Russia's War Against Ukraine

[Gusington]

You love the smell of that Russian desperation, don't you...

[FarAway Sooner]

Apparently they are intended to keep small drones from penetrating the wing and exploding.  It seems kind of far fetched to me, but the article I read on it suggested that it might prove effective, unless the tires caught fire along with the wing.

Or maybe the Russians are just telling the world that their pilots are tired.

[FarAway Sooner]

Interesting piece on the evolving tactics and doctrines on both sides of the Ukrainian war.  It sounds like NATO training may have underestimated Russian units' abilities to adapt to the realities of war. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/09/05/to-slow-the-ukrainian-counteroffensive-the-russian-army-quadrupled-the-size-of-its-minefields/?sh=52f1981769e8

It remains to be seen whether the Ukrainians can piece Russian minefields faster than the Russians can lay new ones.

[Sir Slash]

You can NEVER have too many spare tires my old Shop Teacher used to say.  There's also a line about spare rubbers that's just begging to be thrown-in here.

[GDS_Starfury]

You love the smell of that Russian desperation, don't you...

very much so 

[DetCord]

So previously I had been following the battle of Verbove and said I'd heard some stuff that I didn't trust that was too good to be true. 

I'll go over it a bit now that things have settled in and why what I said was partly true partly not. 

So, anyone following knows now, that yes, the UAF broke the Surovikin line.  Everyone reports it now and it's a fact and there are possible next moves now that there's only one major line of defense left. 

What I'd heard was that, but only in part.  And I'm still not sure how much of the rest is true.

The reports that came out when the line fell was that there was a "general collapse".  The Russians shattered in multiple points and didn't defend the line as intended.

Words on Telegram were "Catastrophic" or "Disaster".  A lot of Russians felt the whole line would roll up west of Verbove where the UAF flanked the city and surprised the Russians with a concentrated and strong assault, something they'd hesitated to do.

That isn't entirely what happened.  The UAF did get into the works and past it, and now they have a solid control of the main part of the Surovikin line with the second line all that remains.

However, the Russians did retreat in good order, they did survive because of a spirited but failed counterattack by the 76th GAAD towards Robotyne, and the UAF did follow what has been their doctrine so far.  They dispersed their forces after they concentrated and are consolidating with their heavy units now pulling back and providing support.

A report from one UAF soldier said that after they broke the line the sky became "black" with drones.  The Russians are looking for concentrations to attack and the UAF is being pretty swift in only bringing strong forces together long enough to make a crack and then disperse.

Anything we see in the press right now is what it is.  They Russians are in a pretty bad position and know it.  They're digging new entrenchments north of Melitopol and committing what they have to Verbove. 

Verbove is now half and half in control and it looks like it will teeter.  The UAF is now using the Surovikin line themselves as their base of operations, turning the Russian works against them. 

It's going to be a to the bayonet's type of fight.

I keep seeing this and posts like it. Developments like this, others, and previous ones ultimately mean nothing. I was there for the Kharkiv Offensive. We took horrendous casualties in that endeavour (60%+) to recapture that region that ultimately accomplished nothing other than attempting to reestablish pre-war borders.

Territory caps mean absolutely nothing if the enemy is able to withdrawal intact. For a victory to occur you need to destroy the enemy in your AO via encirclement and flanks and press home the advantage. We didn't do that. They simply pulled back into Russia proper. They were bloodied yes, broken and destroyed, no. This has been the near constant of the entire war.

The Surovikin line? I don't believe it. It's likely recon and LAR elements that slipped through. We simply don't have the manpower and power-projection to exploit such a breakthrough, period. The Russians have IDF and CAS superiority the closer you get, something we never had.

   

[W8taminute]

@JD

Just read your post Judge and it's great.  You make a lot of great points. 

Recently I read an article that states the real purpose of this war, in which the innocent are slain by the bushel, is because it is much more sterile to make others fight the war for you whilst the western (AKA USA) military industrial complex and the wicked politicians that benefit from it makes obscene amounts of money.  It's an ingenious plan really.  The public doesn't give a damn we're sending boat loads of money to a war, that can't be won by the way unless we do get involved, because no US lives are being lost. 

On another note, anyone here still in the Navy or have access to data that we civies don't have?  Because I saw a disturbing article that claimed 10 out of the 11 carriers we have are all in their home ports.  Like a Pearl Harbor 2.0 waiting to happen?  Can anyone here deny or confirm this?

[JasonPratt]

I know what you're saying, but I'd rather joke about the T-bomber pilots claiming tomorrow that the tires provide stealth capability!

There are other factors: the Russian government has made it clear they're going to ethnically cleanse the Ukrainians, and they've also made clear they don't intend to stop with Ukraine.

Call it another domino-theory, but by helping Ukraine we're slowing down their death toll and postponing or avoiding a NATO vs Russia war which could have a lot worse results than US lives being lost in Ukraine.

This of course is not mutually exclusive to war profiteering. But the innocent were going to be slain by the train-car instead of the bushel if we weren't helping at all.

[Tripoli]

@JD

J...
On another note, anyone here still in the Navy or have access to data that we civies don't have?  Because I saw a disturbing article that claimed 10 out of the 11 carriers we have are all in their home ports.  Like a Pearl Harbor 2.0 waiting to happen?  Can anyone here deny or confirm this?

Here's the USNI Fleet tracker.  https://news.usni.org/2023/09/05/usni-news-fleet-and-marine-tracker-sept-5-2023.  From this, it looks like there is one carrier (NIMITZ) in work ups off California, the FORD CSG deployed to 6th Fleet, and the REAGAN forward deployed to Yokosuka

[bobarossa]

@JD

J...
On another note, anyone here still in the Navy or have access to data that we civies don't have?  Because I saw a disturbing article that claimed 10 out of the 11 carriers we have are all in their home ports.  Like a Pearl Harbor 2.0 waiting to happen?  Can anyone here deny or confirm this?

Here's the USNI Fleet tracker.  https://news.usni.org/2023/09/05/usni-news-fleet-and-marine-tracker-sept-5-2023.  From this, it looks like there is one carrier (NIMITZ) in work ups off California, the FORD CSG deployed to 6th Fleet, and the REAGAN forward deployed to Yokosuka

Looks like the southern hemisphere is entirely undefended!
Australia needs a carrier!

[SirAndrewD]

The Grogs should pool their resources and buy the Enterprise. 

It'd be a nice upgrade from DCS.

[FarAway Sooner]

I thought we'd use the Enterprise as an upgrade to the Grogheads' mythical front page?

[Gusington]

What front page?

[Sir Slash]

I want to be in charge of Keel-Hauling whatever that is. Oh, and the Grog Locker. Grog for the Grogs you know. 

[GDS_Starfury]

you might want to look that up.