Dejin
21326
Mick Ryan (former Commander Australian Defence College) posted similar thoughts a while back — new Russian commander is much more competent than previous commanders.
Very unfortunate.
They aren’t making tanks though, at least, not that many. When the USSR fell, true, factories continued to make tanks because they got no orders to stop. They only ceased when they ran out of materials. Since then, tank production from what I recall has been a fraction of what it was, largely because the crap they were making back then has zero use these days, especially when you consider the cost/benefit ratios.
Modern AFV production I suspect is rather more in line with that of other nations, that is, very low volume because it’s hideously expensive and unless you are in a war demand is low. And once you are in a war it takes time to ramp up–if you can.
True, though leaders have to have something to work with. And defense will not achieve their goals, never does, especially in this case. Eventually they need to go on the offensive, or ramp up the terror attacks to such a level they pretty much eradicate Ukraine.
I thought Russian or Soviet strategy has never been about air superiority but just contest the airspace, hence the propensity of fighters over ground attack and the depth of SAM coverage.
dtolman
21330
Russia is firing a staggering amount of artillery - 20,000 a day I’ve seen mentioned - but they are also low precision and use primitive warheads (no airbursts, etc), so the vast majority chew up the countryside and do nothing.
Ukraine’s NATO provided high precision artillery (and with air burst /variable timed warheads) do a lot more useful damage with a lot less shells fired.
That said -they still chew through a lot of barrels, I’ve seen estimates that a third of NATO supplied artillery is in Poland for refurbishment at any one time. I imagine Russia has a similar problem.
Unless they are simply firing them until they melt; with low-tech, area saturation tactics, maybe they figure burning out WWII-era tubes is more cost-effective than refurbishing them for comparatively little return. Still kind of messed up though.
More like their strategy during the Cold War if it came to a battle in Germany was to deny NATO the ability to operate over Warsaw Pact troops and territory. Their strategy for affecting the air war over NATO territory was mostly to plaster NATO air bases with H-hour massive strikes and persistent chems, use special ops to disrupt logistics, and to use the slant range of theater and front-level SAMs to push NATO air as far back as they could. Thee SHORAD/DIVAD stuff was so heavy they figured the troops would attrite NATO strikes–particularly helos–enough on its own, at least long enough for GSFG and its OMGs to wreak havoc.
I don’t really think they expected their own fixed-wing assets, at least at the tactical aviation level, to last more than a day or two.
Grifman
21332
That’s tactics, not strategy.
“I haven’t tasted garlic, dill, and strawberries in ten years.” Victor Bout complained about the food in an American prison.
According to Bout, during the almost 12 years he spent in prison, the menu has hardly changed, on Wednesdays convicts were given a hamburger with overcooked French fries, on Thursdays - huge Bush legs that smell awful.
And he complained to the same lady who had convinced Alexei Navalny in prison that the conditions of his detention were similar to those in an average Russian hotel.
“It was inedible. In the Thai prison, where I was incarcerated for two years, at least you could order something. I lost interest in food, started to lose weight, started to force myself to eat through force. I lost muscle mass.”
Houngan
21335
I might have to retract my earlier compliment unless you can explain this one. ;)
Calelari
21336
On the subject of his food-related complaints, I have nothing to offer but this link
What’s the Big Dill?.. The Russian Food Guide, Part 6 – Slava Does America
Oh yeah, that’s a funny story in itself. I think Wikipedia will tell it better than I can.
Mobilization going so well they’ve resorted to press gang tactics.
RichVR
21341
Well on their way to over one million new troops. Nicely done.
Tortilla
21342
I thought they had 3 million troops and 12 trillion artillery shells ready to send to the front any day now?
RichVR
21344
Let us not forget all of the tanks they are building. But only WWII versions. From the past. You might say they build tanks for the memories.
Janster
21345
sgh, yeah, sure, they don’t have 12 billion troops, but they are doing their damnest at recruiting as MANY as they can get their hands on, and their population is 140 million so for fucks sake?
As for fucking artillery shells, they built a shit ton of tanks during the cold war, they are being served up now, why the fuck does people in this forum think they didn’t just do the same with artillery shells, I mean, it was the MAIN FUCKING doctrine of all things arms-related, of course they have wast stocks, in their utter millions…
1 million rounds a year is not even breaking a sweat soviet style production…
So, yeah, they probably have 50 million or so rounds laying around, ofcourse how many are serviceable, I have no fucking clue, but some guy on this very forum said they keep well if stored decently…
They are not running out of shells, not now, not in fucking years, deal with it.
