I’ve been on German autobahns as a platoon of M1s went screaming by. They know.
Janster
22353
When we were dealing with F-35 procurement, hardly anyone knew anything about it, and even I was unsure if the Jet had any useful features to offer Norway at that price level. At that point, net-centric warfare was not something I had heard much about…
And I have read a lot about warfare…I’ll give you a guess of how updated the rest of the bunch was.
The M1 is 40+ years old and has spent decades deployed in, yes, Germany. I’m sure it’s not a great mystery to them.
Janster
22355
It really depends, but I would not be surprised, most politicians don’t deal with such details you know…its just beyond their scope.
At least 40 years. My friend was 18-19-year-old PFC M1 driver in Germany when after a late night of drinking, his Platoon of M1 was ordered at 0500 to drive to someplace in the country for maneuvers. The LT got them lost and while going under a bridge the M1 antenna made contact with a power line.
The electricity denotate a shell inside the M1 injuring the gunner and scaring the shit out of my friend.
The battalion commander was not amused, especially when the LT was unable to give a location.
Facebook tells me friend just turned 62, so M1 logistics shouldn’t be a mystery to anyone.
Janster
22358
Its not a mystery to my friend who drives Leo’s at shooting range just 30km from here, he actually holds the norwegian record for longest hit with a Leo, he brags…
He also have had trial on the Leo vs those Korean tanks…the Koreans didn’t let anyone touch their tanks or drive them, but …hey…I digress.
If they knew about the issues with M1, then either they don’t want to deploy Leos or they are ignorant of the issues…
I’m just saying, I think you overestimate what even senior-level politicians know about this stuff…
I’ve yet to meet a one that knew more than that the F-35 had wings and could carry missiles.
In the US politicians, even governors have military advisors, so while the details may be a mystery to them, they are only a phone call or two away from the info they need.
Not to mention Google is available in hundreds of languages.
Grifman
22360
They can add these to the 40 HIMARS they have already destroyed:
To be fair, I think @Janster is not being unreasonable to suggest that politicians might be ignorant of even the most basic military facts. Even with the advisors and think tanks and what not that most have or have access to, we still see examples of American representatives, even senators, being totally clueless about stuff.
Though in this case, I still think it isn’t ignorance, but deliberate heel-dragging.
strummer
22362
This was my breaking point as well.
What politicians don’t know, they have military advisors to inform them about. That’s part of the general staff’s job description.
And if the Germans don’t know about the limitations of the Abrams, the Americans do, and I’m sure their diplomats will be telling them about it.
I suspect this is some kind of diplomatic tantrum.
“If we’re giving our best stuff to the Ukrainians, and the Russians get to shoot at it, you should be doing the same with your stuff”.
And damn the turbines.
jpinard
22364
Sometimes I feel like too many Germans in leadership, have been way too cozy with Russian government officials.
I don’t follow along with all this stuff on Twitter, but it seems that osintdefender account might be a bit sketchy? At least according to a lot of the comments on this tweet
Houngan
22367
I mean, firsties can Germany do that? Last time I checked they’re 0 for 2 for ruling Europe.
Aleck
22368
Schroder literally spent most of the last two decades – since he left the Chancellorship – on the Russian (oil) payroll. Crazy.
From “a special server” (which means you should trust me just as much);
dtolman
22370
I’ve followed that account for the last year, and it’s generally good but they sometimes f’up - this is clearly one of those cases. They read an article, and misinterpreted Germany’s refusal to be wider in scope than it was.
They are a bit more… excitable? Than osinttechnical or other accounts I follow, but that’s pretty clear after a few weeks so when he’s an outlier you know it’s wrong.
He’s reporting a politico.eu story which quotes Scholz’s spokesperson on the record.
His paraphrasing might have a slightly different emphasis to the story, looking at it for a second time. But I don’t believe he’s randomly making shit up.
