAM with somewhat unusual aircraft types, to meet urgent operational requirements, notably including OV-10 Bronco turboprop attack aircraft operated by the Philippines. Since the summer, Ukrainian jets have been using HARMs to attack Russian air defense systems, the missiles homing in on enemy radio-frequency emissions. Exactly how the HARM was integrated is unclear, but it seems highly likely that it limits some of the more advanced operating modes that would be available when launched from a Western fighter jet that is fully integrated with the weapon. This is an aspect of the anti-radiation missile that we have discussed at length in the past. On the other hand, whatever route was taken, the Ukrainian Air Force appears to be very happy with the results. There is also the issue of training pilots and ground crew to operate the JDAM, but the experience with HARM suggests this is far from insurmountable. Since JDAMs are widely used by Ukraine’s allies in Europe, then potentially some training could be carried out in one of these countries. Interestingly, part of the work to make Ukrainian jets compatible with HARM involved fitting the selected aircraft with the LAU-118 pylon that carries the missile. This same pylon should also be suitable for carrying Mk 80 series bombs, or their JDAM equivalents. Since its introduction, the JDAM has often been employed in permissive or less-contested environments, allowing the launch aircraft to fly at higher altitudes, from where the JDAM has a longer glide range. There is also the option of adding wing kits to the JDAM, for a further range increase, although this is by no means a common modification and there’s no indication that it might be under consideration for Ukraine. These are also not stockpiled items. The highly dangerous air defense environment over the Ukrainian front lines — due to a combination of Russian fighter jets with long-range missiles and a wide variety of ground-based air defense systems — forces Ukrainian jets to fly much lower, for their own safety, in many cases when near the front lines. Dropping JDAMs from a lower level reduces their standoff range, but would still provide a degree of accuracy unavailable to attacks made using unguided bombs or — as seen in the video below — rockets. Still, release at the very low altitudes that Ukrainian aircraft often fly at is not possible for JDAM employment using basic drop profiles. One possible attack profile might involve a jet approaching the objective at low level, before popping up and releasing the JDAM in a lofted trajectory to hit a target close to the front lines. The JDAM also seems to fit with Washington’s generally cautious approach to providing Ukraine with advanced weaponry, especially more provocative long-range weapons of the kind that would be able to strike targets deeper within Russia. It’s for this reason that Ukraine has been supplied with M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, but these weapons have apparently been modified to prevent them from firing any variant of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) short-range ballistic missile. Kyiv has long wanted access to ATACMS, but this weapon has a range of nearly 200 miles and would greatly extend the number of Russian targets that could be held at risk. Nevertheless, JDAMs would fill an important gap for Ukraine, providing a heavier precision-strike capability with a weapon up to the 2,000-pound class. Even the 500-pound version would provide a greater punch than M31 rockets fired by HIMARS, in some regards. The kind of standoff aerial attack possible with JDAM would be especially useful for hitting Russian key targets near the front lines, even ones that are large and heavily fortified. The other big advantage the JDAM offers is the sheer number of these weapons available from the United States and many of its allies; in that sense, it shares many of the benefits of supply with the AIM-120 AMRAAM. More generally, the fact that JDAM now appears to be under consideration for Ukraine seems indicative of how the scope of aid supplied and facilitated by the United States seems to be expanding. Similarly, there is now reported movement on the supply of Patriot long-range air defense systems, while the proposal for GLSDB (for which Ukraine would be the first operator) would have been unconscionable just six months ago. With a new round of U.S. arms transfers expected to be announced soon, it would not be altogether surprising if the JDAM is included on the list. Exactly how the Ukrainian Armed Forces would employ it remains unclear, but their track record with HARM suggests that successful integration and combat usage should be well within their reach.
December 19, 20223 yr 15 minutes ago, Abracadabra said: War News via Google Translate So when it's convenient it's a war? Not a special military operation? Mmk loser.
December 19, 20223 yr TASS Quote MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. Russian air defense forces shot down eight Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles and intercepted six HIMARS and Uragan rockets in the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Monday. "In the past 24 hours, air defense capabilities shot down eight Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the areas of the settlements of Melovatka, Ploshchanka and Nizhnyaya Duvanka in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Volnovakha and Nikolayevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Priyutnoye in the Zaporozhye Region and Kairy in the Kherson Region," the spokesman said. Russian air defense systems also intercepted six rockets of HIMARS and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems in areas near the communities of Sladkoye and Debaltsevo in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Kremennaya in the Lugansk People’s Republic and Lyubimovka in the Zaporozhye Region, the general added. Russian air defense forces shot down four American HARM missiles of the Ukrainian army in the Belgorod Region, Konashenkov reported. "In the airspace of the Belgorod Region, four American HARM anti-radar missiles were shot down," the spokesman said. Russian forces struck Ukrainian manpower and military equipment in 139 areas and destroyed 56 enemy artillery units at firing positions in the past day, Konashenkov reported. "The strikes destroyed 56 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military equipment in 139 areas," the spokesman said. Russian artillery delivered strikes at amassed Ukrainian manpower and equipment in the Kupyansk area, destroying over 20 militants in the past day, Konashenkov reported. "In the Kupyansk direction, over 20 Ukrainian troops, an infantry fighting vehicle and two motor vehicles were destroyed as a result of Russian artillery strikes at the amassed Ukrainian manpower and military hardware in the area of the settlements of Ivanovka in the Kharkov Region and Novosyolovskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the spokesman said. Russian forces wiped out four Ukrainian subversive groups in the Lugansk People’s Republic in the past day, Konashenkov reported. "In the Krasny Liman direction, artillery strikes inflicted damage on the Ukrainian army units amassed in the areas of the settlements of Stelmakhovka and Chervonaya Dibrova in the Lugansk People’s Republic and in the area of the Serebryansky forestry. In addition, four Ukrainian subversive groups were eliminated in the area of the community of Rozovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the spokesman said. The Ukrainian army’s losses in that area amounted to 70 soldiers, two combat armored vehicles and two pickup trucks, the general specified. Russian forces gained more advantageous positions in their advance in the Donetsk area in the past day, Konashenkov reported. "In the Donetsk direction, Russian troops assumed more advantageous frontiers," the spokesman said. Russian artillery thwarted an enemy attack to reconnoiter the Russian troop positions by gunfire near the communities of Spornoye, Novgorodskoye, Vodyanoye, Leninskoye and Nevelskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the general said. "In the past 24 hours, over 130 Ukrainian troops, two tanks, three combat armored vehicles and three motor vehicles were destroyed in the Donetsk area," Konashenkov reported. Russian forces delivered strikes at the Ukrainian army’s brigades attempting to attack in the southern Donetsk area in the past day, he said. "In the southern Donetsk area, artillery fire and active operations by Russian troops inflicted damage on company tactical groups of the Ukrainian army’s 72nd mechanized brigade and 108th territorial defense brigade making unsuccessful attempts to attack in the areas of the settlements of Novomikhailovka, Vladimirovka and Novosyolka in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said. The enemy’s total losses in that area in the past 24 hours amounted to 80 personnel killed and wounded, two combat armored vehicles and three pickup trucks, the general specified. Russian forces struck a temporary deployment site of the battlegroup of the Ukrainian Special Operations Command South in the past day, Konashenkov reported. "Russian operational-tactical aircraft, missile troops and artillery struck the temporary deployment sites of the Ukrainian army’s 61st infantry jaeger brigade and 124th territorial defense brigade, and also the battlegroup of the Special Operations Command South in areas near the settlements of Konstantinopol in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Kherson and Veletenskoye in the Kherson Region," the spokesman said. Russian forces eliminated two Ukrainian subversive groups in the Donetsk People’s Republic in the past day, Konashenkov reported. "In the area of the settlement of Nikolskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, two Ukrainian subversive groups were eliminated," the spokesman said. In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 344 Ukrainian warplanes, 184 helicopters, 2,684 unmanned aerial vehicles, 398 surface-to-air missile systems, 7,159 tanks and other combat armored vehicles, 931 multiple rocket launchers, 3,691 field artillery guns and mortars and 7,664 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported. You're not going to replace this army no matter how hard you try. The rate of attrition is more than the entire west can handle. Somebody better get Kissinger on the phone. The terms of the west's surrender should be offered before they are dictated.
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