Archive through July 10, 2025
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Non-Game Discussions: Real-World Military:
Archive through July 10, 2025
The Dassault Rafale, Mirage 2000N & SEPECAT Jaguar are reported to be Nuclear capable.
As are the A-4 and at least one version of the the F-4, though I am unsure if any NATO countries ever flew the A-4 and if any F-4s are still in use by them.
Germany and Italy both use the IDS variant. I spent 2 very happy years on XV and 31 Sqns in Germany with the Mighty Fin.
President Donald Trump told NATO leaders today that preliminary reports on the damage are "inconclusive".
Robert - I think the Jaguar is only used by India now.
So France, Germany and Italy - plus US - I wonder who the other 3 nations are?
Thanks
Attn Paul Howard
From "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists", Nov 2023
The United States is preparing to replace all legacy versions of the B61 gravity bomb deployed in Europe with the incoming B61-12, which uses a modified version of the warhead used in the current B61-4 gravity bomb. In addition to US heavy bombers, the B61-12 will also be integrated onto US- and allied-operated tactical aircraft, including the F-15E, the F-16C/D, the F-16MLU, the PA-200 Tornado, and the F-35A. Except for Turkey, every NATO country that hosts US nuclear weapons (Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and England after Lakenheath re-opened for storage) is purchasing the F-35A to replace their legacy aircraft. However, because of their age and logarithmic systems, these older aircraft will not be able to benefit from the increased accuracy provided by the B61-12ʹs new digital guided tail kit. Instead, it will deliver the bomb as a “dumb” bomb akin to the current B61-3s and B61-4s, but without a parachute-retarded laydown option.
Note France operates independently with its own weapons and aircraft.
Apparently the leaked document was real but totally inaccurate and might have been created specifically to be leaked. All available data so far is that the two primary galleries were indeed penetrated and the equipment destroyed.
That said, Iran still wants nukes and no matter what they agree to they're going to keep trying to get them. They could buy equipment from Russia or China and get back to the status quo ante in a few months if China or Russia were diabolical enough to sell the stuff. Also, whatever is under PickAxe Mountain remains intact. I don't see Iran cooperating with IAEA inspector as Trump and NATO demand.
In what has to be one of the more absurd public comments in recent history, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei congratulated Iranians for what he described as a victory over Israel and the United States. There are competitive-level Twister games that don't require that level of self-contortion.
I'm sure it was aimed at the Iranian populace at large. No one there who's in charge is stupid enough to believe the rest of the world is going to buy such a claim.
It was some weeks ago.. (months?) but during the DOGE controversy one of the government organizations that had a large number of its personnel fired (laid off, riffed or otherwise encouraged to seek employment elsewhere… ) was the Voice of America.
Several weeks ago (just before it turned from lukewarm to hot combat with missiles flying), it was announced that 100 of the workers that were fired had been recalled to service. The languages were middle eastern (farsi, and about a dozen Arab and Iranian dialects )
The initial effort was supposed to be concentrated on broadcasting news and current events in to Iran and the Persian Gulf region.
It does not take a genius to figure out why and who the U.S. government wants informed of regional events.
We now know much more of the story of the leaked intel report.
The original report was a preliminary "low confidence" (i.e., this is probably wrong but the best we have; expect better in a few hours) report.
Whoever leaked it (Pentagon? Congress?) did so for the deliberate purpose of embarrassing President Trump and only sent a few small parts of the report (those that supported the narrative) to a "journalist" who has a long history of publishing anti-Trump reports that proved to be totally wrong (Laptop, fine people, Chinese meat market) and in fact were deliberately deceptive and outright lies. It was obviously wrong because it included the theory that the bombs collapsed the tunnel entrances when in fact the bombs were nowhere near the tunnel entrances that had already been destroyed by Israel.
Later reports from the CIA, DIA, USAF, UN-IAEA, Saudi Arabia, the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Israeli Intel all say that the bombs penetrated the galleries and completely wrecked the equipment.
The FBI is looking for the leaker and if he's found he's going to jail.
This set the Iranian nuclear weapons program back by five years and (since the Israelis killed all of the nuclear scientists) Iran could not rebuild the program at all without getting a lot of foreign help (which it is asking for) and raising a new generation of scientists. Just personally, I think Iran will do everything it can think of to get a dozen nuclear bombs as fast as they can.
They cannot just buy intact bombs from Russia or China because scientists can quickly tell the source of the nuclear fuel inside the bomb, and we'd know who sold the bombs in 24 hours. Would you want to be Putin the day that someone says "Mr President, the 12 bombs that destroyed Israel came from Russia." I don't think so.
It says much about this country that there are people who believe everything that comes out of the Trump Admin and people who believe everything that says the orange man is bad.
Let's all try to keep up with military stuff and leave politics to the politicians.
"-USE THE FORCE, LUKE!" B-2's sent their GBU/57's down the ventilation shaft. - The War Zone
They hit the small thermal exhaust port, just below the main port.
--Mike
Trump has "temporarily" halted arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Fortunately, Ukraine has reached a point where they can do quite a lot on their own. Recent examples include blowing up an arms depot in Donetsk, killing the head of the Black Sea Fleet, and also killing Mikhail Gudkov, deputy head of the Russian Navy.
Still, this hurts.
The halt isn't just for Ukraine. It also affects a number of other allies.
The Big Beautiful Bill just passed.
Memo to Trump: Be careful what you wish for.
NO DISCUSSION.
Russia’s transport minister was found dead from a gunshot wound, the Russian authorities said on Monday, hours after the Kremlin announced he had been relieved of his duties. The minister, Roman V. Starovoyt, served as governor of the Kursk region for nearly six years before being appointed to the transport post in May, 2024.
Russian law enforcement authorities said they were investigating the death as a "possible suicide." Anyone want to bet that the "suicide" shot was to the back of the head?
NO bet!
Though It would be interesting to build a data base on the details on how all of these ministers and political figures (how it always seems to be persons who worked for and with Putin for years, in some cases decades . ..)met their fate.
Falling out of upper story buildings (in some cases there being no convenient windows being available, roof tops seem to be an acceptable alternative.
Seems rare for any of these people being shot in the back trying to escape.
Car bombs are popular.
Who knew that executions of powerful Russian Oligarchs would become fashionable?
Leadership: Russia Changes Tactics in Ukraine
July 9, 2025: Russia has discovered that their usual infantry tactics were not working in Ukraine. This is the first war Russia has fought since World War II against a comparable opponent. Russian troops have fought against irregulars in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and a few other places. In Ukraine Russia was up against trained soldiers who knew how to make attacking enemies take heavy casualties. Russian commanders quickly learned that their troops were not very effective against well-trained opponents. From the start of the war three years ago, Russia has taken heavy casualties as they constantly attacked, or counter-attacked, to take and hold onto Ukrainian territory. Most to almost all of these suicidal attacks were done so troop commanders could demonstrate their obedience and due diligence in attacking to President Putin, who tends to fire or kill military leaders who do not adequately demonstrate such qualities. After three years Russia had lost a million men killed, disabled or deserted. Russia has run out of infantry, at least for such costly frontal assaults. Russia recently imported 12,000 North Korean soldiers and those didn’t last long at the rate they were taking casualties. To make matters worse the war had changed in unexpected ways.
Russia modified its tactics by using small groups, about half a dozen troops equipped electronic warfare equipment to deal with enemy drones. Behind them came equally small groups of assault troops to take on the Ukrainian forces. Russia is running out of troops and offering large sums of cash to foreigners who understand a little Russian and are willing to take risks. These men are not given a lot of training before going to Ukraine, where most are quickly killed.
Ukrainian troops were the first to realize that cheap quadcopters and locally manufactured fixed wing drones were more effective than guided bombs, artillery and mortars. The drones came in many varieties but the two most common were those designed to find a target plus those carrying explosives that hit the target precisely. The recon and some of the attack drones had built in video cameras that transmitted video to the operator a few kilometers away. The drone operator used a headset that covered his eyes so he could see the video from the drone. The operator could look down at the control tablet he was holding to send commands to the drone. These are called First Person View or FPV drones. When there was a lot of jamming, the operator of a FPV attack drone could rely on a guidance system that switched to homing in on the selected target without any intervention from the operator. Another fix for the jamming is to use a shorter-range drone controlled via a fiber optic cable. Plus, if you know where your target is, you can just give the GPS coordinates to the drone and the explosives will be delivered. The Russians also have these drones. The Ukrainians came up with a solution to troop losses during an attack. Ukraine developed a number of mobile, remotely controlled vehicles that, in conjunction with air support from drones can effectively carry out an assault without using soldiers. There are armed soldiers behind this mechanized attack, to deal with any enemy stragglers or to deal with enemy troops willing to surrender. While several of the remotely-controlled vehicles used machine-guns, others laid mines and at least one of the vehicles looked for and removed enemy mines. In Ukraine most lines are laid on the surface rather than buried. This makes the mines easier to emplace and easier to clear when the war is over. The current combat use of mine clearing vehicles is proving that the concept works.
Ukraine plans to carry out more of these mechanized assaults. Russia may develop countermeasures, as they did for drone warfare, Despite that, drones are still effective, even though you lose more of them to enemy countermeasures. Starting in 2023 the proportion of casualties inflicted by drones in the Ukraine war soared to more than those inflicted by artillery, and in 2024 an outright majority of all casualties have been inflicted by drones.
Currently there is no effective defense from these FPV attack drones, and that’s why these drones cause most of the casualties in Ukraine. Over the last few decades, the cost of the FPV drone systems components have come way down, while the size of these components is smaller and more reliable. Overall, the new FPV system made it a lot cheaper to inflict casualties and that had a devastating effect on troop morale. Once you saw or heard the FPV drones you either found a place to hide or became a casualty. Ukraine considers the attack drones rounds of ammunition which are cheaper and more precise than artillery shells. There is still a role for artillery when it comes to destroying structures or blocking access to a road interdiction fire. But when it comes to deliberately causing casualties, drones are the weapon of choice. That’s why Ukraine built 100,000 drones a month in 2024 and expects to nearly double that in 2025.
FYEO
Yes, drones are King.
The West needs to reduce its obsession with "defensive" weapons. Defense leaves the enemy free to try again, and to hunt one-year-olds with FPV drones, as Russia did earlier today.
The answer is to inflict more pain on the enemy, faster than they can inflict it on you.
What is/are the limiting factor(s) in the rate of drone production? A specific material or component? The ability to assemble all the pieces?
Money
Ironically, the best defense against drones is likely drones. Hunter-killer drones.
We just keep "droning on" about drones....
What is you just said? I just keep hearing a a low droning sound…
my brain hurts
Before WWI, airplanes were seen as toys. Before this war between Russia and Ukraine, drones were seen as toys.
Before WWI, airplanes in military service saw some use as reconnaissance platforms. Before this war, drones in military service saw some use as recon platforms.
During WWI, airplanes became a critical part of militaries. During this war, drones became a critical part of militaries.
During WWI, airplanes made a few strategic strikes against infrastructure (bombing raids). During this war, drones made several strategic strikes against infrastructure.
Fast forward a century, and we see what military airplanes are like nowadays. What will military drones be like in a century? Any guesses? 