rdrr
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I guess I don't understand how the shells really work, but I would probably need a change of underwear if they gave me the job to angle grind a shell containing 88 bomblets.
Russia-Ukraine
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I guess I don't understand how the shells really work, but I would probably need a change of underwear if they gave me the job to angle grind a shell containing 88 bomblets.
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Yeah, I liked the beginning where they were deciding (as if they weren’t really sure) where to make the cut.
They’d actually asked us to deliver them the rocket cluster munitions (M26) specifically for that purpose, cutting them open and dropping the submunitions by drone as a way around our discomfort with supplying cluster munitions directly. But we said no (this was before we finally sent them 155 cluster munitions). Of course a lot of M26s, beyond being destroyed, are going to be repurposed for GLSDB but unclear what we’re doing with the submunitions from the converted M26 … hopefully we will send them to Ukraine for drones but
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This is a good story with photos about the recent drone attacks in Russia.
www.thedrive.com
Moment Of Drone Strike That Destroyed Russian Il-76s Seen In Infrared Image
New satellite imagery shows two Il-76s were totally destroyed and two others damaged in the drone attack on Kresty Air Base.
www.thedrive.com
Unfortunately it’s on Twitter but this is amusing:
The Ukrainians called the Russian emergency hotline to get them to describe the after action damage from the drone strikes, ending it with “only one aircraft on fire? thanks for helping to correct our fire, we’ll get the others next time, Slava Ukraina!” Russians on the other end “uhhhh”. Reminds me of when Christo Grozev cold called one of the GRU agents with the thinnest of pretexts and got him to admit to the poisoning of Nalvany with Nalvany sitting next to him guffawing and Grozev head in hands “I can’t believe that worked” expression - actually more like “I’m professionally insulted by these idiots”.
The Ukrainians called the Russian emergency hotline to get them to describe the after action damage from the drone strikes, ending it with “only one aircraft on fire? thanks for helping to correct our fire, we’ll get the others next time, Slava Ukraina!” Russians on the other end “uhhhh”. Reminds me of when Christo Grozev cold called one of the GRU agents with the thinnest of pretexts and got him to admit to the poisoning of Nalvany with Nalvany sitting next to him guffawing and Grozev head in hands “I can’t believe that worked” expression - actually more like “I’m professionally insulted by these idiots”.
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Yoused
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Albanian PM tells a joke involving Russia's many time zones and the death of Prigozhin.
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Car tires for protection. Just sad.
www.thedrive.com
Russia Is Using Tires To Protect Its Bombers From Aerial Attack
Arranging surplus tires atop Russian bombers is likely a highly makeshift countermeasure used to thwart Ukrainian long-range missile strikes.
www.thedrive.com
Car tires for protection. Just sad.
Russia Is Using Tires To Protect Its Bombers From Aerial Attack
Arranging surplus tires atop Russian bombers is likely a highly makeshift countermeasure used to thwart Ukrainian long-range missile strikes.
In other words, dressing them up as bait?
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I doubt the US (or Ukraine via shared US intelligence) would be fooled.
Still... it could make sense expending a drone-dropped cluster submunition to take out the aircraft.
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Yeah the only other thing I could think of is a double bluff, most are dressed up but occasionally one is the real thing, but then getting that one flying and then putting the tires back on hardly seems worth it. Or maybe there’s not enough hard cover for the non-airworthy frames, these care huge planes, so this is the best they can do? I dunno hard to figure out the logic here.
I mean someone pointed out that cope cages make a lot more sense now than when the Russians first brought them out - the increased prevalence of drone dropped munitions vs trying to do anything against top attack munitions. But I’m not sure this helps against anything that can reach them since they tend to be suicide drones that have the range to reach these strategic bombers.
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As ridiculous as it sounds... I'm noodling the *possibility* that perhaps tires *might/could* be a reasonable defense against the type of shaped charge submunition (repurposed from US 155mm cluster munition artillery rounds) dropped from drones.
Sure I could buy that but aren’t the type of drones that hit them suicide drones? From what I’ve seen, munition dropping drones tend to be shorter range. The only thing that could hit the strategic bombers, airworthy frames or not, in their bases are long range missiles and/or (suicide) drones. There was some discussion about it confusing the targeting system of Ukraine’s repurposed Neptune missiles but that was dismissed as well.
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I think you're right. I apparently was confusing/commingling multiple stories - drones with submunitions, suicide drones, and missile attacks.
Elon Musk unilaterally stopped an important Ukrainian attack on Crimea:
Two options why, neither of them good:
Two options why, neither of them good:
Re: the Musk story:
I believe that is not an accurate characterization. (see today’s NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/08/world/europe/elon-musk-starlink-ukraine.html )
The Krim area had never been activated by Starlink, so Musk did not shut anything down.
What did happen, is that he refused an urgent Ukrainian request to activate Starlink over the Krim peninsula just before the planned attack, arguing that would have made him an “active participant” in the war.
Needless to say, that is obviously exactly what he should have done.
I believe that is not an accurate characterization. (see today’s NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/08/world/europe/elon-musk-starlink-ukraine.html )
The Krim area had never been activated by Starlink, so Musk did not shut anything down.
What did happen, is that he refused an urgent Ukrainian request to activate Starlink over the Krim peninsula just before the planned attack, arguing that would have made him an “active participant” in the war.
Needless to say, that is obviously exactly what he should have done.
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