What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped • Hacker News Board

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

#301

Post by squarefoot » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 7:42 PM UTC

Mikeb85 wrote: post #129

watwut wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The war is already in the indiscriminate killing phase and moving towards just destroy city phase. Should be there in few days. Slav fellowship does not work in wars. No fellowship works in wars.

> Slav fellowship does not work in wars. No fellowship works in wars. There's plenty of videos of Russian troops not attacking civilians and surrendering. But there's also videos of them attacking civilian targets... It seems there's some Slavic fellowship at play but that it's mostly among regular soldiers, not the leadership. Then again, maybe the gross incompetence shown by the Russians is a result of said fellows…

Also the number of Russian news sources closed and journalists arrested, fired from govt aligned media, or willing to leave the country is increasing daily. That would be an indicator that the Russian regime is deeply concerned about the public not falling for that propaganda anymore.

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

#302

Post by ChildOfChaos » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 7:43 PM UTC

jl6 wrote: post #261

I guess everyone's weighing in with their view, so why not? Firstly, we should be mindful that the fog of war is now in play, and a good amount of what we think we know is unverifiable. With that caveat out of the way... It seems that the Russian soldiers are making efforts to avoid attacking civilians directly. Counterexamples exist and could be explained by rogue units, incompetence, or hot-blooded revenge on local…

I mean all I see when I look online is Russia attacking Civilians and not caring who they attack.

Yes there is a degree of restraint because they are trying to take the country over, they cannot burn it to the ground, but they don’t really seem to care about civilians and keep committing war crimes, just now they directly bombed near a hotel and train station, people trying to flee the country.

Saying they are ‘pro-civillian’ seems far fetched and doesn’t seem to match the facts

The British government is leading a 38-nation referral of Russia to the ICC to probe war crimes and a direct quote from the British Government foreign secretary just now reads: “Putin’s military machine is targeting civilians indiscriminately and tearing through towns across Ukraine"

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

#303

Post by dymk » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 7:43 PM UTC

gamblor956 wrote: post #166

dymk wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not really fair to say it's not in the article - it's the title of the article.

The author of the article does not choose the title, the editor does, based on what they think will draw more views/clicks.

I don't really care if it's the editor or the author - it's part of the article. Similarly, I don't care if it's served up over HTTP1 or HTTP2, it's irrelevant to the content of the document served up.

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

#304

Post by gpm » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 7:43 PM UTC

988747 wrote: post #258

gpm wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ukraine just yesterday flew a MIG-29 back from Romania, unarmed and escorted to the border by Romania jets/from the border by armed Ukranian jets. No-one seems concerned that that's an act of war.

No one seems concerned, except the NATO Secretary General who rushed to Poland specifically to stop Polish President, Andrzej Duda from lending Polish jet fighters: https://news.yahoo.com/no-eu-countries-aren-t-233404478.html Also, that one jet that flew from Romania was flying BACK, because it already belonged to Ukraine, just had an emergency landing in Romania for some unknown reason: https://www.thedrive.com/the-…

The argument that you are making is that "Allowing to use the military infrastructure, such as an airport is an act of war". How in the world is letting a Ukranian jet land and take off at an airport making less use of that airport, than giving Ukraine a jet and only letting it take off from the airport?

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

#305

Post by drran » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 7:44 PM UTC

formerly_proven wrote: post #275

drran wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ukraine has not such thing as private militia. Azov regiment was made by volunteers: football fans. See them there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvzxM_DbQhw .

Hah, football fans and neonazism, name a more iconic duo.

Yeah, they are holding «Putin - khujlo!»[0] banner. They are definitely anti-Russian. All anti-Russians are Nazi by Russian definition.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putin_khuylo!

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

#306

Post by vintermann » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 7:44 PM UTC

saiya-jin wrote: post #262

standardUser wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Lack of experienced Russian pilot" This one is so hard for me to imagine, given Russia's long history of aerospace pride and massive military budget. The article attributes it to limited flying time compared to US/UK pilots and unfamiliarity with their latest and most advanced jets. Truly hard to comprehend how a military like Russia's could be suffering from lack of training despite a multi-year lead-up to a massiv…

Its easy - imagine massive, gargantuan corruption. On all levels, including the very top and going all the way to the lowest soldier. Heck, they were selling gas to Belarus civilians from their own machines while waiting just across the border during February. And then they ran out of it in Ukraine. Can you imagine US or western Europe soldiers doing something similar en masse? And its not just that - heavy drinking,…

> Its easy - imagine massive, gargantuan corruption.

Well, it's not as if the US military industrial complex has nothing of that?

I think the problem isn't corruption alone, but the combination of corruption and all the corrupt trying hard to put their own eggs elsewhere than Russia's basket. Working with a corrupt authoritarian leader can be profitable, but you really want to have a plan B for when SHtF.

US corrupt elites have the luxury problem that if their wealth and power isn't secure in the US, it probably isn't very secure anywhere else either. So they have to take just a little care not shit where they eat (too much), and maybe sponsor a few museums and stuff, robber baron style.

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

#307

Post by cycomanic » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 7:44 PM UTC

boc wrote: post #50

I think we need to consider the possibility that much of the Russian army only existed on paper, and that the true strength was overinflated by trickling up good news only throughout all ranks of the military.[1] Readiness was overstated. Equipment was overstated. Training was for parades, not combat. Everyone in the Russian military had assumed they'd never actually fight a real war, so they could grift and sell rat…

You might be correct to some degree. I suspect though, what played an even bigger role is that Putin and many of his higher ups, really seem to have believed this would be a very easy invasion and their troops would be welcome like liberators. Just read the gloating pre-prepared "we won" article that was released accidentally [1], it really seems like they were believing their own propaganda.

[1] https://www.economist.com/europe/2022/02/28/the-kremlins-pro...

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

#308

Post by _moof » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 7:45 PM UTC

brightball wrote: post #91

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.

I talked to a guy a few weeks ago who worked for a company that developed a guidance system before GPS that used stars like a sextant to navigate. Pretty crazy to think about.

GPS and celnav (and other forms of navigation, radio or otherwise) are really not so different when you get down to fundamentals. At their core they are all about locating the intersection of multiple lines, circles, or spheres of position, depending on how many dimensions you're working with. The major differences are in how you come up with the LOPs.

The odd man out, if you will, is inertial nav, which has more in common with dead reckoning.

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

#309

Post by lmohseni » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 7:46 PM UTC

ChildOfChaos wrote: post #302

jl6 wrote: post #261

I guess everyone's weighing in with their view, so why not? Firstly, we should be mindful that the fog of war is now in play, and a good amount of what we think we know is unverifiable. With that caveat out of the way... It seems that the Russian soldiers are making efforts to avoid attacking civilians directly. Counterexamples exist and could be explained by rogue units, incompetence, or hot-blooded revenge on local…

I mean all I see when I look online is Russia attacking Civilians and not caring who they attack. Yes there is a degree of restraint because they are trying to take the country over, they cannot burn it to the ground, but they don’t really seem to care about civilians and keep committing war crimes, just now they directly bombed near a hotel and train station, people trying to flee the country. Saying they are ‘pro-c…

We have footage of cluster bombs striking civilian apartment buildings in Kharkiv: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZuKEwuZznw

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

#310

Post by saiya-jin » Wed, Mar 02, 2022, 7:46 PM UTC

mattnewton wrote: post #48

selectodude wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia is using thermobaric and cluster munitions in Kharkiv. I really just don't think that Russia has quite as many PGMs as we think and Russia is close enough to most of Ukraine that they can launch regular old rockets from safe territory on the ground.

Has the use of thermobarics been confirmed? I know they were spotted in the area and there was an explosion in Kharkiv, but it could have been gas pipelines that were hit, and I've also see that explaination for the explosion videos.

Tons of pictures/videos of TOS-1 system, even one abandoned on some field. Now can I safely say its from current conflict and from Ukraine? Obviously not, but I personally lean to agree.