The Russians have gone in

[LVSteve]

In the category of necessity being the mother of invention. The French made Mistral anti-aircraft missiles donated by Norway are a bit too large to shoulder launch, so Ukraine crowd-funded new 4x4 pickup trucks to mount the missile launchers to, creating a SAM "Technical".


Ukraine Is Turning Fiat Trucks Into Mobile Surface-To-Air Missile Systems

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They are known as "technicals". Toyota pickups are the #1 platform.

Edited to add: ...and somehow I didn't read technical in your post. Must get more sleep...

 

[UncleEd]

Previously I had mentioned this
as a proxy war for the West.
In that light, would the US
introduce its new Army rifle
in 6.5mm for actual battle
testing in Ukraine?

US units expected to get the new
rifle early next year along with
its companion machine gun.

 

[The Last Standing Knight]

Rusty's picture doesn't show her face on, but I've seen warmer eyes on a cod that's been on the fishmonger's slab for a week. Scary.

I have read a lot of stuff on her over the years.
Western intellegence ALL say she's the worst of the bunch with a few even saying if she gets in charge, she won't hesitate to start a war.

Her brother seems to be scared of her. She's the only one that can get in his face and go off on him and get away with it...and from the same stuff I read often does.

I have to wonder if there is anyone like this in Putin's inner circle? If at this point he even has one.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Seems to be positive news of multiple successful Ukrainian offensive operations.

See we are sending laser guided rockets to Ukraine, which seem able to be used on their Turkish drones.

Their UAV forces have done a stellar job, and hope they put these gems to good use soon.


What Will Fire The Laser-Guided Rockets Donated To Ukraine Is Still A Mystery

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[oldbrownhat]

re: Kim Jong-un's sister

The world's meanest flight attendant.

"Coffee, tea, or..... FLEE!"

 

[Beemerguy53]

Previously I had mentioned this
as a proxy war for the West.
In that light, would the US
introduce its new Army rifle
in 6.5mm for actual battle
testing in Ukraine?

US units expected to get the new
rifle early next year along with
its companion machine gun.

I would be very surprised if we issued that rifle to the Ukrainians. I'm sure Western leaders are aware that in any territory Russia conquers and occupies there, whatever the Ukrainians were using will fall into Russian hands.

 

[StakeOut]

I would be very surprised if we issued that rifle to the Ukrainians. I'm sure Western leaders are aware that in any territory Russia conquers and occupies there, whatever the Ukrainians were using will fall into Russian hands.

The reverse is also true.
To the victor belongs the spoils

 

[Greyman50]

LOL! FFAR's, Folding Fin Aerial Rockets or as we called them in Vietnam ," Fast - - - - - - - Aerial Rockets".

 

[bigwheelzip]

Appreciate the mode of transport the Aussies are using for this latest delivery. That big Antonov is coming back home with goodies.


Australian M777 155mm howitzers and Bushmaster armored vehicles are on the way to Ukraine | Defense News May 2022 Global Security army industry | Defense Security global news industry army year 2022 | Archive News year

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[biku324]

Don't think the boys in Oz aren't laughing over beer about this!

 

[ACORN]

I think it does, but what do I know? To me, if his Generals kept getting killed and Putin had no idea why, he would be questioning everything and suspecting everybody! I think that would have been a good thing.
Larry

That was my point.

 

[oldbrownhat]

I just read the Russian warship Admiral Makarov is on fire in the Black Sea near Snake Island after a Neptune missile strike.

Russian frigate Admiral Makarov 'on fire after being hit by Ukrainian missile' | The Independent

From the timeline reports in The Guardian, with a Twitter link to drone footage of the strike:

Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 destroyed another Russian ship. This time the landing craft of the "Serna" project. The traditional parade of the russian Black Sea fleet on May 9 this year will be held near Snake Island - at the bottom of the sea. pic.twitter.com/WYEPywmAwX
— Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 7, 2022​

The rest of the current reports are pretty awful, though. Dozens feared dead after school in Luhhansk is bombed...

 

[UncleEd]

Well, if one takes into account
the various press reports, today
and tomorrow, Monday, could be
pivotal hours as to Putin's
intentions for even greater
efforts to crush Ukraine.

And these hours may test just
how well the US, NATO have
supplied Ukraine with artillery
and other weapons.

Though purely symbolic I liked
the fact Jill Biden visited Ukraine
today and met with first lady
Olena Zelenska.

 

[oldbrownhat]

Well, if one takes into account
the various press reports, today
and tomorrow, Monday, could be
pivotal hours as to Putin's
intentions for even greater
efforts to crush Ukraine. ...

He's painted himself into a corner. How do you celebrate Victory Day -a legitimate event after WW II - under the present circumstances, when what was assumed to be a cake walk "special operation" has turned into a military disaster? At what point will he have to admit that Russia is in fact at war, which will raise the ante even further? Or does he try to save face by declaring that the goals of the "special operation" have been met and scale back?

He's flooding the populace with ludicrous horsepuckey about "fighting Nazis". One moving article I read last night on the BBC was from a Hasidic Jewish congregation in Ukraine, some of whose elderly members survived the Holocaust . One said, "If this is true, then I am also a Nazi."

"...Russian President Vladimir Putin's repeated accusations that Ukraine needs to be de-Nazified feel particularly insulting to a group that lived through the occupation.

"I have many relatives in Russia. They start telling me that we have a lot of Nazis," says Dmytro. "I tell them, if this is true, then I am also a Nazi. You can kill me too."...
​

 

[Stumpnov]

They are known as "technicals". Toyota pickups are the #1 platform.

Edited to add: ...and somehow I didn't read technical in your post. Must get more sleep...

The rest of the world calls them Hilux

 

[oldbrownhat]

The rest of the world calls them Hilux

OK, for a little levity I'm going to post this before someone else does (The would-be expletive in the ad is quite common in Oz and Britain and doesn't always mean what we think it does here!)

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u91WGac2mbI[/ame]

 

[Rudi]

Now that was FUNNY!

 

[Onomea]

I'm concerned about escalation by the Russians to cruise missiles. Launched from bombers deep within Russia.

Russian Bombers Could Pummel Ukraine ... Without Going Anywhere Near Ukraine

Anyone have any ideas as to why this has not happened? Maybe the Russians don't have enough cruise missiles?

 

[Absalom]

Anyone have any ideas as to why this has not happened? Maybe the Russians don't have enough cruise missiles?

I think we have learned that in case of the Russian military, the technical ability to do something does not necessarily translate into the ability to execute in the real world.

Who knows what state of maintenance those bombers and missiles are in, and whether the training of the troops involved is advanced enough to conduct any such stand-off attack and hit anything?

The fact that Russian planes launched some such cruise missiles in Syria is not much of a bellwether. At least for Russia, that was a playground compared to Ukraine.

 

[biku324]

The best info I can find says that Russia has only 125 bombers, 80 of them jets, the balance turboprop Tu95 Bears. If you were generous, you might figure 60% serviceable; all are utterly vulnerable to the S-300 air defense systems used by the Ukrainians - they have at least one new S-400, but I don't know if they are operating it yet - they've had it a month.

Here's info on their precision munitions:

This dwindling supply of precision weaponry is merely one of a handful of now well-known supply problems encountered by the Russian military, which has seemed rather ill equipped to manage the kind of conflict currently unfolding in Ukraine. Russia Runs Low on Precision Munitions as New Phase in the War Begins | The National Interest