Originally Posted By AlmightyTallest:

??The \uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDE6Ukrainian defense industry is testing new domestically produced searchlights with thermal imagers and laser targeting for mobile air defense groups. pic.twitter.com/51WYJs4D29

— \uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDE6Ukrainian Front (@front_ukrainian) April 23, 2024

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GL2IUa2WYAAoenx?format=jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GL2IUa3XcAAoAb4?format=jpg&name=large

Originally Posted By GBTX01:

"Thermonator" has been unveiled by ThrowFlame. It's the first-ever flame-throwing quadruped robot dog.  \uD83D\uDD25\uD83D\uDC15

You could have some interesting dog walks with this.. \uD83D\uDE02pic.twitter.com/WrabR2o9Na

— H0W_THlNGS_W0RK (@HowThingsWork_) April 23, 2024

This is one way to clear a trench and produce more than a few nightmares!

Originally Posted By GBTX01:

"Thermonator" has been unveiled by ThrowFlame. It's the first-ever flame-throwing quadruped robot dog.  \uD83D\uDD25\uD83D\uDC15

You could have some interesting dog walks with this.. \uD83D\uDE02pic.twitter.com/WrabR2o9Na

— H0W_THlNGS_W0RK (@HowThingsWork_) April 23, 2024

This is one way to clear a trench and produce more than a few nightmares!

The package is set to include vehicles, Stinger air defense munitions, additional ammunition for M142 HIMARS/M270 MLRS, 155mm artillery ammunition, TOW and Javelin anti-tank munitions and other weapons that can immediately be put to use on the battlefield, according to US officials.

Originally Posted By Prime:
Russian FSB Counterintelligence Chief Gets 9 Years in Cybercrime Bribery Scheme

2024-04-22 21:04


The head of counterintelligence for a division of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) was sentenced last week to nine years in a penal colony for accepting a USD $1.7 million bribe to ignore the activities of a prolific Russian cybercrime group that hacked thousands of e-commerce websites. The protection scheme was exposed in 2022 when Russian authorities arrested six members of the group, which sold millions of stolen payment cards at flashy online shops like Trump’s Dumps.

As reported by The Record, a Russian court last week sentenced former FSB officer Grigory Tsaregorodtsev for taking a $1.7 million bribe from a cybercriminal group that was seeking a “roof,” a well-placed, corrupt law enforcement official who could be counted on to both disregard their illegal hacking activities and run interference with authorities in the event of their arrest.

Tsaregorodtsev was head of the counterintelligence department for a division of the FSB based in Perm, Russia. In February 2022, Russian authorities arrested six men in the Perm region accused of selling stolen payment card data. They also seized multiple carding shops run by the gang, including Ferum Shop, Sky-Fraud, and Trump’s Dumps, a popular fraud store that invoked the 45th president’s likeness and promised to “make credit card fraud great again.”

All of the domains seized in that raid were registered by an IT consulting company in Perm called Get-net LLC, which was owned in part by Artem Zaitsev — one of the six men arrested. Zaitsev reportedly was a well-known programmer whose company supplied services and leasing to the local FSB field office.

Russian news sites report that Internal Affairs officials with the FSB grew suspicious when Tsaregorodtsev became a little too interested in the case following the hacking group’s arrests. The former FSB agent had reportedly assured the hackers he could have their case transferred and that they would soon be free.

But when that promised freedom didn’t materialize, four the of the defendants pulled the walls down on the scheme and brought down their own roof. The FSB arrested Tsaregorodtsev, and seized $154,000 in cash, 100 gold bars, real estate and expensive cars.

At Tsaregorodtsev’s trial, his lawyers argued that their client wasn’t guilty of bribery per se, but that he did admit to fraud because he was ultimately unable to fully perform the services for which he’d been hired.

The Russian news outlet Kommersant reports that all four of those who cooperated were released with probation or correctional labor. Zaitsev received a sentence of 3.5 years in prison, and defendant Alexander Kovalev got four years.

In 2017, KrebsOnSecurity profiled Trump’s Dumps, and found the contact address listed on the site was tied to an email address used to register more than a dozen domains that were made to look like legitimate Javascript calls many e-commerce sites routinely make to process transactions — such as “js-link[dot]su,” “js-stat[dot]su,” and “js-mod[dot]su.”

Searching on those malicious domains revealed a 2016 report from RiskIQ, which shows the domains featured prominently in a series of hacking campaigns against e-commerce websites. According to RiskIQ, the attacks targeted online stores running outdated and unpatched versions of shopping cart software from Magento, Powerfront and OpenCart.

Those shopping cart flaws allowed the crooks to install “web skimmers,” malicious Javascript used to steal credit card details and other information from payment forms on the checkout pages of vulnerable e-commerce sites. The stolen customer payment card details were then sold on sites like Trump’s Dumps and Sky-Fraud.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/04/russian-fsb-counterintelligence-chief-gets-9-years-in-cybercrime-bribery-scheme/

Originally Posted By AlmightyTallest:

BREAKING: UK is putting its defence industry on a "war-footing" - investing £10 billion to ramp up production- as part of a plan to increase defence spending by 2.5% by 2030, Prime Minister @RishiSunak has declared.

This is a really big deal

Deborah Haynes  (@haynesdeborah) April 23, 2024

Originally Posted By Saltwater-Hillbilly:


Russia has literally burned it's bridges in Ukraine.  Anything less than a complete conquest at this point of Ukraine on Russia's part will end up being a strategic defeat, as they are brewing Poland-levels of generational hate among the Ukes, and those folks are right up there with Appalachia in their ability to hold a grudge!

Originally Posted By AlmightyTallest:

\uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDF8\uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDE6 | Reuters: The US is already preparing a big, $1 billion military aid package for Ukraine, the first to be sourced from the yet to be signed Ukraine-Israel bill.

The package is set to include vehicles, Stinger air defense munitions, additional ammunition for M142… pic.twitter.com/TfOSbX0rnb

— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (@Archer83Able) April 23, 2024

Originally Posted By Jaehaerys:
Has this dude been posted here yet? He's an active duty Ukrainian soldier who posts reviews of both NATO and Soviet equipment (rifles, grenades, flares, tourniquets, etc.). Recently, he posted an exclusive video to his Patreon that goes in-depth regarding drones. I'm not a paying member, but someone else on another forum did the leg work and summarized the key points. This is going to be a really long post, but it's very interesting, and I think it has validity to even SHTF scenarios here in the states. @planemaker should find this stuff really interesting.

FPV drone types (warheads):

. Explosive/Fragmentation - Straightforward, plastic explosive filler with fragmentation sleeve. Used for exposed personnel.

. HEAT - Most commonly RPG-7 Warheads

. Penetration Core - Here I think he was referring to an explosively formed penetrator (EFP). Opposed to HEAT, an EFP have a much thicker hemispherical copper lining with HE behind it. The benefit of an EFP is that the penetrator forms much further away (up to 20m) from the detonation, allowing penetration from a distance and through cope cages. Valgear states that these "Penetration Core" warheads are slowly replacing HEAT on the battlefield.

. Thermobaric - Mini fuel/air bombs which are used against dugouts and other entrenched positions

. Proximity Fuse - Valgear states that UA is slowly trying to replace contact fuses with proximity fuses with Claymore warheads, which detonate via a command from the drone operator. Valgear didn't say why, but I believe this is due to the rise of penetration core drones as well as better fragmentation zone.

FPV Drone Defensive Tactics - Interesting note, Valgear states that UA is basing its infantry drone defense tactics at least in part off of RU's reports and experience.

. First line of defense - Always listen for FPV drone motors. Always have a team member looking up and with active ear protection on max.

. Second line of defense - Speed. Of course, it's harder to hit a moving target.

. Third Line of defense - Smoke. Smoke is very effective at obscuring your position. If you are moving and obscured, you are much harder to hit. Russians are using massive smoke screens, kilometers wide to obscure movement of men and vehicles. It does clearly signal an attack, but with spotting drones so prevalent, it's better to obscure the attack than to attempt surprise.

. Forth line of defense - SHOOT! As soon as you see the drone, shoot at it. This was originally a Russian doctrine, but UAF is starting to adopt it as well. Reports are stating that this tactic is actually very effective. This is a pretty interesting example of selection bias in the footage we see. Russians and Ukrainians aren't posting videos of drones getting shot down, but it seems (at least based on this guy's reporting) this is actually a viable defense. Shooting at it may shoot down a drone, but it also forces the operator into evasive action and can result in poor targeting. This is also why proximity fuses are becoming more popular, because the operator can instantly detonate over the personnel as opposed to maneuvering for a good hit.

. When in a forest, hug a tree. When in a building, close all doors and windows, use curtains if glass is shattered (curtains can detonate fuse).

In general, if you get spotted, be active and aggressive with your defense. Cowering in place will only result in certain death.

EW (Electronic Warfare)

. Any EW is better than none. Even if operating on the wrong frequencies, EW can interfere with an operator at short ranges. Note: Another Ukrainian soldier on the forum I'm copying and pasting this from disagreed, stating, "Completely wrong. If you do not match the operating range of the signal, the effectiveness of your EW emitter is zero (0). Short range interference is due to radio blocking of the signal when losing line of sight."

. UA has some EW capabilities (vehicle mounts and backpack EW).

. Russians have gotten much better at EW in quantity and quality. They now have EW repeaters that create a frequency umbrella around their trenches.

. "Radio Horizon" - This is essentially the range of EW and FPV frequencies in consideration of Earth curvature and obstacles. Place antennas high on trees and buildings. The UAF is now placing repeaters on heavy drones.

Drone Drop Munitions

. Usually use DJI Mavic series drones.

. Up to Baba Yaga - Heavy drone that drops mines, apparently it’s a repurposed agricultural drone.

. Valgear states that drone drops are an even greater threat than FPV. They have better resolution, and can acquire targets better. They have higher munition capacity. Due to the altitudes they are operating in, they are very difficult to hear and see.

. RU is using drone drop attacks at a similar frequency to UA.

. Autell Drones are more dangerous than DJI, because they are more resistant to EW than DJI and can operate at night.

Drone Drop Defensive Tactics

. Basically the same as FPV with a few differences. When digging a trench and dugout, dig the trench deeper than the dugout. This way a drone drop grenade will not roll into the dugout.

Drone Surveillance

. American doctrine states that when you encounter indirect fire, you should push in the direction of that fire (note: this isn't the case, according to people on the original forum). In the context of Ukraine, and drone surveillance, this is a completely outdated tactic. On the modern battlefield, artillery zeros in within minutes.

. If you encounter indirect fire, take cover immediately.

. You will get one to three accurate shots on your position, but if your cover is good, chances are you will survive.

. After you have taken fire, wait in cover for 30min to an hour (longer the better) for the spotting drone to run out of battery and return to base.

. "Don’t fuck around with artillery under any condition, ever!"

. Artillery is the number one killer in Ukraine.

. Russians will double tap you if you do not wait long enough.

Fixed Wing Drones

. Orlan - 10- Surveillance drone and designator. Typically designates for guided cluster munitions, less often Lancets.

. Zala - Another surveillance drone and designator. Typically designates for Lancets (Zala and Lancet are built by the same company).

. Lancets (First Generation) - Used a general penetration warhead, similar to an upscaled DPCIM submunition.

. Lancets (Second Generation) - Uses a penetration core (EFP) to penetrate past netting and cover.

. These fixed wing drones are used almost entirely to identify and eliminate high value targets: artillery, tanks, etc. Infantry generally doesn't have to worry about them.

Originally Posted By GBTX01:

"Thermonator" has been unveiled by ThrowFlame. It's the first-ever flame-throwing quadruped robot dog.  \uD83D\uDD25\uD83D\uDC15

You could have some interesting dog walks with this.. \uD83D\uDE02pic.twitter.com/WrabR2o9Na

— H0W_THlNGS_W0RK (@HowThingsWork_) April 23, 2024

This is one way to clear a trench and produce more than a few nightmares!

Originally Posted By CS223:
Be a little more entertaining if it hiked its leg and pissed fire.

Originally Posted By BlackHoleSon:

Or a "Hump leg to completion" mode

Originally Posted By CS223:
Be a little more entertaining if it hiked its leg and pissed fire.

Originally Posted By Prime:

Please note this happened more than a year before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

China started buying huge quantities of grain, other foods and agricultural chemical feed stocks in the year before the Russian invasion.

1/ https://t.co/rh3zAti4cD

Trent Telenko  (@TrentTelenko) April 22, 2024

Do not forget that Putin visited XI to get approval just prior to the invasion

Do not forget that some politicians waiving Ukraine flags today waved China flags last month

We need rational, not contradictory, policy https://t.co/2qGn1y76Jj pic.twitter.com/qvUwWBt7gR

— John ? Konrad V (@johnkonrad) April 22, 2024

This Chinese grain buying development was something I spotted about a month before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and clued in X-Twitter supply chain mavens like @maphumanintent, @mercoglianos, and @nolanwpeterson about.

2/2https://t.co/mueafZri9u

Trent Telenko  (@TrentTelenko) April 22, 2024

China has been stockpiling grain for months. The supply chain mavens on Twitter have been trying to figure out why for that amount of time.

The certainty of Russia invading further Ukrainian territory means no 2022 harvest.

AKA Putin told China months ago he was going to invade

Trent Telenko  (@TrentTelenko) January 21, 2022

Originally Posted By AlmightyTallest:


150 from what I am hearing, we shall see.