Weapons: Russian Soldiers In Ukraine Selling Their Weapons
December 16, 2025: After nearly four years of fighting in Ukraine , more Russian soldiers are reaching the end of their term of service and returning to Russia. Many of them are bringing their weapons home with them. Few try to sneak rifles into Russia, most of the weapons are pistols. These are either Russian models or U.S. and European pistols taken from dead or captured Ukrainian soldiers.
The hundreds of pistols returning to Russia has contributed to the increased lawlessness in cities and rural areas. While the Russian police forces have lost thousands of men to the army and Ukraine fighting, they are needed now, more than ever, because many of the returning soldiers were convicts granted pardons if they joined the army. These men brought back pistols so they could resume their criminal activities.
In many parts of Russia the reduction of the police force left these areas with no police at all. A few gangsters with guns could do whatever they wanted in these areas and often did. The government tried to keep stories of the armed gangsters out of the media, but those efforts only slowed the news down. As news leaked out to the public it was often exaggerated and embellished, scaring the Russian public even more.
Most of the returning soldiers were not former criminals and sought to sell their pistols. There was always a black market for pistols in Russia and now there were higher priced exotic weapons like Glocks, Sig Sauer and even a few Americans .45s/12.7mm pistols. Most collectors only had World War II vintage .45s , so the 21st century ones fetched premium prices. Some Russian soldiers in Ukraine, who were support troops and rarely in combat, sought to collect as many Western pistols as they could and get them all back to Russia and sell them for premium prices.
Back in Russia the police still had Russian weapons they were issued. These included the Russian 9A-91 assault rifle which has been the standard national police automatic weapon since 1994. Most of the time police are armed with just a 9mm pistol. When more firepower is needed, they use their 9A-91 automatic weapons. Police training includes how to use and maintain the 9A-91. Most police personnel have served in the military and are already familiar with automatic weapons. The 9A-91 is not used by the military, except by some special operations Spetsnaz units.
The new PL-14 police pistol was a 9x19mm weapon that weighed .8kg empty, had a 127mm barrel and a 15 round magazine. The PL-14 was originally designed using suggestions from police and army veterans and special operations troops. Still, it was not ready for mass production and suggested changes were so extensive that by late 2015 the pistol got a new name, the PL-15. This is the PL-14 with modifications made based on feedback from hundreds of PL-14 users who received an initial production run of the PL-14 for field testing by soldiers and police. The PL-15 was available in lighter aluminum or polymer frames, had ambidextrous controls and an adjustable firing mechanism. Many changes were obviously to attract Russian customers who have tried Glocks and other Western models but would buy Russian if the pistol were competitive on looks and performance.
Since the 1950s the most common pistols used by the Russian military, and many police, has been the Makarov PM followed in 2003 by a small quantity of the unpopular MP-443 design. Neither were competitive with Western designs. The MP-443 itself was meant to replace the Makarov PM. However, lack of money in the defense budget, plus lack of user enthusiasm, meant few were bought and many Russian troops are still using the 1950's era Makarov PM.
The MP-443 used the world standard 9x19 pistol round, including the locally produced, hot loaded 7N21 armor-piercing round. MP-443 is a 0.59 kg empty, 184mm long pistol with a 112mm barrel and a 17 round magazine. While it's a relatively modern weapon, it is not as easy to handle as Western 9mm pistols and had a shorter 112mm barrel than most Western 9mm designs. It was not popular with Russian users who knew about the Western competition. The PL-15 was considered a Western design coming from a respected Russian firm. Kalashnikov had customer acceptance but not the expected big orders.
In 1951 the Makarov PM was introduced to replace all the 7.62mm pistols used during and before World War II. During that conflict, Russian troops captured a lot of German 9mm pistols and preferred them. Unfortunately, the Russian government wanted to improve on the German 9mm designs and one aspect of that was using a non-standard 9x18mm round and a small 8 round magazine. The Makarov PM also had a short 94mm barrel and while adequate for executing prisoners and other close-range situations, was not much better than the World War II pistols. Later models had larger 10 and 12 round magazines and a few other tweaks but the Makarov PM was always considered second rate.
Yet the Makarov PM was seen as a major improvement on the World War II era Tokarev 7.62mm pistols. Even before World War II the 7.62x25 pistol round was losing out to the more compact, slower moving 9x19 round. Both were developed in Germany. The 7.62x25 pistol round came first in the 1890s and was simply a shorter, much less powerful, rifle cartridge. While popular at first it was largely displaced in 1902 with the development of the 9x19mm round. The 9mm round was shorter, had less of a kick, less propellant and allowed for the design of more compact and easier to handle pistols. Meanwhile, the Russians developed a more powerful 7.62x25 round that had more propellant, higher velocity and used steel core bullets that had more penetration for their popular World War II submachine guns. This 7.62x25 Tokarev could fit in pistols using the less powerful 7.62x25 round but was not safe to use that way. A weapon had to be sturdy enough to handle the 7.62x25 Tokarev safely. Any pistol firing the Tokarev round was heavier and had quite a recoil compared to 9mm ammo. Meanwhile, the 7.62x25 Tokarev proved outstanding in Russian submachine guns. Despite its larger longer size and greater kick, the 7.62x25 Tokarev continued to be popular as a pistol round in some parts of the world but for most pistol users the 9mm or American .38 caliber was preferred. Russia stopped making 7.62x25mm pistols in 1954 because users were eager to get the new Makarov PM. Even though many were disappointed in the Makarov PM it was considered an improvement over the Tokarev round pistols.

FYEO

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, December 15, 2025 - 02:04 pm: Edit

Air Weapons: USAF Tests QUICKSINK Off Norway
December 15, 2025: In September the USAF successfully operated with Norwegian forces in the Norwegian Sea to test the Quicksink maritime weapon system in a realistic combat situation.
The test involved a B-2 bomber from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri with Royal Norwegian Air Force F-35s to caddy out a long-range attack operation against a surface vessel. The B-2 used a Quicksink bomb to attack and sink an unmanned vessel. This Quicksink incorporated a 228 kg GBU-38 JDAM guided bomb.
Three years ago the U.S. Air Force and Navy developed a cheap alternative to the torpedo called Quicksink. This weapon uses a modified version of the JDAM kits that turn an inexpensive unguided dumb bomb into a GPS guided bomb. Quicksink, like regular guided bombs, can be released up to 24 kilometers from the target. The GPS coordinates are programmed into the JDAM kit before releasing the bomb or altered after launch from the aircraft. When the Quicksink bomb gets close to the target, it goes underwater and glides to the nearby ship, detonating against the hull like a torpedo. The U.S. conducted a test against a large cargo ship scheduled for scrapping that was towed into position on a maritime test range. The Quicksink bomb performed as intended and hit the ship underwater, blowing it in half like a heavy torpedo, costing millions of dollars. The ship sank within minutes.
Quicksink was not intended for use against warships equipped with air defense systems, or commercial ships escorted by such warships. Even in wartime a lot of large cargo ships travel alone and Quicksink would be a more efficient and cheaper alternative than using torpedoes. Quicksink is resistant to GPS jammers because its alternative INS Inertial Navigation System is unjammable although less accurate. When the target is a large commercial ship moving at its normal slow cruising speed to reduce fuel costs Quicksink still works.
The warplanes carrying Quicksink also carry targeting pods that enable pilots to see, in great detail, what's happening on the surface, even when the aircraft is flying at 6.8 kilometers altitude. For example, the pod users can tell if someone down there is dressed as a man or a woman, or is carrying a weapon. With much larger naval targets, identification is a lot easier. Any aircraft, including heavy bombers, can use the pods for attacking ships at sea. In 2011 a B-1B successfully used laser guided JDAM bombs against moving naval targets. These tests involved the B-1B using its Sniper targeting pod to put the laser beam on the target. The JDAMs homed on the laser light reflecting off the moving target ships. The laser guided bombs are more expensive than Quicksink and do not attack underwater like a torpedo.
Targets would be enemy shipping, especially in the early stages of a war. Quicksink could also be useful in some wartime situations, like a Chinese amphibious attack on Taiwan. The Chinese plan to use dozens of large R0/Ro, or Roll on/Roll off ships that could put hundreds of armored and unarmored vehicles on certain beaches or any dock. These ships are unarmed and American or Taiwanese aircraft could launch several Quicksinks at each target, using accompanying EW Electronic warfare or SEAD Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses aircraft to suppress anti-aircraft air defenses long enough for the Quicksinks to be launched and reach their targets. At the very least, Quicksink forces China to reconsider their current invasion plans. A Quicksink kit with small wings would provide an even longer over 60 kilometers glide range for Quicksink.
With Quicksink available China has to worry about their commercial shipping in general, especially in the early stages of a war when many of those ships operate independently and are vulnerable to Quicksink.
Quicksink builds on the American experience with air dropped naval mines. These were used since World War II, with each generation of air-deliver mines becoming more capable. In 2018 the U.S. successfully used a JDAM glide and satellite navigation kit to deliver a 909 kg Quickstrike naval mine to a location over sixty kilometers from a B-52 bomber that can carry dozens of these mines. For this test Quickstrike had no explosives, just inert material to maintain the proper weight. The Quickstrike had its naval mine sensors and other electronics plus a locator device. That enabled a ship to locate and recover the Quickstrike, which was found to be functioning properly.
These tests began in 2015, using a 228 kg Quickstrike and later a 456 kg Quickstrike. Now the Air Force or Navy can deliver all three sizes of these Quickstrike ER extended range mines using JDAM.
The original Mk-62 Quickstrike was basically a 500-pound bomb, with a sensor package attached to the rear. There were three different sensor packages, each providing a different set of sensors to detonate the mine. The Mk-62 is a bottom mine, which is dropped in shallow water, and then detects a ship passing above using pressure of the ship on the water, magnetism of the metal in the ship’s hull, or vibration. The sensor also comes with a computer, to enable the mine to follow certain instructions, like only detonating for ships that meet certain criteria. Think of Quickstrike as the ultimate underwater weapon, being relatively inexpensive, autonomous and relentless in carrying out its mission.
One drawback with the Quickstrike is that the aircraft delivering it had to drop the mines at an altitude of 300 meters or less while moving at 500-600 kilometers an hour. The mines are usually dropped in known shipping lanes, especially those that serve as approaches to a major port. World War II air dropped mines proved devastating to Japanese shipping. Same thing with their use against North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Any bomber aircraft that can go in low and slow can deliver Quickstrike. The F-35, F-18, B-2, B-1B, P-8 and P-3C can also deliver naval mines. The U.S. air force and navy revived regular Quickstrike bombing exercises nearly two decades ago and publicized them to send a message to North Korea, Iran and China about how quickly their seaborne lifelines could be cut. China responded by stationing air defense systems to cover the shallow water sea lanes that Quickstrike could be used in.
The United States has since developed Quickstrike ER. The current JDAM smart bomb kit comes with wings that enable the bomb to glide up to 70 kilometers thus avoiding many enemy air defenses. It also means you don’t have to risk your nuclear subs for the delivery of these mines. Subs have long been an effective way to plant mines in enemy waters. The JDAM approach does not eliminate all risk from anti-aircraft systems. China and Russia have modern S-300 and S-400 systems with ranges of over 200 kilometers. But the farther away the attacking aircraft are the less they are at risk. That’s because American aircraft go into combat with EW electronic warfare aircraft and EW devices on all aircraft. That provides a lot of protection but it is not 100 percent and the less time you spend in the danger zone the less risk you are exposed to.
More improvements are planned for Quickstrike. The next step is to test longer range glide bombs like JASSM, with a range of up to 900 kilometers. The original JDAM bomb kit, added to 500, 1,000, and 2,000-pound bombs, costing $26,000 each. The longer range, 120 kilometers JSOW JDAM with larger wings and more powerful guidance system, cost $460,000 each. The even longer range JASSM cost $500,000, the 400 kilometers version to $930,000 the 900-kilometer JASSM ER each. Air defense systems can detect JDAM, JSOW and JASSM but with some difficulty because these glide bombs are small, low and slow moving.
China has not developed systems similar to Quickstrike or Quicksink in part because Western nations have more commercial ships operating over a wider area than China, which only has one coastline that is much smaller than the combined coastline of Western nations.

FYEO

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, December 15, 2025 - 02:04 pm: Edit

Morale: Russian Soldiers Shoot Themselves To Avoid Combat
December 14, 2025: Russia recently sought to suppress some very bad news. This involved Russian soldiers shooting themselves, or each other in non-vital areas. Such injuries result in several hundred thousand dollars in compensation payments per man. Russian anti-corruption investigators found that at least three dozen members of an elite Guards air assault brigade were involved in this scam which could have earned them nearly $2.5 million. The accused blamed it all on low morale. The brigade has been in combat too long and many soldiers were worn out. An increasing number refused to fight. Officers can shoot reluctant soldiers, but the officers are also suffering from poor morale and unwillingness to get their troops involved in heavy combat. The brigade was in bad shape. There were not enough supplies reaching, including basics like food and drinkable water. This was another side effect of drone warfare. Both sides used drones to cut enemy supply lines and often succeeded. The difference is that the Ukrai
This is not a unique situation. Last year a Russian deputy defense minister was arrested for corruption. Then the head of the ministry’s personnel directorate was hauled into court. Within a few weeks two more senior military officials were detained. All faced charges of corruption, which they denied. The arrests started shortly before President Vladimir Putin began his fifth term after a longtime ally, longtime Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, was demoted to a new job.
This immediately raised questions about whether Putin was reasserting control over the Defense Ministry amid the war in Ukraine, whether a turf battle had broken out between the military and the security services, or whether some other scenario was playing out within the government. To many this seemed to be a return to the Russian government long described as a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.
Corruption scandals are not new and officials and top officials were accused of profiting from their positions for decades. Corruption in Russia functions as both a carrot and stick. It’s a way of encouraging loyalty and urging people to conform, as well as a method of control. Putin favors men who have embarrassing secrets when selecting key officials in his government. Trust those who have a secret they want kept secret. The Russian government constantly searches for such secrets so it can threaten to publicize them if the officials do not do as they are told. This hidden secret policy and tolerance for corruption are key elements in running the current Russian government.
The war in Ukraine has led to much larger defense spending that has increased opportunities for graft. In April the first official arrested for corruption was a former Deputy Defense Minister who presided over military-related construction projects that had high priority, access to lots of money and few financial controls. One of the projects was the reconstruction of the devastated Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. The Ukrainians held out for a long time and the Russians had to fight hard to capture a city of ruins and unusable factories and port facilities.
The recent arrests are not described as part of an anti-corruption campaign, but rather ongoing activities throughout the Russian government. That’s another way of admitting that corruption was everywhere and ongoing as an essential element of making the government work.
Key officials make little effort to hide their new wealth. They do this through ostentatious displays ranging from hundred million dollar yachts to new wrist watches that cost several times their official annual salaries. These displays of ill-gotten wealth by senior government and military officials and their family members were so extensive and obvious that it enraged Russians who were suffering economically because of the cost of the war.
There were more personal costs because about a million Russians have died, been disabled or deserted in Ukraine since early 2022, and their families and friends blame the Russian government because it was Russia that invaded Ukraine, not the other way around. During World War II, the last time Russia was invaded, there was little corruption in part because 15 percent of Russians died in that war. Most of them were killed by the Germans but many were killed by the Russian government.
Prompt obedience to orders in World War II was a matter of life or death for Russian soldiers and civilians because military officers and NKVD secret police personnel could kill any Russian displaying reluctance or refusal to carry out orders. The desperate situation during World War II limited opportunities for corruption. The war in Ukraine is different but, as many corrupt officials are discovering, not different enough to keep them out of prison or an early grave.
The recent arrests, prosecutions and imprisonment of senior officials who were corrupt, or too obviously corrupt, sent a message to all senior officials in jobs giving them access to the swollen defense budget that is now about eight percent of GDP. Before the invasion it was 3.6 percent. Putin thought the invasion would quickly overthrow the Ukrainian government. That did not happen and the costs of that war are more than Russia can afford. This is nothing new, it was decades of spending 15 percent of GDP on defense, and tolerating a lot of corruption by senior officials, that caused the Soviet Union to collapse in 1991. Many Russian economists and bankers believe another economic collapse, similar to what destroyed the Soviet Union, is possible unless the increased defense spending is restrained along with the growing corruption.


Morale: Russian Civilian Privation Because Of Ukraine War
December 14, 2025: Russian civilians can no longer ignore the Ukraine War. The economic cost of the war has continued. Ukrainian drone attacks on economic targets inside Russia and diversion of more of the Russian economy to the war effort have left Russian civilians with little to buy and not much cash to spend on anything. The Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries eventually led to only 20 percent of refinery capacity operational in August. The high inflation rate and growing unemployment rates led to Russian manufacturers reducing production. Retailers have less to sell because fewer Russians can afford to buy anything. The official government explanation is that this is a temporary situation, which will be resolved once the Ukrainians are defeated. The Ukrainians are not facing defeat, in part because they know what is going on with the Russian economy. Most Russians are unsure because Russian messaging apps and internet access are not working very well at all.
There are lots of reasons for this mess. Nearly four years after invading Ukraine, the Russian defense budget has turned into a monster devastating the economy. This crisis has been brewing since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The increased defense spending and years of economic sanctions have deformed the economy as more is spent on weapons and military needs. This displaces production of civilian goods. High casualties in Ukraine plus the millions of men who left Russia to avoid military service have caused a labor shortage.
Military spending also reveals another Russian tradition, corruption in military procurement. Corruption is less tolerated and more frequently punished in the civilian economy. Military production does not directly impact civilians and their lives.
Now that there is more military spending, corrupt officials are getting rich while the soldiers get shoddy equipment. In the case of winter clothing procured for the soldiers, a lot of that ends up on the black market while the troops go without and the military procurement officials get rich. During the first winter of the war, Russian soldiers overcame these shortages by plundering the Ukrainian economy for cold weather clothing. By the second year of the war that source had dried up and Russian soldiers stayed warm anyway they could, or via winter clothing mailed them by their families.
The cause of all this woe is the escalating expense of the war in Ukraine. The defense budget for 2023 was $75.2 billion while 2024’s was $115 billion. For 2025 it was $175 billion followed by $183 billion in 2026 and $190 billion in 2027. In 2023 Russia expected its 2024 government revenue to be a record $349 billion, but instead it was $450 billion.
Because of the ailing economy there is less to tax and government budgets are constricting. With rising defense spending there is less left for pensions and other social welfare programs as well as maintaining and expanding infrastructure. Less money for roads, canals, ports and railways contributed to the collapse of the Russian railroad system. This year may see a collapse of the railroad system, which will cause an economic collapse. The government is frantically seeking a solution to their transportation crises while pretending to Russia and the world that the situation is under control.
There are plans to sustain this level of revenue while keeping Russian military spending at record level. This means more purchases of weapons and equipment from Russian suppliers as well as continuing generous death and disability payments to soldiers or their families. The impact of these payments is obvious on poor regions of Russia that have a lot of men in the military. So many local men have been killed or disabled that the families of the dead are now relatively wealthy and spending money on new cars or upgrading their housing and lifestyles in general. This is intentional because the government is desperate to avoid large-scale dissatisfaction with the war effort.
The Russian defense budget is now a wartime budget. For the first time since the Soviet Union collapsed, the defense budget will be seven percent of GDP and exceed spending for social welfare programs. Russia plans to maintain this higher defense spending until they win the Ukraine war. That is unlikely to happen because the Ukrainian war effort is subsidized by weapons and military equipment supplied by NATO countries. Collectively, NATO nations account for about half the global GDP. Despite the fact that NATO is far wealthier than Russia, the Russians believe the massive NATO support for Ukraine won’t last as long as the Russian determination to prevail. Russia notes that NATO has 31 member states. Not all these nations agree on long-term policy or how much should be spent on continuing support for Ukraine. At the same time, NATO members agree that Ukraine should be allowed to join NATO. That can only happen when the war with Russia is over. At the moment the Ukrainian forces are larger, better armed and b
By spending so much on military production and social welfare, Russia expects to maintain popular support for the war effort. The problem is that Russia does not have enough income to sustain a wartime economy. Spending too much on defense was a major reason why the Soviet Union went bankrupt and collapsed in 1991. It was later discovered that the Soviet government had inadequate financial controls and lacked a realistic financial plan. This was revealed to the world, and most Russians, after 1991. Up until 1991 Russia was spending about 15 percent of GDP on defense and not enough on more urgent matters like managing the economy prudently in order to avoid a financial collapse. Russian leaders did not believe national bankruptcy would cause the collapse of the Soviet Union. Misunderstanding or ignoring a problem won’t solve that problem or eliminate the consequences.
Most of the current Russian leaders consider the collapse of the Soviet Union a great tragedy. The war in Ukraine is seen as a step towards putting back together the empire the Soviet Union presided over. The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union created 15 independent nations, including Russia and Ukraine. Most of these former Soviet Union subjects believe inept leadership by the Russian-dominated Soviet government was the cause of the problems that lead to the bankruptcy and dissolution of the Soviet Union. While many other nations still consider the Russians clever, those who live in Russia or nations that were once part of the Soviet Union are less admiring. This includes China, which regards Russian leaders as prone to making poor decisions. Publicly, the Chinese profess their admiration of and friendship with Russia. Privately, the Chinese are less admiring of the Russian leadership. China does not discuss this with the Russian government because China wants to maintain good relations with its large nuclea
The Chinese regard Russia’s current military budget policies as another example of Russian self-delusion and poor policy decisions which might help Russia but will make neighboring states more wary of what Russia is going to do next. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is considered another example of bad decision making and Russia appears to have learned nothing useful from their defeats inside Ukraine. Russia is already in bad shape economically and militarily and current plans to vastly increase defense spending will make their situation worse. That’s what Russian leaders tend to do. They often find the worst decision and embrace it.
FYEO

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, December 15, 2025 - 02:05 pm: Edit

Forces: Ukrainian Military Training Expands
December 13, 2025: Ukraine has once more made it legal for military age men to leave the country. In 2021 there were 20 million Ukrainians living outside Ukraine. Since 2022 that has been increasing each year, Current Ukrainian population is about 39 million and the government has been seeking ways to improve morale while also sustaining the fight against Russian invaders.
One proposal that was implemented was establishing universal training for 18-22 year old men. For those still in school, mandatory training for male students is now conducted in universities and other post-high school institutions as a standalone subject. Training consists of 90 hours of theoretical instruction followed by 210 hours of practical training Subjects include basic methods of military service, first aid, and operational tactics before they move to hands-on exercises in specialized training centers. This approach is supposed to make the trainees more confident about military service and less likely to flee the country because they feared what might happen if they went to war.
Ukrainians have been fighting the Russians for nearly four years and are seeking to institutionalize their military lessons learned. The Russians are now short of resources and still operate under economic sanctions. Ukraine believes that with improved training for all their personnel, they will reduce their own casualties while increasing those of the Russians. Vladimir Putin vowed to keep fighting for as long as it took. That will be an empty promise if Putin discovers that a major change in troop quality makes any Russian military efforts futile and very costly in terms of men and resources.
Ukraine already has some units that adopted these improved methods before the war but never had time or resources to retrain everyone. Over the last year Ukrainians have been standardizing their troop training and using methods that combine all that has been learned so far. This is done by simply by adopting what did work, discarding what didn’t and gradually retraining all units that were not using the most effective methods. All new recruits would be taught to use the new techniques, even if it lengthened the basic training.
NATO nations add individual training for sergeants and officers, some of it delivered via videos, including interactive versions. European NATO members play a larger role in this retraining because they are close enough, often adjacent, to Ukraine to receive Ukrainian trainees and send them back quickly after training is complete.
The Americans have been using the Center for Army Lessons Learned, of CALL, since the 1980s. CALL personnel have been compiling and organizing lessons learned in Ukraine for the Ukrainian. The CALL concept and implementing CALL results was one of the factors behind the revised training program. The reduced casualties encouraged more Ukrainian men to join and persuaded some military age men who fled the country to return.
By 2023 the Ukrainian military had grown to 700,000 troops plus over a quarter million police, border guard and reserves available. By 2025 that grew to 900,000. About fifteen percent of these personnel were women, who, except for some snipers, handled support tasks. Several hundred thousand civilian workers also handled support tasks. This was a practice practiced by the Soviet Union military. When Ukraine became independent, as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, some Soviet military practices were retained. Unlike the Russians, who continue to send barely trained recruits into combat, Ukraine learned from NATO, particularly American, experience. Ukrainian soldiers received considerably more training than their Russian counterparts and were more lethal and less susceptible to combat losses.


FYEO

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, December 17, 2025 - 02:01 pm: Edit

Counter-Terrorism: The Islamic Scourge
December 17, 2025: Islam is a religion as well as a form of government complete with a set of laws defined in the Sharia. Many of these laws explain why Islamic terrorism continues to flourish in many parts of the world.
Sharia has caused many problems when Moslem people, generally Arabs or Afghans, migrate to Western countries. Islam insists that sharia supersedes any local laws. When enough Moslems have arrived to be the majority in towns or provinces, there will be demands to allow sharia to coexist with local laws. Western countries try to accommodate their new Moslem, citizens but are discovering that Moslems consider sharia superior to Western laws and will observe sharia in secret if they have to. A growing number of Western nations are reconsidering their policy of allowing Moslems to become residents and citizens. In some cases, extremist Islamic preachers or leaders have been expelled. The more Moslems you let in, the more difficult that is going to be. The Moslems vote, often as a block at the direction of their leaders. Just another reason to keep Moslems out. In small groups Moslems can be friendly, but when their numbers will eventually reach the point where a local or imported Islamic cleric, or Imam will see a chance to gain power for himself, his faith, and his people (in that order).
Another problem is that Islamic scripture mandates that a non-believer be killed if he refuses to become a Moslem. This is the justification for large scale massacres of infidels. It also encourages Moslem warriors to rape infidel women and girls. This still happens in areas where Christian, or other minorities reside near Moslem communities. The non-Moslem women usually avoid rape or unwanted attention by dressing in clothing similar to what Moslem women wear. Despite that, these crimes continue to occur in areas where Moslem and non-Moslem populations mix. This is often the case in India, where such crimes are prosecuted and widely and vividly reported in local media.
There is some good news. Worldwide, deaths from Islamic terrorism are down, with about 2,800 deaths in 2025.In 2014 there were 35,000 deaths, 19,000 in 2017 and 14,000 in 2018. Five nations Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Syria and Pakistan account for most of the Islamic terrorism deaths. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, is a major source of these deaths and associated mayhem. Since the 1990s, 90 percent of terrorism related deaths have been caused by Islamic terrorists. Most of the remaining ten percent are caused by Maoist militias in eastern India and various other similar groups in the region.
Moslems, particularly Arabs, have other problems. Islam does not encourage scientific study or seeking to create a major engineering, academic or technical advance. This can be seen by the fact that Israeli Jews obtained 33 Nobel prizes for achievements in those areas compared to one awarded to an Arab. There are 80 times as many Arabs as Jews. The problem is that Moslem Arabs do not seek education or achievements in those technical areas. When Islam was founded 1,500 years ago, the emphasis was on conquest and forcibly converting others to Islam. This effort left over a hundred million infidels/non-Moslems dead as Islam was established throughout the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Europe. Later Islam spread to Southeast Asia via Moslem traders. Southeast Asian and East Asian Moslems are much easier to get along with than Arab Moslems.
Arab countries suffer from an abundance of corruption and a lack of economic, educational, and political progress. Arabs have fallen behind the rest of the world largely because of the Arab tendency to blame outsiders and to avoid taking responsibility. Tolerating tyranny and resistance to change doesn't help but those attitudes are slowly shifting.
The exact nature of this lethal cultural situation can be described by detailing the major components. Let’s start with the fact that most Arab countries are a patchwork of different tribes and groups, and Arab leaders survive by playing one group off against another. Most Islamic scholars oppose the concept of interpreting the Koran, which considers the word of God as given to His prophet Mohammed. This led to Arabs looking down on Westerners who will look something up if they don't know. Arabs prefer to fake it and pretend it's all in their head.
Another problem with Arabs is their attitude towards leadership. Arab government, political or municipal leaders treat people as leaders or followers. There is no effort to bridge the gap with what the West calls middle management. The people are treated harshly. Work accidents that would end the careers of Western managers, are ignored in the Arab world and nobody cares. This is slowly changing, with the steady growth of a proper NCO corps and middle management, plus better management attitudes towards their subordinates. But the old ways often return, with disastrous effects on the morale and effectiveness of the average Arab.
Not surprisingly, in Arab cultures, the ruling class is despised by their subordinates, and this does not bother the leaders. Many Arab leaders simply cannot understand how treating the subordinates, unless they are family, decently will have any benefit. This is another old tradition that dies hard.
Paranoia prevents adequate training. This is made worse by the habit of Arab tyrants insisting that their subordinate organizations have little contact with each other, thus ensuring that no subordinate leader can become powerful enough to overthrow the senior leadership. Subordinate organizations are purposely kept from working together or communicating on a large scale. Arab leaders don't have as broad a knowledge of what their subordinate leaders do, whereas Western leaders tend to know what subordinates do. Arab promotions are based more on political reliability than proficiency and efficiency.
Arab leaders prefer to be feared, rather than respected, by their subordinates. This approach leads to poorly trained populations and low morale. A few rousing speeches about Moslem Brotherhood before a national emergency boils over does little to repair the damage. Many, if not most, Arab leaders now know that the paranoia and parochialism are bad but ancient traditions are hard to abandon.
Arab leaders often do not trust each other. While an American manager or officer can be reasonably confident that the others they work with will be competent and reliable, Arabs in similar situations seriously doubt that their peers will do their job on time or accurately. This is an inefficient and sometimes fatal attitude, especially for Arab militaries. It's been difficult getting Arab leaders to change when it comes to trust.
Arab leaders consider it acceptable to lie to subordinates and allies in order to further their personal agenda. This had catastrophic consequences throughout Arab history and continues to make progress difficult. When called out on this behavior, Arabs will assert that they were misunderstood. This is still going on.
While Western American middle managers and Westerners in general are only too happy to impart their wisdom and skills to others as teaching is the ultimate expression of prestige, Arabs try to keep any technical information and manuals secret. To Arabs, the value and prestige of an individual is based not on what he can teach but on what he knows that no one else knows. This destructive habit is still around, despite years of American advisors patiently explaining why this is counterproductive.
While Westerners thrive on competition among themselves, Arab leaders avoid this as the loser would be humiliated. Better for everyone to fail together than for competition to be allowed, even if it eventually benefits everyone. This attitude is still a factor in the Arab world.
Westerners are taught leadership and technology; Arabs are taught only technology and not nearly enough. Leadership is given little attention as Arab leaders are assumed to know this by virtue of their social status as leaders. The new generation of Arab leaders have been taught leadership, but for too many of them, this is an alien concept that they do not understand or really know what to do with.
Initiative is considered a dangerous trait in the Arab world. Lack of initiative makes it difficult for Arabs to maintain modern equipment. Arabs prefer to use easier to control central repair shops. This makes the timely maintenance of equipment difficult. Entrepreneurs, often non-Arab Moslems, often handle a lot of the maintenance. This is still a problem throughout the Middle East, where the oil rich nations have most of their non-government operations staffed by foreigners.
Security is maniacal. Everything, even vaguely military or government related, is top secret. While Western military and corporation promotion lists are routinely published, this rarely happens in Arab organizations. Officers and managers are suddenly transferred without warning to keep them from forging alliances or networks. Any team spirit among officials is discouraged.
Arab Moslems had other problems twenty years ago when the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant/ISIL banned the wearing of the burqa in some parts of northern Iraq where suicide bombers, dressed as women in the all-concealing burqa, used that disguise to attack ISIL forces. This is not the first time this has happened in Iraq. Some of the founders of ISIL had participated in the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq in late 2006. This was an act of bravado, touted as the first step in the re-establishment of the caliphate, a global Islamic state, ruled over by God's representative on earth, the caliph. The caliphate has been a fiction for over a thousand years but still resonated with Islamic radicals. Many other Islamic terrorists opposed this move and some used burqas as disguises to move about or even make attacks on members of this 2006 Islamic State.
The original caliphate came apart after a few centuries because the Islamic world was split by ethnic and national differences. Various rulers have claimed the title over the centuries, but since 1924, when the Turks gave it up after four centuries, no one of any stature has stepped up and assumed the role. So when al Qaeda elected a nobody as the emir of the Islamic State of Iraq, and talked about this being the foundation of the new caliphate, even many pro-al Qaeda Moslems were aghast. But six years later many of those involved in the failed 2006 effort again declared the establishment of another caliphate. With that there was again a lot of fighting between Islamic terror groups, many of them routinely using the burqa as a disguise.
The burqa has frequently been used by Islamic terrorists, or even criminals, to just get past security. American troops in Iraq soon figured out how to defeat this by watching what burqa clad people were wearing on their feet. Large feet and footwear more common with men than women was a giveaway. Also revealing was how a burqa clad figure moved. Female American troops could detect a man in a burqa more easily than the male troops could and a list of tips was soon compiled and distributed. This sort of profiling also made it easier to detect female suicide bombers.
The subsequent ISIL burqa ban was directed at rival Islamic terrorist groups that are sometimes using burqas for suicide bombers, but are more frequently using the disguise to get close enough to use a pistol or assault rifle on ISIL checkpoints or throw a grenade.

FYEO

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Wednesday, December 17, 2025 - 03:29 pm: Edit

Personally I blame Muslim behaviour on too much time spent under the sun.

But if we disregard the bad smell of the article above and look up things like Nobel prize by country on wikipedia we can find a few interesting things; Israel have decent place on the list but,
Joel Mokyr, born in the Netherlands, Economics, 2025
Joshua Angrist, born in the United States, Economics, 2021
Arieh Warshel, Chemistry, 2013
Michael Levitt, born in South Africa, Chemistry, 2013
Dan Shechtman, Chemistry, 2011
Ada Yonath, Chemistry, 2009
Robert Aumann, born in Germany, moved to Israel from the United States, Economics, 2005
Aaron Ciechanover, Chemistry, 2004
Avram Hershko, born in Hungary, Chemistry, 2004
Daniel Kahneman*, Economics, 2002
Yitzhak Rabin, Peace, 1994
Shimon Peres, born in Poland, now Belarus, Peace, 1994
Menachem Begin, born in Russia, now Belarus, Peace, 1978
Shmuel Yosef Agnon, born in Austria-Hungary, now Ukraine, Literature, 1966

8 out of 14 are immigrants. Still, that leaves 6 Israeli born laureates, which is decent for a small country.
HOWEVER if we follow the link to the page on Jewish Nobel laureates we find that a staggering 220 of 995 recipients are Jews!

What can be learnt from that is that strong economies with well organized schools and well funded research does best. Oh, and that it matters who is handling the prize. (Sweden is fifth on the list...). For people with no own nation it seems persecution is even better; survival instinct is a strong motivator, and then there is the natural selection part ofc. (This path is recommended for the fanatics. You will never build an empire but can win the game by scoring most points in education.)

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Thursday, December 18, 2025 - 08:40 am: Edit

"tendency to blame outsiders and to avoid taking responsibility...." hahaha

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, December 18, 2025 - 11:52 am: Edit

True of many, goes triple for them, more than any others.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, December 19, 2025 - 12:19 am: Edit

The Brown University shooter has been found dead in New Hampshire. He apparently murdered an MIT professor in Boston after the Brown shooting. You can find information on this case on many online sources. The case is complicated and motives are unclear, but it seems to have been a personal grievance not political terrorism.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Friday, December 19, 2025 - 08:25 am: Edit

In my experience a big part of the problem is fatalism. Anything bad? In'shallah....

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Sunday, December 21, 2025 - 04:47 pm: Edit

the United States Navy announced that the Legend Class USCG high endurance Cutter will be the base hull for the FF(X).

It is a smaller hull, but currently in production, and units are already in service.

Let us hope the people that screwed up the Constellation frigate program don’t repeat the same mistakes that ended up killing the program.

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Monday, December 22, 2025 - 04:52 am: Edit

Not much hope for that, Jeff. I read yesterday on substack that the navy leadership knows what the problems are but can do nothing about it. substack.com/home/post/p-182132195

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Monday, December 22, 2025 - 06:34 am: Edit

Just give it a little time. We'll load up Legend with a baby SPY, baby Aegis, too many VLS, oversized sonar, oversized heli, and completely rearrange all the important compartments, engineering, and cabling. Then it will be another 1.5 billion custom monster that isn't a Burke and it will be cancelled.

--Mike

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Monday, December 22, 2025 - 06:41 am: Edit

>> navy leadership knows what the problems are but can do nothing about it

USN leadership is the problem. How about trying to have some clear, consistent requirements and then holding firm to them for the duration of a project so you actually get some FFs in the water? The "requirements of the month club" just isn't a great path to success.

--Mike

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, December 22, 2025 - 09:23 am: Edit

The real issue is leadership.

not political, ultimately, it looks like its the officer corps has behaved like kids in a candy store.

Every nifty thing that comes down the chute is treated as the greatest idea since sliced bread was invented.

The irony is, the navy knew how to do it, its the pick a design and churn out multiple copies, any modifications are made afterwards.

It worked in world war 2, and the navy did it again with the Perry Class frigates.

It just might come down to the Secretary of War firing a large number of high ranking officers until he finds the personnel willing to do the job.

Lincoln had to fire a lot of officers (some, more than once) until he got to Grant.

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Monday, December 22, 2025 - 10:09 am: Edit

And now for something completely different: Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) has introduced legislation - the Cartel Marque and Reprisal Authorization Act (H.R.1238) - that would let the president issue letters of marque to U.S. commercial maritime operators to seize cartel assets.

Apparently everything old is new again.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, December 22, 2025 - 11:49 am: Edit

Sounds good to me. I'll get in a bid on an old frigate from some European country and recruit a crew. Jessica, I need a chief petty officer if you're available. Grafton, chief engineer? Garth, I can find a good place for your skills. Jeff, I need a boarding party team leader. Carl, find me a used frigate. You're welcome to join the crew, being NATO and all.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, December 22, 2025 - 12:02 pm: Edit

Ryan, Turtle, you're welcome to join. I'm going to leave Chuck out of his as he'd want to take command, outranking me and all.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Monday, December 22, 2025 - 01:40 pm: Edit

not an engineer. Might be a decent .50 gunner.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, December 22, 2025 - 02:51 pm: Edit

Gunner's mate, then.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, December 22, 2025 - 03:33 pm: Edit

Arrrgh!

Ahem…”Heave too, ye scurvy dogs! Prepare to be boarded!”

“At them lads! Cutlasses at the ready!”

I will need a parrot, with an appropriate name!



Who gets to wear the eye patch?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, December 22, 2025 - 04:51 pm: Edit

Raise your swords to the sky. Warp Speed Ho!

By Douglas Lampert (Dlampert) on Monday, December 22, 2025 - 06:06 pm: Edit

OK, what's the current treaty status on privateering? The 1856 Declaration of Paris which largely outlawed Privateering was not signed at the time by the USA, but have we signed anything since that would outlaw privateering?

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, December 22, 2025 - 06:27 pm: Edit

I can’t believe that we are not talking about this.

(Someone better make sure Jean is heavily sedated…)

Reported on Fox news December 21, 2025.

(The following is a summary posted on Google, it appears to be an AI.)

Quote:” Trump class" battleships are a proposed, newly announced class of large, heavily armed warships that President Donald Trump has recently unveiled plans for, part of a larger "Golden Fleet" initiative. The ships are not yet a real, commissioned naval vessel class but are in the planning stage.
Key details about the proposed ships:
Name: While officially the class name would typically come from the first ship built, the term "Trump class" has been used in discussions and media by some, including on Fox News. The first ship is intended to be named the USS Defiant.
Capabilities: Trump has described them as "100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built". They are expected to be equipped with a range of advanced weaponry, including guns, missiles, hypersonic weapons, and high-powered lasers.
Size: Each vessel will reportedly weigh more than 30,000 tons, making them very large, although the last U.S. battleships (Iowa-class) were over 50,000 tons.
Purpose: The plan is to build between 20 and 25 of these ships to bolster the U.S. Navy and counter potential threats from countries like China.
Construction: They are intended to be built with "all steel" and are projected to take about two and a half years to build once construction begins.
Status: The U.S. has not built a battleship since 1994, and current plans for the Navy are focused on aircraft carriers and smaller, more versatile ships like destroyers and frigates. This new class represents a significant shift in naval strategy and is still in the early planning and announcement phase. ”

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Monday, December 22, 2025 - 06:32 pm: Edit

Meanwhile, in other news:

Pres. Trump, SecDef Hegseth, SecState Rubio, and SecNavy Phelan today announced a new class of what they are terming battleships under the ‘Golden Fleet’ initiative, an effort designed to restore American shipbuilding.

The ships, named after Pres. Trump as the Trump-class, will be 30-40,000 ton warships surpassing the largest surface combatants in service today, including the largest existing Russian Navy Kirov-class nuclear-powered battlecruiser. A rendering of the lead ship, BBG-1 USS Defiant, features large SPY-6 radar arrays, lasers firing at targets out of view, and at least 100 VLS cells, all equipped on a large hull with an integrated superstructure and several remote weapon systems, as well as an unidentified gun system similar in appearance to the cancelled Zumwalt-class 155mm AGS; Pres. Trump declared that this gun would actually be a railgun.

At least four Block III SEWIP electronic attack systems, all integrated into the superstructure, are visible, providing electronic attack and deception against incoming missiles. In higher resolution renderings provided to Naval News by the U.S. Navy, two 21-cell Rolling Airframe Missile launchers are visible amidships on the port and starboard side, with a VLS bank in the center barely visible.

The class is the first to be named for a sitting president.