Originally Posted By outofbattery:





   Regarding Russians going back to the fight: I have read how troops who have refused to fight based upon being conscripts who can’t be compelled to engage in war in another country have refused to fight. They are fold they are told they  being moved and indeed are,to exactly where fighting is heaviest. Of course who knows the absolute veracity of this.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, admitted that Russia is encountering "difficulties" in its invasion of Ukraine.

At an event in Moscow, Kadyrov addressed Russia's faltering invasion of Ukraine, in which Kadyrov's militias have played an important role and suffered heavy casualties.

In the televised remarks, Kadyrov insulted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose government has provided weapons and diplomatic support to Ukraine. Kadyrov called Scholz "schizophrenic," according to a tweet by BCC Monitoring's Francis Scarr.

He went on to lament the difficulties faced by Russia in the invasion.

"And today we're fighting not against Ukraine, against Banderites [a reference to a pro-Nazi Ukrainian leader in the 1940s], we're fighting against NATO. NATO and the West, their mercenaries are there. And that's why our state is finding it difficult," he said.

"But it's a really good experience and we'll prove once again that Russia cannot be defeated."

Kadyrov, leader of the Chechen Republic, has been among the most aggressive Kremlin allies in the conflict, urging Russia to ditch peace talks with Ukraine, claiming to have fought on the front line, and challenging Elon Musk to a fight on Twitter over backing he has given Ukraine.  According to Ukrainian officials, Kadyrov and Chechen fighters were involved in a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the early days of the conflict.

Since then Russia has abandoned plans to seize Ukrainian capital Kyiv in the face of significant losses, and concentrated on a more limited mission in eastern Ukraine.

Russian propaganda has shifted in the face of defeats and setbacks. In Putin's Victory Day speech on May 9 he sought to portray the conflict as being a struggle not just against Ukraine but vast NATO forces. A former Russian military officer was openly critical of Russia's campaign in live TV remarks this week.

The new tone was echoed in Kadyrov's remarks Tuesday.

Originally Posted By THOT_Vaccine:

The details of the explosion of the Russian armored train in Melitopol.

It happened in the area of ??the meat-packing plant. The train (10 wagons) was blown up along with the personnel. It is reported by RIA-Melitopol. https://t.co/LWp4GCyYsP

— ???????English (@TpyxaNews) May 18, 2022

The Polish Armaments Group (PGZ) has signed an agreement with arms manufacturer MBDA UK to equip its tank-busting vehicles with Brimstone anti-tank guided missiles.

The deal is a continuation of the 2019 pact between the companies to design and develop the Ottokar-Brzoza tank destroyer.

Under the contract, the British Brimstone missiles will be manufactured at various PGZ facilities in Poland.

The UK has reportedly been competing with other international arms manufacturers to supply some critical components of the tank-busting vehicles.
The Brimstone has recently played a role in Ukraine, being used to destroy Russian armored vehicles.

According to PGZ Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Chwaek, the deal signifies that Poland and the UK are committed to strengthening their defense cooperation.

"In difficult times, it is good to have partners one can rely on," Chwalek said. "As a result of the Polish-British cooperation, a joint offer will be made to the Polish Armed Forces and allied forces, our companies will also enter supply chains."

An agreement was signed between the PGZ and MBDA UK for the Ottokar-Brzoza tank destroyer.

Meanwhile, MBDA UK Managing Director Chris Allam expressed that the integration of Brimstone missiles into the Ottokar-Brzoza tank destroyer provides another opportunity for both companies to further build on an "already strong relationship."

He vows that the British firm will continue to support the development of Poland's military and industrial capabilities.

The Brimstone anti-tank guided missile is a "combat proven, low collateral" weapon capable of engaging an array of targets, including fast-moving vehicles and vessels.

It can reportedly engage enemy assets with pinpoint accuracy.

When deployed on a fixed-wing platform, the weapon supports rapid response for close air support and counter-insurgency missions.

"Operationally deployed in the Afghanistan-Libya conflicts, Brimstone has proved to be the weapon of choice with its ability to perform surgical strikes in time critical missions with a true day/night capability," MBDA states on its website.

LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday said it was using a new generation of powerful laser weapons in Ukraine to burn up drones, deploying some of Moscow's secret weapons to counter a flood of Western arms supplied to its former Soviet neighbour.

President Vladimir Putin in 2018 unveiled an array of new weapons including a new intercontinental ballistic missile, underwater nuclear drones, a supersonic weapon and a new laser weapon.

Little is known about the specifics of the new laser weapons. Putin mentioned one called Peresvet, named after a medieval Orthodox warrior monk Alexander Peresvet who perished in mortal combat.

Yury Borisov, the deputy prime minister in charge of military development, told a conference in Moscow that Peresvet was already being widely deployed and it could blind satellites up to 1,500 km above Earth.

He said, though, that there were already more powerful Russian systems than Peresvet that could burn up drones and other equipment. Borisov cited a test on Tuesday which he said had burned up a drone 5 km away within five seconds.

"If Peresvet blinds, then the new generation of laser weapons lead to the physical destruction of the target - thermal destruction, they burn up," Borisov told Russian state television.

Asked if such weapons were being used in Ukraine, Borisov said: "Yes. The first prototypes are already being used there." He said the weapon was called "Zadira".

Almost nothing is publicly known about Zadira but in 2017 Russian media said Russia's state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, helped develop it as part of a programme to create weapons-based new physical principles, known by the Russian acronym ONFP.

Putin's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has illustrated the limits of Russia's post-Soviet conventional armed forces, though he says the "special military operation" is going to plan and will achieve all of Moscow's aims.

The United States has ruled out sending its own or NATO forces to Ukraine but Washington and its allies have supplied billions of dollars of weapons to Kyiv such as drones, Howitzer heavy artillery, anti-aircraft Stinger and anti-tank Javelin missiles.

Putin casts such large arms shipments as part of a broader plan by the United States to destroy Russia - and has promised that it will never succeed.

Borisov's remarks indicate that Russia has made significant progress with laser weapons, a trend of considerable interest to other nuclear powers such as the United States and China.

Using lasers to blind satellites - or even burn them up - was once a fantasy from the realm of science fiction, but major powers such as the United States, China and Russia have been working on variants of such weapons for years.

Besides the benefits in conventional warfare of burning up drones, blinding reconnaissance systems has a strategic impact too as satellites are used to monitor intercontinental ballistic missiles which carry nuclear weapons.

Borisov said he had just returned from Sarov, a closed town in the Nizhny Novgorod region once known as Arzamas-16 because it was so secret, which is a centre of Russia's nuclear weapons research.

He said a new generation of laser weapons using a wide electromagnetic band would ultimately replace conventional weapons.

"This is not some sort of exotic idea; it is the reality," Borisov said.

Originally Posted By Naporter:

No matter how amazing the tech, at the end of the day, it's still being operated by a Russian.

Originally Posted By Naporter:

No matter how amazing the tech, at the end of the day, it's still being operated by a Russian.

WASHINGTON: The US is preparing a military aid package for India to deepen security ties and reduce the country's dependence on Russian weapons, people familiar with the matter said. The package under consideration would include foreign military financing of as much as $500 million, according to one person, which would make India one of the largest recipients of such aid behind Israel and Egypt. It's unclear when the deal would be announced, or what weapons would be included.

The effort is part of a much larger initiative by President Joe Biden's administration to court India as a long-term security partner, despite its reluctance to criticize Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, according to a senior US official who asked not to be named.

Washington wants to be seen as a reliable partner for India across the board, the official added, and the administration is working with other nations including France to make sure Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has the equipment it needs. While India is already diversifying its military platforms away from Russia, the US wants to help make that happen faster, the official said.

The major challenge remains how to provide India major platforms like fighter jets, naval ships and battle tanks, the official said, adding that the administration is looking for a breakthrough in one of these areas. The financing package being discussed would do little to make those types of systems -- which can cost billions or tens of billions of dollars -- more affordable, but it would be a significant symbolic sign of support.

India's Foreign Ministry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Officials at the State Department and US embassy in New Delhi didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

India is the world's largest buyer of Russian weapons, although it has scaled back that relationship of late. Over the past decade, India has bought more than $4 billion worth of military equipment from the US and more than $25 billion from Russia, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which collects data on arms transfers.

India's dependence on Russia for weapons against neighbors China and Pakistan is a big reason Modi's government has avoided criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine. As the US, Europe, Australia and Japan piled economic sanctions on Russia, India has held off and instead continued imports of discounted Russian oil.

While the US and its allies were initially frustrated with India, they have sought to woo Modi's government as a key security partner -- including against China in the Indo-Pacific region. Modi is set to join a summit with Biden next week in South Korea. The meeting will include leaders from the Quad, a partnership between the US, India, Japan and Australia that has drawn criticism from China. Modi also received an invitation to join the Group of Seven leaders in Germany next month.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made the point about China when he spoke at a news conference in April with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Indian Defense Minster Rajnath Singh and Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

"We're doing all this because the United States supports India as a defense industry leader in the Indo-Pacific and a net provider of security in the region," Austin said. "And we all understand the challenges that we face there. The People's Republic of China is seeking to refashion the region and the international system more broadly in ways that serve its interests."

Links between the US and India have steadily deepened over the past two decades, with the two sides reaching agreements that allow for more interoperability between their military platforms.

Backing for India is a rare point of bipartisan unity in Washington, and the Biden administration has signaled that it isn't interested in sanctioning New Delhi over its recent decision to buy the S-400 missile defense system from Russia. Turkey's purchase of the same system deeply damaged US ties with the NATO ally.

Still, it remains to be seen how far India will go in accepting US military assistance. Russia has historically supplied the majority of India's military hardware, including fighter jets and missiles, as well as almost all its tanks and helicopters. Modi's government has told the US the alternatives to moving away completely from Russian weapons imports are too expensive, according to people familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak with the media.

Originally Posted By AROKIE:


Lol I was wondering this morning what had become of those old armored trains..hahaha this is awesome!

Originally Posted By DK-Prof:


What we are asking is that you do not derail THIS thread with the discussion and bitching of a topic that is completely unrelated to the Ukraine War, which is what the vast majority of people reading this thread care about.  If members insist on cluttering up this thread with off-topic discussion, then it stops being the valuable resource that lots of people really enjoy and find useful.

Originally Posted By spydercomonkey:
All of those take a fair amount of time to spin up increased production. And most of the man portable MANPADS/ATGMS are pretty low rate production.

Lockheed is hoping to be able to 2x Jav production to 4,000 units a year, but says supply chains would need to also catch up. Ukraine has already received 5,000 javs, to put that into perspective:
https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2022/05/09/lockheed-aiming-to-double-javelin-production-seeks-supply-chain-crank-up/

I'd be shocked if the more obscure muntions like Martlet/Starstreak could crank up more production than that.

Probably a stopgap of using 'smart scopes' + dumb munitions may be worth looking into. Such as pairing the Carl Gustaf with Aimpoint Fire Control Unit with unguided 84mm.

Not as good as a Javelin, but a much higher hit probability than a AT4/RPG etc.

Originally Posted By Naporter:

No matter how amazing the tech, at the end of the day, it's still being operated by a Russian.

A spike in the cost of insurance on Russian debt implied a 90% probability Wednesday the Kremlin will miss bond payments within a year.

That's up from 77% on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported, citing ICE Data Services, which tracks insurance on debt meant to protect investors.

The surge comes as investors contemplate the likelihood of the Biden administration blocking bond payments from Russia to US holders, putting Moscow closer to its first sovereign debt default in nearly 100 years.

The increased default risk is tied to a sanctions waiver from the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control that has thus far allowed the Kremlin to pay off dollar-debt obligations.

But on Tuesday, sources told Bloomberg that the Treasury Department is expected to let the waiver lapse once it expires on May 25.

"I think it's reasonably likely that the license will be allowed to expire. There has not been a final decision on that, but I think it's unlikely that it would continue," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters Wednesday in Germany before meeting G7 finance ministers.

She added that Russia is already cut off from global capital, and the country missing its debt obligations doesn't really represent "a significant change in Russia's situation."

The Kremlin has struggled to navigate payment channels essentially blocked by Western sanctions, making it difficult for money to reach bond holders.

Still, Russia has until now been able to use US banks as key conduits for delivering sovereign bond payments, although the country nearly missed a deadline earlier this month.

But an end to the Treasury Department's waiver next week would come just before the Kremlin's next payment is due on May 27 for bonds that mature in 2026 and 2036.