The War in the Ukraine

France handed over to Ukraine two batteries of the Crotale air defense system, it is worth noting that it is not known which versions of the air defense system were transferred. The French air defense system "Crotal" was developed in the late sixties by order of South Africa, after which the French army became interested in it. In the late eighties and in 2010 the complex was modernized, it was called "Crotale NG". SAM "Krotal" were actively exported and installed on different chassis. The French Ministry of Defense planned to abandon the Crotale NG complexes, the decommissioning of the last air defense systems was scheduled for 2025. The United States also tested the complex, but in the end did not accept it into service. The air defense system has a target tracking radar antenna and an optical-electronic station. A foldable survey radar antenna is installed on top. One complex can simultaneously fire at one target with a capacity of up to 4 launches per minute. The firing range of the latest versions of air defense systems is 500-10000 meters, the height of target destruction is up to 6000 meters.


Russian military personnel are actively using guns in Ukraine against STUPOR drones. In the video, using this complex, a commercial drone of the Ukrainian army DJI Mavic 3 was planted. At the moment, 3 drones of the DJI Mavic 3 type were planted using the PARS "STUPOR" anti-drone complex.


Strike installations UR-83P and UR-77 in Ukraine. The UR-83P is an analogue of the UR-77 demining machine, but it is delivered to the place of use by truck and assembled on site. Installation assembly time 1.5 hours. After the installations and incendiary shells hit, at the end of the video, the Russian unit began to attack the village of Berestovoye.


Russian servicemen, under the cover of a tank, evacuated the wounded directly from the front line. The crew of the tank with the callsign "Vesitologist" approached the positions of the Ukrainian army almost point-blank, the distance was about 100 meters. The fire of the tankers was corrected from the drone. Also, at the risk, the coordination of the work of the crew was carried out by one soldier directly from the armor of the tank.


One of the Ukrainian soldiers, possibly a mercenary from Georgia, filmed an American armored car International MaxxPro of the Ukrainian army from the inside. MaxxPro armored personnel carrier manufactured by Navistar International, adopted by the United States in 2007. At that time, American troops in Iraq were urgently re-equipping with these vehicles, since the Humvee armored vehicles had poor mine protection. The MaxxPro armored vehicle can withstand an explosion of a mine in TNT equivalent up to 7 kg. In the US, you can buy a new MaxxPro for $550,000.

Soldier30 said:

Strike installations UR-83P and UR-77 in Ukraine. The UR-83P is an analogue of the UR-77 demining machine, but it is delivered to the place of use by truck and assembled on site. Installation assembly time 1.5 hours. After the installations and incendiary shells hit, at the end of the video, the Russian unit began to attack the village of Berestovoye.

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Impressive that they can assemble that in 1.5 hours near the front lines without getting erased by artillery ! A lot less practical than the tracked version.

It's probably scary to be in the viccinity of that much explosives directly in the open, would be interesting to know the sensibility of the explosive to sniper... an .50 explosive bullet could transform that into nightmare.

gelgoog said:

When they sent the Varyag to the Mediterranean and wanted to sail with it to the Black Sea I was kind of expecting another major mishap. It is about as not upgraded as the Moskva. But the Turks did not allow it to go in and it since returned to its base in the Pacific.

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I want to add something to this. Here's the group a few days ago near Japan on their way back to base, note the Z painted on Varyag and V on Admiral Tributs:

The support ships did make port during the big deployment, but both Varyag and Admiral Tributs did not make port for something like 10 month while in the Adriatic. The fact that these two can stay at sea for that long (managed to outstay Truman CSG and one other CSG) and still travel half way around the globe back to Vladivostok without any major issue says to me that the Pacific Fleet's readiness is pretty good, that one door on the Varyag kept close by a rope notwithstanding.

Temstar said:

The fact that these two can stay at sea for that long (managed to outstay Truman CSG and one other CSG) and still travel half way around the globe back to Vladivostok without any major issue says to me that the Pacific Fleet's readiness is pretty good, that one door on the Varyag kept close by a rope notwithstanding.

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this peace time reliability which may not be the same when all systems are turned on in active conflict. even if Moskova is reliable there is simply no data how much effort crew spend on it to make it happen. so far there is no evidence that Moskova has any role in continuous missile launches. meaning load and reload several times every week. the smaller ships Buyan ships can do it and they are improving this load factor.

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Editor-in-Chief of the Independent Military Review Dmitry Litovkin said the salvo confirmed that the carriers of Kalibr missiles can simultaneously launch the whole round of munitions and remain in proper order.

“It is an important technical solution, which had to be tested. Can a warship launch 16 missiles? A submarine goes down 50 meters during such a salvo. There was such a possibility and it was tested,” he said.

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- Project 636.3 submarines can be upgraded to carry more Kalibr cruise missiles?

- We have at least six versions that we offer for modernization. And the one that offers an increase in armament power is also being considered by us.

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It is interesting that yesterday two groups of Russian An-124 fleet landed in China to deliver cargo. Three landed at Zhengzhou airport, and officials claim that these planes will transport cross-border e-commerce products and clothing. Link to . Note that this is most likely partially true, as Iranian-made Coke also reached Russian supermarkets shortly after the Russian transport planes flew to Iran. But I don't understand what cargo needs to be transported by plane when China and Russia are so close geographically.

Another group of AN124 transport aircraft from the 224th Military Transport Aviation Unit of the Russian Air Force arrived in Shanghai, with no official report on the number or cargo content. Chinese military commentators claim that they will transport building materials back to Russia. Chinese military commentators .

据悉，3架AN-124全货机降落后，郑州机场工作人员将数百吨跨境电商及服装货品等装入货舱，这些物品从郑州机场起飞后，直飞莫斯科，很快就将送到俄罗斯民众家。

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E commerce goods and clothing, using three An-124? That's almost what we would call 此地无银三百两.
I'm guessing chips and/or moped engines.

Temstar said:

E commerce goods and clothing, using three An-124? That's almost what we would call 此地无银三百两.
I'm guessing chips and/or moped engines.

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I am sure that these chips or engines are going to have their Russian origin labels put on as part of the service.

What in the world:

What changed Washington’s mind? In part, it was an urgent and confidential back-channel initiative involving former European leaders and senior officials, and ultimately endorsed by the Chinese. Ever since Putin’s 27 February declaration on nuclear readiness, the PLA had also been reaching out through military-to-military (as opposed to diplomatic or political) channels to senior Russian general officers with whom they had made personal contact over years of joint military exercises and military procurement talks. Beijing’s aim was to ensure that even if there were a political decision to use nukes, the Russian army would insist on sticking to its long-standing nuclear military doctrine to use them solely if provoked by attacks on Russian soil. Through these unofficial ‘track two’ contacts, Washington and the PLA agreed – unusually, given a deterioration in relations during the Donald Trump presidency – that if the US stopped the MiG deal, Beijing’s generals would do their best to defuse Putin’s nuclear threat on an operational level. ‘It worked,’ said the Chinese source. ‘The [US] decided that supplying aircraft was a step too far.’

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What do you all make of this?

Can China stop Russia using nukes if they feel determined to?

Is mig29 a cause for Russian nukes flying? Seems to me Russia will retaliate on the airfield taking off conventionally first. If that triggers article 5 and entire NATO go in then they kinda asked to be nuked.