Greetings Me Droogs N Droogettes!
The New Substack is up, and yeah, haven’t started charging for it yet. I keep getting told I should… maybe I’ll get around to it one of these weeks. Either way, Sunday!!! Sunday!!! Sunday!!! ‘Member them “Monster Truck” Commercials? back in the day?
Good shit there…
Only went once to one of those rallies.
It was one of the kids in school’s b-day party… his Dad was BIG into NASCAR and Monster Trucks. THANK whatever Deity that DeadDad was wired into, as he made me bring/wear earpro. Like HIS big ole googly-earmuffs we normally only wore when we went shooting. I took some shit from the other kids.
Initially
We ended up having to leave about 40 minutes into the show. ALL the kids, (‘cept me) and the Adults had headaches and were deaf AF… those who didn’t have earplugs that is. Me? I was the only one who suffered no ill effects.
So, Latest and Greatest From Da Kraine.
Seems that there’s a viday out there. H/T to Shitshow over on Gab, for the Yewtoob link, but I already had it… Sapper N I watched it last night. Longer than the usual 2-3 minute ‘combat vidya’:
I can embed it easier from the YT than the Russian site that it was originally poasted on. A quick Breakdown of the TL;DW.
From what it appears to be is a lone T Variant (80? 90? Not sure) Russian Tank that essentially goes on a full on suicide run. Like no joke. The Ukies are coming in (from the right side as the video is oriented) on what appears to be a meeting engagement of two Tanks (probably T-64s as that’s the majority of what the Krainians have left at this point) as well as what seem to be some (3? 4?) US Made Maxxpro MRAPs. Reason I say that’s what they are is that INSANELY High-Profile is visible from the vidya even at 2 or 3 kliks away.
The ‘narrator’ of the story appears to be the Drone Operator and his chief? boss? Unknown but BOTH of them are like flat out floored at the size of the Balls on the Crew of this Tank of theirs… The tank keeps dodging, juking and weaving, and keeps blowing the ever living shit out of the Krainians, much to the amazement of the Drone Operator(s). VERY cool video if they could get more footage or after-action footage…
Looks bad for the ‘Home Team’ in that particular vid. Which then leads me into an article I found that was written in google-translated English-from-Russian talking about the captured western gear. The link to the article is HERE and pretty much tells you what -I- expected.
Literally, no earth shattering reveals here to be seen.
The biggest takeaway that the Russians did get was that “…the maintainability of Western technology is “extremely low, especially in the field.” It also features resource-intensive maintenance. This situation is caused by “design features”, sometimes irrational, the source said.” Which is by design of course.
The Russians build their gear to be maintainable, as we used to for the crew to be able to do basic, hell even complex maintenance in the field. These days? Not so much. The Military Industrial Complex needs those machines to require highly specialized tools and replacement parts that only THEY can supply. That AND the technicians themselves for that matter.
In Afghanistan, 90% of the maintenance of the newer M-ATV (Oshkosk made) was ALL performed by factory technicians.
Like ALL of it. The –only– time I saw ANY ‘wrenching’ being done on the M-ATV was basic PMCS, which stands for Preventative Maintenance Checks and Services, i.e. make sure the oil and cherry juice is topped off, that the leaks are within spec (they always leak) and that was about it.
ZERO Unauthorized wrenching. ALL of it done by “Forward Placed/Based” Maintenance Technicians supplied by the various Usual Suspects like KBR, CACI and the like… exactly who is providing the wrenching for these projects? Not sure. Initially there were a LOT of calls for guys to go over, myself included, but since I’m not a Vehicle Tech, I have no real clue on what the deal is for the Krainians toys.
I’m sure there’s a nice, big, fat juicy Cost Plus Contract that was awarded somewhere without oversight and or bidding. Like Millions, if not Billions long term, ‘cos these cost plus gigs are never short term.
They’re ALL invariably long term, fixed priced, and include a parts program for all the fiddly bits that’re needed, ‘cos as Ivan said, the somewhat “irrational design features” are just that… A feature, not a bug.
It’s so that Uncle Sugar is ‘forced’ to buy the $700 gasket that -could- probably be made/gotten for $.07 cents, but which would mean that Senator Pusnuts Faggotface doesn’t get to “bring home the pork” to his constituents in the form of long-term manufacturing contracts. Which, by the by are usually then re-farmed out to Chy-Nah as a subcontracted piece-per-pay work anyways at a quarter cost of what the actual retail price would be.
And then, Lo and Behold! When the reality of “We need this NOW (JIT Delivery, just in time for those unfamiliar)” comes around, and then suddenly: “Hey! There’s a delay ‘cos the sub-contractor in West Laos has a localized supply issue, but we’re sure it’ll be resolved in a few weeks!” No one ever seems to be held responsible, even though it may cost lives. Thankfully our DotMil has never (so far) had to go IRL toe-to-toe with a peer DotMil since Korea, ‘cos right now?
Ain’t no way in FUCK are we in any way, shape or form capable of doing anything against Russia, never mind China… hell I think even the Canadians if they decided to get squirrelly up in Vermont, ain’t a whole hell of a lot we -could- do. The very fact that the Russians have called out the essentially unrepairable nature of our heavy gear, (and even then, they haven’t seen an Abrams yet) and the overly-complex designs which are NOT meant to ‘protect’ the people on said heavies, but to further the profit(s) of the manufacturers via an expensive and/or complex repair need on said parts.
I mean no wonder the Brits ordered the Krainians to NOT field the Challenger… it’s not the ‘sooper-secret-armor composition I think, inasmuch is that it’d me poor advertising of their “best Tank” when it comes to potentially selling them to other countries like Egypt or Saudi, both of whom in the past have bought British Tanks.
Hell, Krauss-Maffei, the makes of the Leos have gotten the proverbial ‘black eye’ when it comes to just how lame their Leopard II Alpha 6 model was/is. Before when the Leo IIs were getting smoked in Yemen, the excuse was that it was the ‘export model’ and “not as good as the 2A6” as it was the export model and therefor not the best version.
The Krainians put that lie to rest mighty quick, or rather, I should say that the Russians did… rather quickly, and I think now that’s part of the reason that they’re continuing this stupidity. Russia needs to be punished for showing that the Germans vaunted Leopard Tanks ain’t so vaunted Aye?
You can only imagine how bad it’d be IF they’d actually sent the M1’s over there… There’s a LOT of leaked footage and pictures of the Yemen fight again showing the ‘export model’ of the Abrams ALLLLLLL sorts of torched up. General Dynamics’d be well on the hook for another spectacular failure…
Anyways, food for thought.
More Later, I’m baking Chocolate Chip Cookies tonight.
Big Country
Love the nesting dolls analogy at the stack!
I saw one where an RF drone dropped money/agitprop (?) to flush the Ukes out and they were dumb enough to take the bait and come out of concealment, then along comes a drone with a grenade that landed right on a soldier’s back.
Ivan is a mean boy.
The motocross was the best back in the day! It looked like they were going to jump right out of the arena and the worst for ear damage was the WWII airshow where I ducked down as the badass loud AF B-17 came in and the NHRA drag strip with a walkway over the staging lane, you could feel it in your balls it was so loud!
Good times.
Monster Jam is a fuckin hoot.
My daughters and I try to catch it every year when it’s in town.
Earpro is a must for the kids. Years of working with things that go ‘bang’, from 9mm handguns to 105mm howitzers and a great many things inbetween, has made it sort of irrelevant for me.
“Need cigarette?” HEH
About russian tanks.
A long time ago (I think it was even in the official press) there was an article about the T-34 tank.
It said that the russian did their statistics and found out that a tank was destroyed after driving about 350 km, so they designed the T-34 to be able to drive 370 km and then break down.
And to german tanks: Yes, they are complicated. Was in WWII and continues till today. So, no surprises here.
I think it (complexity and only servicable be the company that produces them) will change only when the manufacturers are forced to go into battle in their own tanks. Then it will change. Or, after they had a lengthy stay in a POW camp.
Just sayin
That’s some Rommel-Level tanking right there. Charge in and blow some shit up.
I saw that Vid on a Russian site, completely Incredible Tanking! I have a suspicion that given how many Vids you see from the Spotter’s Drone, that Ivan has much of the Battlefield covered 24/7 and bet that Tank was the only Armor available ‘Right Now’ so the Spotter steered him in. Same thing with the Artillery, I’ve seen several Vids where the Spotter put the Laser on a Moving Vehicle (usually an S.P. Howitzer) and calls his Battery for “Grid xxx, Krasnopol, one Round, Target is Lit” and that Laser-Guided Shell hits the Target as it’s Moving.
There was a similar Vid from last Month, where the T-90 was backed into a Treeline beside the Road, Camo Net in front of it, and a Convoy of Bradleys and MRAP’s drove right into him… Gunner must have selected H.E., not APDS, because those Tracks and Tucks Blew Apart completely. 6 Vehicles (and crews) KIA in about two Minutes.
I think we are about to see another front in ww3. Niger had a coup, France backs the ousted president and wagner is baking the military junta. Niger is 40% of the uranium needed to keep europes power plants running. They cut off europe. France has no gas from russian, insufficiant lng and now no uranium. They will have to put in troops to keep themselves from freezing this fall. Then wagner rolls in as well.
re — American complexity
.
Based on those few examples in these hallowed pages, I can extrapolate:
* I think the entire civilized world is built to fail.
* I think failure is wired into the foundation of:
* cities,
* organized religion,
* higher education,
* interfering with foreign affairs.
They need each step to be perfect.
.
I think anything more complex than a small/medium farm operated by a few families has too many fargle-points to be sustainable without outside help.
.
.
An aside:
French require fuel from Afrika?
Afrika wins.
That supply line has too many fargle-points.
They need every step to be perfect.
.
.
Off Topic:
The chinese operating clandestine bio-war labs in abandoned buildings in Fresno, California?
That supply line has next-door availability.
They only need to get it right once.
.
Can you imagine a couple-three chinese bio-war labs in every city, in every forest, in all the ‘homeless encampments’.
Cheap to run, low start-up investment, disposable technicians, easy to walk away, deniable.
.
.
Back on topic:
I think the American military is stuck in 1938, building equipment to fight World War Two.
Based on everybody in America running in tiny circles, waving their hands and screaming ‘racist!’ ‘reparations!’ ‘fentanyl!’ ‘space aliens!’ ‘biden!/o’bama!/clinton!/congress!’ gibberish, I would be willing to bet on the chinese.
Fact is, I would be willing to bet the chinese already won this war without anybody here realizing the game was afoot.
.
And I would be willing to bet the RulingParasites — although inbred incompetent twits — recognized the loss, and bailed for Uruguay and Bali.
That explains (as BisonPrepper James M Dakin detailed decades ago) the reduction in:
* LawEnforcementOfficials
* road maintenance
* utilities normalizing ‘rolling black-outs’
* congress-critters not even trying to hide their corruption.
.
I welcome your rebuttal.