The Defence Secretary confirmed delivery of an additional 200 Brimstone anti-tank missiles to the AFU, bringing the total number of Brimstone provided to Ukraine to more than 1,300
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said in Parliament:
“As President Zelensky said to me when I visited, the UK’s contribution has been monumental. He pointed out that, since the start of the conflict, the UK has sent almost 400 different types of capabilities to Ukraine. Together, we have shown that when Ukraine gets what it needs, it can win, which is why the UK is continuing to step up our support. Last month, the Prime Minister announced that we will be investing a further £2.5 billion in military support for Ukraine, taking our total military package so far to over £7 billion and our total support to over £12 billion, accounting for humanitarian and economic support as well.
In that spirit, today I can announce a new package of 200 Brimstone anti-tank missiles in a further boost to defend Ukraine. These missiles have previously had significant impact on the battlefield, in one instance forcing Russian forces to abandon and to retreat from an attempted crossing of a river. Members will recall that, a few days ago, President Zelensky told the Munich security conference that an “artificial deficit of weapons” will only help Russia, and he is right.
So today we are giving Ukraine more of the help it needs, inflating its capabilities so that it can defend freedom’s frontline. Other capabilities will also be coming its way. Our UK founded and administered international fund for Ukraine has pledged more than £900 million to help Ukraine plug gaps in its capabilities, delivering cutting-edge drones along with electronic warfare and mine clearance capabilities, with millions of pounds of kit to come.”
Great news. We also need some Brimstone in our Army on a light tracked chassis to replace CVR(T) STRIKER, axed in 2005 without replacement.
Murmurings of an Overwatch Boxer being planned, but beyond that, as usual, we are very good at supplying Ukraine but not so good with our own Army.
Agree. We have the weapons but no political will to properly equip and resource our armed forces
Our politicians need head’s out of sand and a Rocket 🚀 up they backside, other wise handover UK to Putin. 🙄
I wouldn’t go that far. You think Putin defeats NATO?
No way does he defeat NATO ,meaning our government not giving enough to our Military Budget . 💰
Well said.
The UK would wipe the floor with any Russian forces at any level of fighting beyond a nuclear exchange which no one would win.
Well on that would say better kit and planning on our behalf ,but to be honest if your talking of just the UK on its own then Ammunition and numbers would become a problem.Nuclear we all know game over.🙄
We would be lucky to last a few months even as we ‘win’ on the battlefield 5-1.
That depends if you honestly believe any of our politicians have bottled to launch a nuclear strike, retaliatory or not. I think you could count on the fingers of one hand, those MP’s with the testicular fortitude to press that button.
We don’t win a nuke fight as ours don’t work, so the Russians can actually win.
Perhaps the issue is that we are too dismissive of our own army and its capabilities. People have been slating challenger 2 on here for decades and the Ukrainians rate it as the best tank they have similar parallels with a lot of our kit. The army is certainly small and no doubt some of our stuff is out of date which is always the case with any army but what’s currently be procured from challenger 3 and Ajax to boxer and Ajax is all top class, literally the best platforms in class in the world with outstanding capabilities like precision strike missile being added.
Morning Jim. You’re up early?
Well we know there are posters here who literally just moan. Nothing else, one liners without a shred of comparison, or consideration of logistics, intelligence, professionalism, training, available infrastructure, and a whole lot else that still make the UK military a reference military others look to.
The angst is usually about numbers, all of which must be compared with those factors. And it is in numbers where our military now suffers, badly.
I have always called for a better quality, quantity balance. Achieving that through better procurement practice and some OTS purchases of “good enough” rather than gold plate bespoke is the only way I see to improve this. And even then, if the money is not put forward you can only do so much with the facts nuclear is in the room and HMG feed the MIC above all else.
I agree with your points btw.
War…. Is a game of numbers. always has been, always will be.
👍
Challenge 2 great Tank ,even no upgrade over the year’s I personally would pick challenge over other western Tanks .👍
We do far too easily criticise ourselves at every opportunity whether it’s earned of otherwise. The Leopold has come in for a lot of criticism in Ukraine not because it’s not a great tank but because they see it as over engineered which in battle situations can be a serious deficit. It’s ironic that the Challengers gun has come in for great praise despite it being referenced as a fundamental deficiency because it’s rifled. But as a gun it was once the best around and only because smooth bore offer so much more flexibility in munitions and development has that superiority been eclipsed. But again in a battle situation those original strengths can sometimes be prised for logistical reasons.
Equally it being slower than others has often been raised but watching it thundering around over rough terrain very impressively and seeing examples of tanks being used in Ukraine I suspect there will be few occasions when some extra knots will be a prime concern of or indeed usable by the crew. In the desert it may be different of course but they are realistically side shows to our real threats.
From what I have heard/read, Chally 2 has being doing alright against up-armoured T72s and T80s. I’ve yet to hear if they have faced a T90M?
In theory the CHARM armour piercing fin stabilised discard sabot (APFSDS) round or Fin in tanky speak, should struggle to penetrate the T90M’s armour. Which is made up by an outer layer of Khontakt 5 explosive reactive armour (ERA) and then the main composite and spaced armour.
The CHARM uses depleted uranium as the dart material. But the dart’s penetrative capability is not only determined by the material used, but also the length and diameter of the dart, along with the kinetic energy behind it. Which gives it the capability to punch through and overmatch the tank’s armour. The thought has been, that as the CHARM is shorter than the dart used in the Rheinmetall DM73, it could struggle to penetrate the not only T90M’s armour, but the mythical T14 Armata especially.
The other benefit Chally 2 has is the boiling vessel. Particularly useful in the winter months no doubt!
My cousin used to be in the REME attached to the Royal Scotts Dragoons, when they had Challenger 2s. He did Gulf War 2 with them as well as the following policing as part of Op Telic. He did remark on how easy the tank was to repair and get back in the fight again. But he did also say that we needed to repair and quickly turn around our Challys, as we didn’t have a huge pool of assets in country, unlike the US Army with their Abrams.
The tank’s top speed isn’t the problem, it’s the acceleration! The puny 27L 1200hp engine doesn’t have the torque to accelerate the 66+ ton tank, as per the Leopard with its 45L 1500hp engine. Even with the engine upgrade, it won’t accelerate as quickly as the Leopard, as the Leopards larger engine has more torque. However, there is a Youtube video showing a drag race between a Chally 2 and a Leclerc. Which the Chally wins, so its no slouch. However, there is no substitution for cubes. There is a caveat, in that the Chally with its hydrogas suspension is better off road when it gets rough than a Leopard.
Chally has much better suspension than anything else around. It probably is no slower than Leo x-country.
Our army, air force and navy are still qualitatively better than Russia in all ways. But numerically is at a huge disadvantage. History teaches us that wars are won as much in factories as they are on the battlefield.
Our strategic industries are in a far worse state than the armed forces and will take longer to rebuild. We would struggle to supply the existing force with quality equipment, never mind the absolutely essential conscripts. Russia has been increasing it’s military industrial capacity to wartime levels for two years. Building new factories and the supporting infrastructure as fast as they can. It is unlikely that process will stop anytime soon.
Overwatch Boxer with Brimstone has been mentioned on these pages to close out the 20 year capability gap since STRIKER was axed.
I agree your point. Shapps, Sunak, Cameron, Hunt – very interested (obsessed even) in rapidly and effectively supplying Ukraine with warfighting equipment and munitions; virtually totally disinterested in doing the same for our forces, especially the army – even when we are in a pre-War situation.
All very confusing, especially when you saw not long ago Truss fighting very hard to outdo others at being anti Putin while last week she seemed to be trying very hard in the company of someone too right wing and controversial for even Trump to stomach to out do others at looking like Putin.
But its more effective to defeat Russia with out ever having to fight them. A US politician highlighted this that for 10% of US defence budget was taking out a far great % of Russian forces = good use of defence funds.
Let be honest if we go to war with Russia its going Nuclear, that was the thinking in the cold war, it’s not changed. NATO will hit targets within Russia to prevent supplies getting to the front lines, Russia miltary supplies will start drying up, supply lines from other countries will be fair game also. Strategically Russia will be backed into a corne with 2 options, capitulate to NATO demands or take it up a notch.
This from Chatham House on the topic
If direct war between Russia and a major Western power did materialize, Western planners and strategists would need to carefully deliberate how they initiated strikes and sustained military operations against Russia. Russian first-use policy does not mean that any conventional strike against Russia would immediately trigger nuclear retaliation. But strikes against Russian strategic systems would be certain to generate significant risk of nuclear escalation. In the fog of war, the West would have to consider carefully how to apply maximum pressure on Russia across the military and non-military domains.
Finally, Western leaders must invest and believe in crisis management mechanisms that can effectively ensure war termination before escalation to nuclear war. It is unlikely the West could defeat Russia militarily and completely without the latter resorting to the use of nuclear weapons: Russia has invested in the world’s largest nuclear arsenal to make just such an eventuality impossible. A (near-)peer adversary with a large nuclear arsenal cannot be forced to complete capitulation. This forces a rethink of how Western states deliberate theories of victory, war termination, and potential post-war coexistence with their adversaries.
I agree. Its a pity certain US Republicans have trouble seeing that Ukraine is fighting a proxy war for the West against our biggest and closest threat thereby reducing it, as well as an existential war for themselves.
The easiest option would be to cut off the head of the snake. But leave in place elements of lower levels of Government to maintain order. Whereby the decapitation can bring about a negotiated ceasefire without Russia loosing too much face.
I agree but easier said than done.
There has been an ARES overwatch platform demo’d. It has Brimstone, just needs some Mandarin to get the chequebook out I suspect.
I’m a bit confused. Do we not need 2 different vehicles: an overwatch vehicle with Brimstone and a tank killer with a shorter range missile like Javelin to augment the tank force?
Not a call I’m qualified to make Paul. Max and min ranges for Brimstone are probably the question to answer here.
Yes; cost too, I would have thought.
Javelin on RWS for Ares and Boxer have already been ordered.
Ah! Thx
There have been proposals for Martlet/Starstreak combos which could give a decent short range capability with some anti land capability. Just not sure how much capability Martlet has against armoured vehicles is there any evidence to go on.
I believe Martlet was developed for the RN as a weapon system for Wildcat with an intended target set of small boats/attack craft. I think it was developed from Starstreak, has a similar range and uses the same guidance system. I don’t believe the warhead is effective against anything but a lightly armoured vehicle. Happy to be proved wrong of course.
Yep, that’s about where I understand them to be too. Not sure how helpful it would be mounted on a vehicle- because it’s laser guided; the launch platform will need to be LOS with the target all the way to impact…
Would rather see Brimstone, and if we need something smaller then involvement in some of the new stuff that France is sending to Ukraine may be an idea. If it’s MBDA we might be able to snag some domestic manufacture.
I think France is supplying Ukraine with a selection of air defence missiles: SAMP/T, Crotale and Mistrale.
Hi Louis, I’m aware that Javelin has been trialled and can be fitted to the Kongsberg 151 (RS4 now), not aware of any money being spent, especially on AJAX.
34 of the 93 Ares are ‘formation reconnaissance overwatch’ with Javelin. 62 of the original Boxer order of 523 are recce/fire support with Javelin.
Hi Louis, I’ve searched around and can find no evidence that the MOD has actually ordered any RS4’s with a Javelin fit. I’m well aware that it can be fitted and has been trialled before, just that there’s no cheque been written yet, as far as I can tell. Happy to be corrected though.
Beat me to it. Worldwide, a number of newer armoured (non tank) vehicles are coming standard with AT missiles built in. Just about every RWS manufacturer has versions with options that include 1 or more AT missiles. You can even have both.
Though there’s also the simpler and faster Wolfram project to mount on Supercat flatbed, following from lessons learnt in Ukraine, I see.
We respond very well in an emergency, all manner of fast and innovative solutions come to the fore, sadly we still don’t get that this is an emergency at home too yet. But don’t worry we will no doubt get the ‘we will fight them on the beaches…’ speech from whoever is PM at the time, it just won’t be convincing this time around, indeed half the population will be angrily demanding to know why we aren’t prepared while the other half will be arguing for reduced defence spending and a bunch of roses to be sent to Putin.
Agreed. It’s time to turn that around. Anyone fancy a peaceful demonstration on Tower Bridge to make that point. It seems they take notice if of demos there.
Something like this perhaps?
WDS 2024: General Dynamics displays MBDA Brimstone missile integration on its TRX UGV
https://
armyrecognition.com/defense_news_february_2024_global_security_army_industry/wds_2024_general_dynamics_displays_mbda_brimstone_missile_integration_on_its_trx_ugv.html
Interesting that it is on a robotic platform. Yes, we need something, anything to replace STRIKER.
OT. For those of you that like swatting trolls JohninMK has raised his dubious head in the comments section of the Warzone on their latest Ukraine Situation Report.
This SITREP needs to be sent to @Airborne for processing.
Watched this last night, most revealing:
Britain x Ukraine | Access All Areas on Operation INTERFLEX (Documentary)
Its a British MOD video on the training Ukrainian soldiers receive in the Uk,
YouTube mate?
OK found it.
Just watched.
Recognized the training areas, as well as some of the British squaddies, really impressed with the training esp trench clearance which goes a long way in revealing that western military tactics has been pivotal in ensuring the Ukrainians are able to stand up to the Russian army on the FEBA
Talking of recognising the training areas, the BBC is a f-ing joke:
Ukraine soldiers in combat-training at secret camp in East Anglia
Gee, I wonder where that could be?
Narrows it down somewhat doesn’t it for those who follow this stuff. Utter muppets.
To be fair, any knowledge of the ATA’s and varied Camps/FIBUA facilities in the UK will give one enough to go on but at least let the bastards work it out.
So did I, 2 places, one with Nissen Huts and the other, close by to it,
Not bad for a “small island that no one listens to anymore” 😀
I’m sure he will soon be sussed and sent packing with a boot up his arse
Clocked him and his previous extended period of time on the warzone spouting the same shit as on here. I just popped over and said hello.
Was he pleased to see you ….
Is Russia winning this war?
Clearly it’s original objective of toppling Ukraine’s democratic free govenment & bringing her back into the Russian empire fold in 3 days has failed.
She’s confined to occupying Crimea & much of Donetsk & Luhansk regions. But she is holding ground their generally & has suffered heavy losses. The Black sea fleet has been heavily hit & largely confined to port as far away fro UKR missiles/drones as prudent.
But-UKR has been devestated, suffered terrible losses & is still held back from doing better by limited supplies & support from the west, even over 2 years into the war. The USA is fighting fascist pro Russian opposition to support UKR & the rest of NATO is still not supplying the quantities needed, for all we have done.
So it’s a slow attritional affair currently & remains to be seen which side can last the longest or pull off a deciding stroke. For now it seems Russia has better ammo supplies than UKR.
I think we should get more active in supporting UKR, even deploying NATO troops etc to tip the balance. We cannot afford for Putin to win & have a duty & responsability to stop the devestation & deaths of UKR. Putin & Xi are counting on us being too selfish, too weak, too dumb & too divided to effectively stop them. Either we prove them wrong or we end up with a full blown world war(not necessarily involving nukes) or see the fall of democracy & freedom.
At the moment it seems we’re content to defend UKR, but insufficiently & to the last Ukrainian.
It’s no longer possible for Putin to win in Ukraine, he may eventually claim some form of Pyrrhic victory by holding on to the land bridge in the south but he already had Crimea and the Donbas before the war.
Putin being badly defeated by the poorest country in Europe where he had every military advantage does not board well for any attempt against a NATO member.
Our principal concern was the the Baltics, Putin regime won’t be repeating their Ukrainian adventure against any NATO member because they know how shit they are now, just how capable NATO weapons are and actually just how united the west is.
Putin has been very lucky so far to avoid a coup and being taken round the back of the sheds and shot, he and everyone around him have personally lost billions and their previously cushy life’s have been severely degraded.
They can’t pull out of Ukraine because they would have to admit defeat which would be the end of them.
Also the west itself may need to keep Putin in power, whoever replaced him may be significantly worse and the last thing the west needs is Russia fracturing like the old Soviet Republics.
A protracted stale mate along the current boundaries with most of Russians equipment and man power having being chewed up is probably a decent result for NATO on a Geo strategic basis.
It’s horrendous the price the Ukrainian’s have had to pay but then it’s a massive improvement on their prospects from 2 years ago.
It all depends on what the objectives and win state are…look at Afghanistan the west essentially destroyed the Taliban and removed them from power, but in the end lost that war completely.
The fact is the Russian win state was to behead the leadership of Ukraine and place its own puppet in power that would have the support of a reasonable percentage of the population to ensure it stayed a stable ally of russia while the political warfare people worked on the rest of the population…
That win state failed catastrophically, russia is now hated by the entire population it’s suffered 300,000+ casualties, and has its economy on a war footing spending 40% GDP…even if it crushed Ukraine completely..it would need to garrison a nation of 40million people who hate Russia guts and have been hardened by 2 years of constant war….that will take a lot of manpower and russia cannot turn Ukraine into puppet state it can only occupy a completely hostile one…and the west knows how that goes.
The other win state could be forcing a treaty around the occupied east of Ukraine…this would work as a win for russia…the problem is that this will only occur if the west abandons Ukraine…and stops aid..this may happen and it would be a catastrophic loss for the west and probably cement in a world war.
so I would say russia is not winning but the West could possibly force Ukraine to loss…the consequences of that would be catastrophic.
If the west kept on supplying Ukraine and opened the taps, Ukraine has shown it has the will to fight and therefore Russia would not find an acceptable win state..so it would loss.
Good job too. HMG also need to be rebuilding UK armed forces & increasing our own ammo stocks. Sadly that’s up to 200 Russian AFVs etc & their crews who will be snuffed out or injured for Putin’s ego.
👍
👍Hopefully snuffed out.
Like most on this board. I am happy to see support for the Ukrainians continue. But and a big but, what I cannot understand is how this (and no doubt the next one) ruminates and procrastinates over supporting the British armed forces. All we hear from the Gov is :
“Look, at how much money we are spending on the British armed forces”
And then when we look at the small print, we find that they not only intend to drag out that spend (Looks at Type 26 build, F35 purchase, MH procurement, Wedgetail debarkle) they continue to cut back the armed forces with a sleight of hand by gifting stuff away to the Ukraine, don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with supporting the Ukraine, but you have to replace that stuff and that is simply not happening. The current conjuring trick by the Tory government is look we are going to spend billions on UAVs, but as this is the UK, they will see this as an excuse to cut back on everything else, (Robbing Peter to pay Paul) not only that, but they will have review after review, followed by trial after trail, followed by demonstrator after demonstrator and then purchase the most expensive one going, but which is bloody useless. That is the British way (Looks at Watchkeeper and which cannot carry weapons)
Very true words 🍺
Sadly, very true. UK Government would rather take the cheap option of weapons to Ukraine rather than invest in our own military. We of course could and should do both. This isn’t new for UK however, rather than invest in more RAF Regiment Field Squadrons during Iraq/Afghan conflicts they simply stated we didn’t need SHORAD anymore and what was needed could be handled by the Army. Thankfully they were right, the Ukraine war has shown air defence isn’t important… oh wait..
Are our SHORAD missile not currently performing exceptionally well in Ukraine?
For years everyone has been slating the UK for not having SHORAD despite the fact that starstreak was still relatively new and available in decent numbers. In Ukraine it’s performed amazing work.
CAMM appears to be the best all round missile system in class in the medium domain.
Where we are lacking is Theatre level long range system, however the argument that such systems are A stupidly expensive and B not that useful holds more water after seeing how badly S400 has done.
I’m all for us making a limited by for something like SAMP/T but I don’t see SHORAD as being an area we have much difficulty in.
Jim, I agree with you, I was being sarcastic. The RAF certainly need to get back to having something like Patriot or SAMP/T
Absolutely 👍
The Torys have been doing this for hundreds of years. That being said in budget terms things have now largely stabilised as we are so close to the NATO threshold we can’t cut much, procurement is improving to a certain extent in that we are stretching procurements like F35 out but at no penalty cost. We don’t have any more MRA4,TSR2 prospects at present. Also we are adding capabilities in areas like Cyber and space but that’s being done at the expense of traditional capabilities. We are boosting numbers at sea with each capability being significantly better and in some instances equal or bigger numbers than its replacement, CVFvsCVS, MRSSS vs Forts, T26/T31 vs T23 and SSN AUKUS 12+ vs Astute with 7 boats.
Airforce numbers have easily suffered the most but then capability has gone up massively. Typhoon Tranche with AESA mk2 radar and F35 block IV are in a different league to Jaguar, Harrier and Torndao and our potential adversaries are still flying mostly aircraft of that vintage or even older.
In air to air combat when you have kill ratios of 100 to 1 that basically means the other side real has no chance at all even if they outnumber you 100 to 1.
The RAF would slaughter the Russian Airforce in a straight up fight today. We could not say that 30 years ago.
China is a growing problem but it’s a pacific problem. It’s only right we contribute to any NATO+ operation but what we will be required to send won’t be massive air forces but smaller highly trained and equipped air forces offering specialties the US and Japan are lacking.
The UK massively upping its defence spending to guard Germanys boarder so it can spend below the threshold is doing no one any favours. Much the same can be said for the USA’s Uber budget. America can’t afford its defence spending, its debt to GDP ratio is overtaking Italy now. America outspending the rest of NATO by such a margin is causing major political issues in the USA and it’s the single biggest point of failure in the western order.
A lot what you say Jim is true but don’t be over confident 👍
Have a quick look around your house. China is not just a Pacific problem. If China, Taiwan, South Korea & Japan are at war, just about every electronic gadget you own, every computer everywhere, every cash register, electronics based medical equipment, your local bank, transport system, motor vehicle etc etc will be on life support. The west went cheap & bought from the cheapest supplier. They allowed government owned Chinese companies to buy whoever they liked with the money the west gave them. East Asia looked to the future & invested accordingly. Nobody else bothered, they looked at ‘but they are cheaper’. Now the electronics manufacturing industry, including extremely high end expensive to duplicate systems are concentrated in East Asia. While the digital software revolution is concentrated in the west, the hardware it runs on is concentrated in an handful of countries in East Asia. US might manage to scrape by. Western Europe, not so well.
Only good thing is we may end up having more ‘AWACS’ aircraft than Russia soon.
Sure Brimstone will be put some Soviet AFVs etc ,out of Action but there really need that green light from the USA for more Ammunition .Has Ukraine are runing low .Europe could increase stock levels but Ammunition factories still running and peace time leaves.Unless something is done soon Russia Tanks may after all be in Kiev 🤔
How would Russian tanks get to Kiev? I can’t see Belarus repeating 2022 again.
Russian tanks could not drive to Kiev from Russia even without the Ukrainians shooting at them. There logistics limit them to 20 miles from a rail head.
Their o when sitting in a fortified position but their army is completely incapable of manoeuvre warfare.
Really Jim 🙄 don’t be surprised .
Actually Andrews right – there are plenty of Russian tanks in Kiev – burnt out hulks on public display in Mykhailivska Square 🇺🇦👍
Weren’t Ukraine supposed to have won by now? I thought that was the whole reason we were sending them so many weapons/money. If this thing is just going to go on for another decade or until Ukraine run out of men, wouldn’t it be better to negotiate some sort of peace, even if it means Ukraine giving up land? Neither side is going to give up, and I’d quite like to see people on both sides stop dying.
F-16s arriving this summer, let’s wait and see how Russia survives after that. They have already been green-lighted for legitimate targets inside Russia so one can guess what they will be.
If you are expecting the arrival of a few F16’s to make a significant difference to the War and its outcome you might be dissapointed.
Well, they seem to be doing very well with what they have at present and 60 will make a very big difference.
“Denmark is one of the countries, along with the US, the UK, France and Romania, that train Ukrainian pilots. The total number of F-16s Ukraine could receive is as many as 60.”
Feb 19, 2024,09:46pm ESTSukhoi Massacre: Ukraine Has Shot Down Six Of Russia’s Best Jets In Just Three Days
https://
forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/02/19/sukhoi-massacre-ukraine-has-shot-down-six-of-russias-best-jets-in-just-three-days/
7 with a possible 8th unconfirmed and of course another AWACS of which they have very few.
I very much doubt you will see many of them flying in Ukrainian territory once the F-16s arrive, hopefully with long-range air-to-air missiles and fitted with Meteor as a bonus.
30 Nov 2023
“The integration of the Meteor missile is possible on the F-16 fighter jet due to the use of the modern MIL-STD-1760 Aircraft/Store Electrical Interconnection System, which allows the use of this type of missile by updating the software and recording the relevant information.”
Ukraine’s F-16s Could Come With These Weapons
A detailed breakdown of the munitions Ukraine is likely to get, and some it is less likely to get, with its F-16s.
https://
twz.com/ukraines-f-16s-could-come-with-these-weapons
Why broadcast the whole list of weapons, be selective. Let your adversaries figure it out first hand. Ukraine needs any advantage it can get at the moment.
Good morning Quentin D63, They will know what weapons the F-16 carries or might carry.
The question is, what will they carry on any given day!
Would be nice to see what happens to the Mig31 on over watch if meteor suddenly shows up.
I could image it having a similar effect in the air as stormshadow had on the ground.
I doubt you will see many Russian aircraft straying over the boarder that’s for sure!
Hopfuly your wrong ,but I agree with you one can’t be over confident like have said to some other poster 🤔
What you are saying and promoting is appeasement and as we have seen throughout history appeasement doesn’t make for a safer world (As the people who promote that stance claim, rather it makes for a an unsafer world, where those who have got their way (Japan, Italy, Germany and Russian during the 1930s, felt emboldened to try their luck)
Let’s be honest here other nations are watching how the world treats Moscow in regards their own empire building, we know for a fact that China covets its neighbourhood, Venezuela Guyana, Turkey the Eastern Med, Argentina regards the Falkland’s. The only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them, the league of nations failed with Italy, Japan, Russia and of course Germany, that resulted in World War 2 the after effects of which are still been felt today.
And in answer to your initial statement, nope nobody claimed that the Ukraine is able to defeat Russia, nobody expect Kyiv to last more than a few days at the start of the war 2 years, and yet beyond all expectations they have and have taken the fight back to the Russians, this they did at the start with very little Western support other than 2000 NLAWs from the Uk, followed by Javelins from the US it was mid-march before the rest of the world caught up with France and Germany only changing tack after they realised that Moscow wasn’t exactly winning with both been late to the game.
Not really, they were expected to lose in 72hrs! Hence now why they are holding their own, and ensuring that the Russians are taking losses which would be expected to be given by NATO. A destroyed Russian tank, crew killed, by a western weapon system, operated by a Ukrainian is still the expected result of western weapons on Russians. Who cares who is pulling the trigger, the Ukrainians are doing the hard work, we are giving them the means to do so. Win win for NATO, and Ukraine. However over time Putins Nazis will learn, re-arm and the chase continues.
Do please remind everyone of any time when appeasing a murderous dictator like Putin ever worked out well.
You may have noticed but we not at war so how would we negotiate a peace. Ukraine’s at war and they dont want to negotiate, our contributions are minimal.
Sorry, JK. I’m sure we’d all ‘like to teach the world to sing’, as it were. However, earlier watched the Russian expert Justin Bronk, RUSI on the latest Perun broadcast. Obviously watch it all with regard to your above; but I’d recommend taking especial note of the open section during the final few minutes.
Rgs
Don’t remember any time limit, just surviving was the original goal. The trouble with negotiations would be that it would freeze the war so Russia can gave another go after rebuilding over the following years, give much of Ukraine to Russia and they would as things stand insist on no NATO or I suspect EU membership for Ukraine ever and demilitarisation which would only make an eventual take over certain. They would also insist on full removal of sanctions which would be a disaster for the rest of us and a threat to our own European soverienty. The hoped for Ukranian offensive was really an attempt to change the battlefield and radically change those terms and as things stand only continuing can create a negotiation scenario that will perhaps allow for a future for Ukraine sadly.
What about the increasing in british defence spending ?
Ask Mr Sunak. He clearly feels because he has no comprehension of Defence, nor have the voters. So he’d rather talk about spending on health and transport and try for tax cuts.
Good luck with that one Micki 🤗
Good news to offset the American failings – they were quite happy to spend on their failed interventions in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc, but DT and his party are really letting the West down where it actually matters.
First real confirmation I’ve seen that the river crossing Turkey shoot was indeed Brimstone. Remember at time commenting on so many hulls around the crossing but zero signs of craters
Yes, I was interested by that too- there’s been next to nothing about Brimstone in the 2 years that it’s been in service. Not sure whether that’s a good sign or not…
I think the lack of ‘news’ is due to lack of video. If they have eyes on a target they are going to use much lower cost artillery or perhaps MLRS or drones. If they don’t have eyes on a target but they know that there is something big and heavy lurking in a box somewhere then Brimstone comes into its own….but unlikely to have any video and therefore not newsworthy. Lack of numbers will also be an issue. Sounds like UP has received a fresh batch and therefore more older inventory is being released.
‘…sounds like UK…’
Fair point, you’re less likely to have drone footage at the range and method that Brimstone engages.
If it’s the one I was thinking of where they took out the pontoons and whatever was on them or n the Ukrainian side, as soon as they were constructed it suggested at the time in reports it was accurate artillery fire. Brimstone makes more sense I have to say as targets would have been moving and there was no sign of concentrated fire just wrecks.
Indeed. Thats the one I was recalling. Hulls scattered everywhere with lots of Turret tossing evidence and, as you say, damaged pontoon but little in way of craters. Siverskyi Donets river crossing I think
If you’re going to tell everybody about this at least then send 400! Why tell all your adversaries the exact numbers ? Lol 😁 🇬🇧 🇺🇦 🇦🇺
Political Grandstanding.
Maybe they are actually sending 100.
The stupidity continues. We should be pushing hard to get a ceasefire, not adding fuel to the fire. The people of the region cannot wait for a change of US president to stop the killing. I know what I’ve said previously but they have suffered enough for giving the world communism. It’s time to end this madness.
Ceasefire, peace talks and then partition along ethnic lines. The same solution as Yugoslavia. NATO will still have it’s buffer zone, Russia will still have it’s Black Sea port/fleet, Luhansk and Donbas People Republics. More importantly Ukraine will still exist (even if it is smaller) and also retain access to the Black Sea. It’s not perfect but it is better than the obvious outcome if this war continues and escalates. Russia will be left to foot the bill for rebuilding the most heavily affected region since 2014, the Donets Basin.
Ah yes a cease fire the answer to all of the world’s problems! How many ceasefires and agreements have the Orcs broken as soon as they are ready to push again? I take it you have heard Pootins ramblings he is not going to stop till he has his soviet empire under his control again.
Come on Jacko. I’m as willing as the next Tom to accept a military solution. There are few things that can’t be solved with the proper application of high explosives. But don’t you think enough people have died caught between the squabbles of greedy oligarchs, megalomaniacal leaders and outside interest.
Both sides in this war qualify as Orcs being founders of the corrupt USSR. They have both broken agreements too and overthrown elected leaders with coups. So lets leave the racial slurs to the ignorant and immature children. It’s time to work towards peace. The first step is a ceasefire in place. What do you say, am I wrong to want this to end?
Sweden and Finland have joined the alliance at long last. Our governments have realised the folly of disarmament. They are making plans to increase the size of our armed forces. Increasing defence budgets etc. Is there anything else to be gained from the slaughter of Ukrainians and Russians. Both have suffered untold horrors.
Muzzle your war dog mentality for a bit and let your humanitarian side speak.
So what do you propose then? Cease fire in place as of positions now? Leaving UKR citizens in the control of pootin? You know as well as I do that as soon as he has built up his forces he will go again! IF he gets UKR is he going to stop not in this world!
if seeing that appeasement doesn’t work then ok I’m a war dog. This can end tomorrow if he was to stop and withdraw to his own borders .in your logic if we were to be invaded and the likes of Suffolk etc were occupied then you would give them up or fight to get them back?
We are not Ukraine and the circumstances are completely different. No Russian speakers have lived in Suffolk for the past 300+ years or more. Neither has Suffolk ever been under Moscow control.
The contested area is a bombed out wasteland. The people are mostly ethnic Russian. (Arguably citizens of the Luhansk and Donetsk Peoples Republics!) It’s not appeasement, not even close. Something is going to have to give for this to end. Only our arms supplies are keeping the slaughter going. So we could stop it.
It’s now blatantly clear that the Russian military is incapable of taking on any NATO country. Especially now we are rearming and realise it’s necessary to remain strong. The chance of living peacefully with Russia has gone as both sides have blown it. It’s back to deterrent, arms races and Cold War.
It was just an IF question as I’m sure you realise. You are sounding like Pootin going on about 300 yr old history.the fact is Ukraine decided by democratic means they did not want to be part of or ruled by Russia! The breakaway regions of course were a point of friction but despite claims to the contrary I didn’t see entire cities/towns razed to the ground and even now the civilians are not being targeted in those areas,unlike the ‘liberation’ of ‘Russian’ territory from the Ukrainians. This war was started and can be ended today by that madman in the Kremlin,even today Russian media are saying Georgia and the Armenians are next in line! If he is not stopped here where do you think he will be?
It sounded like the Suffolk example was given as a comparison. But it’s irrelevant really. Let me give a more comparable hypothetical example.
If SNP Scotland decided to split from the rest of the UK of Great Britain. Berwick having been part of both countries at various times, could be given the choice of joining either. Imagine they had a referendum and decided to go with one or other of England or Scotland. Ten years later, they realised it was the wrong choice for reasons of incompatibility or even prejudice. Deciding instead to become an independent town/city state, pending a longer term period of adjustment and reassessment of the situation.
The perfect environment for Colonel Putin (respect the rank, not the man) to operate. He may be a vile evil individual but far from stupid. His KGB/STASI training made him crafty and a manipulative son of a bitch. -Are you familiar with the STASI what they did and the methods used to control the old East German people. If not look it up. – He was trained to analyse a situation, collect intelligence and use it to steer events to fit his agenda. Using interrogators, informers, activists and assassins where needed. Therefore, the undeniably exaggerated 300 year history and Amnesty International reports, suddenly become very important indeed. Exploited to manipulate the ethnic Russian populous of Ukraine. Furthermore the anticipated attempts by Ukraine, NATO and you. To deny both historical facts, work in Putin’s favour entirely as planned. Do you follow.
It’s a simplified example of how the man works. As instinctive to him as muscle memory is to an infantry rifleman. The only ways to defeat his strategy are overwhelming military force – not working or even possible without starting WWIII – or beat him at his own game. Hence my suggestion of a ceasefire to establish talks and appealing to the people. Which is Putin’s current strength but one of his ultimate weaknesses. I hope this explains things in a bit more detail.
There is much more to consider than pitting over stretched, under armed Ukrainians against Russians in a similar mess.
We will have to agree to disagree on the interpretation of published images and videos of destroyed villages, towns and cities. High altitude images of places I’ve seen. Show soldiers fighting through rubble. Destroyed by fire from both sides.
Righto it seems it’s beyond your understanding that Russia has invaded a sovereign country and they are now fighting for their very existence.i know your not a troll or a bot but their really is no excuse for what has been done whatever the history of both countries! Have a nice day because a lot of people aren’t.
That’s fine Jacko. We are all the sum total of our personality type and experiences. Therefore interpreting things differently. At least we can discus it like adults and agree to differ.
FYI My formative years were spent opposing the Warsaw Pact and the USSR. (To the point of professional obsession, looking for exploitable weaknesses..) Ukraine was an active and very important part of the USSR/Red Army from day one. I have stories not suitable for this forum, that would shock you!
Admittedly I find it hard to consider them just another democracy. Both came from the very same ideology and turned into identical corrupt oligarchies. With the same class of former opponents floating to the top. The fact that they have rekindled old hatreds means nothing to me, other than amusement.
I can’t see how continuing this fight gives NATO any advantage other than what I said previously. Maybe I’m becoming soft in my old age and just want the killing to stop. Been there, done that and think enough is enough. I wish you well. Stay safe, alert and frosty.
This is not about Ukraine. This is about Russia. This is about a Russia which is led by an individual who has malign intent and is a danger to the West. He defines himself as an opponent to us and he maintains his position by confronting us. He kills Russians to maintain his position. He would have no qualms about killing Brits to do the same. Ukraine is the place where we’re confronting him because it’s better to do it there than in the Baltics or Finland.
I appreciate that view point. But don’t you think the people of Ukraine regardless of ethnicity (and Russians) have been pawns in this game long enough?
Is there anything else to be gained by NATO if this war continues. Other than emphasising our inability to militarily out produce enemy alliance. Russia, N Kores, Iran, Syria and the ChiComs. (Plus anyone else they can drag in, Argentina for example.) We are rapidly depleting our ability to wage war when the time comes. It is coming, no argument.
The enemies will take advantage of our weakness by opening multiple fronts. Kaliningrad, Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel.
BTW If the US leave NATO without creating an immediate replacement, we are in deep trouble.
Don’t pretend you give a damn about Ukrainian’s, if you did you would listen to what they’ve actually got to say.
If you want them to surrender to Russia for your own benefit or cowardice or worldview then just admit it.
Who the hell mentioned surrender?
Who are you calling a fucking coward?
So much for journalistic integrity.