NATO standardized on 5.56 like back in the 80s.
JonRowe
19820
I believe they also use 7.62 standard as well, just in DMR’s (designated marksman rifles)
The vast majority of standard issue ammo in NATO is 5.56
Though, I think the AKM is old enough that it won’t be able to use any NATO rounds, which I would assume are widely available worldwide.
Any ammo the AKMs are using will need to be taken from old stores or made new. Though I think China makes this ammunition, so probably not too difficult to source.
AFAIK making small-arms ammo is not a huge reach for most countries, even those not at the cutting edge of military might shall we say. It’s about the lowest common denominator of Daddy Warbucks stuff.
ShivaX
19822
It’s not, but also having 6 different types of commonly used ammo is a huge logistical issue.
Which is why every nation adopts a couple of rounds and calls it a day.
Specialist stuff is specialist. You don’t need to send .50 cal rounds to every dude on the frontline, but you do need to send them a bunch of 5.56. But needing to send a bunch of 5.56, 7.62 and god knows what else based on what they’re using individually breaks down pretty quick, especially in a combat zone.
Edit: Also when you’re looting a bunch of enemy gear it becomes both easier and more complicated. Suddenly you have a ton of Warsaw Pact guns and ammo, but maybe not the logistics set up to resupply those things. A lot of keeping track of who has what to determine what they need. I suspect foreign arms help a ton here, but at the end of the day people in trucks probably have to run stuff to where it’s needed.
Seems like if they had just landed immediately some of them may have survived. But they instead tried to keep it in the air when it was obvious the fire was growing.
spiffy
19825
I guess that’s where thousands of hours of training would make a difference, maybe. I just read up about the mission to kill OBL, and how the pilot of the crashed BlackHawk had barely seconds to react and managed to save everyone’s lives, where a more inexperienced pilot would have tried to push more power and probably would have killed everyone.
jpinard
19826
I have so much contempt and anger towards Russia as they keep doing such vile things. They just took out water for 80% of Kiev. Targeting civilians instead of military. Pure scum.
I’m legit surprised it took them this long. I figured that crippling infrastructure was the obvious step as soon as it became apparent to them that the initial February blitz wasn’t going to absorb the whole country. It’s horrible, don’t get me wrong, but a really obvious way to turn the screws on Ukraine and divert resources away from reinforcing the Ukrainian military.
An impactful strike on Kiev, but maybe not for whom you’d think.
It did nothing of consequence.
abrandt
19829
At what point do saboteurs conduct a serious coordinated strike on Moscow’s power infrastructure? Would be really dumb for Ukraine to lash out with missiles at civilian infrastructure in Belgorod, but I’m not sure that you couldn’t justify doing it to Moscow.
Seems like a pretty dumb thing to potentially burn your assets doing.
“fuckfuckfuckfuck” - me too, after falling off a tank, probably
abrandt
19834
I skimmed the video while waiting for the next batch of trick or treaters, so maybe it covers it, but how are these better than a torpedo?
Grifman
19835
The pilot could have been incapacitated or the aircraft may have not responded to the controls.
Extremely long ranged compared to torpedoes, and remotely controllable
ShivaX
19837
Also don’t require another vehicle to transport them, not that torpedo boats historically have been expensive high-tech platforms by any means.
Also pretty cheap, and having a local IR camera for surveillance and starlink live control is useful. Possible explosive payload could be larger than most torpedoes in use. They appear to be made with Seadoo jetski propulsion, and such commercial parts, pretty much the naval surface equivalent of the loitering munitions they are fighting in the air: cheap, scary, destructive if well-directed.
