As much as you ever wanted to know about 155M artillery shell production • Hacker News Board

Re: As much as you ever wanted to know about 155M artillery shell production

#21

Post by kspacewalk2 » Thu, Feb 08, 2024, 2:26 AM UTC

Dig1t wrote: post #13

morkalork wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And now in Ukraine FPV kamikaze drones have gone from a makeshift novelty to the government aiming to produce 1M in 2024: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-produce-million...

I saw a video of these things in action killing somebody on the battlefield, it was truly disgusting. Seeing videos like that has made me feel like I don’t care who wins the conflict anymore, it just needs to come to an end.

It's no more and no less "disgusting" than being burned in an APC, have your limbs torn off in a trench by an artillery shell, or slowly bleeding out after being shot in a field. You just normally don't see those deaths, and here you saw one. Why does that make you not care who wins this war, the ones waging a fascist colonial war or the ones defending their families from it?

Re: As much as you ever wanted to know about 155M artillery shell production

#22

Post by Tostino » Thu, Feb 08, 2024, 2:26 AM UTC

duped wrote: post #16

I don't think it's a "problem" that we don't have enough munitions to launch at other humans. It's a testament to our time that there aren't incentives for manufacturing death.

I tend to agree.

However, knowing just how hungry modern warfare is for munitions, not having the capacity already in place to vastly ramp up production seems extremely short sighted.

Re: As much as you ever wanted to know about 155M artillery shell production

#23

Post by consumer451 » Thu, Feb 08, 2024, 2:28 AM UTC

duped wrote: post #16

I don't think it's a "problem" that we don't have enough munitions to launch at other humans. It's a testament to our time that there aren't incentives for manufacturing death.

In the case of Russia vs NATO, the lack is also because Russia blew up a large ammunition depot inside the Czech Republic in preparation for the invasion of Ukraine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Vrb%C4%9Btice_ammunition_...

Re: As much as you ever wanted to know about 155M artillery shell production

#24

Post by peteradio » Thu, Feb 08, 2024, 2:28 AM UTC

iso8859-1 wrote: post #14

schainks wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of us tech people have the military to thank for the creation of this industry, lest anyone forgets.

What do you mean? The first computer (the Antikythera mechanism) had nothing to do with the military.

Surely the greeks were simply using the Antikythera to find more tribes to war with.

Re: As much as you ever wanted to know about 155M artillery shell production

#25

Post by MOARDONGZPLZ » Thu, Feb 08, 2024, 2:28 AM UTC

iso8859-1 wrote: post #14

schainks wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of us tech people have the military to thank for the creation of this industry, lest anyone forgets.

What do you mean? The first computer (the Antikythera mechanism) had nothing to do with the military.

Off the top of my head, in this space DOD invented: CPUs/registers, random access memory, packet switched networks, internetworking, TCP/IPv4. I’m sure there’s more.

Re: As much as you ever wanted to know about 155M artillery shell production

#26

Post by kspacewalk2 » Thu, Feb 08, 2024, 2:28 AM UTC

more_corn wrote: post #7

That was well researched. Weapons manufacture has an unfortunate overlap with the systems skills computer people possess. It’s easy to get sucked in. He says it best in the first paragraph. “I wouldn’t want to be on the other end of one” Never build a weapon you wouldn’t want to be on the other end of. The last part of creation is relinquishing control. The person operating it might not be as careful pointing it as y…

A fine pacifist attitude to have when someone else did the fighting and the dying and the building up a military industrial complex for you. Ukrainians, for example, don't have that option, which is why a ton of IT guys there are starting and joining all sorts of miltech startups, volunteer groups, etc. Their families and their future depend on using their talents to build yucky weapons they don't want to be on the other side of.

Re: As much as you ever wanted to know about 155M artillery shell production

#27

Post by MattGaiser » Thu, Feb 08, 2024, 2:29 AM UTC

duped wrote: post #16

I don't think it's a "problem" that we don't have enough munitions to launch at other humans. It's a testament to our time that there aren't incentives for manufacturing death.

It is a problem when other humans are launching and we cannot launch back.

Re: As much as you ever wanted to know about 155M artillery shell production

#28

Post by kstenerud » Thu, Feb 08, 2024, 2:30 AM UTC

Dig1t wrote: post #13

morkalork wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And now in Ukraine FPV kamikaze drones have gone from a makeshift novelty to the government aiming to produce 1M in 2024: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-produce-million...

I saw a video of these things in action killing somebody on the battlefield, it was truly disgusting. Seeing videos like that has made me feel like I don’t care who wins the conflict anymore, it just needs to come to an end.

People felt this way about Europe in WW2 as well.

Freedom is paid for in blood. People forget that after a few generations of peace, and then we have to pay again because we grew complacent.

Re: As much as you ever wanted to know about 155M artillery shell production

#29

Post by ranger207 » Thu, Feb 08, 2024, 2:30 AM UTC

zmgsabst wrote: post #11

shiroiuma wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you think everyone should just allow Russia to take over any country it wants?

No — but perhaps we could have negotiated a peace during a conference at Minsk a decade ago or in Feb 2022 at the outbreak of hostilities, rather than frantically send Boris Johnson to subvert it. Russia has consistently angled for Ukraine to be a neutral border between two blocs to facilitate trade — and that clearly would have been better for Ukraine than a senseless slaughter which destroyed a generation, by maimi…

> But that wouldn’t have satisfied... Ukrainians who expressed a clear interest in more closely aligning with the west and not with Russia?

And regardless, does any of that give Russia the right to invade another country?

Re: As much as you ever wanted to know about 155M artillery shell production

#30

Post by epistasis » Thu, Feb 08, 2024, 2:30 AM UTC

duped wrote: post #16

I don't think it's a "problem" that we don't have enough munitions to launch at other humans. It's a testament to our time that there aren't incentives for manufacturing death.

It's a huge problem when an army with a larger amount wants to take your land, abduct your children, kill anyone who speaks and writes in your language, and tortures all your leaders to death.

All told, better to have fewer shells in general, but in particular, one must have at least as many shells as the murderous invaders that want to kill you.

And towards that end, the more that Ukraine destroys Russia's military, the less shells everyone else needs to build to defend themselves. Because if Ukraine falls, one only has to look on YouTube to find the translations of Russian TV that show all the other places their population is geared up to invade, rape, conquer, and subjugate.