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The Russia/Ukraine War Thread


Sharpshooter

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1 hour ago, Sharpshooter said:


Thank you. 

 

A-10’s are not ideal in this campaign. 
 

Warthogs require air superiority cover, for one due to their vulnerability. Also, it’s not an aircraft that one can just ‘plug and play’. They’re a volatile to control aircraft and requires a lot of training. 
 

While the brrrr, is awesome and would help a lot, it’s not something that can just be thrown into an unknown combat environment. 
 

It would certainly be an awesome platform to deal with armour and enemy personnel. 
 

However, it also needs a specialized crew to keep it flying. This is why the US isn’t relying on it anymore. 

Seem like much cheaper drones are replacing it. 

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3 hours ago, MattJVD said:

Re: all the A-10 talk. The A-10 can not operate in enemy air defenses. It is a slow, low-altitude attack air-craft. They are extremely vulnerable and are only used after an agrresive SEAD/DEAD air campaign (Desert storm) or when the enemy has 0 air defense (GWOT). They would be beyond useless to the Ukrainians. It would just mean dead pilots and money used up out of the arms transfer budget that could have been used on something actually valuable. 

 

I tend to disagree on that. If they are used in the proper situations they can be very effective. The usage and when and where is vital to their effectiveness.

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2 hours ago, Sharpshooter said:


Thank you. 

 

A-10’s are not ideal in this campaign. 
 

Warthogs require air superiority cover, for one due to their vulnerability. Also, it’s not an aircraft that one can just ‘plug and play’. They’re a volatile to control aircraft and requires a lot of training. 
 

While the brrrr, is awesome and would help a lot, it’s not something that can just be thrown into an unknown combat environment. 
 

It would certainly be an awesome platform to deal with armour and enemy personnel. 
 

However, it also needs a specialized crew to keep it flying. This is why the US isn’t relying on it anymore. 

 

3 hours ago, MattJVD said:

Re: all the A-10 talk. The A-10 can not operate in enemy air defenses. It is a slow, low-altitude attack air-craft. They are extremely vulnerable and are only used after an agrresive SEAD/DEAD air campaign (Desert storm) or when the enemy has 0 air defense (GWOT). They would be beyond useless to the Ukrainians. It would just mean dead pilots and money used up out of the arms transfer budget that could have been used on something actually valuable. 

 


the “ air superiority “ is not that active on the front lines for RuZ.

They may seem to have “superiority “, but what does UKR have of an Air Force ?..

isn’t that why they ask for more?

 

RuZ is not in a “superior” position really.

 

Putin has pulled his Air Force deeper back into RuZ after all of the exceptional drone work where The RuZ Air Force was getting targeted as sitting ducks.

 

His Air Force is / seems to be relegated to bombing runs, or missile launches from or over the Black Sea , and or inside RuZ borders.

 

They are not active over front lines because  patriot and other “defence “ systems that the UKR are protecting that zone from working. 
 

Having realized that and that RuZ counter measures are not there,  I think that A10’s 

could be covered very adequately .

 

Just my thoughts.

 

 

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21 minutes ago, SilentSam said:

 


the “ air superiority “ is not that active on the front lines for RuZ.

They may seem to have “superiority “, but what does UKR have of an Air Force ?..

isn’t that why they ask for more?

 

RuZ is not in a “superior” position really.

 

Putin has pulled his Air Force deeper back into RuZ after all of the exceptional drone work where The RuZ Air Force was getting targeted as sitting ducks.

 

His Air Force is / seems to be relegated to bombing runs, or missile launches from or over the Black Sea , and or inside RuZ borders.

 

They are not active over front lines because  patriot and other “defence “ systems that the UKR are protecting that zone from working. 
 

Having realized that and that RuZ counter measures are not there,  I think that A10’s 

could be covered very adequately .

 

Just my thoughts.

 

 

Neither the Russians nor the Ukrainians have air superiority, the skies are still contested. Which is remarkable and a testament to the skill and determination of the Ukrainian defenders; they have a large technical and numerical deficit (though the technical deficit has been reduced in thr GBAD department). 

 

The A-10 is very difficult to use when you do not have air superiority yourself, it's a close range attacker. I am 100% supportive of giving Ukraine air assets, but when we live in a world where the US has a limit in the $ value of the things they send imposed by congress, they need to be selective. 8 more F16s with stand-off weapons (HARMs, AIM 120s, etc) would be much better than twice that number of A-10s.

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41 minutes ago, SilentSam said:

 


the “ air superiority “ is not that active on the front lines for RuZ.

They may seem to have “superiority “, but what does UKR have of an Air Force ?..

isn’t that why they ask for more?

 

RuZ is not in a “superior” position really.

 

Putin has pulled his Air Force deeper back into RuZ after all of the exceptional drone work where The RuZ Air Force was getting targeted as sitting ducks.

 

His Air Force is / seems to be relegated to bombing runs, or missile launches from or over the Black Sea , and or inside RuZ borders.

 

They are not active over front lines because  patriot and other “defence “ systems that the UKR are protecting that zone from working. 
 

Having realized that and that RuZ counter measures are not there,  I think that A10’s 

could be covered very adequately .

 

Just my thoughts.

 

 


If there’s a chance that the A-10s can be shot down without long range air cover, and with superior Russian aircraft able to do just that, it’s not worth it donating warthogs. 
 

The A-10s are primarily a tank and infantry buster. 
 

Without proper AWACS and superior F-16 support, they’re sitting ducks from ground to air missiles, which Russia has…from long range air to air missiles, which Russia has. 
 

This is not the kind of donation that makes sense on a contested battleground with a limited ‘air’ budget. 
 

Just pointing out a couple realities. 

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Just a little point I would like to make..............

 

Over the past year or 2, I have mentioned many times, that Russia should be ablaze in the summer, when temps are high. Lone wolfs could do enough damage.....

 

My observation is, that every time a business is set ablaze, people on here get all giddy, yet, I feel somewhat ignored on my approach.........

 

Now, I absolutely understand that implications, but in war, when protecting your own homeland, all tactics, short of nukes should be used....

 

So, with that being said.............

 

It is my opinion that lone wolfs could be used to take out Russian infrastructure........power plants, control stations, train stations, airports......using fire, it works wonderfully!

Minimum resources required!

 

IMO, Russia is not protected from within, and with the cold snaps, this is the time... 

 

Yes, I am extreme......but look at the West's slow passive response has let this war continue..................take it home...........freeze the whole country, invite Putin to attack other countries.......IMO, no nukes will fly!

 

And on that note...the longer we let Putin fight this war, the more maintenance Putin can do on those Nukes..............think about that...........if Putin ever had doubt, it is now, but the further we go into this, the more confidence in the Nukes will be had......

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1 hour ago, JIAHN said:

Just a little point I would like to make..............

 

Over the past year or 2, I have mentioned many times, that Russia should be ablaze in the summer, when temps are high. Lone wolfs could do enough damage.....

 

My observation is, that every time a business is set ablaze, people on here get all giddy, yet, I feel somewhat ignored on my approach.........

 

Now, I absolutely understand that implications, but in war, when protecting your own homeland, all tactics, short of nukes should be used....

 

So, with that being said.............

 

It is my opinion that lone wolfs could be used to take out Russian infrastructure........power plants, control stations, train stations, airports......using fire, it works wonderfully!

Minimum resources required!

 

IMO, Russia is not protected from within, and with the cold snaps, this is the time... 

 

Yes, I am extreme......but look at the West's slow passive response has let this war continue..................take it home...........freeze the whole country, invite Putin to attack other countries.......IMO, no nukes will fly!

 

And on that note...the longer we let Putin fight this war, the more maintenance Putin can do on those Nukes..............think about that...........if Putin ever had doubt, it is now, but the further we go into this, the more confidence in the Nukes will be had......

You're not extreme.  Carpet bombing Moscow is better than those orcs deserve.

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This is a huge hit !!!

 

Com plane !!

 

lots of reports dropping.

 

this had the ability to “course correct” missiles .

 


 

The shot down A-50 aircraft would become a significant loss for Russia. Previously, an aircraft of this type was damaged by a drone at Belarus Machulishchi air base.

The long-range radar detection aircraft acts as a corrector during massive attacks on Ukraine.  Russia also uses them to detect Ukrainian air defense systems.  According to the monitoring group "Belaruski Gayun", at the start of the full-scale invasion, there were 9 such aircraft in Russia.

Each of them costs about $330 million.

 

 

 

Perhaps got 2 !!! ??

 

one on an airfield by partisans,  the other over the sea !!?

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To add to the A 50 com plane taken down:

 

the A-50 and what is it?
the A-50 is a airborne flying radar and command aircraft...

there are only 15 of them, and many dont fly due to it being a hard aircraft to keep working...

and remember that the A-50 has to cover the NSE and W of russia.... and syria.  so if they have just 2 in the far east, 2 in the north, 2 in the baltic, and 2 near ukraine... thats probably the entire fleet, and if 30% are down due to normal issues thats far less working. 

it is based on the IL-76 candid (soviet era transport) and like the US E-3 sentry has a large radar on top that spins...

russian aircraft have always been directed by other aircraft more than the west. it allows them to not have to use the fighters radar till needed.  in other words the pilots are not great at finding targets by themselves.

IF the aircraft was shot down this could be a big thing.  this means that the aircraft was probably operating too close to the front, and had it radar turned to max.  this would allow the UKRAF to target it.

i have a feeling that it was covering for the loss of ground based radars that have been getting hit or are down due to weather.  without radars the UKRAF can work the front without too much fear and ground units will not know when they are about to be hit.... in other words this is a sign that russia may be running out of long range ground radars, and was using the A-50 to fill gaps... 

again we need to wait and see if this happened..

 

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13 hours ago, SilentSam said:

If the get behind enemy lines,   RuZ could potentially drop missiles on them selves..

 

sensing a special op / drop coming up..

 

perhaps a combination of Drone and AI /

unmanned.

 

If we can drop an explosive on a meteor, anything is possible 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13 hours ago, SilentSam said:

To add to an earlier post about “pinging” 

RuZ missiles.

 

 

 

Not really a surprise the power grid & similar infrastructure is not under as much pressure this year. 

 

Thats a win?

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12 hours ago, MattJVD said:

we live in a world where the US has a limit in the $ value of the things they send imposed by congress, they need to be selective. 8 more F16s with stand-off weapons (HARMs, AIM 120s, etc) would be much better than twice that number of A-10s.

This is very true Matt. I would prefer more F16's be sent as well but adding a few A 10's to compliment them would not involve much extra cost as many of them were likely going to be retired to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB just out of Tucson AZ. The main cost would be the training of pilots, supplies and ground crews to maintain them.

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1 hour ago, Kootenay Gold said:

This is very true Matt. I would prefer more F16's be sent as well but adding a few A 10's to compliment them would not involve much extra cost as many of them were likely going to be retired to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB just out of Tucson AZ. The main cost would be the training of pilots, supplies and ground crews to maintain them.

The Air Force's ask to congress on fighter retirements (it was denied, but this is still their plann): 125 F16, 57 F15, 42 A-10.

 

Source: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/lawmakers-air-force-plans-retire-aging-fighters/

 

Could get F16s at the retirement price too.

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21 minutes ago, MattJVD said:

The Air Force's ask to congress on fighter retirements (it was denied, but this is still their plann): 125 F16, 57 F15, 42 A-10.

 

Source: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/lawmakers-air-force-plans-retire-aging-fighters/

 

Could get F16s at the retirement price too.

The original versions of the F 15 are being retired but they are still planning on using the F 15EX Strike Eagle well into the future. The air force is also experimenting on upgrades to the A10 so it can also deliver guided bombs from a distance of 50 to 60 miles away as well as provide close air support when required.

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26 minutes ago, MattJVD said:

The Air Force's ask to congress on fighter retirements (it was denied, but this is still their plann): 125 F16, 57 F15, 42 A-10.

 

Source: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/lawmakers-air-force-plans-retire-aging-fighters/

 

Could get F16s at the retirement price too.

As an aside, in terms of the largest air forces in the world (military), the individual US branches by themselves take up 4 of the top ten ranks:

 

  1. United States Air Force - 5,217
  2. United States Army Aviation - 4,409
  3. Russian Air Force - 3,863
  4. United States Navy - 2,464
  5. People's Liberation Army Air Force (China) - 1,991
  6. Indian Air Force - 1,715
  7. United States Marine Corps - 1,157
  8. Egyptian Air Force - 1,062
  9. Korean People's Army Air Force (North Korea) - 946
  10. South Korean Air Force - 898

Source:  https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/largest-air-forces-in-the-world

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