OT: Putin's War in Ukraine

[Heffe]

Same here with regard to seeing such an expensive weapon wasted on a truck. But as you say, if it's scoring kills then it's scoring kills. I suppose the good news is that they'll at least have options with the T-62.

As an aside, this whole endeavor tells us a great deal about how fast ATGM stocks would be depleted in the Twilight War. Soldiers clearly won't save the expensive gear for the expensive targets, and will instead target whatever they can.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Heffe

Same here with regard to seeing such an expensive weapon wasted on a truck. But as you say, if it's scoring kills then it's scoring kills. I suppose the good news is that they'll at least have options with the T-62.

I guess whether a truck is a worthwhile ATGM target depends on what is in the truck.

[swaghauler]

Here's a report from DW news about the bombing of the Kursk Bridge to Crimea.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=MajtcfaAaZk&feature=

Swag

[bash]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

I guess whether a truck is a worthwhile ATGM target depends on what is in the truck.

I think part of the issue with the use of NLAWs and Javelins was they were the only decent long range firepower some Ukrainian units had at that point in the war. A lot of units were defending with few artillery assets so they couldn't call in a fire mission nor did they have CAS or really any air support.

Even if a Javelin is overkill on a truck, Russia's lack of sane logistics actually means a truck is fairly high value compared to other militaries simply because there's so few available. Hitting Russian logistics was high value because it meant their front couldn't expand much past the Russian border. It also limits opportunities for break throughs since there's not enough fuel for the advance.

[swaghauler]

I'm still wondering about the truck bomb angle. There are control points at each end of the bridge that scan for HAZMAT and explosives (we do that here in the US too). So how did the truck skirt these checks?

The explosion has a large volume of fire (more than ANFO/C4 produces) which looks like a napalm or fuel-air type of explosive. So why did the chemical sniffers at the checkpoint not detect those?

How were the box rails on that bridge section cut by that blast so cleanly (the section dropped intact)?

I do have some demo training, but I'm neither a combat engineer nor EOD. But that explosion looks like a burning charge combined with some type of cutting charge. A combination of differing explosives from different blast points/locations maybe?

[Raellus]

The report on War Zone indicates that train cars on the bridge are burning, so perhaps whatever generated the explosion managed to detonate whatever the train cars were carrying (fuel, most likely)?

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...ding-to-crimea

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[swaghauler]

Originally Posted by Raellus

The report on War Zone indicates that train cars on the bridge are burning, so perhaps whatever generated the explosion managed to detonate whatever the train cars were carrying (fuel, most likely)?

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...ding-to-crimea

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Everything's on the table but I was watching this video by Denis and now I have even more questions!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Zhe0xpk_qTw&feature=

Some questions I now have...

How did the fallen road deck survive the blast without even being blackened or the paint being burned off?

Why did the road deck drop intact with even the guardrails intact if a truck detonated right next to those guardrails?

Why does the blast look "directional" from the sea instead of "up" from the road deck?

How did the driver's *body survive the blast and follow-on inferno if he was at "ground zero" for the blast? *Russia claims they recovered the driver and two other motorists from the water.

[bash]

Guys, it's no mystery. Just like the Saky airbase in Crimea and all those exploding ammo depots: it's just careless soldiers flicking cigarettes. I mean bridges blow up all the time! It was bound to happen. I think in one of the videos you can see the cigarette butt land right before the explosion.

[Vespers War]

Originally Posted by Heffe

Same here with regard to seeing such an expensive weapon wasted on a truck. But as you say, if it's scoring kills then it's scoring kills. I suppose the good news is that they'll at least have options with the T-62.

As an aside, this whole endeavor tells us a great deal about how fast ATGM stocks would be depleted in the Twilight War. Soldiers clearly won't save the expensive gear for the expensive targets, and will instead target whatever they can.

This would also depend on how the ATGMs were issued. The AT4 and SMAW would likely see wider issue than Javelin in "typical" Twilight War timelines (or Dragon for the earlier timeline, since Javelin wasn't introduced until 1996 and Dragon remained in service until 2001). An alternate for AT4/SMAW would be the Viper rocket that was canceled in 1983 in the real-world timeline but might have been introduced if GD had any cost-control talent.

For Dragon, it had been 1 launcher per infantry squad in the 80s, but in the 90s that got shuffled. Mechanized infantry had 2 launchers per squad, while light infantry had 6 launchers per company and Rangers had 3 per company. Marines had a dedicated platoon of 32 launchers per battalion, divided into 4 sections of 4 squads of 2 teams each. The ideal when Viper was under development was that everyone who didn't have a Dragon would have a Viper.

[swaghauler]

Sub Brief has posted a video on the Kursk Bridge attack. I think I agree with him based on the totality of the evidence.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9tQ1jYbhxNc&feature=

Swag

[swaghauler]

Here's Perun's weekly upload. This week he discusses the air defense issues in Ukraine.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=xCEzEVwOwS4&feature

Swag

[swaghauler]

Here's a 6-month overview of the war by the King & Generals channel.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=4mJT452uDDc&feature=

Swag

[swaghauler]

The Kings and Generals channel has put out a new video.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=S7usqwT-ty4&feature=

Swag

[swaghauler]

Perun discusses the sinking of Moskva.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=YrgCPsock6w&feature=

Swag