Nice, one less to worry about. The Su-25 is not a fighter, though, but a ground attack aircraft, similar in role to the US A-10. Even more important to retire those.
Hopfgeist
joined 1 year ago
Russian economy is beginning to ~~bugle~~ buckle under the pressure.
Otherwise that would be interesting to hear:
bugle, verb: 1. to sound a bugle; 2. to utter the characteristic rutting call of the bull elk
Joking aside, the Russian economy is effectively now a pure war economy. About 40% of government spending in 2023 was military. Not much else you can do, then. Economic growth, infrastructure, social security, whatever else the government spends money, is subordinate to the war efforts.
It is clear that that is what Ukraine currently has to do unless it wants to stop existing (with military spending having reached 44% of GPD, although most of it hasn't been paid for by Ukraine), but for Russia it is just absolutely bonkers.
They managed to adapt the Su-24 for Storm Shadow, no reason it couldn't be done for Taurus; they are of similar size and weight.
I think the compromise was that they need to be programmed on the ground, as the aircraft avionics don't offer a compatible complex interface, but a launch signal can be rigged. Since Both will probably be used against fixed targets (airfields, bridges, ...) that is not a big drawback. Still, it needs to be done, and is not quite trivial.
Which is a sight to behold. Before the invasion of Ukraine, German military budget was 1.3% of the GDP, although it was supposed to be 2.3 or something for NATO member states.
Being German, I didn't want to brag. 😉 But with all the legitimate criticism of a hesitant chancellor I'm a bit proud of what our government did achieve, although, of course, it could always be more. What currently worries me is Slovakia with a coalition government of far-left and far-right parties (maybe the Horseshoe Theory is real) stopping Ukraine aid, and possibly blocking or delaying EU funds for Ukraine. And of course who knows what's going to happen after the next US presidential elections is anyone's guess.
Augmented GPS can offer much better resolution, reliably on the order of a few Decimetres, if you have a reference receiver/transmitter with precisely known location nearby. GPS has very clever tricks up its sleeve if you know how to use them (which I assume the AFU do).
Yes, in total numbers Germany is the second largest donor of military aid to Ukraine after the US. In terms of fraction of GDP, there are other nations who have donated more, Poland, Bulgaria and the Baltic republics stand out here.
Bullets are deflected along surprisingly sharp bends in a barrel (or any other pipe), so it would be sufficient to hit the tank gun muzzle roughly from the front, and it would probably hit a loaded projectile.
Thanks. Right now I'm away from the machine so can't look, but I'll keep an eye open for a T420 mainboard and a second CPU, then. It'll still be a decent machine, I think, with two E5-2470 V2. DDR3 ECC-RAM is also dirt cheap these days.
Certainly looks that way. As if it wasn't big enough already. In most pictures I have seen they have only muzzle brakes, but in some they clearly have suppressors. A useful side-effect may be to reduce the visible muzzle fire for night operation.
Unless there is an actual offensive going on, these are not really needed. They are attack aircraft (short-range air-to-ground missiles and rockets, small bombs and cannons, etc.), not interceptors or aerial combat fighters. Their air-to-air capability is largely non-existent, and strictly defensive. Russia may use some in Syria, but Ukraine would be their main theatre at the moment.