Russian special military operation in Ukraine #46

Regular wrote:CV-90 is most advanced IFV in Ukraine.
I would like to see couple Boxer sent to Ukraine, probably most interesting IFV in the NATO, but way too few to spare

Not impressed by any of NATO's IFVs. They don't offer any substantial performance advantages over the classic BMP-3 or even the BMP-2 in some areas while being much more heavier, expensive while foregoing the critical amphibious capability altogether.

The last bit is especially damning given the extensive water obstacles present on the battlefield. Entire military operations hinge on river crossings being held or not and amphibious AFVs that can conduct active defense to disrupt and throw the enemy even further back can make that task much more doable than infantry in a static posture with the limited equipment they can paddle across.

I read that Bradleys were made mainly of aluminium, that burns pretty fiercely, as shown by UK warships in the Falklands.

I used to think that too but it is not as true as it sounds.

First of all aluminium doesn't burn like say magnesium would, though it can melt in a hot fire but that is not actually important. If you look at a shot down Mi-8 that burnt out and a shot down Mi-24 that burnt out you would see the Mi-24 airframe largely intact because titanium didn't melt in the fire of the fuel and other soft furnishings in the aircraft, while the aluminium airframe of the Hip would melt with the heat of the fire.

That titanium armour would have been good stopping ground fire and protecting the troops and crew inside but in the fire it just acted like an oven and would offer zero protection in the subsequent fire.

When it comes to light vehicles making them out of aluminium means the structure can be much heavier for a given weight... if you imagine a 5mm steel door compared with a 10mm aluminium door the thicker material will have less bend even if it wont be as hard. The point is that with ceramic inserts having 60mm of aluminium frontal armour would offer as good protection as a much thinner sheet of steel armour... it is actually very complicated. With very light vehicles like the BMD they made the later models out of aluminium because because the older models the stronger heavier steel armour was too thin and used to buckle and fail structurally even if it would be more bullet resistant compared with aluminium. The new armour combines the best features with inserts and thickness for the weight.

BTW powdered aluminium is added to create an incendiary effect in explosives and also in fireworks, but most metals in powdered form will burn... even flour will explode if you throw it in the air towards a naked flame.... (be very very careful if you try this... I always thought a flour bomb was just a plastic bag with flour in it that got flour everywhere, but if you can get the powder into the air and ignite it... it detonates like a real bomb.

" For soldiers and officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who read this channel (I know that there are). Over the past few days, the frequency of 149.200 for conventional walkie-talkies has proven its efficiency.

Despite what some say here I think it is important for Russia to offer them this way out. Russia are not the bad guys here and they shouldn't act like they are to appear tough on the internet.

Let the west think Putin is weak and Russia is close to collapse... they are looking into a mirror and interpreting things the way that suits their psychosis best.

Its the ATGM variant of the Kinzhal. Its been future-proofed, ie designed with plenty of... margin... to deal with any conceivable armour upgrades that NATO might introduce.

Actually they have a range of options... roadside mines like the TM-93 which is a roadside mine with a range of up to 50m that will penetrate 400mm of armour (which is plenty for side attacks on anything really). It uses a HEAT warhead. But they also have mines that launch self forging fragments at the target which is a flat disc of metal that is accelerated towards the target at enormous speed with a big lump of HE behind it so it normally hits at about 2-3km/s.

They also have mines which launch in the direction of engine noise a similar penetrator...

Hole posted some images of the mine in question but there are also roadside versions that you can lay with your other mines that detect engine noise and fire in that direction... can be remotely activated or work on automatic.

It's like the Russians have taken the concept of the precision-guided bunker-buster bomb with rocket-assist in its terminal trajectory and miniaturised it for use against mobile targets such as armour.

The Russians didn't just make aircraft and focus on air power, in fact their focus was defence so their air defence network is amazing, but with armour their focus was also defence so despite having lots of new armoured vehicles on the way they also have most of the different types of weapons the west has for defeating armour too, so they have excellent air defence and good planes, and good armour and good anti armour capacity.

That was why Russian tanks suffered in Chechnya... their enemy was soviet equipped and soviet trained to kill tanks and knew the systems the Russians were operating inside and out... but instead the west decided the reason they had problems was because Soviet armour was useless...

Wonder what excuses they will be using now.

Muh situational awareness!

The noise of that engine compared with the buzz of the drone... each ones last thoughts were probably... is that other guy shaving at a time like this...

Putin squandered a good opportunity.

Russia can't compete with western lies, and shouldn't try. Let them make their own choices and decisions and see where that gets them.

Europeans will be blaming the US for turning them against Russia, but whose fault is that really?

I don't think Europe changing teams would be accepted by Russia as genuine, because it wont be.

Those rats just don't like getting their feet wet... let them learn to swim.

Controlled opposition at best, Elon's brand of Globalism and Transhumanism isn't any better than what the liberal oligarchs are offering, but people are suckers for saviors.

He gives the illusion of choice...

I question the whole significance of having it in the first place. When the price is less armor.

The price is not always less armour... the Boomerang and Kurganets are amphibious vehicles and they seem to have quite decent armour.