JBD.

This is coolbert:

Continued problems the American aircraft carrier USS Ford!

From the Internet web site "Strategy Page" as extracted and thanks to same. 

"Naval Air: CVN Ford Develops Another Problem"

Problem fixed as touted but not fixed as touted.   

"March 20, 2023: At the end of 2022 the first of the new American Ford class CVN (nuclear-powered aircraft carrier) finally left for its long delayed operational stress test cruise. This means two months at sea, operating as a fully functional aircraft carrier. Unfortunately this cruise revealed more equipment flaws, the main ones being continued problems with EMALS (the catapults) and arrestor gear. That was not expected as the recent repairs to four JBD (Jet Blast Deflectors) mounted on the flight deck were monitored and found to have worked. The JDBs are relatively ancient tech, first introduced in the 1950s as more powerful jet aircraft became standard on aircraft carriers and deck crews needed protection from the dangerous blast of heat coming out of jet engines as the aircraft prepared to take off."

"In August 2022 the Ford JBDs were found to have defective components that corroded and caused JBDs to fail."

As is mentioned in the article the JBD is "relatively ancient tech" [variations of the system have been in service for a period of at least SIX decades] previous incarnations of JBD their performance not questioned [?] until now?

Strange! Very strange!

coolbert.

Super-Duper.

This is coolbert:

From the Internet web site "South Front" article written by Drago Bosnic | 30.03.2023.

"‘SUPER-DUPER’ MISSILE IN DEATH THROES, SHATTERING US HYPERSONIC AMBITIONS"

"After over half a decade of testing, AGM-183A was barely able to achieve Mach 5 before being incinerated by the extreme heat. After at least half a dozen (publicly admitted) consecutive failures in testing, the US Congress threatened to cut further funding for the project."

"Back in May 2020, then-US President Donald Trump stated that the United States was working on a 'super-duper missile capable of flying 17 times faster than any other missile existing at the moment', adding that any further details were classified. However, Trump’s rather limited grasp of military technologies, combined with an attempt to appease his potential voters, resulted in an 'unfortunate' choice of words. And while he never revealed the exact missile he was talking about, most military analysts were quick to identify what weapon the former US president had in mind. It was the AGM-183A, an air-launched missile carrying a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV). Dubbed the ARRW (Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon), the missile was supposed to be the US entry point into the highly exclusive 'hypersonic club'."

ARRW PROJECT NOW KAPUT! AMERICAN ANSWER TO RUSSIAN AND CHINESE HYPERSONIC MISSILES NOW AT A DEAD END? MONEY AS SPENT FOR DEVELOPMENT NOT PRODUCING SATISFACTORY RESULTS.

Read further the entire episode and the decision to scrap for good ARRW.

coolbert.

Tethered.

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"In artificial intelligence (AI), collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) are robotic loyal wingmen [unmanned warplanes] . . . The uncrewed CCAs represent a class of aircraft which are meant to collaborate with the crewed Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) aircraft."

From Air & Space Forces Magazine ^ | 27 Mar 2023 | John A. Tirpak

"Part-Time Wingmen: Collaborative Combat Aircraft* (CCA) Won’t Always Be ‘Tethered’ to Crewed Platforms"

"Collaborative Combat Aircraft will be able to carry out missions without direction from crewed aircraft and may not always fly as their 'wingmen,' in order to maximize employment flexibility, Air Force leaders developing and testing the new platforms said March 27."

[....]

"Asked whether CCAs will be 'tethered' to crewed platforms or carry out their own missions without such pairings, Maj. Gen. R. Scott Jobe, Air Combat Command’s director of plans, programs. and requirements, replied 'Yes.'"

"In many cases, he said, 'we will tether, in terms of range and speed and payloads and capabilities. And in other areas, we will untether in terms of geographic location [and] mission generation' to complicate an enemy’s targeting scheme."

TETHERED YES BUT NOT ENTIRELY 100 % SO DEPENDING ON THE CIRCUMSTANCES.

See all prior blog entries the loyal wingman combat aviation concept:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2020/12/taxi.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2020/12/hunter-b.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2020/08/x-ex.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2020/03/valkyrie.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2019/07/lanca.html

coolbert.

Skywalker II.

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Skywalker speaks, the Ukraine Conflict.

"Ukraine War: Star Wars star lends voice to air raid app"

From BBC News by George Wright

"When there is a threat of incoming Russian missiles in Ukraine, a familiar voice is heard by millions, warning them to take cover."

"Mark Hamill, the actor who played Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, recently lent his voice to the Air Alert app, linked to Ukraine's air defense system."

"'Attention. Air raid alert. Proceed to the nearest shelter,' he says."

"'Don't be careless,' Mr Hamill's voice continues. 'Your overconfidence is your weakness.'"

"It signs off by saying: 'The alert is over. May the Force be with you.'"

"The app kicks in when air raid sirens start blaring across the country."

See item # 8. from a prior blog entry:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2023/03/shame.html

"Recognized intellectuals and artists support our cause."

Listen to Skywalker. Not heeding his admonition can be hazardous to your health!

coolbert.

Geriatric.

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"достаточно хорошо сейчас, чем лучше позже"

"Russia Pulling Ancient T-54 and T-55 Tanks from Storage as War Drags On"

"Ancient T-54 and T-55 tanks have been removed from storage and may soon be joining the slightly less ancient T-62s that Russia has already dusted off for use in Ukraine."

[....]

"According to the Georgia-based Conflict Intelligence Team, the footage comes from the Russian Far East, near the 1295th Central Tanks and Repair Storage Base is in Arsenyev, meaning that, like recently reactivated T-62s, the venerable armor has likely — if not certainly — been refurbished for deployment to Ukraine."

[....]

"There has been some acknowledgement, however, that it is unlikely that Russia would use the geriatric armor for tank-on-tank combat with modern vehicles — such engagements being relatively rare in Ukraine, in any case — but rather as makeshift mobile artillery, as appears to have been the case with T-62s."

"In this context, their reactivation [as makeshift artillery] would arguably be a fairly sensible way to tap stores of old ammunition [presumably this would be 100 mm high explosive HE] which would otherwise go to waste in what has proved to be a shell-hungry war."

YES, BUT DOES THE T-55 HAVE A FIELD TELEPHONE THAT CAN BE CONNECTED TO A SWITCHBOARD?

See previous blog entries, tanks used as artillery in the direct and indirect mode of fire:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2023/02/tusk.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2023/02/wear.html

coolbert.

RED ZONE.

This is coolbert:

In keeping with the topic of a prior blog entry see this You Tube video:

As is some areas of northern France today so will be portions of Ukraine tomorrow.?

"The Forbidden RED ZONE in Europe, Where Life is No More"

"The 'zone rouge' (in French, Red Zone) is a noncontiguous area that occupies the northeastern part of France and corresponds to the places that hosted some of the bloodiest battles of the Great War. Originally extending as much as 1,200 km2 [about 450 square miles], over the years, thanks to reclamation efforts, it has been downsized to about 100 km2 [about 38 square miles]. Despite this, the subsoil still conceals a disproportionate amount of unexploded ordnance, conventional and otherwise, to the point that it remains virtually inaccessible to humans."

Comments:

* It is estimated it will take the land about 700 years to fully recover?

* Lots of unexploded artillery rounds including about 2 % of which are poison gas munitions. It will take the French about thirty years to dispose of just the amount chemical ordnance currently having been found and stored.

* Arsenic in the ground at much elevated levels way beyond norm. Agricultural products as harvested from the Red Zone must be marked accordingly with regard to hazard!

* I repeat that the black earth farm land the Eurasian steppe land to valuable to lay fallow. How to take remedial action in the aftermath of the war will be a major challenge.

coolbert.

Ignored.

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OSINT VIETNAM! As was the case prior the Easter offensive of the North Vietnamese Army, 1972. OSINT ignored!

"sub rosa: adverb - In secret; privately or confidentially"

"Intelligence Ignored"

From "Small Wars Journal" the article by W.R. (Bob) Baker 02/01/2023 an extract.

That extract:

"As the Easter Offensive of 1972  [North Vietnamese] was the precursor to the signing of the Paris Peace Accords of 1973, there were two occasions where the United States could and should have moved against North Vietnam earlier but didn’t."

"The first time occurred prior to the invasion of South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), which began of March 30, 1972, was when William Stearman, a career Foreign Service member who went over to the National Security Council (NSC), put together a small sub rosa group before the Easter Offensive. This group was composed of NSA, CIA, and DIA members, as well as Dr. Steve Hosmer of RAND and Dr. Stearman. Using Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT)—the Hanoi newspapers—they had they first inkling of what was to be the Easter Offensive in the fall of 1971."

"They found that North Vietnamese men who were previously exempted (both skilled and physically unfit, Chinese, and Montagnards who didn’t speak Vietnamese) were all being conscripted in North Vietnam, they looked at seasonal weather patterns, and 'communications shifts,' all of which brought them to the conclusion that the date of the invasion was to be somewhere around 10 days before it actually occurred, which was March 30th."

As to the second occurrence when the USA should have more decisively in a pre-emptive manner against North Vietnamese army forces and North Vietnam in general, the devoted reader to the blog will have to read the remainder of the article for themselves.

Indeed! Even fifty years later I can recall quite well the comments of the famous television evening news anchor Howard K. Smith his reaction to the Easter Offensive:

"Someone has made a terrible mistake here. That South Vietnamese army [the USA had equipped and trained] is inadequate in defending itself against the infantry, artillery and armor combined arms formations of the North Vietnamese army." [not an exact quote but close enough]

Further from a comment to the article by David Hanna:

"I fear that when South Vietnam died, America began to slowly die thereafter."

A sentiment I for one am in 100 % total agreement with!

coolbert.

BAKHMUT.

This is coolbert:

Bakhmut the podcast!

"THE BATTLE OF BAKHMUT"

Podcast via the | Modern War Institute |  John Spencer | 03.17.23

"In this episode of MWI’s Urban Warfare Project Podcast, John Spencer is joined again by Michael Kofman, director of the Russia Studies Program at CNA. He researches Russia and the former Soviet Union, specializing in Russian armed forces, military thought, capabilities, and strategy."

"He also recently returned from Bakhmut, Ukraine—the scene of intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces over the past several months. In the conversation, he describes that trip and what he learned there."

Listen the entire podcast Bakhmut as an archetype of urban warfare as it is fought in the Twenty-first Century!

Via the Modern War Institute too see their entire PLAYLIST the topic in all cases historic and modern instances of urban warfare..

Bakhmut too as noted the battle now having a political significance far dominant beyond any sort of reasonable military rationale. For better or worse it being so!

coolbert.

Plunderage.

This is coolbert:

Herewith an extract of an extract the Internet web site www.isegoria.net.

"Within a few minutes, the flower of Mughal chivalry lay dead on the ground"

Speaking of the Battle of Karnal, 1739. Invading Persian army commanded by Nader Shah triumphant over the defending forces of the Mughal Empire.

Nader Shah his goal not conquest and subjugation but plundering the wealth of the Mughals. Riches for the taking which can only be described almost as being beyond description!

Originally from: "The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Kindle Edition" by William Dalrymple.

Persian camel-borne swivel gun of the period of Nader Shah. Persian musketeers also more highly trained and proficient than their European counterparts of the era and wielding a superior musket. Credit the image the wiki: By Alexander Orlovsky. 

That extract:

"Nader never wished to rule India, just to plunder it for resources to fight his real enemies, the Russians and the Ottomans. Fifty-seven days later, he returned to Persia carrying the pick of the treasures the Mughal Empire had amassed over its 200 years of sovereignty and conquest: a caravan of riches that included Jahangir’s magnificent Peacock Throne, embedded in which was both the Koh-i-Noor diamond and the great Timur ruby. Nader Shah also took with him the Great Mughal Diamond, reputedly the largest in the world, along with the Koh-i-Noor’s slightly larger, pinker ‘sister’, the Daria-i-Noor, and ‘700 elephants, 4,000 camels and 12,000 horses carrying wagons all laden with gold, silver and precious stones’, worth in total an estimated £ 87.5 million [pounds sterling] in the currency of the time."

Considering only the value of plunder and loot taken from the Mughals by Nader Shah:

* In 1970, the relative value of £88,000,000 from 1740 ranges from £824,200,000 to £53,630,000,000.

* In 2021, the relative value of £824,000,000 from 1970 ranges from £12,080,000,000 to £34,080,000,000.

Whatever way you slice it a tidy sum!! Courtesy all calculation from the www.measuringworth.com Internet website.

At least until the time of the European Industrial Revolution the societies of the Indian sub-continent and China considered to be the richest, wealthiest, most advanced and technologically superior in the world!

coolbert.

PM M1910.

This is coolbert:

"More than a hundred and forty years later, Europeans are still using Maxim's machine gun to kill each other.  The weapon and its derivatives have probably slaughtered tens of millions by now.  That doesn't say much for humanity, does it?" - Peter Grant.

"A World War I relic sees action again in Ukraine"

 From bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com | March 22, 2023.

See the pertinent You Tube video:

"Why Ukraine’s army still uses a 100-year-old machinegun"

Maxim gun water-cooled, 7.62 X 54 round. With advanced optics and suppressor [silencer]. Weapon normally crewed-served and tripod mounted. Long-range automatic fire I might think very lethal in the suppression role against enemy forces.

Four-barrel Soviet-era World War Two contraption Maxim gun used in the air defense mode. A variation of this weapon could be mounted on the back of a flat-bed truck and transported to the scene of the action. I can imagine such a weapon effective against low-flying strafing enemy warplanes. I can assume safely the Ukrainian version of this weapon relying on the original Soviet design? These units can be very useful in a defensive role against the low-flying and slow Shahed-136 kamikaze drone?

See my previous blog entry the Maxim gun the Ukraine Conflict:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/03/maxim-mae.html

coolbert.

DU Ukraine.

This is coolbert:

Courtesy the input from Jax a whole listing of articles with links the use of depleted uranium [DU] in the Ukraine Conflict. 

That Russian response FRENZIED in the extreme!

1. "Putin & Soigu Threaten Britain With Holocaust Use Of DU Will Be Perceived As A Nuclear Attack"

2."UPDATED 2:10 PM EDT -- Statement on NUCLEAR WAR -- URGENT -- BULLETIN: UK To Send Depleted Uranium Ammunition to Ukraine"

3. "Russian Diplomat On UK Plans To Send DU Shells To Kiev - NATO Lost Touch With Reality"

4. "London To Hand Depleted Uranium Ammo To Kiev With Challenger 2 Tanks - Russia Has Promised To Consider This A Use Of Dirty Nukes And Will Use Nukes In Reply"

5. "UK Sending Depleted Uranium Shells To Ukraine Tantamount To Using 'Dirty Bomb’ - Kremlin"

6. "Kiev's Use Of Depleted Uranium Ammo May Cause Health Problems Akin To Yugoslavia, Iraq"

7. "Putin - Russia Will Be Forced To React If West Starts Using Weapons With Nuclear Components (DU)"

See my previous blog entry the topic depleted uranium ammunition the Ukraine Conflict. Note that the Russian T-80 tank reputedly fires a DU round. 

Pot calling the kettle black?

coolbert.

Depleted DU.

This is coolbert:

"'[The U.K.] announced not only the supply of tanks to Ukraine, but also shells with depleted uranium,' . . .  'I would like to note that if all this happens, then Russia will have to respond accordingly ... The collective West is already starting to use weapons with a nuclear component.'"

You have been warned! You have been!

Once more the Russia and depleted uranium [Du] weaponry a hot topic. DU is categorized by the Russian as radiological warfare!

1. "Putin: Russia will "respond accordingly" if Ukraine gets depleted uranium shells"

From www.cbsnews.com | CBS News | March 21, 2023 the tip from Yahoo.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow would 'respond accordingly' if Britain gives Ukraine military supplies, including armor-piercing ammunition containing depleted uranium."

2. "Putin blasts UK move to send ammo with depleted uranium to Ukraine"

From Reuters ^ | March 21, 2023.

"(Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday condemned British plans to send tank ammunition that contains depleted uranium to Ukraine, saying Moscow would be forced to respond accordingly. Speaking in London on Monday, Minister of State for Defense Annabel Goldie said some of the ammunition for the Challenger 2 battle tanks that Britain is sending to Ukraine includes armor piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium"

AND WHAT EXACTLY IS AN APPROPRIATE RESPONSE FROM THE RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE? THAT REMAINS TO BE SEEN!

DU! The use of DU is a war crime? Is it?

coolbert.

Astronaut.

This is coolbert:

Senator Mark Kelly the astronaut speaks! And we should all listen.

 "Sen. Mark Kelly flew with Russian pilots in the Navy and with NASA, and he said the Russian fighter jet running into a US drone shows 'how incompetent they are'"

From www.businessinsider.com the article by Sarah Al-Arshani Mar 19, 2023/.

Regard the collision of the American Reaper drone with a Russian warplane over the Black Sea.

* "A US drone crashed after a Russian fighter jet clipped its propeller over the Black Sea last week."

* "A think tank suggested the move was 'aggressive messaging' by Russia."

* "Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy combat pilot, said it was an example of Russia's incompetence."

Russian COMBAT aviators incompetent and reckless?

Comments:

* As I recall it was reported the Soviet-era defector the pilot Belenko flew live OPFOR missions and engaged in simulator dogfights with American combat pilots. His assessment was that the Russian and American combatants were about at par, more or less equal in ability.

* Why exactly the Russian interceptors at least TWICE jettisoned fuel on the American drone is a mystery to me. Flooding the Reaper Wankel rotary engine air intake with AVGAS might cause an engine failure, stall, and crash?

coolbert.

Evacuate.

This is coolbert:

Eternal warfare. Evacuation of the most vulnerable persons in case of war to a place of relative refuge.

As it was in England 1940 so has been Ukraine 2022.

1. "Operation Pied Piper: The Evacuation of English Children During World War II"

BY DWIGHT JON ZIMMERMAN - OCTOBER 22, 2021 thanks to www.defensemedianetwork.com/.

England 1940. Large scale movement of English school children to rural cities and towns, away from danger of mass German aerial bombardment. Saturation bombing of major British industrial cities with massive delivery of deadly poison gas was widely feared to be a definite possible. Remove the children to a place of safety!

Read further of Pied Piper:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evacuations_of_civilians_in_Britain_during_World_War_II

2. "VOLUNTEERING IN UKRAINE: THE RIGHT THING ISN’T ALWAYS EASY — OR OBVIOUS"

Thanks to the Internet webzine "Coffee or Die" | September 17, 2022 article by Ethan Nagel.

Ukrainian children 2022 await train transport taking them away from the war-zone. Death from an incoming Russian drone or cruise. At one time up to 8 million Ukrainian were refugees. For a country of 40 million persons that is a considerable percentage. I think some have voluntarily returned since February 2022.

Measures as taken WW2 or the Ukraine Conflict prudent! Danger of traumatic shock to small children hard to assess?

coolbert.

Explosive!!

This is coolbert:

Yevgeniyy speaks! Owner/commander Wagner PMC.

"Prigozhin's Most Explosive Interview Yet Confirms Everything That This Blog Has Been Saying For Months Now"

From "The Slavland Chronicles" | Rolo Slavskiy Mar 16.

Watch and listen the entire video.

Read the entire article. Many additional bullets/comments/take-away/quotes.

Once more with 100 % absolute certainty we need to fully understand that during the days of the old Soviet Union such comments especially during a time of war would have meant instantaneous arrest/trial/conviction/execution. All on the same day too.

Obviously MORE than a few Russian citizens are not agreement with the course of the war finding much flaw with those persons running things at the top.

coolbert.

AI China.

This is coolbert:

You always knew it was bad, you just didn't know it was that bad!!

"AI warship designer accelerating China’s naval lead"

"Chinese military study claims AI designs naval ship electrical systems in a day what it would take human designers nearly a year"

Story by By GABRIEL HONRADA | MARCH 19, 2023 thanks to asiatimes.com and South China Morning Post.

"China is set to supercharge its naval shipbuilding program with AI, accelerating production rates and potentially cementing its quantitative lead over the US." 

"This month, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that a research team from the China Ship Design and Research Center used AI operating on a small computer system to design a warship’s electrical systems in one day."

"This task would reportedly take human designers 300 days using the most advanced computer tools, the source says. SCMP notes that the research team published their findings in the Chinese-language journal Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems last month."

[....]

And as extracted from the article and perhaps most worrisome of all:

"The technology can further cement China’s shipbuilding lead over the US. Asia Times reported last month that the US could not match China’s shipbuilding output, as China has 13 naval shipyards, each with more capacity than all seven US naval shipyards combined."

Let us be crystal clear about this. China has thirteen naval shipyards abuilding as compared to the USA seven naval shipyards. AND each of those Chinese naval shipyards has a manufacturing capacity greater than the potential combined output of all seven American naval shipyards COMBINED!!

It is not so much you don't believe it is true, it is more that you don't want to believe it is true!!

coolbert.

Ramping.

This is coolbert:

What if they gave a war and no one had anything to shoot!

 "US Officials Think Ukraine’s Ammunition Use Is Unsustainable"

Article Dave DeCamp | news.antiwar.com | March 16, 2023 and thanks to the tip from Southie.

"A Pentagon official described upcoming ammunition shipments as a 'last ditch effort' to help Ukraine since Western stockpiles are low"

Correct. Western stockpiles of war-making bang stuff sorely depleted. NATO now not even enough ammo on hand to meet it's own requirements for a sustained war such has already been the degree of depletion. And think too war-making bang stuff not strictly confined to artillery rounds.

"Ukraine is firing thousands of artillery shells each day in its battle to defend the Donbas city of Bakhmut, a pace that US and European officials don’t think is sustainable, The New York Times reported Thursday."

[....]

"The US and its NATO allies were not prepared to support such an intense artillery war. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has acknowledged that Ukraine is using munitions at a much faster rate than the entire 30-member alliance can produce. The Western powers have big plans to ramp up the production of artillery rounds, but it will take months before any significant progress is made."

According to the news reports I have seen, ramped-up production will not be achieved until 2025 and even then the Ukrainian demand for more artillery ammunition will still be exceeded by expenditure! Ukrainian artillery ammunition use just not thought to be unsustainable. It IS unsustainable.

See prior blog entries as germane:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2023/03/creation.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2023/02/farewell.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2023/01/expanded.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/07/skimpiness.html

coolbert.

Pax.

This is coolbert:

"Whoever commands the sea, commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself." - Sir Walter Raleigh.

From cdrsalamander.blogspot.com |  March 15, 2023 an extract and thanks to the Commander.

"Hendrix's View from an Island Nation"

"Very few Americans—or, for that matter, very few people on the planet—can remember a time when freedom of the seas was in question. But for most of human history, there was no such guarantee. Pirates, predatory states, and the fleets of great powers did as they pleased. The current reality, which dates only to the end of World War II, makes possible the commercial shipping that handles more than 80 percent of all global trade by volume—oil and natural gas, grain and raw ores, manufactured goods of every kind. Because freedom of the seas, in our lifetime, has seemed like a default condition, it is easy to think of it—if we think of it at all—as akin to Earth’s rotation or the force of gravity: as just the way things are, rather than as a man-made construct that needs to be maintained and enforced."

And as understood "freedom of the seas" as guaranteed by American naval power until relatively recently unchallenged and it being so for nearly a period of eighty years!

Anyone disagree with Sir Walter?

coolbert.

LASER.

This is coolbert:

Blinded by the light? Hawaiian style?

"LASER FOCUS Chinese satellite gathering intel for Pearl Harbor-style hypersonic missile attack by using green lasers, claim experts"

From www.the-sun.com | the article by Tariq Tahir | Mar 12 2023.

"CHINA used green lasers fired from satellites to gather intelligence for a surprise hypersonic missile attack on Hawaii, it has been warned."

"The satellite was recorded flashing lasers for a fraction of a second by a livestream camera attached to a telescope on top of a mountain on one of the islands."

"AIRRAID ON PEARL HARBOR X THIS IS NO DRILL”

Beams of the "flashing lasers" as captured by a livestream camera from which mountain on which island not specified. Observatories Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa both possible sources of the livestream?

Laser flashes hard to see unless you view "The Sun" article enhanced version video. Without that livestream camera input American intelligence would not have been aware of this reconnaissance? Intelligence gathering if indeed that is what it is.

coolbert.

Pleasuring.

This is coolbert:

Warning: If you are easily offended by material of a risque', adult, frank and intense nature, hit ESCAPE now.

Once again, Yevgeniyy has gone too far!

"Russia's Wagner mercenary group puts ad on PORNHUB for new recruits: Blonde sucks on a lollipop as potential troops are told to join 'the coolest private army in the world'"

* "Wagner placed a provocative ad on Pornhub to recruit soldiers to private army" * "A woman says in video that Wagner 'is the coolest private army in world'"

From the www.dailymail.co.uk the article by RACHAEL BUNYAN FOR MAILONLINE | 16 March 2023 | 

"The feared Russian Wagner mercenary group has become so desperate for recruits after heavy losses on the battlefields of Ukraine that it has turned to Pornhub to recruit soldiers."

"Wagner placed a provocative ad on the porn site in which male viewers were told to stop pleasuring themselves and instead join the private army and fight in Ukraine."

Video described as "provocative" already removed from Pornhub and the Internet.

I would have referred all devoted readers of the blog or those persons perusing in a much more casual manner to a previous controversial recruiting video Wagner Group but I now see the status is: "This video has been removed for violating YouTube's Community Guidelines".

coolbert.

Stratification.

This is coolbert:

Finally and concluding a series of blog entries the topics courtesy "The Barents Observer".

Hardly do I think this is going to make friends and influence people. Rather the opposite I might reason.

"Murmansk gives more benefits to students and school children of soldiers fighting in Ukraine"

"Social stratification is growing between children of fathers fighting Russia’s war on Ukraine and those who not. Free meals, free vacation, free dormitory and free commuting transport for students are some of the new benefits presented by the war-focused Murmansk Governor Andrey Chibis."

Article by Thomas Nilsen | March 14, 2023.

"It was on Monday the new benefits were approved by the regional government, Governor Chibis writes on his VKontakte page."

“'All college students from families of Special Military Operation [participants] will be provided with free meals,' according to Chibis. That includes all federal educational institutions in the Murmansk region.

"Pupils in municipal schools were divided already from the start of school-year on September 1. Two free hot meals to those with fathers killed, injured or still fighting, and no such benefits to those with parents not taking part in the war. At the time, the Barents Observer reported that at least 1,274 Murmansk kids had the rights to receive such benefits."

Perhaps this Andrey understands enthusiasm for the Ukraine Conflict among those Russian citizens of the Arctic far north is waning? Perhaps some remedial measures as taken will mollify the public?

Groupings of persons into have and have not rather may exacerbate already existing tensions? I cannot say with certainty.

coolbert.

Orientation.

This is coolbert:

Recruitment for the Wagner PMC? The target audience children? Yevgeniyy this time you have way too far.

"Wagner Group might be working on establishment of 'youth club' in Kola Peninsula"

"An advertisement for the mercenary company was posted on the website of the Education Department in Apatity, Murmansk region."

From thebarentsobserver.com the article by Atle Staalesen  | March 11, 2023.

"The advertisement invited local youth to take part in a class of so-called 'profession orientation' with representatives of the [Wagner] private military company."

"It aimed at school kids and was to include representatives of Wagner’s recruitment unit, as well as fighters with experience from the war against Ukraine."

"The warriors were to tell the kids about 'heroic histories' from the war, and also introduce them to the mercenary group’s new 'Wagner Kids Club.'"

"Евгений, пожалуйста, остановитесь. Не разрушайте умы и тела детей. Наем осужденных в лучшем случае приемлем. Другое дело привлечение детей к «героизму», из-за которого их убивают."

coolbert.

Threshold II.

This is coolbert:

Here begins some blog entries based on info the "Barents Observer" and thanks to same.

"Land forces [Russian] at Kola reduced to one-fifth, Norwegian Intelligence says"

"The land forces [Russian] on Kola are reduced to a fifth of their original numbers before the invasion of Ukraine," says Chief of the Norwegian Intelligence Service, Vice Admiral Nils Andreas Stensønes to the Barents Observer. He warns that the consequence is a Russia which may lower the threshold for nuclear escalation, also near Norway."

From thebarentsobserver.com the article by Thomas Nilsen | February 13, 2023.

"Tears are flowing to the Pechenga River from young widows and children as names of fallen soldiers are telegrammed north from Vladimir Putin’s battlefields in Ukraine. The bloody fate of the men that just over a year ago were based near Russia’s peaceful border with Norway and Finland is much worse than previously known, according to a report issued on Monday by the Norwegian Intelligence Service."

Comments:

* Russian active-duty troops normally stationed the Russian Arctic far north on the Russian border opposite Norway and Finland having been deployed to combat duty the Ukraine their losses exceedingly high!

* See this article from 2017 a discussion of "lowering" the nuclear threshold.

coolbert.

Alternatives.

This is coolbert:

The Russian lady convict off to the war zone, but not to engage in combat.

LPR = Luhansk People's Republic. DPR = Donetsk People's Republic.

"Russia 'sends WOMEN prisoners to Ukraine war zone for the first time' as Putin looks to make up for recent heavy losses that have seen more than 1,000 invading troops killed daily"

By RACHAEL BUNYAN and WILL STEWART FOR MAILONLINE | 14 March 2023 | 

"Russian president has sought 'alternative sources to replenish man power'" 

"Russia is believed to be sending women prisoners to the Ukraine war zone for the first time."

"Due to 'heavy losses' in the war that has seen more than 1,000 Russian troops killed per day in recent weeks, Vladimir Putin has sought 'alternative sources of replenishment of manpower', the Ukrainian army has claimed."

"Here some female prisoners - released under a scheme linked to the war effort - were put to work as farm laborers in field as well as 'greenhouses and cowsheds', possibly deployed in supplying the military."

Duties to include [but can well imagine not limited to] agricultural work. Release men for conscription, especially those militia units of the LPR and DPR badly decimated by sustained combat lasting a year now new manpower needed and fast!

coolbert.

NOBLE 61.

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Consider this to be in the same league as was Giant Lance from decades ago now. Intimidation!

From theaviationist.com | March 12, 2023 | DAVID CENCIOTTI.

"Let’s Have A Look At B-52’s Mission Over The Baltics And Close To Russia Yesterday"

[In boxes, NOBLE 61 route as seen on FR24 (Screenshots from flightradar24.com)]

"During its sortie the B-52 got closer to St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad than ever seen before on flight tracking websites."

[....]

"Using callsign NOBLE 61, the B-52 #60-0026, first flew towards Norway, then headed south, overflew Denmark and once over Poland, it was refueled by a KC-135, and then headed northeast.  Flying over the Baltic Sea towards the Gulf of Finland, the bomber, always tracking online on Flightradar24.com and other flight tracking apps, flew off Kaliningrad Oblast, then turned east pointing more or less towards Saint Petersburg."

Not however so terribly unprecedented with regard to Ukraine. Overflight of Ukraine airspace occurring in 2020 by B-52 bomber vicinity that line of demarcation [contact] Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian military.

Nothing new here folks.

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30X.

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Not a way to make friends and influence people. Can be a sort of great resentment leading to unforeseen circumstances Vlad in the Kremlin will not be able to control!

"Mortality rate of Russian soldiers from east 30 times higher than in Moscow, St Petersburg"

From yahoo.com original story |  "The New Voice of Ukraine" |  March 12, 2023.

"That’s according to the latest the U.K. Defense Intelligence report, tweeted on March 12"

Click on image to see an enlarged view.

"Ethnic minorities often bear the brunt of the Russian military’s meat-grinder fighting tactics, according to the report. In Astrakhan, for example, about 75% of the casualties come from the city’s Kazakh and Tatar minorities."

"Meanwhile, the populations of Russia’s richest cities – Moscow and St. Petersburg ­– remain relatively untouched by the carnage in Ukraine. This is especially true for the Kremlin elite."

See all previous blog entries [some with embedded links] that topic the participation of the Russian Federation ethnic minorities in the Ukraine Conflict:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2023/02/splendidly.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/03/fodder.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/07/kyrgyz.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/06/farewell.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/06/vakha.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/05/vampires.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/05/buryats.html

coolbert.

Shot John.

This is coolbert:

Out-of-uniform!

Air-air missile Genie carrying two kiloton warhead detonated the skies with personnel directly below at ground zero! Human guinea pigs.

"The Time We Nuked Five Men to Prove a Point"

"On July 19th, 1957, a 2-kiloton nuclear warhead exploded above the heads of five volunteers during 'Shot John' of the Operation Plumbbob series of US nuclear tests. Why would anyone volunteer to be at ground zero for such a blast, and what happened to them?"

Danger to the men on the ground rather nil if even that! Maybe if they were looking directly at the detonation as it occurred they would be blinded temporarily or permanently?

From the NukeSite map and simulation web site see the results for a two kiloton atomic detonation at an altitude of of 18,000 feet [about five and one-half kilometers] above Reno, Nevada, USA.

Effect distances for a 2 kiloton airburst*: ▼ [Detonation at an altitude of 18,000 feet [about five and one-half kilometers]

* Fireball radius: 80 m (0.02 km²)

Maximum size of the nuclear fireball; relevance to damage on the ground depends on the height of detonation. If it touches the ground, the amount of radioactive fallout is significantly increased. Anything inside the fireball is effectively vaporized. Minimum burst height for negligible fallout: 70 m.

* Radiation radius (5 rem): 1.83 km (10.5 km²)

"5 rem ionizing radiation dose; no immediate symptoms; less than 1% of survivors will die of cancer as a result of exposure."

* Thermal radiation radius (no harm): 1.91 km (11.4 km²) 6,500 feet. Thermal. 

"The distance at which anybody beyond would definitely suffer no damage from thermal radiation (heat). 100% probability of no significant thermal damage at this yield is 1.2 cal/cm2."

* Light blast damage radius (1 psi): 2.49 km (19.5 km²) 8,200 feet.  Blast.

"At a around 1 psi overpressure, glass windows can be expected to break. This can cause many injuries in a surrounding population who comes to a window after seeing the flash of a nuclear explosion (which travels faster than the pressure wave). Often used as a benchmark for light damage in cities. Optimal height of burst to maximize this effect is 0.59 km."

It seems YES those five men on the ground all officers the danger almost non-existent from radiation/thermal/blast danger!

Officers out-of-uniform not wearing headgear. If the hat of one man blown off and lost then all five still without headgear uniformly in violation of regulation. I guess that more important than anything else?

coolbert.

Shape.

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Not U.S. Marines or Navy SEAL's but American teenagers the period of the 1960's.

CONSIDER within the context of the relative UNFITNESS of young American people their potential for enlistment into the USA armed services poor.

"THIS 1960S GYM CLASS HAD HIGHER FITNESS STANDARDS THAN THE MARINE CORPS"

From www.coffeeordie.com the story September 2, 2022 • Eric Miller.

Devoted readers to the blog need to watch this You Tube video.

American secondary education physical education class achieving unheard and perhaps never to be equaled levels of conditioning and fitness. A one-of-a-kind program perhaps but results nonetheless remarkable.

Physical conditioning and fitness as might be attained only by American Navy SEAL's or U.S. Air force pararescue jumpers.

"'The School Where Fitness Counts' (LaSierra High PE)"

"'The School Where Fitness Counts' on LaSierra High School [doors closed for some decades now] in Carmichael, CA was produced by the President's Council On Physical Fitness and Sports in Washington, DC. This film highlights the physical fitness benefits of a classical PE program like LaSierra but also the mental health and cognitive learning benefits of such physical education along with how this kind of PE builds good citizens too."

Comments:

* Programs such as this to improve the fitness of American young people as a response to the investigations of the exercise guru Bonnie Pruden decades ago.

* During my grammar [primary] schools I did participate in tests that were used develop a baseline measuring the relative fitness of young Americans relative to their European counter-parts. Five events of which I remember only three: 1. Forty yard [meter] sprint. 2. Softball throw. 3. Standing long-jump.

* My initial reaction was that this program with the remarkable results as displayed were actually some sort of propaganda film, a Hollywood production of the type as you might have originated in the old Soviet Union or Communist China. Astounding levels of physical fitness way beyond norm and not replicated anywhere else to my knowledge.

coolbert.

Creation.

This is coolbert:

"A visit to the workshops always makes a deep impression. At the forges hirsute men, stripped to the waist, move rapidly and methodically in front of the ovens. The bars of iron, heated to an exact temperature, are swallowed by the presses and molded into the desired shape in a second. The rough form of a shell, glowing bright red, and carrying on its flank the first identification marks, is then rolled towards the yard, like a beautiful but terrible toy, a friend of the graves. As soon as the shell has cooled enough, skillful hands take it, smooth and polish it, and finish it to perfection. But it was dangerous work, and the hospital had a steady stream of ‘work-wounded’ to deal with, some minor, some much more serious."

That manufacture of artillery shells not an easy task.

As was the topic of a much recent blog entry the machinery and investment in the process rather large.

See this You tube video from the perspective of British modern-day large-scale manufacture artillery shells.

"How artillery shells for the Army and forces around the world are made"

"For over a hundred years – the munitions for the British military has been manufactured in North East England."

"BAE Systems factory in Washington has been making shells for the forces over the last decade since the site at nearby Birtley closed."

"David Sivills-McCann has been to see how the site manufactures the tens of thousands of shells every year."

Read further of The Birtley Belgians imported highly skilled craftsman providing much needed labor as a response to the Shell Crisis of 1915.

coolbert.

Production.

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"The timeline for acquiring new machine tools 'are often the long poles in the tent on getting capacity increased,' . . . 'These machines are the size of buildings. You don’t just go buy it from a parking lot somewhere.'” - Douglas Bush.

"A Lack of Machine Tools Is Holding Back Ammo Production, Army Says"

"The U.S. has enough raw materials, but the heavy equipment used to make artillery shells aren’t easy to buy."

From www.defenseone.com | SAM SKOVE | MARCH 3, 2023.

"A lack of machine tools is constraining the United State's ability to ramp up ammunition transfers to Ukraine, the Army's top weapons buyer said March 3."

"U.S. and allied production of artillery ammunition has emerged as a key problem in supplying Ukraine, which burns through thousands of shells a day fighting Russia’s invasion"

Comments:

* That American big-smoke-stack heavy-industry base of manufacturing gone a long time ago now. USA munitions makers not able to churn out war-making bang stuff as done in the days of yore, World War One and World War Two both.

* Think "machine tools" as described not of the mere ratchet wrench variety. Tools as rather of an automated and computer controlled system, often highly robotic in operation.

* As has been mentioned in some previous blog entries, think the British Shell Crisis of 1915. Nothing new under the sun as they say.

HEY, did anyone ever say this was going to be easy?

coolbert.

Traditional.

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"Naming a fighting platform is a long-standing tradition that we value; we are adding to that tradition by requiring more of ourselves," . . .  "Our nation expects nothing less." - Lt. Col. Tania Donovan.

"The Army Won't Let Some Crews Name Their Own Tanks"

From Military.com  | Drew F. Lawrence, Steve Beynon | March 8, 2023.

The III Armored Corps, headquartered at Fort Hood, Texas, released a new policy earlier this year restricting which tank crews can name their vehicles.

The policy, which took effect Jan. 23, limits the ability to name tanks to crews who score in the highest bracket during gunnery -- a qualification meant to measure how effective a crew is in combat.

CURRENTLY NAMING A TANK CAN BE DONE NOW [?] ONLY FOR THOSE CREWS SCORING HIGHEST DURING GUNNERY TRAINING!

Comments:

* I had thought the idea of troops such as tankers or pilots of high performance warplanes being assigned a dedicated aircraft or tank had been done away with some time ago.

* Any qualified tanker should be and can be assigned to operate any tank in the tank park.

* Generally a trained crew however will stay together as a unit I understand and appreciate.

* Any qualified pilot should be can can be assigned to fly any warplane on the flight line for which he has been checked out.

* If you can fly an F-4 Phantom and there are seventy-two F-4 on the flight line and you the pilot are told to fly # 13, you cannot say I want to fly # 11 and only that plane. You must fly # 13.

coolbert.

Orchard.

This is coolbert:

See this You Tube video the Israeli air force 69th Squadron [Hammers].

"Operation Orchard: The 69 'Hammers' Squadron & Kidon (documentary)"

Consider within context of prior blog entries here and here.

"The 69 'Hammers' Squadron is an Israeli Air Force squadron operating the F-15I Thunder out of Hatzerim."

More correctly the 69th Squadron a highly trained special operations type of air force unit their mission high-precision bombardment of high-value targets. Fly the uniquely modified to-Israeli-specifications the F-15I warplane.

Exactitude and accuracy in bombardment of a target as was the case of the Syrian nuclear reactor destruction 2007!

coolbert.

Hell.

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"The people of Israel will manage without you and you can go to hell” -  Shlomo Karhi.

Solomon [Shlomo] not so Solomonic!

"Solomonic: an adjective used to describe something marked by notable wisdom, reasonableness, or discretion especially under trying circumstances."

Shlomo his intemperate outburst in this instance directed against that large group of Israeli air force reservists refusing training as mandated!

"Communications Min. to IDF reserve refusers: Go to hell"

"Minister Shlomo Karhi says country 'will manage without you' to reservists threatening not to report to duty over judicial reforms."

From Israel National News | Mar 6, 2023.

"Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi (Likud) issued a strongly-worded rebuke to the IDF reservists who are threatening to not report for duty in protest against the government's planned judicial reforms."

PROBLEM WITH THESE COMMENTS OF KARHI IS THAT JEWS DON'T BELIEVE IN HELL. JEWS GENERALLY SKIRT AROUND THE SUBJECT!

These Israeli air force reservists evidently belonging to the 69th Squadron [Hammers]. An ELITE squadron who specialize in precision air-ground bombardment. Bombardment such as the destruction of the Syrian nuclear reactor a-building in 2007.

NO! Israel MIGHT NOT be able to get along without 69th Squadron.

coolbert.

Shame!

This is coolbert:

I neither judge yea or nay! I merely present!

Basic Principles of War Propaganda:

The validity of these "basic principles" I leave for the devoted reader to the blog to decide for themselves. Especially within context of the Ukraine Conflict.

Additionally with special emphasis given to item # 8:

"Sean Penn says US has to accept ‘level of shame’ for not arming Ukraine faster"

"Actor and filmmaker speaks out at premiere of his documentary about president Voldoymyr Zelenskiy"

From theguardian.com the article by Dan Sabbagh in Berlin | 18 Feb 2023.

"Sean Penn said the US has to accept 'a level of shame' for not helping Ukraine with weapons supplies quicker at the premiere of his documentary about president Voldoymyr Zelenskiy and the war."

See previous blog entry [with further embedded links] American actors their support for the Ukrainian cause undeniable and unreserved:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/10/skywalker.html

Sean and Mark speak! And we must all pay close attention?

coolbert.

W & D.

This is coolbert:

W & D = White and Dark.

End-of-the-line Bakhmut? A nine-month long siege coming to an end? 

"Race to get last children out of Bakhmut as city becomes ‘hell on earth’"

"With Russian forces closing in, police try to persuade remaining citizens to get out and access routes come under fire"

Story from www.theguardian.com/ Peter Beaumont in Kramatorsk | @petersbeaumont14 Mar 2023.

"War breeds euphemism and metaphor. In the battle for the Donbas city of Bakhmut, threatened with a closing encirclement by Russian forces after seven months of bitter fighting, there are 'White Angels' and 'Dark Angels', the 'road of life' . . . and the 'Invincibility Centre'."

"The White Angels, a police evacuation group, scour the lethal districts of the shell-ruined city to evacuate children and the elderly."

"Their counterparts, the Dark Angels, take out the dead. The Invincibility Centre is where the few thousands of civilians who remain can find water and hot food cooked by the volunteers who have stayed in the city, even as in the past fortnight [two weeks] it has faced an increasing threat of finally being overrun."

The concept of "Open City" not used since the time of the Second World War needs to be reinstituted! All Ukrainian military units depart with all due speed, no more military action Bakhmut. Save the lives of the children, elderly, women, the sick and infirm.

coolbert.

Shocking.

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Lawfare: "'the exploitation of real, perceived, or even orchestrated incidents of law-of-war violations being employed as an unconventional means of confronting' a superior military power"

1. "Israeli Military Reservists, Including Pilots, Say Judicial Overhaul Could Expose Them to ICC Prosecution"

From themedialine.org/ | STEVEN GANOT | 03/05/2023.

"Dozens of senior pilots in the Israeli Air Force (IAF) have met with IAF chief Tomer Bar to express concerns over their continued service in the reserves. The pilots fear that the Israeli government’s planned judicial overhaul could so damage the reputation of Israeli courts for enforcing international norms and delivering legal verdicts independent from political intervention that it would expose them to prosecution by international bodies, such as the International Criminal Court [ICC]."

2. "In Shocking Move Israeli Fighter Pilots Refuse To Fly In Protest Of Judicial Reforms"

By Gil Tanenbaum | Published March 5, 2023.

"After threats of refusal to perform obligatory reserve duty, 37 of the pilots in the Israel Air Force’s (IAF) 69th Reserve Squadron have confirmed that they will not show up for duty this Wednesday and take part in a planned air training exercise. The pilots fly the F-15I fighter aircraft called the 'Ra’am' in Hebrew, which means thunder.  In Israel military service is considered a sacred duty on the part of citizens. To 'strike' like this means certain court martial and being jailed."

Read of the incident of the Israeli general office who had been subjected to an arrest warrant in a British court of law. The man would have been arrested if he had disembarked from the aircraft on the ground at Heathrow. Charged with war crimes.

Certain nations too such as Belgium and Spain claim universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Israel combat aviators their concerns valid they may one day be extradited to stand trial for alleged war crimes. Their fears not without foundation.

coolbert.

Subdued.

This is coolbert:

"'Understandably, we have concerns about the operational security impacts to these missions in the modern era of on-demand, real-time information,' . . . 'Subdued paint schemes that limit identifiable information is one way we are taking a hard look at how we operate to ensure our ability to continue to deliver for America and our allies and partners around the world.'" - James Stewart,.

PREPARING FOR WAR ARE WE COMRADE?

"Air Mobility Command Removes Tail Numbers and Unit Info from Planes, Alarming Watchdogs"

Military.com | By Thomas Novelly | 1 Mar 2023.

"Air Mobility Command has directed its refueling and cargo planes to obscure the majority of identifying information painted on the aircraft, citing national security concerns -- an unusual move that is alarming to government watchdogs."

"James Stewart, a spokesman for Air Mobility Command, told Military.com in an emailed statement that airmen's missions take them around the globe and often involve sensitive movements of cargo -- the main reason behind the change."

At least during peace time bumper numbers and unit info of U.S. Army vehicles are openly displayed during garrison service. When however deployed to the field during wartime all vehicle ID concealed by being painted over.

coolbert.

Continuation.

This is coolbert:

Death from above Afghan! Airstrikes Taliban positions Afghan continues. Surreptitiously so!

"Airstrikes On Taliban Positions In Afghanistan Since 2021 - Infographics"

From the Russian controlled [?] Internet web site "South Front" and thanks to same.

Click on infographic to see an enlarged view!

Comments:

* Airstrikes by drone and fixed -wing manned warplanes against Taliban Afghan targets continuing even after insurgent victory, late summer 2021? 

* Airstrikes by American drone and Pakistani warplanes both? Even joint airstrikes? Also add a single instance of Tajik involvement?

Anyone finding continuing foreign military action Afghan in the aftermath of 2021 to be rather extraordinary? 

coolbert.