Ukraine War Thread Part 2
Much of the drone footage gets badly distorted as it approaches the target. Does this mean they are encountering defensive interference?
The Russians have effective Electronic Warfare (EW) capability - which is a major reason why American 'glide bombs' are so ineffective as their old generation GNSS systems are disrupted by the Russians. The fact that the Russian glide-bombs are so devastating tells you that Ukrainian/Western EW is not as good. The glide bombs should be missing all their targets. (Of course, the 'fact' of them hitting their targets could be misinformation, much like the British fed wrong information back to the Germans about targetting of V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets (See Double Cross and V1&V2 targetting disinformation )).
As for the drones, the vehicles being attacked will likely have jammers that radiate in the frequencies that the Russians have determined that the Ukrainians use. The inverse square law determines they get better at jamming the closer the drone gets to the jammer. Obviously, doing things like making the control and feedback channels frequency-hop and use pseudorandom encoding makes it more difficult for jamming to work: but such technology is not cheap, and takes power. There's a cost benefit trade-off. If the drones have independent on-board seeker capability, you only need get close enough for the drone to identify the target - again, takes power, compute facility, and requires sensors. Hitting a drone with enough radio-energy to disrupt the electronics also works, but takes a lot of power, especially if the drone is well-shielded.
It does look like drones are 'the future of warfare'. It looks to me like a seismic shift, much like the deployment of reliable machine guns in the First World War. The 'meat wave' tactics of troops advancing against machine gun fire did not work then (bar a few heroics), and a 'meat wave' against an opponent with a near inexhaustible supply of drones won't work now. Ukraine lacks drones and drone operators.
In the long run, the defender is at a disadvantage in EW. Cheap homing devices that home in on the jammer antennas will disrupt the jamming for long enough to allow drones with other capabilities to do their work. The ideal is to disrupt the (expensive) EW control/generation 'box', rather than the (cheaper) antennas, but disabling the capability for long enough to devastate the enemy is always good enough. Jamming is always more difficult than getting a signal through the noise.
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Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Who wouldn’t leave their hatch open on the battlefield on a nice sunny day…..
Russian T-90M ‘number 815’ elegantly destroyed by FPV drone operator of Pomsta Brigade. Bakhmut front.
Russian T-90M ‘number 815’ elegantly destroyed by FPV drone operator of Pomsta Brigade. Bakhmut front.
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If there aren't any ammunition in the carousel that would explode, the turret stays on.
Turret tossing requires that the carousel is loaded and penetrating material reaches the ammunition under the turret floor. Generally that happens when high velocity anti tank weapons such as NLAW or Javelin are used. I doubt that the type of load a drone carries is able to do that.
Turret tossing requires that the carousel is loaded and penetrating material reaches the ammunition under the turret floor. Generally that happens when high velocity anti tank weapons such as NLAW or Javelin are used. I doubt that the type of load a drone carries is able to do that.
Looking more closely at that footage, the tank is already damaged and the crew are long gone. Hence the open hatch. Of course that's no reason to ensure that it's never made operational again.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
https://kyivindependent.com/politico...rates-ukraine/
Politico: Stalled US F-16 training program frustrates Ukraine
Kyiv wants the United States to train more Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, but the U.S. says there are limited spots and too many customers from other nations, Politico reported on June 5, citing Ukrainian and U.S. officials.
Several countries, including the U.S., have pledged to assist Ukrainian aviators with the necessary training under the F-16 coalition framework. The first Ukrainian pilots began their training at Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson, Arizona, last October.
Ukraine says it has 30 pilots prepared to start the training program in Tucson, but U.S. President Joe Biden maintains that the program only has space for 12 students at a time, three officials toldPolitico.
The same availability issues reportedly also affect training facilities in Denmark and Romania.
Over the past several weeks, Kyiv has officially requested that the U.S. train the additional pilots at the Tucson facility. The U.S. has not granted the request, citing committments to other nations in line for F-16 training at the base.
"We understand they don't want to break those contracts, but they could move their American pilots to a different base for training," Ukrainian lawmaker Sasha Ustinova told Politico.
Maj. Erin Hannigan, a spokesperson for the Arizona National Guard, confirmed the limitations in training slots to Politico and said there were compounding reasons for the lack of slots.
"On top of the Ukrainian students, there are multiple other countries that have reserved training throughout the year," Hannigan said.
"The number of foreign student pilots and where they come from is not determined by our schoolhouse, there are many other factors that play a part in the numbers such as funding, country requests, graduation of students from English learning, and allotment."
A total of 20 Ukrainian pilots are anticipate to complete F-16 training by the end of 2024. That number is only half of the 40 aviators needed to operate a full squadron of 20 F-16 jets.
Eight new pilots will begin training at the facility in Romania, while another eight are set to undergo training at the Tucson base. For the rest of the year, across all training sites, only four spots will be available for Ukrainian pilots, one official told Politico.
Ukraine will not have a full squadron of pilots before the end of 2025, a former U.S. Defense Dapartment official told Politico.
Politico: Stalled US F-16 training program frustrates Ukraine
Kyiv wants the United States to train more Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, but the U.S. says there are limited spots and too many customers from other nations, Politico reported on June 5, citing Ukrainian and U.S. officials.
Several countries, including the U.S., have pledged to assist Ukrainian aviators with the necessary training under the F-16 coalition framework. The first Ukrainian pilots began their training at Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson, Arizona, last October.
Ukraine says it has 30 pilots prepared to start the training program in Tucson, but U.S. President Joe Biden maintains that the program only has space for 12 students at a time, three officials toldPolitico.
The same availability issues reportedly also affect training facilities in Denmark and Romania.
Over the past several weeks, Kyiv has officially requested that the U.S. train the additional pilots at the Tucson facility. The U.S. has not granted the request, citing committments to other nations in line for F-16 training at the base.
"We understand they don't want to break those contracts, but they could move their American pilots to a different base for training," Ukrainian lawmaker Sasha Ustinova told Politico.
Maj. Erin Hannigan, a spokesperson for the Arizona National Guard, confirmed the limitations in training slots to Politico and said there were compounding reasons for the lack of slots.
"On top of the Ukrainian students, there are multiple other countries that have reserved training throughout the year," Hannigan said.
"The number of foreign student pilots and where they come from is not determined by our schoolhouse, there are many other factors that play a part in the numbers such as funding, country requests, graduation of students from English learning, and allotment."
A total of 20 Ukrainian pilots are anticipate to complete F-16 training by the end of 2024. That number is only half of the 40 aviators needed to operate a full squadron of 20 F-16 jets.
Eight new pilots will begin training at the facility in Romania, while another eight are set to undergo training at the Tucson base. For the rest of the year, across all training sites, only four spots will be available for Ukrainian pilots, one official told Politico.
Ukraine will not have a full squadron of pilots before the end of 2025, a former U.S. Defense Dapartment official told Politico.
How about Flying Tigers 2.0? There must be a ton of experienced F-16 pilots out there.
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Wasn't there a recent comment that claimed NK shells arrive at the front covered in thick grease that has to be laboriously cleaned off before they can be used?
https://www.cfr.org/expert-brief/wea...ia-and-ukraine
https://news.sky.com/story/russia-is...-cost-13143224
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Macron announces Mirage 2000 fighters for Ukraine.
In French
In French
Slowly and ponderously the American Military Industrial complex is losing its attraction as a supplier of choice. Support can be removed on the political whim of a minority in their government.
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'The Conversation' update;
Ammunition, Kharkiv, and Asian views
https://theconversationuk.cmail19.co...-nirulyukid-r/
Ammunition, Kharkiv, and Asian views
https://theconversationuk.cmail19.co...-nirulyukid-r/
The French have a good history of follow through on military contracts and will no doubt allow the Ukrainian pilots and ground crews to train on them. Unlike the fiasco in #10972 above where the American political-military complex is delaying F16 training until a pro-Putin president is in the White House.
Slowly and ponderously the American Military Industrial complex is losing its attraction as a supplier of choice. Support can be removed on the political whim of a minority in their government.
Slowly and ponderously the American Military Industrial complex is losing its attraction as a supplier of choice. Support can be removed on the political whim of a minority in their government.
What is going on? Why are the Americans dragging their feet on this? I doubt the real reason is Trump/MAGA - they are not in power, and I doubt they could bring to bear such influence over the DOD. A large aid package was recently passed despite their opposition!