Ardennes posted:

Also, the future, much like the Cold War is going be about posturing and having leverage over your opponent. It is the reason why China will likely continue to emphasize carriers and more naval bases around the Indian ocean. Also as far as the US military goes, the most of enlisted men that saw serious combat (including NCOs) during the 2000s have steadily left and/or retired. There are some more elite forces that have seen continuous action but there are a smaller and smaller portion of the whole.

Some Guy TT posted:

the problem with trying to apply decreased ughyur birthrates to genocidal policy is that with literally any ethnic group except the ughyurs decreased birthrates are seen as a universally good thing for exactly the reasons laid out in the article ideological consistence here would also require you to acknowledge that any attempts to decrease birthrates in africa also amount to genocide which is like a hotep level crazy position that would be laughed out of any mainstream publication

Ferrinus posted:

all i know is they banned a chinese poster with lots of informative posts about his country's history for genocide denial

quote:

In regards to the idea of "Blastoise offers a unique and valuable perspective we can't afford to lose"... Personally, I think the solution to that means making more concerted efforts to reach out to more kinds of people who could offer perspectives similar to Blastoise's. The solution isn't to make efforts to hold onto any one toxic person just because they have knowledge we don't. The forum's still working on how to increase our membership in constructive ways, maybe that's something that needs to be taken into consideration as part of those plans.

mila kunis posted:

anyone have recommendations for long reads or posts or videos on modern drone warfare, i wanna see the takes after the armenia-azerbaijan war

indigi posted:

yeah I wonder what the strategy is to defend against an attack of like 750+ cheapo drones with staggered arrival times each with a shaped charge and a proximity detonator

gradenko_2000 posted:

https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1394665379616673792

Looks like China is still committed to socialism

Truga posted:

i mean, drones have missiles. there's no point in going faster, just use that

Ardennes posted:

Stealth fighters (combat ready ones at least) are designed to get around missile systems, and today's drones are not anywhere near the capacities ready to take on actual fighters. I don't think the US is actual vulnerable, but it is also becoming apparent that many of the offensive capabilities of our military have been stunted. Also, while the US has been screwing around, China and Russia have clearly been coming more competent. (Btw, we could easily still bomb a country like Cuba to smithereens, I am talking about other powers.)

It isn't just the Air force, but the Navy as well has been having its own issues. Also, the US army is also in a weird position since it has been pushed so down the road of counter-insurgency.

I actually don't think it is a situation where more money can help because the issues from planning and corruption not a lack of resources.

stephenthinkpad posted:

I don't know how we got on this UAV topic, but I don't think making drone going one on one with F35 is where the industry is going. I think the current trend is making swrmp of cheap and small drones that can casually destroy ground targets.

In other words, the technology is focusing on short distance land wars, not high level contact between superpowers. But I have no doubt drone will get there soon.

Pener Kropoopkin posted:

Even if an air superiority drone could cost as much as a manned fighter, it's still worth it because you're not putting the pilot at risk. There's a lot of cost sunk into training and paying the officers who fly those loving things, and there's no chance of them being taken prisoner from a drone control center.

I reckon the really big hurdle is input lag.

Ardennes posted:

There is still going to need to be a lot of training though and drone pilots still get PTSD.

I would say the other issue is jamming and also losing the type of edge that comes with being in the situation itself (including literally the adrenaline rush). I think there will be at least an attempt at it but I could also see any drone craft also working with human pilots to try to take advantage of each platform.

A drone could be a useful disrupter craft pulling high g maneuvers to stress out their opponents while the human pilots clean up.

Ardennes posted:

Yeah I don’t think they are on the same path as the Navy and Air Force where procurement is as much an issue but from what I heard is that maintaince is still an issue.

Also, I think the army’s new LAV is very much a vehicle designed for the last war. It is big and bulky enough to automatically be considered a target but not armored enough to eat any serious AT ordnance.

Truga posted:

i mean, sure. but OTOH, india is buying mig-21s for like $25 million each, which are mach 2 interceptors

at some point you have to ask yourself how much of that $32m is grift, lol

Zedhe Khoja posted:

The idea that the Quran is illegal in Xinjiang is such an obvious loving lie I'm amazed it got past this guys handlers. Usually the Atlantic or Wapo coach these people to not come across as flimflammers. You have to wait until they self-publish a book or go on Istiklal or whatever jihadi media outlet for the crazy to ooze come out.

fart simpson posted:

this was a neat new video from chef wang gang showing how large commercial kitchens in china dispose of waste and how it gets processed into wastewater, fertilizer, and industrial oils. i dont know anything about this topic or how it gets handled in any other country but it was cool to see this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEEDMhlsnYQ

Mandoric posted:

Yes, they're being extremely careful to be very specific that these are nuclear-propulsion subs with conventional weapons.

What on earth role those are meant to fill is unclear, other than "Ohios are getting real long in the tooth, let's make the Aussies pay development on the replacement."

E: Have to say, the decision to pronounce your new alliance's name as "Orcus" is the kind of choice more fitting for '00s robot anime than reality. Yet here we are anyway.

CaptainACAB posted:

Also the west wasn't using a scientific (Marxist) analysis of politics whereas the Chinese are. American capitalism has no real ideological rooting and what little is there is complete voodoo compared to the science of Marxism.

my bony fealty posted:

going with the assumption that Raytheon c e o isn't just making poo poo up to get more money (he is), how on earth do you square this with the military budget of USA vs China and how thats allocated if like a hundred times the spending produces five times worse results?

dead gay comedy forums posted:

Chairman Xi: as part of our new national economic program, we have been developing and fabricating state-of-the-art GPUs in secret

nerds: what

Chairman Xi: these new GPUs are equivalent to RTX 3000s with half the cost and much less power usage

nerds: WHAT

Chairman Xi: and they have a specific solution that if you try to run it for bitcoin they shall melt down your computer

nerds: so comrades come rally and the last fight let us face the internationale unites the human race

gradenko_2000 posted:

I remember people would excuse that by saying they were Scout Snipers

Rutibex posted:

Cao Ni Ma posted:

I mean it would be logical to try to start pivoting to that now but its not going to happen because of the idiots in power now. 20 or 30 years from now though, who knows. I dont think millenials or zoomers are going to be giving a gently caress

stephenthinkpad posted:

Question for the military nerds, do US actually sell price competitive arms in the international market?

I assume most of the US arm sales goes like this: The Feds print a lot of extra money; US government gives truck load of "military aid" to a third world country; the ruling elites take a big cut of said aid and turn around and give majority of the aid back to the US MIC to buy overpriced military gears. It's basically a "legal" racket to grease the palms and also keep the MIC/associated senators happy.

So my question is, does US actually sells price competitive weapons to the developing world/global south at all? Why would a poor country like Cambodia actually spend their hard earned foreign reserve to buy US weapon? Unless military aid is involved? That's why India buy most of the weapons from Russia and some from Europe and hardly anything from the US. I think India buys carrier gas turbine engine from GE and also C17 plane which basically have their own monopoly niche.

quote:

Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) announced today that it had merged with the Sukhoi aircraft manufacturer and the MiG aerospace firm.

UAC Board of Directors approved the merger of the three companies on November 30. The issue of reorganizing UAC in the form of joining Sukhoi and MiG to it has been submitted to an extraordinary general meeting of UAC shareholders, scheduled for January 2022. The current management of the Sukhoi and MiG companies was centralized earlier: the functions of the sole executive body of MiG were transferred to Sukhoi, and the functions of the Sukhoi were transferred to UAC.

“The upcoming merger is the most important event for the aviation industry. Preparations have been carried out, details have been worked out in order to start forming a united subject of the Russian aircraft industry - a structure capable of giving a powerful impetus to the development of the Rostec aviation complex and the entire industry. In a single structure, the best corporate governance practices, advanced engineering competencies, and a developed and effective production base should be collected. We are laying the foundation for the future aircraft industry in Russia,” said UAC General Director Yuri Slyusar.

In addition to performing the functions of the Group's corporate center, UAC will become an operating company, will directly manage production sites and design bureaus, implement aviation programs and develop advanced technology. Thus, a start has been made for the transition from a 3-tier to a 2-tier corporate structure of the UAC.

Both merged companies are among the leaders in the global aircraft industry, providing a full cycle of work - from aircraft design and production to after-sales service and aircraft modernization. Sukhoi and MiG already have experience of joint fruitful work in the interests of ensuring the country's security and defense capability.

The Sukhoi company is a successful and profitable manufacturer of world famous Su aircraft, according to the results of 2020 the company received 140 billion rubles in revenue (46% higher than in 2019) and a net profit of 5.6 billion rubles (26% higher than the level of 2019).

RSK MiG is also a historically strong and well-known manufacturer of MiG aircraft; in 2020, the company's revenue amounted to 70 billion rubles, exceeding the level of 2019 by 19%.

Reducing management levels and simplifying the corporate structure of the UAC will eliminate duplicate administrative functions and reduce general business costs. At the same time, it is planned to develop general corporate centers of competence and service, expand cooperation of production sites for a more efficient implementation of aircraft building programs. Along with other measures, this should ensure an increase in the financial stability and investment attractiveness of the UAC as a whole.

Consolidation and centralization of management is also taking place in other areas of the UAC's activities. So, in November, the accession to PJSC "IL" of the Voronezh aircraft plant VASO, the Ulyanovsk enterprise "Aviastar-SP" and the Moscow Region EMZ named after V.I. Myasishchev. The powers of the EIO in relation to PJSC Il itself were transferred to PJSC UAC. UAC also has such powers in relation to PJSC Tupolev, which includes, in addition to the eponymous design bureau in Moscow, the Kazan Aviation Plant named after V.I. S.P. Gorbunov.

dead gay comedy forums posted:

the other part is that media hawkery got people that mistrust it to consider that china is actually doing well, even if these people are in other side of the spectrum against the cpc, besides internet and the "information landscape" being something else entirely than the days of the USSR. There's a lot more disinfo, but there's a lot more distrust either way. still, for some reason, nobody is contesting that china is building a shitload of high speed rail because the material conditions in that regard are undeniable. that's where the cpc wins

StashAugustine posted:

Authoritarianism is when the nation is ruled by MFA grads, a dark fate indeed

CaptainACAB posted:

I still don't know if the CPC is actually hyper competent or if neoliberal capitalism is simply so self destructive that anyone who can avoid sawing off their own dick with a jab saw will win by default.

endocriminologist posted:

Perhaps that is too definitive an opinion for a liberal

quote:

Ukraine's acquisition and subsequent use of the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 has been a cause of significant concern for separatist forces in Eastern Ukraine, and for Russia, which has provided the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) with extensive military support. Although separatist forces in Eastern Ukraine operate significant numbers of anti-aircraft (AA) guns and surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems supplied by Russia, including the 9K33 Osa-AKM (NATO designation: SA-8) and the 9K35 Strela-10 (SA-13), these lack the range to target UCAVs like the Bayraktar TB2 flying overhead at some 5000 metres.

Yet one would be mistaken in thinking the separatists' air defences are solely made up of short-range SAM systems, with a number of Russian electronic warfare (EW) systems like the Krasukha-2 and Repellent-1 deployed to Eastern Ukraine meant to fill in the gaps. [1] However, given the lack of success of even Russia's most modern EW systems in combatting the TB2 over Nagorno-Karabakh while in service with the Armenian Army, there is currently little reason to suggest that these would present a grave danger to the operations of the TB2 over any part of Ukraine. [2]

In the case of a future escalation in Eastern Ukraine, Russia could deploy its own SAM systems to the region. In 2014 Russia already deployed Pantsir-S1s, Tor-M1s and Buk-M1s to Eastern Ukraine to provide an air defence umbrella for separatist forces, which were frequently being targeted by Ukrainian Su-24s and Su-25s. [3] Whilst they managed to shoot down several aircraft, more advanced iterations of these same systems proved little able against drones in Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh. The challenge Russia is facing is thus not only that the air defence and EW systems currently deployed in Eastern Ukraine will likely prove incapable of halting operations of the TB2, but also that its more modern systems could have equal difficulty in combatting UCAVs like the TB2.

Russia for its part maintains two public positions that couldn't be more contradictory. On the one hand, the delivery of Bayraktar TB2s to Ukraine has stirred fury in Moscow, which claims that "the deliveries of such armament [i.e. TB2s] to the Ukrainian military may potentially destabilize the situation at the engagement line". [4] On the other hand Moscow has frequently tried to downplay the success of the TB2, arguing that the system can be countered with the air defence systems currently present in separatist-held areas of Eastern Ukraine. [5]

In an interview with Russian state television, the deputy chief of the Anti-Aircraft Missile Troops of the Russian Aerospace Forces Colonel Yuri Muravkin argued that Bayraktar TB2 drones are in fact easy targets for air defence systems, stating that the "Bayraktar [TB2] has such high-speed and mass-dimensional characteristics that it is not difficult to shoot down a drone even for an average-skilled crew", also claiming that Pantsir-S1s deployed in Syria and Libya managed to shoot down more than 40 Bayraktar TB2 and TAI Ankas (visual evidence only supports the loss of 19 TB2s and Ankas over Libya and Syria). [6]

Colonel Yuri Muravkin would go on to state that the Bayraktar TB2 "is a very light target, very tasty for Pantsir". [7] In an effort to explain the visually confirmed destruction of eleven Pantsir-S1s in Syria and Libya, Muravkin explained that the systems in question were not active, or were otherwise unattended by military personnel. [7] This is demonstrably untrue, and statements like these are likely aimed at pleasing a domestic audience. [8] In reality, Russia has to come up with different solutions to effectively counter UCAVs like the TB2s after witnessing their ability to take on most of the air defence systems Russia can muster, including the Pantsir-S1, Tor-M2 and Buk-M2 (although the destruction of the Buk-M2 by TB2s can't yet be visually confirmed). [9]

Russian surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems successfully destroyed by Bayraktar TB2s (37)

1 2K11 Krug ''SA-4'': (1)
17 9K33 Osa ''SA-8'': (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17, destroyed by TB2 and loitering munition)
3 9K35 Strela-10 ''SA-13'': (1) (2) (3)
2 S-300PS ''SA-10'': (1 and 2, destroyed by TB2 and ground-launched guided munition)
1 Tor-M2KM ''SA-15'': (1, destroyed by TB2 and loitering munition)
2 Pantsir-S1 ''SA-22'': (1) (2)
2 2K12 Kub ''SA-6'': (1) (2)
7 Pantsir-S1 ''SA-22'': (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
1 Pantsir-S1 ''SA-22'': (1)
1 Pantsir-S1 ''SA-22'': (1)

It's been common for Russia to downplay the success of opposing weapons systems and to inflate the successes of its own military equipment. When the United States, France, and the United Kingdom carried out a series of cruise missile strikes in April 2018 in retaliation for the Douma chemical attack, Russia claimed that Syrian air defences managed to intercept 71 of the 103 missiles fired. [10] Nonetheless, it failed to show the wreckage of even one missile despite obviously having the incentive to do so. [10] The U.S. maintained that all of its missiles had successfully hit their intended targets while acknowledging that Syrian air defences fired 40 missiles at them in vain. [11] Interestingly, most of the missiles were fired after the last cruise missiles had struck their targets. [11]

Arguably even less impressive was the performance of Russian electronic warfare systems (EW) on the side of Armenia during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan voiced sharp criticism about an EW system that had just been acquired from Russia – believed to have been the Repellent-1 – stating that "it simply did not work". [12] While such instances might be countered with claims that the systems used were of an older version or that their crews were improperly trained (mirroring other Russian statements to explain losses of its air defence systems in service with other countries), the EW systems used by Armenia are in fact currently the most modern systems on offer by Russia.

Jammer and deception systems known to have been employed against the Bayraktar TB2 without success

R-330P Piramida-I (Used by the Armenian Armed Forces in Nagorno-Karabakh)
Avtobaza-M (Used by the Armenian Armed Forces in Nagorno-Karabakh)
Repellent-1 (Used by the Armenian Armed Forces in Nagorno-Karabakh)
Borisoglebsk-2 (Used by the Armenian Armed Forces in Nagorno-Karabakh)
Groza-S (Used by Wagner PMC in Libya)
Groza-6 (Used by the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces' in Libya)

Both Russia and analysts unaccustomed to the reality of modern conflicts make frequent attempts to downplay the success and potential of the Bayraktar TB2 in the face of even the most modern air defence and EW systems. Yet the threat posed by such systems is very real: operations over Syria, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh have casted serious doubt on the ability of modern air defence systems to counter or even significantly hinder operations of UCAVs. It's not unlikely the same scenario could play out over Eastern Ukraine, and only the massive influx of air defence systems or even fighter aircraft would do much to upset the significant shift in capabilities that is occurring. Hopefully however, cooler heads will prevail and prevent a Russo-Ukrainian War from ever reaching such a point.

Ardennes posted:

Yeah, if you read between the lines, most of their confirmed kills were against older Soviet equipment in Karabakh and there is a lot less evidence they were knocking out more modern systems. A lot of it came down to poor coordination and a lack of a integrated defense system in Karabakh which allowed suicide drones to take out AA systems one by one.

It is a medium drone not a stealth bomber.

Goast posted:

hey pyf guys every single post you see demonizing china are the same assholes that convinced you the iraq war was a good idea just doing the same thing, again, almost two decades later

you loving rubes

brugroffil posted:

I didn't think I'd see worse than the dnd or gbs thread, but then I was made aware of the pyf thread

Tankbuster posted:

What movie is this?