Russian Invasion of Ukraine Megathread

[ForTheHoard]

View attachment 3080857
2 Ukrainian Su-25were shot down.
View attachment 3080855

View attachment 3080860

Spoiler: NSFW

View attachment 3080865

Edit - pics of wreckage

View attachment 3080869
View attachment 3080871 View attachment 3080873 View attachment 3080875 View attachment 3080876

That pilot couldn't have survived. Flying low makes you harder to detect and engage from the ground, but it makes ejecting nearly impossible if you have horizontal/downward momentum. The only aircraft that can get away with ejecting at low altitudes are ones with VSTOL capabilities (AV-8B, F-35), and they have to essentially be hovering.

Spoiler: successful low altitude ejection

The good news is that he probably never felt it. Pilots black out during ejection and it's very unlikely that he had regained consciousness before hitting the ground. There's a ton of danger in ejecting even in conditions where the chute will reliably open. There's enormous medical procedures a pilot has to go through after ejecting, and after a pilot has ejected so many times (I think 4) in their military career, they have to petition high command to not have their flight wings stripped due to the risk of long term health effects.

I'd suspect all this low altitude dog fighting is due to both sides being intimidated by the other's anti-air capabilities. All the more reason for people to not support a US enforced no-fly zone. I have heard rumors that US made SAMs can't target US aircraft but I have no idea if that's true or not. The US has superior pilots, but there's a lot more things over there that can shoot you out of the sky than in the desert.

 

[DumbDude42]

It's interesting how when Russia shoots traditionally civilian targets that Ukraine is using for military operations like schools and there is collateral damage it's a big problem but according to the same media when Israel blows up Hamas who hides rockets in schools and there is collateral damage it isn't a problem at all? Why is this?

let me explain this in very simple terms:

i have a bunch of muslims in my country. these are not nice and pleasant people, quite the opposite in fact, they are absolute scum. lowlife criminals of the worst kind.
i also have a bunch of slavs in my country. unlike the arabs, these are usually decent people. they sometimes get up to criminal shenanigans too, but it's generally not the same type of crime: when the slavs commit crime here, it's stuff like "gang of poles steal cars and sell them to friends back in poland" or "some russians got caught with illegal firearms and a kilo of cocaine in their apartment"
but when the muslims commit crimes here, it's shit like "5 lebanese ambush and gang rape a 15 year old girl" or "2 palestinians murder a pensioner during home invasion"

that's why when i see slavs suffer i feel bad for them and would like to help and support them, but when i see mudshits suffer i don't care one bit.

 

[Badungus Kabungus]

Sorry, I know you just got embarrassed at your false flag bullshit again, so I'll just leave that there, only one raging here is you, bro.

But I gotta say, your Confession via Projection is top notch.

Note how my original post did not specify whether it was Ukrainian, Russian, or NATO propaganda. Just propaganda. Now back to your hug box.

I do find it amusing that you immediately assumed it was Ukrainian propaganda, though.

 

[No. 7 cat]

View attachment 3080826

Does this spell the end for Russia?

This feels to me like the fakers who rename their account @elon musk or whatever, follow and post scam links.

 

[Sexual Chocolate]

Also you can build an effective nuke with no modern electronics.

C'mon man

 

[Mr Bunny]

I'd suspect all this low altitude dog fighting is due to both sides being intimidated by the other's anti-air capabilities. All the more reason for people to not support a US enforced no-fly zone. I have heard rumors that US made SAMs can't target US aircraft but I have no idea if that's true or not. The US has superior pilots, but there's a lot more things over there that can shoot you out of the sky than in the desert.

Our equipment was designed to see each other, so if it ever gets captured it can't instantly be used against us.

 

[Fraiser crane]

Note how my original post did not specify whether it was Ukrainian, Russian, or NATO propaganda. Just propaganda. Now back to your hug box.

I do find it amusing that you immediately assumed it was Ukrainian propaganda, though.

Dude it's clearly implied it's Ukrainian

 

[Spicey McHaggis]

I'd suspect all this low altitude dog fighting is due to both sides being intimidated by the other's anti-air capabilities. All the more reason for people to not support a US enforced no-fly zone. I have heard rumors that US made SAMs can't target US aircraft but I have no idea if that's true or not. The US has superior pilots, but there's a lot more things over there that can shoot you out of the sky than in the desert.

I'm somewhat skeptical of those rumors, there are definitely situations that it would be a problem. Sometimes we do actually go up against American gear. Venezuela for example operates early F16s for example.

 

[Oxous]

View attachment 3080868
Supposedly this is Ukrainians staging atrocity propaganda.

This is actually a behind-the-scenes clip some Russian rapper posted while he was making a music video.

(lol age-restricted, here's the youtube link)

 

[BULLY HUNTER_77]

So in the event of a nuclear exchange, does this fuck with any of the delivery systems? How do missiles in flight not get knocked out by this?

Some nukes will get knocked out in-flight during EMP events, yes. Honestly, it's a more effective countermeasure than trying to shoot them down conventionally.

The flight computers of nukes are built to extremely hardened 1970s specifications. They're about the size of a conventional desktop but have the computing power of a student's calculator because the transistors are spaced intelligently to avoid Single-Event Upsets. All the flight trajectory calculation heavy lifting is done on the ground. The flight computer doesn't *know* it's executing a gravity turn, it just knows the accelerometers are reading X, so it must turn at rate Y. Sorry for the massive oversimplification - I'm throwing a lot of info at you.

EMP is one environment of many hostile environments that our nukes are designed to survive. The US government actually single-handedly holds up certain "archaic" industries because IBM and Microsoft just don't make hardened computers anymore. Hardening is so 1970s - following Moore's law is more on-fleek.

 

[No. 7 cat]

This is actually a behind-the-scenes clip some Russian rapper posted while he was making a music video.
View attachment 3080949

If Elon Musk won't be fighting Ramzan Kaydrov, a rap battle between the Ukies and Russkies should decide it, at least until the army of Ortho-vampires are ready.

 

[Spicey McHaggis]

Some nukes will get knocked out in-flight during EMP events, yes. Honestly, it's a more effective countermeasure than trying to shoot them down conventionally.

The flight computers of nukes are built to extremely hardened 1970s specifications. They're about the size of a conventional desktop but have the computing power of a student's calculator because the transistors are spaced intelligently to avoid Single-Event Upsets. All the flight trajectory calculation heavy lifting is done on the ground. The flight computer doesn't *know* it's executing a gravity turn, it just knows the accelerometers are reading X, so it must turn at rate Y. Sorry for the massive oversimplification - I'm throwing a lot of info at you.

EMP is one environment of many hostile environments that our nukes are designed to survive. The US government actually single-handedly holds up certain "archaic" industries because IBM and Microsoft just don't make hardened computers anymore. Hardening is so 1970s - following Moore's law is more on-fleek.

We still make radiation hardened stuff for the space program. Also using ridiculously outdated stuff for a variety of reasons, including the time it takes to make them.

 

[Cynically Insane]

This is from China in the early days of covid. Here is a compilation video of this and similar shenanigans that finally made it out.

Edited because I am a retard who obviously did not proof read my post. Nor did I quote the posts where the video of the body bag man smoking is being portrayed as recent news. It isn't. Now why have psy-op crossovers occurring on the regular. I am obviously retarded yet I can see how we have gone way beyond manufacturing consent into

 

[Badungus Kabungus]

Dude it's clearly implied it's Ukrainian

That's because the Ukrainians cry wolf so much that any attempt at propaganda is immediately attributed to them. Original TG post said it was Ukrainian but I found it questionable and did not translate it.

 

[Fraiser crane]

That's because the Ukrainians cry wolf so much that any attempt at propaganda is immediately attributed to them. Original TG post said it was Ukrainian but I found it questionable and did not translate it.

Fair point

 

[Freezard]

Not unprecedented for the Russians to invade with old gear. It's kind of a doctrine for them because unlike the USA, they have a vast hostile border.

Even the US knows how to use old stuff when they can get away with it. Like the JDAM was invented to fit onto already existing Vietnam and even WW2 vintage bombs. Or all the vehicles that are built on old M60 Patton chassis. The British had utility and engineering vehicles built on WW2 era tanks used in the Gulf War. Or the Iowa classes in Vietnam were actually super effective at shelling the crap out of NVA positions near the DMZ. The NV actually put a specific condition in the withdrawal treaty that the Iowa classes be removed. B-52s still work great for pounding sandniggers and unlike a B-2, if one crashes, it will hardly be an intelligence coup.

But unlike the Russians, western militaries tend to use frontline equipment in their proxy wars.

As they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it.
The T-72 was never a bad tank, really, despite its ammunition being stored in a way that it sends its crew and the turret into space if hit in a sufficiently comedic way. I am a bit surprised that models as old as the A are being fielded, even if I know the Russians just don't have the finances to come close to bringing their armed forces up to speed (Having a GDP below Canada and Italy doesn't exactly help with what's available for military spending) so they can't just toss them.
Something I'm curious of though, even though it'd require equipment being deployed that I'm sure the Russians don't want to lose because it's too expensive to waste, is how effective Hard-Kill systems would be against NLAWs and Javelins in the field. I'm sure military analysts are waiting with bated breath for word on that one instead of "guided anti-tank missile wipes out cold war era garbage, wow, we totally haven't seen this happen fifty thousand times over the past twenty years."

 

[mindlessobserver]

If Elon Musk won't be fighting Ramzan Kaydrov, a rap battle between the Ukies and Russkies should decide it, at least until the army of Ortho-vampires are ready.

View attachment 3080976

Eastern Orthodox monasteries and convents seems like really pleasant places to go for a few weeks to commune. Catholic ones just seem to lack the spiritual devotion and the protestants got rid of theirs. To their detriment I think. I've often thought of doing a lay person retreat, even though I am not Orthodox myself.

 

[Random Internet Person]

The mod retired.

View attachment 3080848
Heh, it's true

I tried to warn him, I said yo dawg I told you about A&Ners, I warned you bro!

Null did say that the Thunderdome has a history of chewing and spitting out mods….

 

[bread n circuses]

That's bullshit and you know it. The entire thread fucking tosses around false flags around like it was a gay pride parade and how every single thing said by Ukraine is a lie while cheering on Russia every time they say fucking boo. And every post that is even moderately anti-Russia propaganda gets the same chucklefucks up in arms every goddamn time.

And poor beleaguered Russia, who always finds an excuse to invade one of its direct neighbors because they feel scared, not due to an actual threat, always a perceived one.

And Mearshimer is a realist, I can respect that. But he is a realist to a fault, and unapologetically so. His blind spots are always that Nations are run by people, who act on specific beliefs in addition to the power struggles. He also has a massive hard on for confrontation with China, not bat in and of itself but it tends to cause myopia in his view of other threats around the world. Look, I'm not on the neoliberal bandwagon either, far from it. The fuckknuckles in a lot of the west could use a bit of realism to cut the cocaine of free trade will fix the world. But Mearshimer believes that no matter what, that power is the only shit that matters, especially since every nation always sees itself as insecure. Power is still king in IR, but how and why that power is used is based on the nature of the country and what its morals real and most importantly, perceived are.

Then there are other questions such as how much is a nation willing to follow the rules of the road, how far are they willing to bend those rules, and do they have enough allies to back their play? That's more than a strict power formulation.

But arguing IR schools of thought is as pointless as arguing philosophy. They're the same as the assholes working at Starbucks with the single most useless degree of all time, except IR theories only get tested when a fuckton of people end up dead.

You’re wrong about Russian propaganda. People in this thread mostly believe American casualty figures and disregard Russia’s, for starters. Anybody trying to say “only 500 Russians have died” would get laughed at. Nobody’s even disputing that Russia’s logistics have been shit or that it is doing worse than people generally expected it to. People just aren’t buying the retarded bullshit about Ukraine being on the cusp of victory, or the idea that Putin is a genocidal madman without reasonable geopolitical goals, or the even more retarded belief that America and NATO dindu nuffin.

 

[Echo_Ender]

I wasn't aware that Ukraine even had planes left to shoot down or safe runways for them to take off from. I wonder how much hardware they actually have holed up in their USSR bunkers...

That said, it looked like the Russians shot them down pretty easy in that dogfight, with no losses on their side.

So much for that "Ghost of Kiev shooting down 5 Russian MiGs in one sortie" propaganda.