Heist!

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Stop thief!

Image of HMSW Bulwark badge courtesy: By Royal Navy - [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32280352

1. "Daring crooks steal £250k [about $300,000 USD]of diesel from Navy ship in one of UK's biggest fuel heists"

From https://www.lbc.co.uk | article by Emma Soteriou | 7 April 2022.

"The diesel was reported to have been stolen from HMS Bulwark."

"Thieves have stolen more than £250,000 worth of diesel from a Royal Navy warship in one of the country's biggest ever fuel heists."

"The massive theft occurred in the high security HMNB Devonport in Plymouth, with the navy said to have been left 'furious' about it."

"The crooks responsible took off with tankers intended to power HMS Bulwark in a heist that ran for weeks, The Sun reported."

Pay special attention to items: * High-security naval base. * Theft that ran for weeks.

This too!

2. "Gang steals 800,000 liters of fuel from NATO pipeline"

From https://warisboring.com | FEATUREDWIB CULTURE | October 3, 2023.

"Rome/Brussels — Criminals siphoned off 800,000 liters [about 200k,000 gallons] of jet fuel from a NATO pipeline near the French-Belgian border at the end of the last decade before the spectacular heist was uncovered in June 2019, a NATO spokeswoman confirmed"

"The gang tapped the Western alliance’s pipeline system in a field, selling the fuel – kerosene – to unsuspecting motorists and others."

"Italy’s financial police first reported investigations into the case some days ago, estimating the quantity stolen at 900,000 liters. According to their information, the fuel, which is not suitable for motor vehicles, was transported to Italy for sale."

Hardly such pilferage even on a major scale not without precedent. During WW2 about 20 % of all American stores of all sorts found in depots throughout France stolen by a combination of local gangsters and American deserters resorting to criminal behavior.

coolbert.

358 IR.

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Courtesy here the tip from Peet.

The Iranian 358 missile. Loitering and air-breathing air to air missile. Ground launched but not operating in the conventional manner as would an ordinary anti-aircraft missile!

"The 358 is understood to be launched from the ground using a solid-fuel rocket booster, which falls away after it burns out. The missile then transitions to an air-breathing propulsion system, possibly a small turbojet, much like a traditional land-attack or anti-ship cruise missile . . . past reports have said that the 358 further deviates from typical surface-to-air missiles in that is apparently designed to fly at low speed to a specified location and then loiter there until its fuel runs out. 'The weapon flies in a figure-eight pattern and looks for targets,'" 

Iranian 358 missile unconventional but rather innovative even groundbreaking.

"groundbreaking: adjective - introducing new ideas or methods"

"The '358' missile has a solid fuel booster stage for launch. Once launched, the booster will detach and the remainder of the flight will be taken over by the gas turbine engine. Given the performance of the gas turbine, sweep wing design and fuel capacity, the missile would have subsonic performance with long range and endurance. It is suspected that the missile will loiter in a simple flight pattern (e.g. lazy eight) to identify and attack targets of opportunity."

See the wiki entry for a rather abbreviated description of the Iranian 358 missile.

And has reputedly been combat tested. Downed an American drone in Yemeni airspace. 

coolbert.

Triumf.

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Once more to the topic of the surface-to-air missile that can be employed as a ground-ground ballistic missile.

Bada bing, bada boom!

"Russia is completing the development of an attack version of the S-400 Triumph air defense system"

From https://avia-pro.net |  2023-10-03.

"The Military-Industrial Commission of the Russian Federation announced recently conducted full-scale tests of a promising multi-purpose tactical quasi-ballistic missile at the Kapustin Yar training ground. According to statements by First Deputy Chairman of the Commission Dmitry Medvedev, the new weapon is designed to significantly expand the combat capabilities of the S-400 long-range anti-aircraft missile systems."

"The S-400 Triumph air defense system is one of the most powerful air defense systems in the world, and the new missile can become an additional 'trump card' in its arsenal. It is worth noting that anti-aircraft missiles designed to destroy air targets have long had the ability to hit ground targets."

Range of the S-400 in the ballistic mode will be about 550 km. [about 330 miles]. Warhead 180 kg or about four-hundred pounds of bang-stuff.

See previous blog entries Russian anti-aircraft missile be employed in the ballistic mode:

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

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/09/grumble-iii.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/09/grumble-ii.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/08/dark-angels.html

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/07/grumble-ssm.html

coolbert.

Enduring.

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Enduring commitment lasts a single month!

"enduring: adjective - Lasting; continuing; durable."

"Jesse Kline: Trudeau cuts defense spending to fund socialist pet projects"

"Having a military capable of defending your borders is not something you want to be caught without when you need it most"

From https://nationalpost.com | Jesse Kline | Oct 02, 2023  •  

"When politicians get in a room together, are they overwhelmed by the wafting scent of bulls–t, or do they simply become immune to it after awhile?"

In July, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with their NATO allies in Vilnius, Lithuania, where they pledged their 'enduring commitment to invest at least two per cent of our gross domestic product (GDP) annually on defense,' noting that, 'in many cases, expenditure beyond > two per cent of GDP will be needed in order to remedy existing shortfalls and meet the requirements across all domains arising from a more contested security order.'”

Rectify existing shortages and deficiencies of war-making BANG stuff. Increase current force structure and allow military readiness for a future conflict to flourish in a high-state of preparation.

As to not so much Canadian spending and military readiness posture but rather the German:

"This came a year and a half after Scholz, realizing the increased security threat from Russia following its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, set up a 100-billion euro defense fund and promised to beat the two per cent target 'year after year.'”

"Yet less than a month after the July NATO summit in Lithuania, Scholz’s government quietly dropped a legal requirement for it to meet the two per cent target on an annual basis from its budget financing law. The government would only commit to spending two per cent on average over a five-year period. And even that might not last: according to an August 2022 report from the German Economic Institute, once Berlin’s defense fund dries up in 2027, spending will once again fall to 1.2 per cent of GDP."

As the famous Sun Tzu would have said from thousands of years ago now:  "The King is only fond of words, and cannot translate them into deeds"

As with King Ho Lu twenty-five hundred years ago, so with Chancellor Scholz today!

You better believe it!

As I am fond of so much see the acerbic comments of Rabbi Dov 100 % as true to the mark NATO spending here:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2019/11/negotiate.html

coolbert.

Reconceptualize.

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”An Industrial War of Attrition Would Require Vast Numbers of Troops"

Deduction of a genius! I speak facetiously here.

USA reinstitutes the military draft? Conscription? Partial or otherwise? I honestly and sincerely hope not in all circumstances!!

"The US Military Is Laying the Groundwork to Reinstitute the Draft"

From Mises.org ^ | 09/25/2023 | Zachary Yost | 10/1/2023 | the tip from Freeper.

"The most recent edition of the US Army War College’s academic journal includes a highly disturbing essay on what lessons the US military should take away from the continuing war in Ukraine. By far the most concerning and most relevant section for the average American citizen is a subsection entitled 'Casualties, Replacements, and Reconstitutions' which, to cut right to the chase, directly states, 'Large-scale combat operations troop requirements may well require a reconceptualization of the 1970s and 1980s volunteer force and a move toward partial conscription.'"

I honestly pray and "sincerely hope" there is no resumption of conscription and the military draft USA.

Much better a volunteer force having the requisite degree of training and motivation than a group of persons being for the most part FORCED to do something they do not WANT to do.

As to the necessity of fighting a protracted attrition industrialized war, just take measures so that no such conflict even occurs!!

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All-out.

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"Quoi qu'on fasse, on perd beaucoup de monde" - French General Mangin.

Western military gear to include armor of the tank and infantry fighting vehicle types less than effective in the Ukraine Conflict. 

Western military equipment provided to the Ukrainian found to NOT be the game changer as was thought it might have been.

"Western-made armor isn't working in Ukraine because it wasn't designed for a conflict of this intensity, Ukrainian analyst says"

From https://www.businessinsider.com | Thibault Spirlet | Sep 28, 2023.

* "Western armor isn't cutting it in Ukraine, a military analyst told The Wall Street Journal."

* "Taras Chmut said Western-made tanks weren't designed for an 'all-out' war of this intensity."

* "Western allies should instead ramp up deliveries of simpler and cheaper systems, he said."

Let me first suggest that Russian armor found to be less than effective too. Seems to be the case across the board. Russian tanks particularly deficient especially with regard to the ammunition carousel in the turret.

A variety of anti-armor weapons as wielded by BOTH sides of the Ukraine Conflict have proven to be quite effective. Javelin, NLAW, various anti-tank guided-missiles and DRONES with shaped-charge anti-armor warhead obliterating vehicles almost with impunity.

Exactly what various "simpler and cheaper systems" as advocated by Taras Chmut that will make a considerable difference I am not sure. Maybe only Taras knows for sure.

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VKS Su-35.

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"Friendly Fire Isn't." Murphy's Laws of Combat # 21.

£80million GBP = $97 million USD!

"Moment Russian forces 'shoot down their own £80million SU-35 fighter jet' in friendly fire blunder over Ukraine"

A high performance combat warplane neither cheap or easily replaced!!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk | MAILONLINE ^ | 29 September 2023 | article by WILL STEWART and MATTHEW LODGE | tip from Freeper.

"The plane is believed to have been downed over Tokmak in Zaporizhzhia region"

"This is believed to be the moment Russian forces shot down their own £80million fighter jet in an act of friendly fire in Ukraine. The supersonic SU-35, which is one of the Kremlin's most advanced aircraft, burst into flames over the city of Tokmak in the Zaporizhzhia region. There has been no official confirmation of the night incident, although comments made by one Russian blogger appeared to acknowledge the loss"

coolbert.