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What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

reuters.com

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Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#131

Post by tus666 »

I think this misses the point entirely. It's their entire strategy, or lack of strategy that is in question.

Small numbers of light vehicles entering towns they have not overcome...are then promptly destroyed by irregular Ukrainian forces often with improvised weapons.

Seemingly trying to take large cities without first gaining and controlling ground and surrounding areas.

Lack of attempts to destroy strategic infrastructure at the beginning - e.g. TV/broadcast, communications, bridges, rail, etc - using cruise missiles or whatever.

Unclear objectives - are they really trying to actually take Kiev or just force Ukraine into submission?

Effective use of an air-force is pointless without dealing with the above issues and more.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#132

Post by vegai_ »

999900000999 wrote: post #110
platinumrad wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without minimizing the awfulness of this invasion and the fact that it must be condemned, it is not nearly as brutal as Russian operations in Chechnya and Syria or the US-led coalition invasion of Iraq, likely because Ukranians are not nearly as much of a racial or cultural other to Russians as Chechens or Syrians. The greater ability of Ukrainians to gain coverage in both traditional and social media may also be a f…

Thank you for articulating this better than I could. You had a CBS* commentator straight up saying this is different than Middle East wars since Kyiv is a " civilized city". That said, I think much of Russia's restraint is due to their end goal. Ukraine's Russian backed president was outted in a coup back in 2014. The new pro West leadership decided to go dancing with John McCain. This entire conflict could of been a…

Does NATO membership imply that America owns the country? I haven't witnessed anything like that in any of the European NATO countries.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#133

Post by thera2 »

anramon wrote: post #92
blast wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that is the case, why would officials and experts be "stumped"? This seems like the obvious explanation.

Right now an "expert" is whoever says something that is aligned with media retoric.

No post body was provided.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#134

Post by _pd19 »

consp wrote: post #113
HideousKojima wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Violence also helps back the idea that Russia needs to be there to stop the violent nazis that state media has painted Ukrainians to be (goes without saying, this is completely fabricated). It definitely isn't "completely fabricated": https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azov_Battalion The real problem is, who gives a shit if a small unit in the Ukrainian National Guard is made up of far right extremists? It's a purely i…

> It definitely isn't "completely fabricated": It would be exactly the same as calling all Americans Nazi's during the reign of Trump. There is no foundation in fact all American's are but there are small groups he as the President supported who were Nazi's. This is a plain lie to serve their propaganda.

It'd be more like if the US were fighting a civil war and substantial fighters on the government side were part of neo-Nazi paramilitaries that had swastikas as their flag.

Oh and also if the US government started banning other languages then english.

None of this justifies Russian imperialism, but I think we get too caught up in war and can often brush the crimes of the side we agree with under the rug.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#135

Post by _moof »

PaulHoule wrote: post #128
_moof wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing all the engineers you know are web software pukes. There are loads of people who could build these today.

Instead people like me make "spatial computing" led hula hoops and other harmless stuff like that... And those EEG cat ears!

The world would be much better off with more LED hula hoops and fewer guided missiles.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#136

Post by dogleash »

mstipetic wrote: post #78
PaulHoule wrote: post #3

They are afraid of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buk_missile_system a very good technology that the Soviet Union developed which punches above its weight in situations like the Ukraine war because the mobile radars are hard to suppress with these methods https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suppression_of_Enemy_Air_Defen... I have seen a huge number of Buks in various conditions in video footage from the war, one of them wa…

I always wonder how they developed things like that in the 70s. Right now I don’t know a single engineer that could even know how to begin to develop a system like that. I feel like most of them would try and throw a neural net at the problem and call it a day.

>I don’t know a single engineer that could even know how to begin to develop a system like that

It's called "controls engineering", and there are plenty of talented people in the field. But you are correct that people who sought a career in websites and cellphones have never heard of it.

(edit: s/cellphones/cellphone apps/)

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#137

Post by mstipetic »

hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #90
mstipetic wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always wonder how they developed things like that in the 70s. Right now I don’t know a single engineer that could even know how to begin to develop a system like that. I feel like most of them would try and throw a neural net at the problem and call it a day.

You may be exaggerating but there is some truth in it, and it applies to many areas of science. The growing specialization means your knowledge is deeper but lest vast. For many classes of problems you just use a pre-built solution as this is the easiest and most common way. But rest assured, the people who work on defense system know very well what they are doing.

Are these engineers paid well compared to standard web stack engineers now?

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#138

Post by geoka9 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #44
DavidPeiffer wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are two separate videos. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-molo...

Look closely at 0:04 and you can see the armored vehicle under tow, though, in the molotov video.

The tractor has a Z painted on it? It doesn't look like military, but that's what the Russians are painting on their armor.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#139

Post by ertian »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #7

Just because the US is in love with 'Shock and Awe' doesn't mean everyone else sees it as the appropriate methodology in all circumstances.

It's not necessarily about 'Shock and Awe' attacks on Ukrainian targets, though. They're also allowing drone and aircraft attacks on their tanks, troops, and supply chains. You would expect the Russian air force to be seeking air superiority and providing support to their troops.

Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

#140

Post by smallerfish »

HideousKojima wrote: post #67
micromacrofoot wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ukraine really doesn't want war, the odds are stacked against them and without significant outside ground troops they'll be devastated even if Russia is as incompetent as they currently appear. Killing aggressors is often used as an excuse for the aggressors to be more aggressive and Russia's army is large enough to replace that convoy a few times over without much of a sweat. Violence also helps back the idea that R…

>Violence also helps back the idea that Russia needs to be there to stop the violent nazis that state media has painted Ukrainians to be (goes without saying, this is completely fabricated). It definitely isn't "completely fabricated": https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azov_Battalion The real problem is, who gives a shit if a small unit in the Ukrainian National Guard is made up of far right extremists? It's a purely i…

Could you not imagine the Proud Boys being allowed to serve as a unit if Canada seized Montana and Idaho, and the national guard needed resources? (With the assumption that the US had a GDP equivalent to Ukraine's.)
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