I hope this isn't `Gator territory. WebMom, if, in your opinion, it is, please zap it and I do apologize.

Vincent? A guess on my part (I am a dumb civvie after all ), but I suspect the military hasn't requested for production to be ramped up because the United States isn't "Officially" involved in the Russia/Ukraine War; "Officially" the United States is still at "Peacetime Procurement Levels."

I suspect that, if the United States WERE to find itself in a shootin' war, production would increase dramatically.

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Tuesday, December 17, 2024 - 06:30 pm: Edit

Pure feeling about Trump's "plans" for the first day in office (Jean if this crosses the line feel free to delete).

Given that Trumps campaign was run much more methodically this time. My feeling is that Trump will step back from some of the things he said he would do. But of course, we will need to wait and see.

By Vincent Solfronk (Vsolfronk) on Tuesday, December 17, 2024 - 10:12 pm: Edit

Sadly Jeff we don't have the manufacturing infrastructure nor the huge amount of raw materials needed. We might not need to rely on China, but we will need other countries resources as well (Poland, Australia).

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, December 17, 2024 - 11:06 pm: Edit

At any given time there are 8500 drones flying over the US. A few are law enforcement, a few are commercial of various types, one or two are Chinese spy drones (note the arrest of a Chinese spy operating one) and most are "hobby" drones. Add to that clouds, manned aircraft, stars, and hysteria, and you can see why so many are being spotted. Were I a military base commander I would have a helicopter and the best skeet shooter on base on standby.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, December 18, 2024 - 07:31 am: Edit

A blogger posted satilite pictures of the 1295th Russian Army storage facility in far Eastern Russia.

This is significant because it is the first one to appear to have depleted all of the tank reserves . Only scrap parts are left, which is a good thing as the facility is still undertaking battle repairs to tanks damaged in combat.

Six other armored vehicle repair depots are in operation in Russia spread throughout the nation, but they all still have reserve tanks available.

I suspect that the phrase that best addresses this happenstance is: “Scraping the bottom of the barrel “.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Wednesday, December 18, 2024 - 10:59 am: Edit

SVC, should we also have armed drones up for counter-drone operations, and perhaps use the difference in effectiveness between the two systems to see if the rules for the reduced dogfighting capability of Remote Control Fighters (J15.23) is accurate?

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Thursday, December 19, 2024 - 08:38 am: Edit

There's footage of a Ukrainian MiL 8 helicopter downing a Shahed bomb drone, apparently with downdraft from the rotors. Ukrainians are also developing FPV drones that counter other FPV drones by dropping nets that tangle the rotors of the target. And of course jamming is being used.

As for remote control fighters, I suppose the reduced dogfight rating evens out if both are remote controlled, but can remote control fighters initiate dogfights? Because that's what we're seeing in Ukraine

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Thursday, December 19, 2024 - 08:56 am: Edit

Now THAT idea would revolutionize StarFleet Battles.

No energy allocation sheet for Drones.

It could also work for solitaire scenarios. There would have to be a sort of rules of engagement or a flow chart for the autonomous Drones, but should be able to be to allow fast play.

I imagine that smaller nimble ships moving at highest speed should have a comparable advantage compared to larger size class hulls.

Lots of options.

Might be best YIS long after the General War years, but not 2X-tech.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, December 19, 2024 - 09:49 pm: Edit

North Korean casualties in Ukraine to date are 100 dead and 1000 wounded, more or less.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, December 19, 2024 - 09:49 pm: Edit

The auction of the leftover border wall materials has been postponed to after 20 January so that the new administration can recover the materials and put them into use quickly. Contrary to some reports, the materials are NOT "ruined" or "useless".

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Thursday, December 19, 2024 - 10:56 pm: Edit

I had read that some of the metal wall components have some surface rust from being stored outside. Nothing that would damage them in any significant way or prevent them from being productively used.

--Mike

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Friday, December 20, 2024 - 10:16 am: Edit

North Korean casualties in Ukraine to date are 100 dead and 1000 wounded, more or less.


So the report earlier of 500 kia was not confirmed then?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, December 20, 2024 - 11:54 am: Edit

There are many reports of NK casualties. Pick one at random.+ YMMV.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Friday, December 20, 2024 - 12:09 pm: Edit

Dumb, underinformed civvie's 0.02 Quatloos worth, so take it for what it's worth, BUT...

I've read that a military prepares for its last war and is always hit with surprises when the next one comes around. France prepared for a return to the trenches at the start of WWII, Germany prepared for corrections of the Schlieffen Plan. We all know what happened there.

Could North Korea have made plans exclusively for correcting the problems of the 1950 Korean War, and be suffering excessive casualties because of that? I mean, it could be a repeat of the massive wave attacks of the early years of WWI, when France and Germany were enacting plans based on the Franco-Prussian War of the previous century...

Again, underinformed Civvie, so take it for what (little) it's worth...


(And on a different note, are NATO and the United States taking the lessons here to heart, or are they preparing for expected Russian actions based solely on their own experiences of recent wars...)

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Friday, December 20, 2024 - 12:44 pm: Edit

Initially they probably did....
Though Russia didn't have the force numbers anymore, along with never able to actually reconfigure their Army, I doubt anyone had any clue how they would operate. Early failures, pointed out to everyone that Russia didn't know themselves....

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Friday, December 20, 2024 - 07:26 pm: Edit

Compounded by corruption by officers and politicians in the Russian industrial complex.

There are cases of the Russians selling ships and submarines left uncompleted in their ship yards from when the Soviet Union collapsed.

Looking back from what we know today, it looks like a George Bernard Shaw play of a parody of Post world war 2 Russian History.

Only some of the more wild stuff, NOBODY could have imagined would happen, and if they did, no one would have believed it.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, December 20, 2024 - 11:36 pm: Edit

It is often difficult to predict the next war. Few militaries can prepare for more than one, although the US during the 1980s was prepared for a lot of different wars, with the heavy armored divisions and the light infantry divisions. One would hope that any military serious about it's purpose would prepare for the most likely scenarios.

Something has happened in the Ukraine War which a few analysts (not me) predicted, that being that the defense has become dominant and the kind of Guderian to the English Channel breakthroughs of WWII haven't happened. I have talked with American Army officers who think "we would blow through the Russian lines in a day" and I hope they are right.

The Gaza War is very different from Ukraine, and from previous Arab-Israeli wars. For the first time, an Israeli government has declared that it won't stop until it DESTROYS the enemy (i.e., Hamas) and removes them permanently from the equation. Previous Ar-Is wars saw the Israelis fight until they beat the Arabs into a temporary peace. How they're going to go about de-radicalizing Gaza and the West Bank is something I look forward to watching. I think it will happen about the same time I get to watch the human Mars landing.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Saturday, December 21, 2024 - 04:37 am: Edit

I can't disagreee with any of the recent posts.

Somehow - Russia massively underpeformed in the Ukraine - best guess is a Military Book in 30 years time will explain 'how' they did so badly (Corruption, too many yes people and a massive underestimate of how quickly and deadly a modern defender can become (SVC's comments)) - but will depending on 'who win' overstate or understate what the West did?

How many 'boxes' of AGTW's and communication gear was sufficent to slow the Russians down enough to stop them getting a breakthrough.

Perhaps Modern War will not be defined by how many tanks each side has - but how much the defender is willign to fight?

GW 1 - Defence was weak - and so it seemed 'easy'.
GW 2 - Defence was even weaker - and it seemd very easy "Our first Warfare by TV'

Yes - One side side had a massive quality advantage - but the defender didn't fight as well as we would have expected.

We then have ISIL v Iraq/Syria - how quick did Government Forces collapse? The defender was not willing to fight.

Afganistan v Kabul Regime/Western Support. Tribal Warfare at it's best - but the speed of Government Collapse seems very quick.

Syria 2024 - The Collapse was even quicker than Afganistan. Where 'did' the Defenders go?

Israel 2024 - About the only recent succesful Western Miltary Force - Miltarily they easily won the War in Gaza and Lebanon - so 'Western Style' forces can win - but the area of operation is in comparison to Syria/Afganistan is very small (but much much more populated).

So which is more important?

Quality
Quantity
Strong Belief

Depending on the opponent - it seems this significantly varies to be succesful?

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Saturday, December 21, 2024 - 08:18 am: Edit

The "Ukrainian Shahed", the Liutyi, has been upgraded with a 75kg warhead and (reportedly) a range of 2000 kilometers. Zelensky is claiming Ukraine will build 30,000 drones in 2025. (IDK what types) North Korean troops reportedly suffering high casualties from FPV drones from unfamiliarity and because they're not listening to the russians on how to deal with drones.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Saturday, December 21, 2024 - 10:29 am: Edit

Depending on the opponent - it seems this significantly varies to be succesful?

A group of soldiers, standing between their family and the onrushing hoard makes a big difference, tanks/artillery/ac aside.....

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Saturday, December 21, 2024 - 11:34 am: Edit

I would posit individual troop quality plus ease of communications. Russia has neither.

The first lets you get a lot more firepower per man.

The second lets you call reserves and fire support quickly.

I've heard again and again that the most deadly weapon is the radio for calling IF.

I suspect that Russian tanks are meh; it's the crew and usage that make them have problems.

Russians have great artillery; but given how their comms are so bad they can't use it as well. More happens before it gets into the action.

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Saturday, December 21, 2024 - 02:07 pm: Edit

They HAD great artillery.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, December 22, 2024 - 12:13 am: Edit

THE CURRENT DRONE SCANDAL or whatever you want to call it bugs me, a lot. I know that most of what people are seeing are (a) not drones, (b) perfectly innocent drones, (c) something else, but there ARE some Chinese spy drones around, as we all know. China has bought land next to US bases, Chinese spies have been arrested trying to enter bases or fly drones over bases, I don't need to remind you of the Chinese "spy balloon" that sailed across the US transmitting things home to China.

Just me, but the first thing we need to do is to prohibit Chinese (or all foreign) ownership of land near US military bases. Existing land plots can be forced to be sold.

We need some kind of counter-drone technology, something that isn't just "shoot down anything you don't recognize" (falling shells could hurt Americans and most targets would be other than Chinese spy drones). We do however need a way to bring them down. In one reported case, a strangely suspicious drone was seen over a US base. A US civilian decided to send his own drone to take a look, and his drone crashed when it hit an electronic wall around the base that blocked his control signals; the suspicious drone just kept on doing whatever it was doing.

There is also a great concern in that China is clearly planning for a war (even if they don't really plan to start one; their preparations will tie US hands in responding short of war) and one move would be to have drones from those Chinese farms made suicide attacks into US bases hitting aircraft, fuel tanks, and control towers. If China isn't setting that up already then the Chinese are stupid, and no one thinks the Chinese are stupid.

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Sunday, December 22, 2024 - 08:08 am: Edit

They would be stupid to prepare for that on US soil; the political damage (and economic consequences!) would be immense if the US authorities found any signs of stashed sui drones.
That is just my 2 c, however.

For free I can offer a solution to the drone problem; Require a license to own one. Should cut down the numbers a bit making the problem more manageable.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Sunday, December 22, 2024 - 08:52 am: Edit

Clearly New Jersey needs ADDs (if not the full G-racks of namesake NCC-1755).