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

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Soldato
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Man of Honour
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Tanks seem to be pretty useless anyway especially in urban warfare, state of the art anti tank weapons are so easy to deploy from so many positions.

Tanks are still useful - but these days you need to combine them with anti-drone defences, dismounted infantry and the right tactics. They can easily become a sitting duck these days though if poorly utilised especially if driven unsupported into urban environments.
 
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Absolutely crazy situation that.

There might be a slightly different explanation - around 2017 they pulled ~3000 mothballed T-80s back into service with around 200-300 upgraded to the T-80BVM spec and the rest put through a different modernisation program - it is possible a lot of this missing stuff was cannibalised to stick on those tanks. From what I've seen those tanks haven't really been cropping up in Ukraine - they've mostly been sent out to arctic and eastern forces to cycle out their older stuff (which may be some of what is turning up in Ukraine) and/or to cover for T-90s in need of service/broken/shortage. (Might be wrong but I seem to recall someone mentioned that the upgraded engine in the T-80 was more suited to the environment those forces operate in than the T-90 as well).

EDIT: Talking about tanks - I like the warning TikTok put on this clip (text at the bottom):

 
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Man of Honour
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Something which is really really odd to watch - while not perfect footage of the more experienced Ukrainian territorial type troops and the likes (not regular army) they generally have OK situational awareness - don't run in each other's firing lines, lift/drop their weapon so as not to sweep friendlies, slightly better spread out (though could be improved), at least some degree of coordination under fire. Generally movement, awareness and reactions are a passable imitation both in style and effectiveness in actual combat of troops with a special forces background.

In comparison supposedly Russian regular army units, and supposedly more experienced units at that, show poor muzzle discipline, poor situational awareness, poor coordination under fire, etc. never mind those who have obviously been chucked into this situation with little more than a few weeks of haphazard basic training.
 
Soldato
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'Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 27 March 2022'

FO1TolKWUAQ77bZ

https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1507953408111783940
 
Soldato
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60% failure rate lol. They better get checking their nukes sharpish
That’s what I said weeks ago, they are playing poker and bluffing with a high card, if they are getting such a high failure rate with their most advanced weapons, I would question how many of there nukes are actually working.
Also if the reports are true that only 1 out of 10 battle tanks in storage of the 4th Russian tank division is battle-ready because they have been cannibalised, I don’t see it being any different in other divisions and those so-called 10,000 tanks in storage reserve is probably more like 1000-2000 available.
 
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Soldato
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Well, because it's a mainframe system, built in the 1970s. I could be wrong but I believe it has satellite connections as well as cable links (otherwise a massive first strike could cut it off from the silos). And lastly hacking an old mainframe system of this type is practically impossible as mainframes are harder to hack than modern Windows/Linux servers/networks in the first place as you need to know how to use the proprietary O/S and be aware of security flaws (if they even exist) plus you would need to be able to connect to it which would require you to be at a terminal inside the control building (as it's external communications links are outgoing only).

I understand the systems cybersecurity angle (quantum-safe cybersecurity was the day job). I agree that it's like a archeology masterclass however obscurity isn't security - specifically when communications are involved. The need for creating a secure bubble around mainframes results in new hardware being used to secure it. The manual requirement in such systems also increases insider risk (human) especially in a corrupt system.

@robfosters that 60% failure rate can also be failure during any part of operation.. including at launch *boom* resulting in radiation on Russian soil. In 1980 the US narrowly missed something similar when a guy dropped a spanner down the side of ICBM, the resulting leak and propellant explosion destroyed the launch complex, blew the lid of the launch bay clean off and threw the nuclear warhead 150ft out onto the ground nearby:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/mi...losion-damascus-arkansas-40-year-anniversary/
That was a 9 megaton war head, it seems that most of the russia ICBMs are 3x500 kiloton warheads and I suspect the most have followed the smaller multiple is more useful. Nagasaki was 21 kilotons. Still 1.5Mton going pop on a site is going to be a big mess.
 
Caporegime
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Have to wonder what condition their mainstay reserves are in as well.

EDIT: That is the mainstay reserve stock of the 4th Guards actually they are commenting on - so yeah never mind the mothballed stock that is the state of their reserves.

Putin needs to find himself some more Tiberium ore so he can keep up with tank production.
 
Soldato
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Tanks seem to be pretty useless anyway especially in urban warfare, state of the art anti tank weapons are so easy to deploy from so many positions.

I wonder if the newer tanks like the Challenger 3 have any sort of counter measures against Javellin/NLAW missiles. The tank as a fighting machine does seem a bit redundant because of these weapons now.
 
Soldato
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Literally making **** up now, pathetic. :cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

Show me a regime change that the west has done that hasn't ruined a country/its people and negatively affected the surronding areas?
There won't be a regime change through invasion of Russia. It will come from within. The sad passing of the Russian premier, suddenly at his country dacha. He will be sadly missed and posthumously awarded the Order of Lenin for services to his country.
 
Associate
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Agreed. We were all spoiled by the brilliance of Obama. He set the bar a lot higher than it's been for decades.

Biden wasn’t suitable 30 years ago - he was shown up during his first failed attempt at running; never mind his woeful performance in congress and his obvious corruption. America look inept with him and pelosi’s obvious mental decline.

Obama arrived at a pretty brutal time, involved in several pointless wars and just after the financial crisis - but he failed when it came to Russia; his weakness in Syria and Crimea have to be pointed out.
 
Soldato
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Tanks seem to be pretty useless anyway especially in urban warfare, state of the art anti tank weapons are so easy to deploy from so many positions.

That’s why you have infantry moving forward, clearing such ATW firing positions while the tanks rumble up behind engaging other tanks and enemy infantry emplacements. If you do it properly, you have drones overhead to tell where the enemy is, a fighter screen to keep enemy aircraft far away and a cab rank of A-10s on speed dial if you run into something that needs Brrrrrrrtttttting….
 
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