Russian Invasion of Ukraine Megathread

[Aidan]

They ran out of supplies around Kiev. Believe it or not, I do know Russia can Resupply their units, especially if they are close to a rail yard. The question is if they can resupply their front line units fast enough to maintain operational tempo. The answer to that question has been no. if they don't make gains in a week or two, they don't make them at all. Russia's performance in this war has been they can sustain operations for about 3 weeks tops, and after that they need to stop/retreat. So a halting of the Donbass offensive at this point would be in keeping with past Russian operations.

Alright I was joking but you turned it into cope posting. Unfortunately that means I have to explain the joke.
Earlier in the conflict various reputable (lol) news organizations claimed Russia would run out of supplies at various dates and be unable to sustain the invasion. All of those dates came to pass by mid-March and Russia never stopped.

 

[JosephStalin]

What did you even do, exactly? "Retired senior officer" is a bit too vague to be meaningful.
Do you have combat and command experience?

Served under wartime conditions, but not in combat. Two tours in Korea. Not a combat arms officer, signals intelligence. Commanded troops in intelligence operations. Spent time at an alphabet agency. Five years doing acquisition management at the major-command level. Last assignment as an associate dean at the Defense Language Institute.

 

[Captain Autism69]

Its looking like yesterday was the crescendo of Russia's offensive in the Donbass. dead silence today except for some skirmishing around Kharkiv. Russia may have expended the supplies they need for offensive operations and is having to refit their frontline units before trying again.

Living up to your name I see.

 

[St.Davis]

Have heard autoloader has eaten arms. Not a fan. First, additional machinery to be taken care of/fixed. Could be times when you need to change shells, from armor-piercing to high-explosive, or vice versa should target change quickly. Doubt autoloader would have ability to pluck out one shell and replace with another.

Not an armor officer, but suggest from what we have seen in this war the size of the tank doesn't matter that much any more. Suggest armor protection is more important, since the smart anti-tank weapons can find the tanks anyway.

Not all engagements are against smart munitions like Javelins, a smaller profile is still advantageous. I don't particularly subscribe to the use of autoloaders, but I see no reason that they would be unable to switch a round in the cannon if they were designed to do so. I'm led to believe that the "Arm Crushing" thing is not really an issue, incidentally, at least not on modern tanks.

Armour itself is not hugely meaningful, active protection systems and other countermeasures are what's needed. Unless some fabulous new materials are developed, I think we're close to beyond the stage where armour plating is going to ever be enough to stop modern munitions (At least in a cost-effective manner, both in terms of monetary cost, and the vastly increased weight).

 

[Oxyjen]

I’m a surprised that we don’t see more in the way of remotely operated battlefield stuff. Jerry-rigged drones aside.
Where are the crewless self propelled howitzers and rocket launchers? I know it then turns into an electronic warfare game but still, we have the technology, and the first side to leverage it would gain a big advantage.

 

[St.Davis]

Served under wartime conditions, but not in combat. Two tours in Korea. Not a combat arms officer, signals intelligence. Commanded troops in intelligence operations. Spent time at an alphabet agency. Five years doing acquisition management at the major-command level. Last assignment as an associate dean at the Defense Language Institute.

I would argue that this isnt directly able to qualify to be an authority on what's going on in The Ukraine, then. At least not in a "boots on the ground, tactics and strategy" sense. We're both basically armchair generals.

Interesting career though, I think my grandfather (Or great grandfather, perhaps?) was in the equivalent of Signals during The War.

 

[St.Davis]

I’m a surprised that we don’t see more in the way of remotely operated battlefield stuff. Jerry-rigged drones aside.
Where are the crewless self propelled howitzers and rocket launchers? I know it then turns into an electronic warfare game but still, we have the technology, and the first side to leverage it would gain a big advantage.

What would really be the benefit to a crewless self-propelled howitzer? That sounds like an awful lot of extra electronics/machinery for little actual gain. I'd rather have two regular SPA than one robo-SPA.

 

[JosephStalin]

I would argue that this isnt directly able to qualify to be an authority on what's going on in The Ukraine, then. At least not in a "boots on the ground, tactics and strategy" sense. We're both basically armchair generals.

Interesting career though, I think my grandfather (Or great grandfather, perhaps?) was in the equivalent of Signals during The War.

You don't know everything I have done in the military.

 

[IKOL]

Served under wartime conditions, but not in combat. Two tours in Korea. Not a combat arms officer, signals intelligence. Commanded troops in intelligence operations. Spent time at an alphabet agency. Five years doing acquisition management at the major-command level. Last assignment as an associate dean at the Defense Language Institute.

Armchair officer that is.
Pity. Really fallen from grace, you are.

Where are the crewless self propelled howitzers and rocket launchers?

Nigga, have you seen Kevin Spacey anywhere near the battlefield lately?!

Exactly.

You don't know everything I have done in the military.

Nobody have ever said we ever needed to know what was your job back then. The fact that a former officer keep posting MSM links with "interesting", "notable" prefix says whole more than we could ever wanted, here. Nothing of positive value, that is.

 

[Oxyjen]

What would really be the benefit to a crewless self-propelled howitzer? That sounds like an awful lot of extra electronics/machinery for little actual gain. I'd rather have two regular SPA than one robo-SPA.

The crew is the weak part, once they get fragged the machine isn’t going anywhere, even if it’s still operational. They are often fighting almost blind, and in the heat of battle are not very effective. They also need a shit load of supplies and support, on top of what the machine needs.

 

[George Lucas]

I’m a surprised that we don’t see more in the way of remotely operated battlefield stuff. Jerry-rigged drones aside.
Where are the crewless self propelled howitzers and rocket launchers? I know it then turns into an electronic warfare game but still, we have the technology, and the first side to leverage it would gain a big advantage.

You think that shit actually works?

 

[White_N]

I’m a surprised that we don’t see more in the way of remotely operated battlefield stuff. Jerry-rigged drones aside.
Where are the crewless self propelled howitzers and rocket launchers? I know it then turns into an electronic warfare game but still, we have the technology, and the first side to leverage it would gain a big advantage.

Uh, well, here's the Uran-6 minesweeper robot.

The Armata tank was supposed to have an unmanned turret, but we are still very far from distant robo-warfare.

 

[IKOL]

The crew is the weak part, once they get fragged the machine isn’t going anywhere, even if it’s still operational. They are often fighting almost blind, and in the heat of battle are not very effective. They also need a shit load of supplies and support, on top of what the machine needs.

And distant operated armor can lost the signal from the puppeteer. Plus let's not forget that we are still yet to solve the electricity appetites for such kind of mainframe, it eats the precious energy like Nikocado Avocado.

 

[Oxyjen]

[too much]

Dude, you might want to be careful power-levelling on a forum that’s crawling with active and pissed-off-at-you Russian agents, perhaps even some with GRU cyber warfare links. Just sayin’

 

[St.Davis]

You don't know everything I have done in the military.

Then why would I trust what you're telling me?

The crew is the weak part, once they get fragged the machine isn’t going anywhere, even if it’s still operational. They are often fighting almost blind, and in the heat of battle are not very effective. They also need a shit load of supplies and support, on top of what the machine needs.

The vehicle is going to still need tonnes of supplies and support, perhaps moreso now that it's a significantly more complex machine. Artillery typically isnt on the frontlines either.

 

[IKOL]

Dude, you might want to be careful power-levelling on a forum that’s crawling with active and pissed-off-at-you Russian agents, perhaps even some with GRU cyber warfare links. Just sayin’

I'd rather be concerned about his own glownigger fellows. They surely crawl there in incognito mode.

Hey there faggots! KYS in the name of pedo joe the child sniffer president of the United States, SoyIA!

 

[Oxyjen]

And distant operated armor can lost the signal from the puppeteer. Plus let's not forget that we are still yet to solve the electricity appetites for such kind of mainframe, it eats the precious energy like Nikocado Avocado.

True about the signal part. But even if you imagine the AI computer takes 10x what the best self driving capable cars do today, that’s still only 1/100th of the engine power used for propulsion.

 

[Oxyjen]

The vehicle is going to still need tonnes of supplies and support, perhaps moreso now that it's a significantly more complex machine. Artillery typically isnt on the frontlines either.

Perhaps the SPA was a bad example. How about tanks?

 

[Aidan]

Dude, you might want to be careful power-levelling on a forum that’s crawling with active and pissed-off-at-you Russian agents, perhaps even some with GRU cyber warfare links. Just sayin’

It's not the Russians I worry about - it's the US feds. Not joking.
Fortunately Stalin is pretty safe as a retired guy but the country is crazy these days.

 

[IKOL]

But even if you imagine the AI computer takes 10x what the best self driving capable cars do today, that’s still only 1/100th of the engine power used for propulsion.

AI... I'm sorry, are we speak of human hating Artificial Intelligence (hi WEF, we know you're being run but a buck broken replicant), or Artificial Idiot, which is Zelensky right now?