I like how you can see the relative weight of each vehicle by the amount of damage to the grass made as they were backed into position. The Challenger weights 75 tons!
Maxim 11: Everything is air-droppable at least once.
Minister of Defence of Ukraine is happy:
That’s the weight of around a thousand people.
So I guess the vehicle posing with the American flag is a Bradley? What about the German vehicle-- from context, I’d have guessed a Leopard 2, except that it doesn’t look like it has a tank-sized gun.
One of the 40 Marders recently delivered. Another 60 to follow.
I’m trying to imagine myself as a conscripted Russian soldier. We barely get equipment, and the equipment we do get is old and shitty. Limited ammo so we have to ration, same probably for food. And then all of a sudden you see two dozen modern NATO tanks cresting a nearby hill immediately after all your command and control installations have just been obliterated by HiMars.
I think my only thought would be “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”
Utilities have been buried in the US for a long time. There’s no power poles in new subdivisions. A storm broke a tree limb that crashed onto my service wire. Ripped the lugs out of my meter box and almost ripped the box off rhe wall. I paid to get that line buried a few months later. It was well worth the cost. My subdivision is from the 1950’s when power poles were still used.
Ukraine will eventually benefit by moderning their grid.
Looks like a Stryker to me.
Same as it ever was. The lot of Russian soldier has been pretty shitty since conscription was introduced in 1699. The welfare of the common Russian trooper has never been a particularly high government priority in any age.
Such as Stalin’s “Not a step back!”:
I’m still not sure whether the slow reverse speeds of Russian tanks is a bug - an indicator of rubbish engines - or a feature - so their tanks don’t retreat.
Challenger 2 reversing:
T-72 reversing - max. 4 km/h (2.5 mph):
My great grandfather came to America to avoid Russian conscription
Why do I think this is something in the Black Speech?
My grandparents came to America to avoid being murdered in a Russian pogrom. It was an awful experience for them to become refugees but in retrospect it was all for the better, and they said as much to us kids when we were old enough to start understanding such topics.
I dunno - why do some people call Russian troops “orcs”?
If the metaphor fits, wear it?
“Keep advancing or our side will shoot you dead” is pretty evil when you get down to it. But I’m not surprised Russia is doing that again.
Some very interesting discussion upthread recently about ‘hobby-level’ drone capability. Apologies if this link’s already been posted, but Ukraine is now receiving cardboard drones from Australia. Less visible to radar and seemingly capable of the kind of grenade-dropping harassment of other kinds.
Have to join to read the article, but the idea sounds interesting.
Lets try this link.
Sure. Some drones that are capable of flight for hundreds of KM are made of foam. Model aircraft are made of foam, balsa, and cardboard is perfectly viable.
Here’s a 100km range drone made of EPO foam.
https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32837740228.html
At Alibaba you can order in quantity, and several of the drones I looked at come from manufacturers who say they can make from 1,000-10,000 of them per month.
The remains of a wood/foam drone in Ukrainian colors and with ‘Glory to Ukraine’ emblazoned on it was reportedly found near Moscow:
Have they developed a remote gun mount for drones? It wouldn’t have the stopping power or accuracy of a sniper. But a small caliber weapon could harass and maybe kill Russian troops from above.
Thanks for the link