It’s kicking off

Russian police arrest over 1000 protesters

Alexei Navalny, has been poisoned and arrested and still had this documentary released 

His wife has been arrested as well. 

Some serious minerals on this chap 

Edited February 27, 20224 yr by Rudy

I noticed in Co-op the other day they have renamed their Chicken Kievs to Chicken Kyiv

 

 

Read about this earlier. 

No one was dead then, but the assailant was badly hurt, so presume it's him.

I'm amazed that anyone has survived to be honest.

https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-f16-russia-fighter-jets-crimea-su34-1855709

 

 

3 hours ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-f16-russia-fighter-jets-crimea-su34-1855709

 

Not buying it. 

More magic bullet talk regarding the F-16 as well, mad.

10 hours ago, Marc505 said:

Not buying it. 

More magic bullet talk regarding the F-16 as well, mad.

We've been here before; it clearly isn't a magic bullet, but, even if it's just a numbers game, then their presence can only be of benefit.

A point was made about not revealing so much about what is being supplied and when, which makes sense. Initially the west has announced what it is sending, perhaps as means of worrying the Russians, but they've stuck with their invasion, so now it makes sense from an operational perspective not to reveal their hand.

7 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

We've been here before; it clearly isn't a magic bullet, but, even if it's just a numbers game, then their presence can only be of benefit.

A point was made about not revealing so much about what is being supplied and when, which makes sense. Initially the west has announced what it is sending, perhaps as means of worrying the Russians, but they've stuck with their invasion, so now it makes sense from an operational perspective not to reveal their hand.

They'll only be of benefit if they come complete with their best sensors and weapons, and I doubt they will. Ukranian pilots are nowhere near close to being able to fly them into combat either from what I've seen, especially an ultra contested environment. They're only just starting to get basic seat time in them in Arizona and Denmark after simulator work.

It is a good point re. revealing new weapons being fielded, they usually can't wait to show off what they've used. I think that is part of the whole social media side of war that Ukraine is involved with and probably winning. Their official military twitter account did an advent calendar in December with a new weapon each day (?!) 😂

 

From what I've been reading, they seem to want them for striking land targets with various weapons.

Not sure that the air superiority aspect is as vital to them. 

The Dutch are supposedly giving theirs any time, and I would imagine that these are fairly up to date. Maybe some of the training had been going on for longer than we know and that's part of the plan- keep it under wraps like the weaponry.

It's happened again, it's happened again, Russian oligarch, it's happened again

https://metro.co.uk/2023/12/28/putin-crony-found-dead-yet-another-mystery-fall-window-20034985/

I don't understand why all nations don't just give their old stuff they were going to scrap anyway to Ukraine. The US alone could give so much stuff they consider obsolete its untrue but would be better than anything Ukraine has.

11 minutes ago, Winchester White said:

I don't understand why all nations don't just give their old stuff they were going to scrap anyway to Ukraine. The US alone could give so much stuff they consider obsolete its untrue but would be better than anything Ukraine has.

They're giving it all to Israel

32 minutes ago, Winchester White said:

I don't understand why all nations don't just give their old stuff they were going to scrap anyway to Ukraine. The US alone could give so much stuff they consider obsolete its untrue but would be better than anything Ukraine has.

Much of the Ukrainian stuff is/was soviet stuff, and although not quite as new as Russia's current stuff, it's not that bad.

The stuff Ukraine has been given since is very capable- not sure giving them worse stuff now is a good idea.

I read an article the other day about some of our earlier Typhoon fighter jets; they're being kept in a managed decline (for want of a better description) to provide training and spare parts for newer variants.

Presumably, this is seen as better than upgrading them as the next generation plane is being forged in the minds of engineers.

These sorts of decisions have to be borne in mind by all militaries before just giving it all away.

Ukraine is being used as a real life test for some of the newer products too, although we won't get too much detail.

Talk of mobilisation and even conscription has started appearing in the press over the past couple of weeks. Unthinkable a few years ago.....

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/23/public-call-up-army-too-small/

31 minutes ago, kent_white said:

Talk of mobilisation and even conscription has started appearing in the press over the past couple of weeks. Unthinkable a few years ago.....

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/23/public-call-up-army-too-small/

Can barely get our people to do a days work nevermind get in trenches

20 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Can barely get our people to do a days work nevermind get in trenches

Or even dig the trenches! 😁

It's working though.

Apparently applications to the army have increased.

Going to take a while to get them up to speed though.

31 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

It's working though.

Apparently applications to the army have increased.

Going to take a while to get them up to speed though.

I do worry about the state of our armed forces. Royal will know better - but most things I read tend to suggest we would struggle to defend ourselves and would be reliant on Trident as a deterrent. Which is a hell of a risk. 

1 hour ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

It's working though.

Apparently applications to the army have increased.

Going to take a while to get them up to speed though.

 

Edited January 24, 20242 yr by DirtySanchez

3 hours ago, kent_white said:

I do worry about the state of our armed forces. Royal will know better - but most things I read tend to suggest we would struggle to defend ourselves and would be reliant on Trident as a deterrent. Which is a hell of a risk. 

Over recent years we seem to have become more focused on technology, reducing personnel numbers. I remember listening to Ben Wallace explaining that he felt it was the way to go.

I think Ukraine has perhaps made some rethink that policy.

Weapons now are very advanced, and require less input from humans. Unfortunately they're very expensive and are subject to similar technologies on the other side used to combat them.

Despite these newer weapons though, we still see a meat grinder situation in Ukraine, with huge numbers of casualties on both sides.

I suppose until we have fully autonomous fighting machines that will continue.

Out of interest the Royal Navy very recently successfully tested their new ship mounted laser weapon to take out a UAV.

There are articles on it; but interestingly the pulse that was fired cost around £10. Compare that with an anti aircraft missile and its a game changer.

Star wars is almost here.

46 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Over recent years we seem to have become more focused on technology, reducing personnel numbers. I remember listening to Ben Wallace explaining that he felt it was the way to go.

I think Ukraine has perhaps made some rethink that policy.

Weapons now are very advanced, and require less input from humans. Unfortunately they're very expensive and are subject to similar technologies on the other side used to combat them.

Despite these newer weapons though, we still see a meat grinder situation in Ukraine, with huge numbers of casualties on both sides.

I suppose until we have fully autonomous fighting machines that will continue.

Out of interest the Royal Navy very recently successfully tested their new ship mounted laser weapon to take out a UAV.

There are articles on it; but interestingly the pulse that was fired cost around £10. Compare that with an anti aircraft missile and its a game changer.

Star wars is almost here.

@royal white

what’s the verdict?

5 hours ago, kent_white said:

I do worry about the state of our armed forces. Royal will know better - but most things I read tend to suggest we would struggle to defend ourselves and would be reliant on Trident as a deterrent. Which is a hell of a risk. 

Well, in that case don't vote Conservative next time round...

I notice that is the arguement about technology, but our number should be more for our standing army.

Although I notice someone has backed Ben Wallace assertion made last May, which was flimsy at best. In fact, even Wallace had asked for more funding but got turned down by the treasury. Basically, he had to cut because otherwise he couldn't give the army the tools they needed to do the job. I believe he said he had to cut numbers or else he'd be sending the army to fight with pitchforks or something along those lines. Even Wallace did't want to do it.

Anyway - my thoughts are on the conscription thread. 

 

1 hour ago, Spider said:

@royal white

what’s the verdict?

You can read all about it if you wish.

More articles and Web sites than you can shake a stick at.

Much better than twitter.

26 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

You can read all about it if you wish.

More articles and Web sites than you can shake a stick at.

Much better than twitter.

I’m asking someone who knows more than any of us about the subject

56 minutes ago, Spider said:

I’m asking someone who knows more than any of us about the subject

Considering there is a significant political factor in play as I detailed then that isn't a given.

Also consider that the articles I refer to often come directly from the military Web site and or are written by ex-service personnel (like our own RW) then I'm totally happy to take their articles as accurate.

Sadly, it's not uncommon for you to write stuff from a twitterish perspective, but I prefer to use other sources.