Originally Posted By Capta:

Wow, that takes trolling to all-new heights!
I’ll say it again, I am dumbfounded that a supposedly professional navy is getting clowned this badly.  Don’t even bring the “country without a navy” meme into it.  The Ukrainians are straight-up humiliating the Black Sea Fleet.  I really don’t think the Russian navy has the staff competence to counter.
If there’s another side benefit for Ukraine, I hope that after the war they evaluate this campaign and decide they don’t need a navy of any serious proportions.  They need to minmax their land and air forces.  Closing the Black Sea and fucking up the Russian navy and Russian commercial shipping can be done more than adequately with aircraft/missiles/drones.  A conventional navy of any size is something they don’t need.

Originally Posted By AlmightyTallest:

H/T to @Olivia_Beavers for scooping that House Intel Committee's briefing with Sullivan tomorrow is space related. Putting the pieces of the puzzle together, this Soyuz launch is the likeliest explanation. https://t.co/UUvQW2CejZ

— Colby Badhwar \uD83C\uDDE8\uD83C\uDDE6\uD83C\uDDEC\uD83C\uDDE7 (@ColbyBadhwar) February 14, 2024

5 days ago Russia launched a Soyuz-2-1v rocket into space, carrying a classified payload for the Ministry of Defense. Satellite Kosmos-2575 is now in orbit and under the control of the Russian Air and Space Forces.

H/T @John_A_Ridge https://t.co/4uksa5HVaZ pic.twitter.com/YJGAOtmFEc

— Colby Badhwar \uD83C\uDDE8\uD83C\uDDE6\uD83C\uDDEC\uD83C\uDDE7 (@ColbyBadhwar) February 14, 2024

So this is likely either 3M22 Zircon related (operational use or deployment of the nuclear-tipped variant) or related to the latest Soyuz-2-1v launch which deployed Kosmos-2575. If it was the launch, the payload must have been significantly different from the launches in 2022/23.

Oliver Alexander  (@OAlexanderDK) February 14, 2024

More: Pentagon official tells me this threat has to do with space. https://t.co/bBc7eSCME7

Jacqui Heinrich  (@JacquiHeinrich) February 14, 2024

Senate Intel Chairs Warner and ranking member Rubio were briefed weeks ago on the national security threat, sources tell MSNBC

The threat is “not unrelated” to the funding package which includes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but they are not “directly tied", source say

— Faytuks News ? (@Faytuks) February 14, 2024

Changing my guess to orbiting nuke.

Originally Posted By AlmightyTallest:
GLSDB parts found in past week in Crimea.

There have been additional images floating around in private Russian TG channels for the past week. These are from Crimea pic.twitter.com/0oVFSwKvC0

— John Ridge \uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDF8 \uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDE6 (@John_A_Ridge) February 14, 2024

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GGTuaNdXkAAucX2?format=jpg&name=small

Originally Posted By vahog:


They always use an out-of-the way place for the earth-shattering kaboom as a demonstration before the surrender ultimatum.

Originally Posted By ERNURSE:
When Ukraine drops the bridge, they will have to make sure they destroy the pylons supporting the bridge. Just hitting the bridge deck is ok, but it can be patched. Dropping the support structure ensures a long time till it would be able to be used.

Originally Posted By burnka871:



Obviously there is an end game to this. The bridge is not long for this world.

Originally Posted By kpacman:
Imagine all financial and banking records vanishing one day.

Originally Posted By borderpatrol:
How many of those boxcars are made of wood? A 19-mile-long fire would be impressive.

Originally Posted By 4xGM300m:

Still waiting on the transcript of Kendall's remarks, but I don't think we should dismiss the possibility of countries developing orbital bombardment systems, including China and North Korea.  A short thread. https://t.co/6QZ0aINfSS

Dr. Jeffrey Lewis  (@ArmsControlWonk) September 21, 2021

Note the date.

Originally Posted By RockNwood:

BREAKING:

ABC reports that the new “serious national security threat” reported today by House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner is a nuclear weapon in space.

ABC’s sources say Russia wants to put a nuke in space as a weapon to be used against satellites pic.twitter.com/NumkxGNpQU

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) February 14, 2024

History if you will.

The history of countries threatening to send nuclear weapons into space dates back to the Cold War era, primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union. During this period, both superpowers engaged in a space race, which led to various threats and concerns about the militarization of space.

One notable example is the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, where the United States discovered Soviet missiles in Cuba, leading to a tense standoff. There were also discussions within both nations about the potential use of nuclear weapons in space as a show of force or as a strategic military option.

In the 1980s, during the Reagan administration, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as "Star Wars," proposed the development of space-based missile defense systems, which further fueled concerns about the weaponization of space and the possibility of nuclear weapons being deployed in orbit.

More recently, with the advancement of technology and the emergence of new space-faring nations, there have been discussions and debates about the potential risks and consequences of deploying weapons in space, including nuclear weapons.

However, international treaties such as the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 aim to prevent the placement of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in space.

Has there been a nuclear explosion is space before?

Starfish Prime was a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States, a joint effort of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Defense Atomic Support Agency.

It was launched from Johnston Atoll on July 9, 1962, and was the largest nuclear test conducted in outer space, and one of five conducted by the US in space.

On July 9, 1962, at 09:00:09 Coordinated Universal Time (11:00:09 pm on July 8, 1962, Honolulu time), the Starfish Prime test was detonated at an altitude of 250 miles (400 km).

While some of the energetic beta particles followed the Earth's magnetic field and illuminated the sky, other high-energy electrons became trapped and formed radiation belts around the Earth.

In the months that followed these man-made radiation belts eventually caused six or more satellites to fail,[13] as radiation damaged their solar arrays or electronics, including the first commercial relay communication satellite, Telstar, as well as the United Kingdom's first satellite, Ariel 1.

The Starfish test was one of five high-altitude tests grouped together as Operation Fishbowl within the larger Operation Dominic, a series of tests in 1962 begun in response to the Soviet announcement on August 30, 1961, that they would end a three-year moratorium on testing.

The Starfish test was originally planned as the second in the Fishbowl series, but the first launch (Bluegill) was lost by the radar tracking equipment and had to be destroyed in flight.