The slat armor kit pictured above is called 675-SB3KDZ
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Russians do love their proverbs don’t they?
I wonder if Putin has heard the one about the boy who grabs hold of the wolf’s ears.
Evidently not.
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Especially weapons …
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More views of a BMP-1TS
H.P.
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H.P.
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You’re right statistics can show what you want and it was a poor choice of words, Cold numbers then show the 3:1 advantages then add the sophisticated weapon’s and well trained and motivated soldiers, what threat was Russia to NATO? That they were a threat to the surrounding countries is not in question but operations in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Georgia and now Ukraine have shown them to be far from the military juggernaut that the media and politicians would have us believe.
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And Russia doesn’t have allies, like…oh, I dunno… China? Not sure thats relevent actually.
Its debateable whether Russia would be able to command such military support for an offensive against NATO, that is true. Russia aren’t the only ones to have failed miserably in Afghanistan by the way.
I would agree though, that if the Russian military had been portrayed by the media to be a ‘juggernaut’ (i’m not sure thats true) then they’d have been wrong on many levels.
Perhaps the idea of them being portrayed in the media as a ‘juggernaut’ comes from the various pictures and footage from Chechnya, Georgia and Syria. In Georgia you had huge columns of Russian armor moving into that country as well as an all-powerful air force that, at one point, even spooked the then Georgian President while he was near the front. They seemed like a juggernaut against the vastly smaller Georgian forces that, in fairness, did acquit themselves well.
Again in Chechnya there are lots of pictures of Grozny looking like Stalingrad in 1943 and there are lots of photos and videos of massed rocket and artillery as well as tanks and assorted armor. Again, the Chechens put up enough of a fight the first time for things to end in a stalemate until hostilities resumed in 1999. But in terms of the imagery the Russians looked the stronger force- particularly in the second war which was seen as a kind of victory.
In Syria, again, we saw the Russians use their artillery and air force to pound the rebel forces until they were soft enough for the SAA to re-take what they could. The rebel forces were perhaps the most out-gunned of any of the examples- again the idea of the juggernaut seemed plausible.
Not so much any more as you said Roly- perhaps the media unwittingly portrayed the Russians as this juggernaut- something they themselves seem to have believed (and only too happy to have others believe)- but as we have seen this is the same media that thinks anything green on wheels is a ‘tank’.
Of course we love. Just like the British love their queen.
I wonder if Elizabeth II knows such a Russian proverb as “Цыплят по осени считают” (Chickens should be counted in autumn) or Ukrainian “Не кажи «гоп», доки не перескочив” (First do it and then say it)?
That very Russian concept of ‘Potemkin Village’ seems to apply to the Russian military forces. All that spending they did in the past decade or so for new vehicles and equipment seems to have done them no good at all. Their forces are still poorly trained and - if the reports of missing ERA explosives and tires are taken seriously - very corrupt. Having their officers leading completely uninformed men (and no real NCO corps) dates back to Tsarist days but you’d think they might’ve learned by now. Meantime, I think watching which vehicles are showing up in Ukraine is very informative. Their use of T-62’s (having attrited so many of their newer tracks) is like if the US started using M-48’s once more.
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Western support is still there, I have no idea where how you thought otherwise. These delays in fielding equipment including training time is the killer for them.
H.P.
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Number of headlines from Western countries saying that UA needs be ok with less. One example the world issue Opinion | The U.S. Can’t Force the Rest of the World to Support Ukraine. Here’s Why. - POLITICO
Blaming of all US price issues (fuel, food etc) on Russia. We (average American) will tap out of the help and move towards settlement the longer this goes and the more it cost us.
Back on more of a direct topic, US to sell UA MQ-1C drones. As I recall there is a few models of this version in different scales.
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After the cope cage, the egg boxes/sand armor, the gabion armor…
These guys must have raided local rabbit hutches…
H.P.
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Imagine what they will put on the T-62Ms!
“everything but the kitchen sink”
I thought I would never get an opportunity to use that expression,
now I can mark it as ‘Done’ on my bucket list…
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Front line maintenance
H.P.
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