Read the entire tweet. This is an amazing story. More at Wikipedia herePoon Lim, a courageous Chinese sailor, demonstrated remarkable survival skills during his harrowing experience at sea. He endured an astonishing 133 days alone on a raft, employing various strategies to sustain himself. Resourcefulness became his key to staying alive, as he… pic.twitter.com/fT9zFJLFHY
— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) June 5, 2023
via MCT
The Corps’ interest in a new utility uniform was first made public in 2021, when it signaled interest in garments that would incorporate the durability of the standard uniform with the fire protection of the flame-resistant organizational gear, or FROG, uniform.
The move would create substantial cost savings, Military.com reported at the time. The service currently pays $89 for the regular utility uniform and $184 for the flame-resistant organizational gear.
Same pattern, new materials and they're gonna get rid of the glow under IR.
I think they're trying to prime the public to the idea that the Ukrainians might/probably(?) fail in this upcoming counter offensive. Too many articles that are taking a REAL view of the war and the Ukrainian way of war have appeared over the past weeks for it to be a coincidence. If I'm right we'll hear soon from the SecDef himself (maybe his spokesman) walking back expectations and talking a bit more about the need to stand by Ukrainian.This is a sobering look at deficiencies within the Ukrainian military. Both Russia and Ukraine suffer some glaring weaknesses, but given Ukraine's numerical and material inferiority they can less afford them. A short discussion. 1/n https://t.co/1KaAz7cbR9
— Brynn Tannehill (@BrynnTannehill) June 4, 2023
via 1945.com
Recent evidence indicates the Russian side has made tactical and operational improvements that are having an impact on the ground in Ukraine.
Washington policymakers need to update their understanding of the current trajectory of the war to ensure the U.S. is not caught off guard by battlefield events – and that our interests don’t suffer as a result.
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What many of these analysts failed to recognize, however, is that Russia has vastly more capacity to make war, both in terms of material and personnel, and therefore has the capacity to absorb enormous losses and still remain viable. Further, Russian history is replete with examples of starting out poorly in wars, suffering large casualties, and then recovering to turn the tide. Ukraine, on the other hand, has significantly fewer resources or troops and therefore has less room for error.
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The United States must take these realities into consideration in the coming weeks and months. Washington has already provided Ukraine the lion’s share of all military and financial aide including many of our most sophisticated armor, artillery, rockets, and missiles. Biden has even authorized the release of F-16 jets. The United States cannot – nor should it – commit to sending an equal amount of support for the next year of war, should it continue that long. Europe must be willing to make greater contributions to any future deliveries to Ukraine.
This is a must read article. One thing that stands out to me. If the aircraft carrier as a force projection platform is dead, then does that mean a missile equipped "battleship" with tons of CIWS make a comeback??? What would we want in a 21st century battleship? Tons of long range missiles (both anti-air and land attack). High speed? Is it worth pursuing mini-nuclear reactors to power them and the lasers for close in defense? Does it need conventional guns? Does it need to be stealthy or are we gonna simply try and jam everything? Does it need to be bigger than the Burke? Bigger than the DD-1000? Real interesting. The Navy has alot of work to do if its serious about future combat.
via New Republic
Why bother building more supercarriers? Prestige is part of it. Big carriers have been useful for intimidating foreign nations when they behave badly. But carrier-killers call into question how long we can keep doing that. “Historically, the top leadership of military organizations has not abandoned obsolete prestige weapons until compelled to do so by a calamity,” Stephen Wrage, who teaches political science at the U.S. Naval Academy, says in Gregg Easterbrook’s 2021 book, The Blue Age. Easterbrook draws a comparison with the British Royal Navy’s fixation on its giant battleships on the eve of World War I. Told that the Germans were building newfangled underwater ships called submarines, “rather than adjust to a new reality, some in the British admiralty hoped that gliding below the waves could be declared piracy so that captured submariners could be hanged as common criminals.”
Another argument for aircraft carriers is that there are efficiencies of scale in being able to cram up to 90 aircraft on a single carrier, as you can on the USS Gerald R. Ford. But Hendrix told me that the retirement of various aircraft types after the Cold War brought the number of aircraft aboard a supercarrier down closer to 60, and the new planes have much shorter range at the very moment when carriers have to situate themselves farther from their targets to avoid carrier-killers.
The best argument that defenders of aircraft carriers make is that it’s harder to hit one with a missile than you might think. Ford Class carriers have fighter jets that can intercept missiles. They travel with other ships that are armed to the teeth. What assets they don’t have we can give them. James Stavridis, a retired admiral and former supreme allied commander of NATO, reeled off to me a litany of possible improvements: lasers, cyberweapons, drones, deployment of special forces, and so on. Still, he said, in the meantime, we must “only move them close to China … when we are reasonably certain we can provide protection.” In an April appearance on conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt’s podcast, Stavridis went further, predicting that after the USS Doris Miller, the latest Ford Class carrier to begin construction, the Navy will shift to “another class of aircraft carrier” that’s “smaller, so we can build more of them,” with drones instead of manned aircraft.
Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Anna Malyar:
— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 4, 2023
Plans love silence. There will be no announcement of the beginning. pic.twitter.com/HFRpFEzld3
NSFW - lone russian soldier gets hit by a dropped-grenade from a drone belonging to the 59th motorized brigade.
by u/RetroProxyGroup in UkraineWarVideoReport
via Business Insider.com
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has come at a steep geopolitical price and tens of thousands of people have died, but a new analysis by the Economist suggests the country is actually spending a small amount on the war effort.
The direct fiscal cost of the war — spending on soldiers and machines — is estimated to be about 3% of Russia's GDP, or roughly $67 billion a year, according to the report. That figure comes from a comparison of Moscow's pre-invasion spending forecasts for defense and security with what it actually spent.
By historical standards, the current war pales in comparison. The Soviet Union during World War II, for example, spent about 61% of GDP, and the US at the same time put about 50% of its GDP toward the conflict.
However, 3% is substantially higher than the 0.4% of GDP the Soviet Union spent on its war on Afghanistan.
So what do we have?
* Russia is fighting the war on the cheap.
* EU/US/NATO has basically emptied it war stocks in order to prop up Ukraine in this fight.
* To say that the Russians are engaged in peer conflict against Ukraine/EU/US/NATO and still maintaining is not a good sign of the future.
I missed it although it was in everyone's faces from the start.
The sanctions weren't designed to punish Russia for the invasion. The sanctions WERE designed to put Russia in such a precarious state that they couldn't afford to keep fighting because their economy was in shambles.
The sanctions game is dead. You run the same play enough times then the other side will work around it. In this case even our potential friends chose to do a workaround out of concern that what we did to Russia could be done to them.
Our economic war plan failed.
Despite the reports from the battlefield I believe that we've reached the point of permanent stalemate.
My solution?
Freeze the war. Bring the EU/China/US and Ukraine into a room with Russia and work out a peace plan (left out the UN because that institution is dead and useless).
We've reached a point where the guys on the ground are being ordered to fight for the sake of fighting.
via Reuters
The United Arab Emirates said on Wednesday it was no longer taking part in operations by a U.S.-led task force protecting Gulf shipping, which has been subjected to renewed tanker seizures by Iranian naval forces in recent weeks.
The UAE was responding to a Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday which, citing U.S. and Gulf sources, said the Gulf state was frustrated by the lack of U.S. response to recent tanker seizures by Iran.
I SO SWEAR TO GOD!
The idiots running our defense establishment seem so unable to do a risk reward analysis. They seem unable to anticipate enemy reactions to our activity.
They appear to be in the deep water and can't swim.
Make no mistake about it.
This whole issue revolves around the US seizing an Iranian tanker headed to CHINA!
The Iranians responded by seizing a couple of other tankers and the US was left in a position of not being able to respond for fear of escalating the issue into Tanker Wars Part Deux.
We tried to play hard and got called and backed down.
Now we have this.
Professional Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, or Airmen cannot act as diplomats.
The State Dept must get out of its crouch and get back in the game. Diplomacy is needed in a multi-polar/competitive world.
If all we can offer is a stick then that stick will get whittled down from over use.
We are rapidly reaching that point and we can't fight 75% of the planet that isn't the EU, Japan, Australia, S. Korea and New Zealand (left Singapore out cause they walk a fine line of being an enemy to none but ready to rip eyes out of everyone).
I guess back in 1918 the Marine Corps needed to get back to its naval roots because it found itself in a fight that the nation needed it in. It was a littoral battle. It was far from the sea. It was "acting as a second Army". But the nation needed it, the Marine Corps responded and history was made. It's a pity that so many are trying to tear apart a glorious past.On this day in 1918, U.S. Marines fighting at Belleau Wood refuse to withdraw in the face of a sizeable German counter-attack. When a French officer advises the Americans to pull back, a captain named Lloyd Williams offers a now-famous reply: "Retreat, Hell! we just got here!" pic.twitter.com/g20iwrV4AV
— Military History Now (@MilHistNow) June 2, 2023
via Daily Star
There is no fairy tale end to the war in Ukraine, in which Ukraine defeats Russia on the battlefield and then joins Nato. The war can end with a safe and secure Ukraine, indeed with Ukraine a member of the European Union. But it cannot end with Ukraine in Nato. Russia has fought the war over that issue, and could possibly escalate to a nuclear war to avoid Nato enlargement to Ukraine.
A lie the West tells itself is that the war was "unprovoked." The word "unprovoked" is invoked incessantly, in President Joe Biden's major speech on the first-year anniversary of the war, in Nato statements, and in the media. TheNew York Times editorial pages alone have included at least 26 editorials, opinion columns and op-ed pieces that have described the Russian invasion as "unprovoked."
Yet, the war and Russian invasion were provoked by the issue of Nato enlargement, just as leading US diplomats had warned about for decades.
The war is bad enough but Zelensky and now even the head of NATO are making noises about them joining the organization.
This is how you either escalate what's going on now to unimaginable levels OR you make a 2 year war into a forever war.
So many are cheering this thing on that NO ONE in power is thinking about an off ramp.
Zelensky is the pampered prince right now and from a position of weakness seems to be dictating terms to his benefactors.
I said seems.
I don't know what the plan is but if the idea is ultimately regime change in Moscow then that dog don't hunt.
We're setting ourselves up for worst case scenarios because leadership is not thinking.
RN seeks new high-speed, low-signature Commando Insertion Craft (CIC) replacement for LCVP (@RoyalMarines Landing Craft - Personnel/Vehicle)
— Navy Lookout (@NavyLookout) May 30, 2023
Pictured: @StellerSystems Sabre concept
Via @rich_scott2 @navalnewscom
https://t.co/ergiy9rLnY pic.twitter.com/cggXpjwTRN
I've always wondered why in the cold war we had carrier decks full of aircraft but today they're almost half of the legacy force. Does that mean we need to actually build smaller carriers with the idea that a medium carrier makes more sense than a super carrier? Is the answer to put a half our carriers port side, do proper maintenance and utilize the other half to the fullest extent possible? Whatever the case this tweet makes it clear to me that we're not properly using our carriers.
One Down,Two to Go! Did you know that a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier can accommodate "130" F/A-18s? A typical CVW, however, only carries 64 😗 #avgeeks #aviation #aviationdaily #aviationlovers #USNavy pic.twitter.com/ANpiY3gpiO
— Air Power (@RealAirPower1) June 2, 2023
Additional footage of Ukrainian forces utilizing 40mm HEDP grenades in an adapted 60mm mortar, firing from a trench in the east. https://t.co/zayDuXcekh pic.twitter.com/cs5v6wJeQf
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 1, 2023
When you see local govts fail then the people will take matters into their own hands.Darwin award for attempting an armed robbery without covering your back. pic.twitter.com/vIlRvszj9T
— CCTV IDIOTS (@cctvidiots) June 2, 2023
This tweet and a few others by RKjr are reasons why he will not be allowed to gain traction, much less debate Biden. Its full protect mode with regard to the war in Ukraine. Money is flowing, it can't be tracked, contracts are flying, weapons are being moved. This cluster has to be 100 times more profitable and less dangerous for the Western powers than Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm sure more money has been made in the past 2 years than in the 20 we spent in Afghanistan.Brilliant synopsis of the historical context for the Ukraine War. Can anyone read this and still maintain, as the Biden administration does incessantly, that the invasion was “unprovoked”? #Kennedy24https://t.co/zjCugyzQfq
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) May 24, 2023
