Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-state-news-published... > A Russian state-run news agency prematurely published an article that said Russia has taken back Ukraine. > "Ukraine has returned to Russia," said the article, which ran on RIA Novosti and has since been taken down. "The West sees the return of Russia to its historical borders in Europe."
The full text is even better. Talks about "solving the Ukrainian question" which sounds like a direct reference to Hitler's "Final Solution to Jew Question" or whatever that was called.
What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped
621–630 of 791 posts
Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped
#622Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's face it, Russian airforce, russian army and russian equipment suck, but are good enough in this situation. The Emperor Putler has no clothes.
I've seen reports that Russia's only deployed 5-10% of their forces. This might be a slow steady escalation to allow evacuations of civilians and test the endurance of battalion forces. Any victories for Ukrainian forces may be short lived, as Russia seems to be using this opportunity to guage hot and cold zones.
Having (from a US civilian POV) sought to comprehend Soviet (and now Russian) military capability from afar since the early 1980's, it has long been my perception that (due to the political system in place there and the resultant poor economy) only 5-10% of Russian/Soviet military units nominally in existence have sufficient morale, training, and full provisioning with modern equipment to engage in successful offensive operations. In other words, that 5-10% of their units are lavished with the best people, training and weapons, and the remaining units make do with sub-par everything (at best).
Is the above an inaccurate perception?
Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped
#623Earlier quoted context omitted.
I still can't see how (b) doesn't still lead to (c). He needs to control the security apparatus, and that means essentially being an occupying force. It's not like the Ukrainians have not already have their security trampled all over already, so the usual limits on a popular uprising are gone already.
You have no idea about the darkness and effectiveness of modern tyranny. Russia is pretty much North Korea in democracy at this point or they will become so very soon. Putin wants the sanctions to be over. His next move will be to create devastation in Ukraine and hold civilians as hostages for the lifting of the sanctions. In anycase, Russia will controll South of Ukraine, link up with Transnistria and even if they…
If Russia manages to occupy Ukraine through repressions then wouldn't this invite Chechnya 2.0, but with 30x the people? Can the Russian state even survive something like that?
Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped
#624I 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…
>Did they really launch this invasion on the assumption that the people of Ukraine would just roll over and accept foreign rule? Iirc Ukraine had a government that was subordinate to Russia as recently as 2014. Belarus is still a Russian puppet. The Transnistria region of Moldova to Ukraine's south is largely welcoming of Russian military control. Doesn't seem too outlandish for them to assume that to me.
That government in 2014 was violently overthrown by a popular rebellion. Unlikely they'd be greeting Russians as liberators after that.
Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped
#625Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm puzzled why we haven't created something that can compete with S-300 / S-400 / S-500. At the very least the Patriot SAM should be redesigned to allow for vertical launching to allow shooting in all directions. If you point Patriot one way and you get ambushed from behind you're basically caught with your pants down. At the very least you'd need four Patriot missile launchers pointing in all directions to prevent…
> I'm puzzled why we haven't created something that can compete with S-300 / S-400 / S-500. In my opinion it is because the American way of fighting a war doesn’t need it. Let say there is a troublesome country who would want to fly airplanes to shoot at American troops. The war plans against such a threat would start with two steps: 1st supress their air defences. 2nd gain full air dominance. Supression of air defen…
The best US air defense missiles are launched from ships. (These are so good that, like the S-500 they can shoot down satellites!)
Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped
#626Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's face it, Russian airforce, russian army and russian equipment suck, but are good enough in this situation. The Emperor Putler has no clothes.
I've seen reports that Russia's only deployed 5-10% of their forces. This might be a slow steady escalation to allow evacuations of civilians and test the endurance of battalion forces. Any victories for Ukrainian forces may be short lived, as Russia seems to be using this opportunity to guage hot and cold zones.
82% of all staged forces as of this morning according the US DOD.
Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped
#627One theory I’ve seen is that Russians lack reliably working IFF, the friend-or-foe system. This would explain several friendly fire incidents.
Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped
#628Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Azov Battalion is the cause of everything, it seems. They're recruiting everywhere, I'm surprised it itself isn't the whole of the Ukrainian defenses now, if I believed all of the Russian shills. /s/Azov Battalion/Ukrainian National Guard/
Yeah, they have around 2500 members, but that's totally a reason to lose 2000 people a day in an unprovoked invasion and tank your entire country's economy while doing it. Would be nice if Europe and the US would seize Putin and associates' accounts and donate them to Ukraine.
> Would be nice if Europe and the US would seize Putin and associates' accounts and donate them to Ukraine.
I agree with this. Ukraine already has sustained tremendous damage, and of course it will get much worse before this ends. Take everything possible from Russia and give it over to Ukraine to help rebuild. Assuming they win. God I hope they win.
Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped
#629They 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…
Don't forget about https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIM-92_Stinger
Not in the same class as the Buk.
The Stinger is deadly against helicopters and fixed wing aircraft in a close air support role. It also is good for sniping at aircraft that are taking off and landing.
Against high altitude bombers and fighter aircraft though it does nothing. With modern precision weapons an aircraft like the B-52 can fly high and have individual munitions be targeted with GPS or laser so it can cause a lot of hurt to ground troops and be out of reach of the Stinger.
Re: What happened to Russias Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped
#630Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, I'd love to hear a good explanation for why they're not attacking a 40-mile long convoy on a road. At least bomb the front of the convoy, wtf. That Russia sent in such a rich sitting duck target and it's not being attacked suggests they have air superiority and we're getting bad information.
'why don't they' ... really is the assumption that Ukrainian defense is clueless? I would say they are doing a pretty good job so far.
No, the assumption is that they are outgunned.