Russian special military operation in Ukraine #52

SeigSoloyvov wrote:If the Russians are going to start a new major offensive you would see signs of build up in terms of support materials and what not, none of that has happened

True, and for the time being there isn't going to be an offensive. I think the plan is wipe out one last Ukrainian offensive, and then if peace talks don't happen then the offensive starts because by then there literally won't be any combat worthy Ukrainians left.

A cruise missile is a mini plane, the wings makes it fly. A ballistic missile goes against gravity at a speed of few mach, nothing comparable.

A cruise missile flying faster than mach 5 is better off without wings. The Space Shuttle has wings to provide lift for landing on a conventional airfield, but it has the added feature of creating drag that allows it to so down in the atmosphere with a shallow flight angle so it spends thousands and thousands of kilometres of flight time in the atmosphere.

A hypersonic cruise missile gets body lift and having wings would be a problem rather than an advantage because it would just create drag that requires more engine power to compensate for to maintain speed.

A cruise missile flys an unpredictable flight path like a plane, it flies level and straight but can turn or climb or descend when required. A ballistic weapon is like a rock you throw... you throw it and it goes up and then comes down on a parabolic flight path... this makes its flight path predictable even if it does steer and correct its flight trajectory in the last few seconds to ensure it hits its target.

There is no way to work out what the Iskander or Kinzhal or V1 is going to hit.

Garry, there is now a fair amount of good stuff on the Iskander here that will be lost and hard to reference as the thread evolves.

Is there a case for moving it to the Iskander thread?

I will have a rummage through but I remember saying quite a bit of what I am say here over there. But certainly videos and some comments could be put in both threads...

I will have a look and move a few things.

Simply stop lying, and finally make people to understand the scale of this tragedy.
This is so fukin Orwellian, that any normal human lacks the words ...

Isn't the irony delicious though... the amazing support Kiev has gotten from the US and the EU and the west in general to help them with their future is killing their population and reducing the amount of land they will have access to moving forward.

Ukraine supporters want this conflict to go on forever now they realise they can't win, which essentially means no more Ukraine will be left.

Those who support Russia and Putin like myself suggest they should have surrendered in 2014 and they might still have the Crimea and all their other territory.

I would prefer they surrendered long ago but love the irony that because they didn't the people of Crimea and Donbass and Lugansk and their two other regions are going to get their freedom and a decent future now as part of the Russian Federation.

What is Kiev going to get... well two more super powers... three if you count them all together as the collective west, US, and EU... to blame all their problems on...

And it is ironic because this conflict is actually managing to kill more Ukrainians than any famine ever did and it is pretty clear the west is the main cause again.

There's a concern that Europe wouldn't be able to sustain a war with these prices. They could bankrupt any country before troops are even prepared for combat.

But think of the MIC profits... they will make billions...

Comparing dumb HE 152 shell to programmable 30mm isn't exactly fair, they not only differ in construction but also serve two totally diffenret purposes.

Who said it is a dumb shell?

The benefits of this to North Korea's missile program are huge. Kharkov serves as a testing ground for effectiveness.

Passing on combat information... how easy is it to use, reload, operate, any potential upgrades they might consider... this is very good for both sides.

One can be sorry for the workers, but since they were producing military equipment they are a legitimate target in time of war.

They kill children, but complain when Russia hits military targets and their own defense missiles hit civilian targets...

Simplify the Iskander by making it a dumb ballistic missile with a good optival guidance kit. No need for the expensive quasi-ballistic manoeuvring stuff 99% of the time.

But it is not expensive... it is heat resistant control fins in the rocket motor exhaust that deflect the rocket to manouver the weapon in flight.

The R-73 uses something similar with bits of metal thrust into the rocket exhaust to turn the missile in flight as it is launched so it can go high off boresight as it is launched. (most missiles can't turn hard off the pylon because the fins and control surfaces can't apply much force when it is flying subsonic off the wing pylon).

Less costly so you fire more. Some will be intercept but who cares as long as at least 80% goes through.

It would actually cost more to fit wings and strakes with control surfaces to manouver the missile, so the opposite.

I guess the label "Manufactured in DPRK" somehow survived the supersonic impact and 1T warhead. Its possible Russia is getting parts of the missile built in DPRK to increase supply of it and focus on building more of the Kinzhal variant. Iskander is a good weapon but the Kinzhal variant is a silver bullet. Just a Mig-31 patrol over the red sea was enough to push a CBG further away from Lebanon.

It makes sense for Russia to get weapons from North Korea and test them... that would be in Russian interests and NK interests to see how their weapons work in a real combat situation.

Unfortunately the west also have interests and it is their interest to denigrate any Russian weapon that might appear to be good or capable.

We have been told that Chinese ships and missiles and tanks and stealth fighters are all better than Russian systems, but that is more about trying to discredit Russia... if it actually worked and people started respecting Chinese weapons they would likely start saying they are untested and useless in a real war.

The key thing to take out of this is that they can no longer claim western stuff is better than Russian stuff by any margin of superiority.

The Euros seem way to vehement to me, and i wonder if this gamble was to get Ukraine into the EU so they could fullfill their dreams of being energy independant.I have heard that there were significant oil discoveries in Ukraine but no data on estimates.

The money and weapons and ammo they have committed to this conflict means they need a win more than the US does... Kiev likely has already signed everything away to the west to get them to help them so they are fighting for nothing now.

If the Russians are going to start a new major offensive you would see signs of build up in terms of support materials and what not, none of that has happened

If the Russians are planning an offensive I don't think they will give Kiev and Washington 6 months advanced warning and then harp on about it every day till the dead line is up and then talk about the delays right up until the day it is actually launched.

They can do that without making it obvious.

They appear to have enough forces in the region for the purposes of a counter offensive.

But you keep believing they will telegraph an attack.