Here we go again-Ukraine once again

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Learning to drive, watch from and fire with the Leopard will be demonstrated to be easier than one now thinks, I am sure. If you can handle firefights with a thing like an almost blind and deaf T-72, then tanking with Leopards and Abrams is luxury. The gunner's job especially is much easier, allows to fire much faster. The commander has superior overview over the battle situation even if not being interconnected digitally but needing to use his own sights, of which Western tanks offer more options than Russian tanks. And tactical leadership - I assume the Ukrainians by now know their tanking 101, can probably teach lessons to everybody in the West. Nobody has as much experience with tank battling now, like they have. I would be surprised if they pork that part of it up: manouver tactics.

I have no doubt the Ukraine's are up to the task and in short order. It might take time to get the tanks there. I don't think it will take to much time either to learn the other systems. However, the NATO powers insist on a certain level of proficiency before they will turn these tank over.

[Skybird]

What will take the longest time is establishing the fuel chain and the general supply chain. Ammo. Spare parts. Logistics support.

[Skybird]

On Vipers.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/26/e...ntl/index.html

“The idea that Western fighter aircraft would allow Ukraine to operate combat air sorties over Russian territory in any sort of regular sense is just fantasy,” Bronk said. “The reality is that Western fighter aircraft will also be very constrained by the surface-to-air threat by Russian ground-based air defense systems, just as the Ukrainians currently are.”
The F-16, he said, would for the foreseeable future be a mostly defensive weapon for the Ukrainian military, making it better at shooting down Russian missiles and defending against any now-rare Russian flights past the frontlines.
Even as a weapon to protect ground troops, he said, the F-16 could prove a tricky weapon for Ukraine to have in its arsenal.

“Most Western air-to-ground munitions for close air support are optimized for being delivered from medium altitude, with a targeting pod, and that’s not really viable near the frontlines because of the Russian ground-based air-defense threat,” Bronk said.
Both Ukraine and Russia’s significant anti-air defenses mean that, almost a year into the war, neither country has gained air superiority.
“To be able to employ the F-16 effectively, Ukraine would have to achieve some degree of air superiority,” Wijninga said. “This means Ukraine would have to destroy Russian S-400 air defense systems first and foremost, and preferably S-300 too.
“Supplying Ukraine with F-16s is not the whole story. The west would have to enable them to achieve air superiority over the battlefield.”

I dont see the same urgency here like with tanks and IFVs, artillery, ammo, SAMs. For that little effect, the burden on their logistics make all this look too expensive. ATM at least. If the war drags on and forseeably for years, this will look different, due to the need to phase out Russian-made equipment and going all-Western, to be able to get ammo supplies.

Longer range missiles that allow them to strike logistic nodes and hotspots for the russian aggression inside Russia - that would be something different. Also for striking Kerch bridges and Crimea, but foremost striking military supply points inside Russia that support the war in Ukraine: depots, bridges, railways, HQs, fuel and ammo bunkers. Ukraine has the right of self-defence to strike at these as deep inside Russia as it can reach.

[Reece]

Originally Posted by Dargo

A brief history of Russian red lines:

• Javelins = red line
• Artillery = red line
• HIMARS = red line
• Tanks = red line
• *you are here*
• Long-range weapons = red line

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine will become a "red line" for the Russian Federation

Originally Posted by Skybird

Russia also operates nuclear-driven and nuclear-armed submarines and warships, which is a nculear escalation in itself. They also have staged bomber raids with planes capable to fire nuclear-armed missiles.

Talk about 2 faced!!

[August]

[August]

[Reece]

Wow!! who would have thought Spain being one of the main providers!! Lets hope it's to be confirmed soon, good on em! and for Russia

[Jimbuna]

US sanctions Chinese firm helping Russia's Wagner Group

The US has sanctioned a Chinese company for allegedly providing satellite imagery of Ukraine to support the mercenary Wagner Group's combat operations for Russia.

Changsha Tianyi Space Science and Technology Research Institute is among 16 entities slapped with curbs by the Treasury Department.

The firm, also known as Spacety China, has offices in Beijing and Luxembourg.

Wagner supplies Russia thousands of fighters in the Ukraine war.

Spacety China had provided Terra Tech, a Russia-based technology firm, with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite images of locations in Ukraine, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement on Thursday.

"These images were gathered in order to enable Wagner combat operations in Ukraine," it said. The department has also sanctioned Spacety's Luxembourg-based subsidiary.

Under the sanctions, there can be no transfer, payment, or export of any property or interests in the United States to the targeted entities.

Spacety China has yet to respond to the move.

China, a close ally of Russia, has attempted to position itself as a neutral party with regard to the Ukraine war. It has been criticised by the US and its allies for refusing to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

On its website, Spacety China describes itself as a "pioneer" in providing commercial SAR technology and says it wants to "make SAR imagery of every point on earth accessible and affordable" to users all over the world.

SAR is a type of radar technology that can deliver higher resolution images using shorter antennas.

Its chief executive officer Yang Feng sits on China's Ministry of Science and Technology's panel of experts, according to the company's website.

The site also lists a number of working partners including state-owned enterprises China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation and China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, as well as the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In addition to Spacety China, 15 other entities, eight individuals and four aircraft - many of them based in Russia - that allegedly form part of Wagner's global support network also received US sanctions.

These include Sewa Security Services based in central Africa and Kratol Aviation based in the United Arab Emirates, which allegedly provided aircraft to move personnel and equipment between central Africa, Libya and Mali.

Wagner now commands some 50,000 fighters in Ukraine, according to estimates from the White House. The organisation plays a key role in Russia's war efforts, and has been heavily involved in attempts to capture Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine.

It is led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

"Today's expanded sanctions on Wagner, as well as new sanctions on their associates and other companies enabling the Russian military complex, will further impede Putin's ability to arm and equip his war machine," said US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-64421915

[Jimbuna]

[Skybird]

Some, significant numbers of these tanks will not be avialable in the short run, maybe not even this year. Especially the Leo-2A4s mostly are in such a shabby state that refurbishing them means to take the completely apart and rebuilding them from scratch. Thats true for the German A4s, and at least some of the Spanish.

The Russians will try to present their offensive early to gain ground before the Leopards arrive.

The old cannon of the British tanks may be inferior to the L55 in anti-tank warfare, but is said to be an advantage maybe, because it allows the use of HESH, which is a squash warhead perfectly suited for destroying bunkers, houses. Its like throwing explosive pancake dough against a wall, it spreads, then goes up and this way creates a much bigger hole and spreading explosion shockwave. Beside the Challengers, only some Strykers and some export versions of the Leopard-1, mostly for Australia, carry this ammunition. There are more tanks carrying it wordwide, but none of them is present in the Ukraine I mean. Leopard-2 and Abrams do not have equivalents, AFAIK. For the Ukrainians, this ammo and these tanks might prove especially useful for retaking ground and settlements, even more so since the Challenger does not have the crosscountry speed of the other tanks, but must move slower. I expect the Challengers to be seen more in ore near the urban environment and the faster and more agile US and German tanks hunting Russian tanks across the open plains. I also expect they will slaughter the Russians. And the Kremlin knows it.

I wonder if the Ukrainians can seal off the sky above the tanks, that is a concern. At the roofs they are all vulnerable against artillery, aircraft bombs, ATGMs.

This war has turned into a big weapons laboratory. New and old weapons alike get tested.


The only category - beside superior body numbers - where the Russians cause headaches, is conventional old-fashioned artillery of which they have so much and plenty.

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Total combat losses of Russian Federation since beginning of war - about 710 people (+850 per day), 3182 tanks, 283 helicopters, 2180 artillery systems, 6340 armored vehicles. INFOGRAPHICS

As of the morning of January 26, 2023, the losses of the Russian occupiers are approximately 124,710 people.

This is stated in the summary of the General Staff, Censor.NET reports.

Thus, the estimated losses of the Russian invaders are:

about 124,710 (+850) personnel were liquidated,
tanks - 3182 (+7) units,
armored fighting vehicles - 6340 (+6) units,
artillery systems - 2180 (+11) units,
MRLS - 452 (+0) units,
air defense equipment - 221 (+1) units,
aircraft - 292 (+0) units,
helicopters - 283 (+1) units,
Operational-tactical UAV - 1941 (+33),
cruise missiles - 796 (+47),
warships/boats - 18 (+0) units,
automotive equipment and tank trucks - 5001 (+15) units,
special equipment - 199 (+4).
The data is being verified. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3396031

[Jimbuna]

Poland is now ready to hand over 60 PT-91 and 14 Leopard-2 tanks to Ukraine, - Morawiecki

Warsaw is ready to hand over 60 Polish PT-91 tanks (a modernized version of the T-72) and 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv.

This was announced by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Censor.NET reports with reference to Ukrinform.

"Poland was the first country to deliver 250 tanks (to Ukraine. - Ed.) Now we are ready to send 60 of our modernized PT-91 tanks, as well as 14 Leopard 2 tanks," he said.

Morawiecki emphasized that modern tanks are very important for Ukraine now, considering that Russia can have from several to 15 thousand of them.

"If we don't want Ukraine to lose, we have to be very open and persistent in our support," the head of the Polish government added. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3396035

Zelensky thanked Poland for transfer of 60 tanks to Ukraine: "Like 160 years ago, we are together, but this time enemy has no chance"

President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Poland for the transfer of 60 tanks.

The head of state announced this on Twitter, Censor.NET reports.

"I thank Andrzej Duda, Mateusz Morawiecki, Mariusz Blaszczak, Jacek Siewer, and the people of Poland for such important decisions to transfer 60 Polish tanks to Ukraine, 30 of which are the famous PT-91 Twardy and 14 Leopard-2. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3396070

[Jimbuna]

Suspend them from the EU

Hungary will veto possible EU sanctions against Russian Federation in field of atomic energy, - Orban

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the country would veto any European Union sanctions against Russia related to nuclear energy.

This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to The Guardian.

According to him, sanctions on nuclear energy "obviously need to be vetoed."

"We will not allow the implementation of the plan to include nuclear energy in the sanctions. ... This is out of the question," he said. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3396046

[Skybird]

Its being repoprted the Americna swill not send M1A1s, but M1a2s, which are improved in digital combat systems, armour, and some more. However, The Hill reports that prucing them will take longer than intentionally planned, and it will take several months" at least.


Could be that this is the original intention, regarding the US-German row and the possible hidden motives behind how it was solved.