I'd missed seeing this thread until today, so I'm catching up a bit and commenting on things that I think aren't duplicating anyone else's comments.
Quote:
Originally Posted by swaghauler
Actually, according to people in open source info forums, they apparently used one or both of the armored trains in Grozny too. I heard they are often used to haul Thermobaric missiles as well as larger artillery "stores" like 140mm rocket reloads. I guess they were a much-needed resource there during the siege of Grozny. Of course, Chechnya has rail lines to Russia so they were able to move in by rail. Ukraine severed her rail lines before the invasion started. That might have thrown the Russians off their game a bit too.
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The two armored trains were both used in Grozny, and at least one was used in Georgia as well. Amur and Baikal may have been activated because of drone strikes on conventional rail transport; since Russian logistics are more rail-dependent than many other countries, the armored trains might have been called up because of their anti-air artillery and protection against light weaponry. The imagery I've seen is pretty grainy, but it looks like the electronic warfare cars have been removed from the trains, and they have just the locomotives, anti-air cars, and flatbeds for transport. That's a lot simpler and more cargo-oriented than the earlier configurations that included jammer cars and passenger cars for desantniki.
Quote:
Originally Posted by swaghauler
That Russian ship was sunk off of Crimea. Open Source Intelligence posted a Google satellite photo of it.
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And apparently it was sunk by a truck. A BM-21 Grad was pre-ranged on a set of coordinates and a pair of speedboats lured the
Vasily Bykov onto those coordinates.
One thing I've noticed with the armor in particular is that Russia's including some seriously old equipment in the invasion. There have been some T-90A, but also T-72A and T-72B, and no signs that I've seen of T-72B3M or T-90M - they're sending tanks with no ERA or with Kontakt-1 or Kontakt-5, but nothing that would be equipped with Relikt. I'm not sure what that means (if anything), but it struck me as odd.