(05-10-2023, 05:44 PM)F2d5thCav Wrote: Apparently, the Russian 72d Mechanized Brigade decided to pull back from Bakhmut ... without orders to do so. 

Wagner chief wasn't impressed.

Cheers

(04-18-2023, 08:00 AM)Bally002 Wrote: I'd like to know how many Russian tanks, APC's, mobile artillery vehicles and the like have been taken out in all.  

Quote:This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When a vehicle is captured and then lost in service with its new owners, it is only added as a loss of the original operator to avoid double listings. When the origin of a piece of equipment can't be established, it's not included in the list. The Soviet flag is used when the equipment in question was produced prior to 1991. This list is constantly updated as additional footage becomes available.

Attack On Europe: Documenting Russian Equipment Losses During The 2022 Russian Invasion Of Ukraine

Quote:    Summary

• UK provides longest-range weapons since the start of invasion
  
• Ukraine has been asking for long-range missile for months
  
• Missiles could enable strikes deep into Crimea
  
• Russia said this would require "response from our military"
  

LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - Britain on Thursday became the first country to start supplying Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles, which will allow Ukrainian forces to hit Russian troops and supply dumps deep behind the front lines.

Ukraine has been asking for months for long-range missiles, but support provided by Britain and other allies such as the United States has previously been limited to shorter range weapons.

Highlighting what he called the deliberate targeting of civilians, Britain's Defence Minister Ben Wallace told parliament: "Russia must recognise that its actions alone have led to such systems being provided."

Wallace said Britain was supplying the Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine so they could be used within its territory, implying he had received assurances from Ukraine that they would not be used to target inside Russia.

The missiles "are now going into, or are in, the country itself", he said.

The Kremlin earlier said that if Britain provided these missiles it would require "an adequate response from our military".

Russia has launched a flurry of long-range missile strikes against Ukraine in recent days. It has previously said such attacks were designed to degrade Kyiv's ability to fight and that it does not deliberately target civilians.

Ukraine is expected to unleash a counteroffensive soon after six months of keeping its forces on the defensive. Russia mounted a huge winter offensive that failed to capture significant territory.

TANKS AND PILOT TRAINING

Storm Shadows, manufactured by European missile maker MBDA, are air-launched long-range missiles, designed for attacks against high value targets such as hardened bunkers and have a range of more than 250 km (155 miles).

Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow in sea power at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said Britain's decision to supply Storm Shadows was significant for Ukrainian forces in two ways.

Kaushal said it would put Russian ammunition depots in range again after Russian troops adapted to the introduction of U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) last year by moving them out of range of about 70 km (45 miles).

Secondly, he said Storm Shadows could be used to target Russian ships in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, which he said was significant because the Russian navy has been involved in launching strikes across Ukraine.

After the United States, Britain has been the second-largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine contributing 2.3 billion pounds ($2.9 billion) worth of support last year.

Although this is well below what the United States has provided, Britain has in the past been the first country to supply more sophisticated weapons to Ukraine.

Britain sent the first shoulder-launched anti-air and anti-tank weapons to Ukraine in the run-up to the invasion and in February announced it would be the first country to begin training Ukrainian pilots on NATO fighter jets.

In January, Britain said it would send 14 of its battle tanks to Ukraine, a pledge that was followed by other nations including the United States and Germany.

Wallace said the British supply of Storm Shadows would be enough to meet Ukraine's current demand.

He also referred to a possible second wave of missile supplies by a British-led group of European countries, which last week asked companies for expressions of interest to supply Ukraine with missiles with a range of up to 300 km (190 miles).

Wallace said one of the main challenges supplying the weapons was finding a way to incorporate a British-French designed weapon onto Russian-designed aircraft used by Ukrainian forces.

To date, the longest-range weapons that the United States has said it would provide is the Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), which has a range of about 150 km.

The U.S. has so far declined to supply Ukraine with the 297-km range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles amid concerns that Ukraine could use them to strike inside Russia's internationally recognised borders.

Britain said it always assessed the risk of provocation or escalation when deciding what to send to Ukraine.

Britain has delivered long-range ‘Storm Shadow’ cruise missiles to Ukraine

Quote:the 51 caliber

(05-13-2023, 03:39 PM)F2d5thCav Wrote: --727Sky

Quote:the 51 caliber

Man, haven't heard that term in a LONG time.

Referred to the 12.7-mm DShK of Soviet design or Chinese copies thereof IIRC.

Cheers

(05-22-2023, 08:25 AM)BIAD Wrote: At the beginning of the video, that was the result of the jet rushing through cold air, right...?
Cheers.

Quote:Unseen Threat: Russia Adds Unusual Defenses To Secretive Navy Base (9 June 2023)


Click to enlarge. Unusually, Russia has deployed defenses to one of its key naval bases in the arctic. This is similar to the protection given to its bases in the Black Sea where Ukrainian maritime drones are a threat.

In a new move, the Russian Navy has started building defenses at a secretive submarine base in the Arctic. The floating barrier is similar to what they have deployed in Crimea to protect against Ukrainian attacks. This is highly unusual.

Many observers would not be surprised to hear that the Russia Navy is increasing the defenses of one of its submarine bases. What’s unusual, unexpected, is that the base is in the Arctic, thousands of miles away from Ukraine.

A new defensive barrier has been positioned across the entrance of Olenya Guba submarine base. Analysis of satellite images, include radar (SAR) imagery,  shows that it has been set up over the past couple of months. This is significant.

Olenya Guba (deer bay) is an important submarine base on the Kola Peninsula. Unlike other bases in the area which house in ballistic missile submarines or attack submarines, Olenya Guba is home to Russia’s spy submarines.


The Effect Of Ukraine’s Maritime Drones

After the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia was slow to increase the defenses in its Black Sea naval bases. Ukraine’s maritime drone attack on Sevastopol in October 2022 changed that.  Now Sevastopol is protected by multiple layers of floating booms and torpedo nets as well as missile, gun and depth charge systems. And other Russian bases and ports along the Crimean coast have received similar defenses. Notably this includes Feodesia which is now being used by ships carrying Kalibr cruise missiles.

If we compare the floating boom in Crimea to those in Olenya Guba it is clear that it is a defense. It is not the type used to contain pollution or some other prosaic explanation. Russia is hardening its key base in the Arctic.

The boom has been set up across the 560 meter (1,840 feet) entrance to the base. It is just beyond the beluga whale pens which are part of the Russian Navy’s marine mammal training program. It was likely a whale from here which appeared in Norway in April 2019.

GUGI: Russia’s Secret Submarine Fleet

Olenya Guba is a closed town, meaning that the average Russian citizen cannot enter, has been a submarine base since the Cold War. Today it is home to the GUGI fleet. GUGI (Glavnoye upravlenie glubokovodnikh issledovanii) is a secretive branch of the navy. It translates as the Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research. “Research” is of course a euphemism for espionage.



The submarines there are specialized in seabed warfare, meaning offensive and defensive operations on the sea floor. For this there are titanium-hulled deep diving nuclear submarines which are unique to the Russian Navy. The most famous of these is Losharik which suffered a fatal fire on July 1 2019. These deep diving submarines are transported to their operating areas by special mother (‘host’) submarines, which are the largest subs in the world. It is also the home of the infamous spy ship Yantar which is suspected of operating over other countries’ underwater internet cables.

Outlook

It is not immediately clear why Russia is increasing base defenses in the Arctic. It is thousands of miles from the Black Sea where Ukrainian maritime drones are a threat. We can speculate that possibly they fear U.S. Navy underwater drones may be operating in the area. Or that Ukraine will travel that far, in the extreme weather of the arctic, to carry out a sabotage mission.

It is the type of move we might expect in war preparations. However, in isolation we should be cautious to read too much into it. But analysts will likely be watching other Russian Navy bases closely. Whatever the reason, it paints a picture of a Russian Navy increasingly concerned for its safety.

Unseen Threat: Russia Adds Unusual Defenses To Secretive Navy Base

Quote:Putin in crisis as Wagner chief Prigozhin declares war on Russian military leadership
Russia’s FSB security service opens criminal case against mercenary boss.

Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin | Pool photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/AFP via Getty Images


By Gabriel Gavin and Tim Ross
June 23, 2023 11:55 pm CET


[*]

• 
  

Vladimir Putin is facing a major military crisis after Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin declared war on Moscow’s own defense ministry, claiming Kremlin officials had killed thousands of his soldiers.
In a statement issued Friday night, the FSB security agency said it had “legally and reasonably begun criminal proceedings” against the Wagner Group warlord “for the organization of armed insurrection.”
The feud between Prigozhin and Russia’s ministry of defense has been building for months but now appears to have boiled over.
According to Russian state media, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin is aware of the rapidly unfolding situation and that “all necessary measures are being taken.”
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“Prigozhin’s statements and actions are actually the calls for the beginning of an armed civil conflict on the territory of Russia and are a ‘stab in the back’ for Russian servicemen,” officials added.
The move comes after Prigozhin accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of having hidden “colossal” failings on the battlefield from Putin, claiming that 2,000 Wagner men were killed as a result of strikes ordered by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
In response to Prigozhin’s allegations, Moscow issued a strong denial and a procession of generals have lined up to urge Wagner fighters to stand down.
In one video appeal, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev, first deputy chief of the general staff of the armed forces, said that Prigozhin does not have the authority to give orders. “This is a state coup,” he insisted, “come to your senses!”
Meanwhile, the Deputy Commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin — known as “General Armageddon” — urged Wagner to hold its positions and not to turn on its own allies. “Stop the columns, return them to the points of permanent deployment,” he pleaded.
Rolling the dice
Earlier Friday, the Wagner Group founder questioned Moscow’s rationale for launching its invasion of Ukraine, saying that “the Armed Forces of Ukraine were not going to attack Russia with NATO,” and that “the war was needed for a bunch of scumbags to triumph and show how strong of an army they are.”
In a bombastic video statement he called the Russian military leadership “evil” and vowed to march for “justice,” threatening anyone who stood in his way.
Speaking to POLITICO, Colonel Philip Ingram, a former British military intelligence officer and ex-NATO planner, said that it was “too early to tell” if a coup was underway. “Clearly Moscow is worried and has activated a defense plan — Prigozhin is trying to push something focused on Shoigu, but it could be many things.”
According to Ian Garner, a Russia expert and author of a new book on the fallout of the war in Ukraine, the Wagner chief has overplayed his hand. “Prigozhin has rolled the dice, and now the state is going to do away with him for good,” he said.
“I suspect Prigozhin’s chances of launching a successful coup are slim. The state can offer everything he does — money, freedom, prestige — without him. Why would the Wagner fighters side with Prigozhin in a battle to the death?” Garner said.
Friday night’s chaos also amounts to a death knell for the Wagner Group, which has been active not just in Ukraine but also in Africa, according to one analyst.
“Whatever this is, it is definitely the dismantling of Wagner,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, a political analyst and founder of the R-Politik consultancy firm, on her Telegram channel.
“This is the end of Prigozhin and the end of Wagner. An important moment: many within the elite will hold it against Putin that things have come this far and that the president did not react sooner. That’s why this entire story is also a blow to Putin.”
Meanwhile, the Kremlin published a pre-recorded video of President Putin in honor of Youth Day.