Ukraine Invasion - Please do not post videos showing attacks/similar

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steve45 said:
Very Interesting! I always thought that the short sighted descision to go with ramps instead of CATOBAR was a mistake.
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It was a purely financial decision, same as when the previous carriers were ordered STOVL to save money, and same as when their predecessors were converted from CATOBAR to STOVL (in that case upgrading them to be compatible with newer generations of CATOBAR aircraft was deemed prohibitively expensive). The government thinking has always been that it's better to cheap out on the carrier and then buy more expensive (albeit less capable) aircraft as that way you can spread the cost out more. Obviously it has kicked us in the backside on multiple occasions (I.E Argentina would never have set foot on the Falklands if we had multiple carriers loaded with F-14s instead of harriers).


steve45 said:
That would be a massive and extremely costly redesign job to retrofit to QE class. I do think it would be beneficial in the long run and would allow future aircraft purchases to be more flexible.
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IIRC when the Con-Dem coalition came to power in 2010 they ordered a study into the cost of switching the then under construction carriers to CATOBAR, the cost combined with how far along the STOVL construction was made changing financially unviable. However the fact a major war has kicked off in Europe may now have made having decent aircraft carriers more of a financial priority.


Grim5 said:
Russian MoD posts video of a destroyed T80 and claims it is Ukrainian, but in the video is a dead Russian soldier on the tank with his Russian arm patch clearly visible
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All the tanks/planes that Russia destroys are Ukrainian, especially the Russian ones :p

For anyone who doesn't get it, this is a call back to when they shot down their own Su-35 (may have been an Su-34) then claimed it was Ukrainian and they meant to do it (despite Ukraine having never owned such aircraft).
 
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Am still hoping Putin ends up getting knocked off and the Russia has to recall it's army to keep the peace. I can only imagine the chaos the power struggle would cause in Russia tho.
 
ubersonic said:
However the fact a major war has kicked off in Europe may now have made having decent aircraft carriers more of a financial priority.
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Sadly I dont see this happening. Despite current global situation, we are still pushing ahead with cuts and not investing as we should. The planned raise in defense budget over the next decade has already effectively been allocated to cover current projects from what I have read.
 
steve45 said:
Sadly I dont see this happening. Despite current global situation, we are still pushing ahead with cuts and not investing as we should. The planned raise in defense budget over the next decade has already effectively been allocated to cover current projects from what I have read.
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UK armed forces now smaller than anytime in the last 260 years, the army just dipped under the numbers for 1760
 
Harlequin said:
UK armed forces now smaller than anytime in the last 260 years, the army just dipped under the numbers for 1760
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Its a horrible state of affairs. I am seeing the real world effect of the low numbers. We are trying to have the same output as 10-15 years ago with over a 1/3 less people. Guys are completely burnt out, sign off rates are through the roof. Positions are gapped all over the shop. People are double and triple hatting positions just to get by. Our vehicle fleet is on its **** with no short-medium term solution. Recruitment is at a huge deficit. They guys that have come through training in recent years are to no fault of their own, useless due to training deficiencies from depot. Whisch puts an increased stress and training burden on field units.
The only reason the Army hasnt fallen flat on its face in recent years is due to our complete stubbornness to push through and complete tasks at all costs regardless of the impact/effect on the lads, hence the skyrocketing sign off rate. It can only go on so long before it all collapses and we are found out, and the country see the real situation we are in.

The scary thing is... This is not a situation that is unique to us, all NATO countries are facing the same recruitment issues and resulting strain on remaining personnel. Albeit to varying levels.
 
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ubersonic said:
Looking at social/mainstream media there are a lot of self declared experts who are throwing their opinions in on Ukraine's (and Russia's) performance during this counteroffensive.

Something a lot of people seem to be overlooking, is that Ukraine are attempting something that simply has not happened on this planet in almost eighty years. There is currently not a single military on the face of the earth that has recent experience executing a combined armoured/infantry advance against a dug in enemy without air superiority.

In fact, I don't think it's unwarranted to say that if the Desert Storm coalition had failed to defeat the Iraqi air force/air defences and commence aerial bombardment of their artillery (obviously a fictional example as that was never on the cards) then they would not have dared advance into Kuwait. On the flipside, a bunch of random Libyans in pickup trucks managed to defeat their countries professional army purely because they had a NATO air force flying ahead obliterating all resistance.

The fact Ukraine's alleged losses are so low despite the danger of what they are attempting is IMO nothing short of remarkable.
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They may not have air superiority but eighty years ago they also didn't have flying drones
 
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steve45 said:
Its a horrible state of affairs. I am seeing the real world effect of the low numbers. We are trying to have the same output as 10-15 years ago with over a 1/3 less people. Guys are completely burnt out, sign off rates are through the roof. Positions are gapped all over the shop. People are double and triple hatting positions just to get by. Our vehicle fleet is on its **** with no short-medium term solution. Recruitment is at a huge deficit. They guys that have come through training in recent years are to no fault of their own, useless due to training deficiencies from depot. Whisch puts an increased stress and training burden on field units.
The only reason the Army hasnt fallen flat on its face in recent years is due to our complete stubbornness to push through and complete tasks at all costs regardless of the impact/effect on the lads, hence the skyrocketing sign off rate. It can only go on so long before it all collapses and we are found out, and the country see the real situation we are in.
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Battle winning Tank regiments are now squadrons and Old Infantry Battalions are now platoons. Its a joke it really is. Would horrify the country if they knew the truth about all those big pageants and who we had attend. And no we couldnt retake the Falklands.
 
Harlequin said:
And no we couldnt retake the Falklands.
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Thankfully we take security down there a bit more seriously these days. i doubt Argentina could just waltz on over and occupy it these days. However if they were to, I do agree it wouldnt be an easy task to retake. We'd likely be crawling with our tail between our legs and invoking article 5...
 
steve45 said:
Thankfully we take security down there a bit more seriously these days. i doubt Argentina could just waltz on over and occupy it these days. However if they were to, I do agree it wouldnt be an easy task to retake. We'd likely be crawling with our tail between our legs and invoking article 5...
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or the USA offering shittyhawk without aircraft or crew - again
 
Harlequin said:
Battle winning Tank regiments are now squadrons and Old Infantry Battalions are now platoons. It’s a joke it really is. Would horrify the country if they knew the truth about all those big pageants and who we had attend. And no we couldnt retake the Falklands.
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Please do some research before posting comments based upon opinion not fact.

Among other assets we have 4 euro typhoons stationed there that would remove from play any asset Argentina tried to even get close. They haven’t evolved much since the falklands war themselves. Then on top of that occasional Royal Navy assets including nuclear submarines.

Outside of the US and potentially now china, no country has military that has plenty of manpower and/or modern gear to fight a protracted modern war.
 
kitkat9933 said:
Please do some research before posting comments based upon opinion not fact.

Among other assets we have 4 euro typhoons stationed there that would remove from play any asset Argentina tried to even get close. They haven’t evolved much since the falklands war themselves. Then on top of that occasional Royal Navy assets including nuclear submarines.

Outside of the US and potentially now china, no country has military that has plenty of manpower and/or modern gear to fight a protracted modern war.
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He said retake not defend... In the hypothetical situation where Argentina took control of Falklands, we would simply struggle to get the required forces into position to retake. We have retired/sold so many vital assets that would be key in regaining control should we lose the islands. However thankfully we have enough assets in place to stop an assault with Argentina's current capabilities.
 
kitkat9933 said:
Please do some research before posting comments based upon opinion not fact.

Among other assets we have 4 euro typhoons stationed there that would remove from play any asset Argentina tried to even get close. They haven’t evolved much since the falklands war themselves. Then on top of that occasional Royal Navy assets including nuclear submarines.

Outside of the US and potentially now china, no country has military that has plenty of manpower and/or modern gear to fight a protracted modern war.
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Sorry matey, my lads were never sent down south, spent my days in Germany at Dempsey Barracks , or on Granby or at the end in Cyprus....

However as Steve said, i specifically said RETAKE aka another oppo like `82.
 
Well there's some answer on the speed, Ukrainians are saying the Kinzhal speed is picked up on radar as 4464kmph or 2773mph, otherwise known as Mach 3.6.
Given the range that the operators say the radar picks up the missiles, it means they have 2 minutes to shoot it down before it hits the target

Is 2 minutes from target terminal? Mach 3.6 at terminal is still quite some speed and mighty impressive for Patriot to intercept it

And yes this means its not really a hypersonic missile as it would need to be over Mach 5 at terminal to achieve that claim
 
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Grim5 said:
as it would need to be over Mach 5 at terminal to achieve that claim
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Which I believe is still an issue for hitting ships as compared to a static land target you need to recalibrate in terminal even with the short time from launch to hitting and the interference from plasma generated on the leading surfaces is far too high at the headline hypersonic speeds for the sensors required for that to operate accurately.

So the missile needs to slow down in terminal to achieve conditions for accurate targeting making it easier to track and hit.
 
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There has more or less being no new news for 48 hours on the offensive. The reason is the weather, it's raining hard and will rain for the rest of the week so the ukranian are holding down and won't move till it dries
 
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