Russia's War Against Ukraine

[Gusington]

^I'll take two

[JasonPratt]

One for each foot!  :D

The real version (sans autocannon) comes standard with a Ford V8, with an option for a supercharged V8.

[JasonPratt]

On a more serious note, The Jerusalem Post this morning had a brief stub article about the Russian defense minister and the US SecDef phoning each other twice in the past three days. No details other than attempting "to avoid misunderstandings". (I don't have the link anymore atm; will provide one later if I re-see it.)

I suspect the first call was about the cough "accidental" launch of an air-to-air missile by a Russian jet against a US jet earlier this weekend. I don't care how bad Russian maintenance is, that couldn't be a mechanical accident; the accident would be the pilot and/or his air controller mistook the jet for Ukrainian. No damage to the US jet (for whatever reason), thank goodness!

I suspect the second call was about the 101st (or elements of it) training with live fire on the Romanian border with Romanian troops.


As for the theory about deploying farther forward than West Ukraine, at the dam site: the point would be that if Russia blows the dam, that's going to be similar to using it as a weapon of mass destruction, though not formally categorized as such (so it wouldn't trigger any relevant Articles), which would be a rather different and more localized humanitarian crisis happening all at once than what we've seen so far in the war. The Red Cross et al will want to get into the area to help civilians, and they'll need serious security for protection if so.

[Gusington]

A Russian plane locked on and fired at an American plane??

[JasonPratt]

Yep, I was hearing about this over the weekend on a podcast, which was supposedly confirmed by reference to a official government page somewhere. I wasn't where I could check their source at the time, and figured I'd see more about it here today. I'll try to get a source on it when I get home.

[MengJiao]

Yep, I was hearing about this over the weekend on a podcast, which was supposedly confirmed by reference to a official government page somewhere. I wasn't where I could check their source at the time, and figured I'd see more about it here today. I'll try to get a source on it when I get home.

  I heard about an incident with a British plane.

[GDS_Starfury]

so many things to clarify....

the russian defense minister has been calling just about every western senoir defense official to claim the Ukraine was setting up a dirty bomb.  he was told to basically stfu and not to escalate this war any further in no uncertain terms.

it was a Flanker that launched near a UK Rivet Joint over the North Sea. it was never locked on to and it seems the missile was launched abeam of the NATO plane.  the reaction to that is that all such flights now have fighter escorts and tanker support so I dont see that happening again.

and while Im rooting for the Ukraine it should be remembered that they flooded all their own territory at the beginning of this mess to halt the drive on Kiev.  this was also a tactic used by all sides during WW2.  I wouldnt consider this a war crime the same way I dont consider hitting infrastructure targets a war crime.  we 100% plastered Iraqi power and comms stations at the beginning of both Gulf Wars.  if anything its the only proper use of air power the soviets have displayed so far.  if this had been a NATO war, all of those targets would have been hit the first night and then repeatedly for the next 2 weeks.

[Crossroads]

Yep, I was hearing about this over the weekend on a podcast, which was supposedly confirmed by reference to a official government page somewhere. I wasn't where I could check their source at the time, and figured I'd see more about it here today. I'll try to get a source on it when I get home.

  I heard about an incident with a British plane.

Yes, four days ago near an unescorted RAF RC-135 spy plane over Black Sea. The next day it was escorted by two Typhoons.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/oct/20/russian-fighter-jet-released-missile-near-raf-plane-over-black-sea

[JasonPratt]

Yep, was about to post the Guardian article, but happy Crossroads got to it first. (And Star less directly but more accurately than I thought I had heard.)  O0

The UK MoD posted the essence of the UK's turn to get the phone call: https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1584200202948612096/photo/1

[JasonPratt]

Apparently, I heard US got two calls when it was really the UK: the Guardian article clarifies that there was a separate call between the UK and Russia about the missile shot.

He told the Commons the incident occurred in "international airspace", adding that an "unarmed RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint" plane was "interacted with" by two Russian SU-27s, one of which "released a missile in the vicinity of the RAF Rivet Joint beyond visual range".

He said: "It is not unusual for aircraft to be shadowed and this day was no different. During that interaction however, it transpired that one of the SU-27 aircraft released a missile in the vicinity of the RAF Rivet Joint beyond visual range.

"The total time of the interaction between the Russian aircraft and the Rivet Joint was approximately 90 minutes. The patrol completed and the aircraft returned to base."

Wallace told the Commons that Russia had blamed the missile release on a "technical malfunction".

"In light of this potentially dangerous engagement, I have communicated my concerns directly to my Russian counterpart, defence minister [Sergei] Shoigu, and the chief of defence staff in Moscow."

Wallace added: "In my letter I made clear the aircraft was unarmed, in international airspace, and following a pre-notified flight path. I felt it was prudent to suspend these patrols until a response was received by the Russian state.

"The reply by the Russian minister of defence on 10 October stated they have conducted an investigation into the circumstances of the incident and stated it was a technical malfunction of the SU-27 fighter.

"They also acknowledge that the incident took place in international airspace."

He said he had also been in touch with his Turkish counterparts over the episode, saying Turkey had offered all the assistance the UK required.

"We do not consider this as a deliberate escalation by Russia. Our analysis is this was a malfunction, but it a reminder of quite how dangerous things can be when you choose to use your fighters in the manner the Russians have done over many periods of time," Wallace said.

He added: "While this was obviously the release of a weapon, we have seen very very close flying next to US, Nato and UK assets over the last few years."

In one event, he said, a Russian fighter went within 15ft of a Nato aircraft. "That is reckless, unnecessary and put at risk many people's lives; we are incredibly lucky it did not become worse."

[Gusington]

*sigh*

Taking in the above incident now I wonder how good an idea it is for the 101st to be in Romania...in case of 'accidental' shelling or any other types of 'accidents.'

I'll just defer to the pet name of this entire series of events and the thread itself.

Jesus F*cking Christ, Russia.

[JasonPratt]

When the UK DefMin confirmed my suspicion that the shot was taken beyond visual range, I thought yep the 'technical' 'accident' was mis-identification. Either the pilot's, or his controller (if they even have something like awacs anymore). Maybe along with a more immediate technical accident, or maintenance problem, of (thank God) the seeker and/or the targeting radar not going active (apparently)!

[FarAway Sooner]

Yeah.  The flight was pre-registered with the Russians and in international air space, but the notion that the Russians have reliable fire control or reliable fire discipline at this point of the war seems... unlikely.

[Sir Slash]

Well maybe we could all chip-in and buy the Russkies some better equipment. No, wait. Not a good idea.  :timeout:

[Crossroads]

*sigh*

Taking in the above incident now I wonder how good an idea it is for the 101st to be in Romania...in case of 'accidental' shelling or any other types of 'accidents.'

I'll just defer to the pet name of this entire series of events and the thread itself.

Jesus F*cking Christ, Russia.

How'd that happen though, I don't see Russian Navy firing missiles to Romania from Black Sea, nor is it likely that "Transnitria" and the Russian forces there - led by Russian officers but most soldiers likely "Transnitrians" who've taken Russian passports - would start a provocation.

They are landlocked with Romania's eastern neighbour Moldova and Ukraine with little chance for supplies should they go on a war footing. There's not that many soldiers there either, a couple of thousand more or less. To hit Romania they'd need to send missiles over Moldova's air space, if they have missiles that is. S300s maybe in Russian military bases?

Then again, 101st was deployed there for a reason, maybe indeed to show support to Romania as a Nato ally and to remind Russians to stay very put in Transnistria.