Chatter for 2 September 2015
BartSimpson @ Wed Sep 02, 2015 4:02 pm
A smattering of topics from around the globe today:
* North Korea recalled most of their subs from the recent mass deployment. Not all have returned to port and monitoring of Nork activity indicates that one or more subs may have broken down and are in need of towing. No indications of a rescue mission so the estimation is just worn out equipment.
* The US now has about 1100 troops in Ukraine to train Ukrainian reservists, volunteers, and local volunteer militia.
* Russia has been getting more belligerent in their domestic press with regards to both Ukraine and the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons against the West. The threats are vague but they've been stoking tensions among the Ukrainians, Russians, and Westerners who believe that Russia is bent on seizing all of Ukraine even at the risk of a major war.
* In a completely unrelated note (hah!) Russia recently completed software upgrades on over 10,000 dual purpose SAM/ABM missiles. These are missiles that can intercept both aircraft and intercontinental ballistic missiles. The upgrades come at the same time that Russia is telling it's people that they can win a nuclear war. Meanwhile NATO has no missile defense at all. 
* Russian inflation has soared to 16% according to official Russian sources. Unofficial sources say inflation is more like 30% given that the Putin regime is printing rubles to make up for the domestic shortage of reserve currencies.
* The US now has more than forty A-10 Warthogs forward deployed at old Soviet airbases in Poland and the Baltics. Two F-22 fighters have also been based in Estonia and the Blackhorse (armored division) is moving into billets in Poland.
* The US plan to train 15,000 Syrians for combat against ISIS has flopped. Only sixty trained men have so far passed the training course.
* The #1 cause of disability in the US forces is now obesity.
* Thailand cancelled talks with China on the purchase of three diesel submarines due to US and domestic pressure.
* The Pakistani General Staff are agitating for war with India while simultaneously denouncing India for repeating the public statements of Pakistani generals who are agitating for war.
* Saudi Arabia and Israel, along with unnamed Gulf states are making rare public statements supporting each other in their mutual concerns over the US-Iran nuclear deal. No one in the neighborhood trusts Iran not to build nukes and no one trusts Obama to stop them.
* A large number of ISIS leaders are former Iraqi military who were key in Saddam Hussein's "Republic of Fear" effort of the 1990's. ISIS refers to these leaders and their organization within ISIS as "The Shield of Islam" - the organization is estimated to be at about brigade strength and is acting as a military police organization.
* The Polish navy finally launched the Slazak, an off-shore patrol vessel that was laid down in 2001. It will be the only such ship of its class.
* Somalia's interim government (basically the ruling cabal of warlords and clans) has indefinitely delayed elections that were supposed to held before the end of 2016.
* Saudi Arabia recently ran a massive police operation that swept up over five hundred ISIS supporters and operatives. In press releases Saudi authorities put the number at 400 causing some concern for the welfare of the remaining 100 or so terrorists. 
* Corruption investigations in South Korea have caused a purge in government where 63 officials are being prosecuted for corruption and another estimated 350 have left their jobs to avoid prosecution. The military is also feeling the effects as a significant number of logistics and procurement officers are facing sanctions for criminal acts.
* The US ordered its last Hummer in 2011 but foreign orders for the vehicle remain strong with 2,000 of the vehicles being ordered this year alone. Major contracts include Ukraine, Afghanistan, Kenya, Tunisia, and Lebanon.
* ISIS over the summer stepped up executions for sorcery. The spike in executions is noticeable and the victims seem to have Western educations in common.
Out.
Thanos @ Wed Sep 02, 2015 4:39 pm
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
A smattering of topics from around the globe today:
* The US now has about 1100 troops in Ukraine to train Ukrainian reservists, volunteers, and local volunteer militia.
* The US now has about 1100 troops in Ukraine to train Ukrainian reservists, volunteers, and local volunteer militia.
This one has the Russians spooked bad. There's some articles out there describing how much better Ukrainian resistance has become over the last year and how they're getting as good, or even better, at giving the Russian "irregulars" back as good as they get. Apparently Ukrainian snipers are significant degrees more lethal than they were just a few months ago, which indicates some of these guys could actually be Americans or Brits doing the shooting and basically filling the "honcho" role in the same way Russian pilots did for China and North Korea when they were the ones doing most of the MIG piloting during the Korean War.
BartSimpson @ Wed Sep 02, 2015 4:56 pm
Thanos Thanos:
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
A smattering of topics from around the globe today:
* The US now has about 1100 troops in Ukraine to train Ukrainian reservists, volunteers, and local volunteer militia.
* The US now has about 1100 troops in Ukraine to train Ukrainian reservists, volunteers, and local volunteer militia.
This one has the Russians spooked bad. There's some articles out there describing how much better Ukrainian resistance has become over the last year and how they're getting as good, or even better, at giving the Russian "irregulars" back as good as they get. Apparently Ukrainian snipers are significant degrees more lethal than they were just a few months ago, which indicates some of these guys could actually be Americans or Brits doing the shooting and basically filling the "honcho" role in the same way Russian pilots did for China and North Korea when they were the ones doing most of the MIG piloting during the Korean War.
The Russians are discovering that one well regulated shooter can make life hell for an entire division.
Their guys are afraid to come out to play because they never know when someone is waiting for them and they're afraid to hide in their armor because the Ukrainians are killing tanks and BMPs these days.
Oh, and if Ivan decides to roll on the rest of Ukraine I hope he brings a lot of body bags because where Putin keeps saying the troops in East Ukraine are not his then the fuckers are fair game.
Thanos @ Wed Sep 02, 2015 5:04 pm
They found out the hard way that if an enemy force has enough anti-armour weaponry those BMPs, BTRs, and T-series tanks are really just death traps. They aren't Abrams's or Chally's where the designers actually built the damn things with crew survivability as one of the main priorities of the vehicle. There's even some vids out there now of Houthi guerrillas in Yemen pegging off stock-model Saudi Abrams' with rockets and missiles all because the Americans wouldn't sell tanks with the upgraded (and still top-secret) armour package. The Arab tanks have the full gunnery and electronics but the US drew the line at giving them anything with the better armour upgrades.
DrCaleb @ Thu Sep 03, 2015 6:11 am
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
* The US plan to train 15,000 Syrians for combat against ISIS has flopped. Only sixty trained men have so far passed the training course.
Any Syrian that can run, jump or swim has already grabbed their family and headed for the border.
BartSimpson BartSimpson:
* The #1 cause of disability in the US forces is now obesity.
Yea, I saw that coming.
I recall the first time I saw a 'double wide' coffin and knew what was ahead.
DrCaleb @ Thu Sep 03, 2015 8:08 am
$1:
China Puts On Huge Parade For World War II Anniversary
. . .
More than 12,000 soldiers, mostly Chinese but with contingents from Russia and elsewhere, then marched down Changan Avenue, led by veterans of World War Two carried in vehicles.
They were followed by ballistic missiles, tanks and armored vehicles, many never seen in public before. Advanced fighter jets and bombers flew overhead in a highly choreographed spectacle that lasted around 90 minutes.
Among the weapons China unveiled for the first time was an anti-ship ballistic missile, the Dongfeng-21D, which is reportedly capable of destroying an aircraft carrier with one hit.
Also shown were several intercontinental ballistic missiles such as the DF-5B and the DF-31A as well as the DF-26 intermediate range ballistic missile, dubbed the "Guam killer" in reference to a U.S. Pacific Ocean base.
. . .
More than 12,000 soldiers, mostly Chinese but with contingents from Russia and elsewhere, then marched down Changan Avenue, led by veterans of World War Two carried in vehicles.
They were followed by ballistic missiles, tanks and armored vehicles, many never seen in public before. Advanced fighter jets and bombers flew overhead in a highly choreographed spectacle that lasted around 90 minutes.
Among the weapons China unveiled for the first time was an anti-ship ballistic missile, the Dongfeng-21D, which is reportedly capable of destroying an aircraft carrier with one hit.
Also shown were several intercontinental ballistic missiles such as the DF-5B and the DF-31A as well as the DF-26 intermediate range ballistic missile, dubbed the "Guam killer" in reference to a U.S. Pacific Ocean base.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chi ... _ref=world
PublicAnimalNo9 @ Thu Sep 03, 2015 8:12 am
DrCaleb DrCaleb:
$1:
China Puts On Huge Parade For World War II Anniversary
. . .
More than 12,000 soldiers, mostly Chinese but with contingents from Russia and elsewhere, then marched down Changan Avenue, led by veterans of World War Two carried in vehicles.
They were followed by ballistic missiles, tanks and armored vehicles, many never seen in public before. Advanced fighter jets and bombers flew overhead in a highly choreographed spectacle that lasted around 90 minutes.
Among the weapons China unveiled for the first time was an anti-ship ballistic missile, the Dongfeng-21D, which is reportedly capable of destroying an aircraft carrier with one hit.
Also shown were several intercontinental ballistic missiles such as the DF-5B and the DF-31A as well as the DF-26 intermediate range ballistic missile, dubbed the "Guam killer" in reference to a U.S. Pacific Ocean base.
. . .
More than 12,000 soldiers, mostly Chinese but with contingents from Russia and elsewhere, then marched down Changan Avenue, led by veterans of World War Two carried in vehicles.
They were followed by ballistic missiles, tanks and armored vehicles, many never seen in public before. Advanced fighter jets and bombers flew overhead in a highly choreographed spectacle that lasted around 90 minutes.
Among the weapons China unveiled for the first time was an anti-ship ballistic missile, the Dongfeng-21D, which is reportedly capable of destroying an aircraft carrier with one hit.
Also shown were several intercontinental ballistic missiles such as the DF-5B and the DF-31A as well as the DF-26 intermediate range ballistic missile, dubbed the "Guam killer" in reference to a U.S. Pacific Ocean base.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chi ... _ref=world
Are those amphibious vehicles? Because if not, I don't think the Chinese quite get the hang of camouflage
DrCaleb @ Thu Sep 03, 2015 8:18 am
PublicAnimalNo9 PublicAnimalNo9:
Are those amphibious vehicles? Because if not, I don't think the Chinese quite get the hang of camouflage
That's actually a common pattern called 'Urban' camo.
It's meant to be in cities, among buildings and asphalt.
BartSimpson @ Thu Sep 03, 2015 8:20 am
PublicAnimalNo9 PublicAnimalNo9:
Are those amphibious vehicles? Because if not, I don't think the Chinese quite get the hang of camouflage
The idea of pixelated camouflage is not to hide it from ground forces but to hide it from air and satellite surveillance cameras. When done right this kind of camo looks like backscatter or "noise" in a digital image.
The shortcoming of it is that it's useless with the multiple wavelength imaging the major Western militaries use. It might work okay against Taiwan or Vietnam but it's not going to slow down US, South Korean, Japanese, or Aussie forces.
PublicAnimalNo9 @ Thu Sep 03, 2015 9:01 am
DrCaleb DrCaleb:
PublicAnimalNo9 PublicAnimalNo9:
Are those amphibious vehicles? Because if not, I don't think the Chinese quite get the hang of camouflage
That's actually a common pattern called 'Urban' camo.
It's meant to be in cities, among buildings and asphalt.Then you'd think they'd do 'em up in brick red and concrete grey or something. Maybe asphalt black.
I'm kidding really. Saw a program a while back showing that when it comes to the Mk.1 eyeball or any other un-enhanced vision system, the Chinese have just about the best camouflage patterns out there regardless of the terrain.