Regarding some news today. Just finished the podcast with PolitWera and Vladimir Trukhan. We spoke about this too.
1. Snake Island: purely political decision to remove Ukie "argument" about grain "blockade". Now Ukies started to de-mine approaches to Odessa and it will be very difficult for them to use the silly argument of Snake Island as an excuse. Militarily, VSU will not be able to place there anything because it will be immediately annihilated. The distance between Snake Island and Sevastopol is 260 kilometers--peanuts for P-800 Onix or any of the Kalibrs. VSU knows it and already stated that they have no intent to place anything there. They can't, even if they wanted to. I will omit here purely operational issue of Snake Island affair, which weakened the Odessa grouping of VSU dramatically.
2. Per this (thanks to Larch who pointed this out):
But the funnies part is this. They cannot even hide the fact of being sore losers.
Russia debuted a hypersonic air-to-ground missile in its attack on
Ukraine. Adversaries don’t have to meet the rigorous standards set under
the US defense acquisition system or face public scrutiny over delays
and failure.
Obviously no normal people work for most US establishment media, but can they at least hire the ass-holes who have a clue, instead of the full o'shit ignoramuses? Don't hold your breath. But I am on record and I repeat:
a. Eventually the United States will be able to create a some sort of quasi ballistic (air-ballistic) hypersonic weapon akin to Russian Kinzhal. When? Who knows. Relatively soon--a few years.
b. The US is nowhere near a hypersonic cruise-missiles such as 3M22 and it is not even at the start. Those technologies are deployed as fully functional weapon systems ONLY by Russia.
c. US media, full of shit as always, continue to obfuscate the issue of hypersonics throwing into the mix two very different technologies: hypersonic air-ballistic missiles like Kinzhal and fully powered in flight surface launched anti-shipping and land attack 3M22 Zircon. There is a chance they simply do not understand a difference.
3. Here are poor poor dears from the West crying about the SMO. The video is still full o' shit, including pseudo-"tactical" baloney spewed by all those "veterans".
But as I already stated--these guys thought that learning how to shoot and read couple of combat and field manuals makes them such "professionals" in war. Right. 99% of them never heard of how operations are planned and why people attend military academies. Here is a simple explanation (I did it in one of my videos) from the US Naval War College:
None of those "soldiers of fortune" has any clue what operational and strategic level is and how wars are fought. But sure, they know how to do "tactical shit" and because of that think (or, at least, thought) that they know the war. Right and I am Mother Theresa. Which brings me to this issue:
4. For those who continue to refer to all those Colonel Cassads and their ilk: there is a reason I do not take them seriously. They are NOT military professionals, never were and will never become ones. Most of them are into this whole thing for personal reasons, much of which are related to self-realization and money. I also get paid for what I do, but at least I served almost 11 years in the Armed Forces, including at the Brigade Staff position. Just keep this in mind.
Operational and Strategic level of war are very complex and require a very serious background not just knowledge of "tactical shit" and ability to read maps and knowing how to use ballistic tables (smart phones' apps, here we come) or understanding what mil is.
That is a strategic level and as BTO sang: you ain't seen nothing yet.
P.S. Somebody on interwebs "accused" me of "loving BTO". I never experienced more severe attack on my character than that. I never even liked sons of bitches, I abhor their sound. What I said was: they surely can play. And they can--great musicians. Just wanted to clear this blemish on my musical tastes. Same goes for Molly Hatchet--horrible sound, awesome musicians.
This is the issue I wanted to discuss. I am categorically against dehumanizing Americans. Of course, American "elites" are degenerate and corrupt to the core, but if we take a look at a broader picture--and I am speaking here from my rich experience--majority of your everyday Americans are decent people. As anywhere it is not black and white, there are many colors and shades of grey. Same could be stated about Russia--as anywhere else there are many good people, but there are some jerks and ass-holes too. There is some corruption. It is never clear cut. It is the tragedy of the American people that they have been bamboozled into believing a lot of crap. But you know what I do for a living--I essentially educate people, not just Americans. I am no peacenik, sometimes wars are inevitable and even needed, but I always was categorically against making sweeping generalizations, especially about people so diverse and complex as Americans.
IT is a tragedy that people who see no value in many American institutions which even 30 years ago were working, are now in power and drive the country into the ground, especially American institutions which DID constitute a legitimate national political tradition to be proud of. But it is very easy to trick people, especially so insulated historically from the rest of the world by two oceans. But one of the things which you have to appreciate about Americans it is the fact that (you can easily find the results) overwhelming majority of them, despite incessant 24/7 anti-Russian propaganda in media, didn't buy "Putin" and "Russia" as the main culprits of America's huge economic problems. This cannot be stated with such conviction about Europeans, majority of who are genuine articles in so far as "Russian threat" and "Russia did it" goes.
Yes, there is, of course, American public' responsibility too for what is going on right now around the world, but so far some core beliefs, be them constitutional or Christian, still survive in the United States and this strata where they survive is very large, capable to correct somewhat the country's course, however narrow the window of opportunities becomes. This is NOT the case in Europe. Larry provides good numerical review of Americans' foolhardy attitude to wars, but also let's recall that these were Americans who overwhelmed their representatives, senators and Obama's White House with phone calls and e-mails when Obama was contemplating a full blown war on Syria. The war was stopped. You know the rest of the story. So, let us all keep things into proper perspectives and keep in mind that, in reality, neocons and Christian Zionists, among other fundamentalist religious and political sects in the US, are not by far representative of the majority of American people. There are many truly decent and honest folks in the country, and the more you move away from Washington D.C. or coastal cities, the more their number grows, almost exponentially. In the end, they voted for Trump because they believed that he really cared and his program was sensible, especially in terms of wars and military alliances. People bought it. He lied, but people believed a good lie, not some aggressive neocon BS. So, let's keep this in mind. As Larry concludes:
I believe the American Republic would be well served to take Adam’s
words to heart and construct a new foreign policy that is not based on
sending our troops abroad to die in meaningless wars. The good heart
that powers America still beats. But it is under assault at home. Russia
does not threaten our Republic. Our peril is at home.
I agree fully. I also know many Americans understand that. Very many, and while they understand that--there is a hope. Educating people is a slow process, but it is strategic in its objective.
BoJo better take advice of one of the greatest statesmen of the last 70 years at least. This is the only chance for BoJo to leave the memory of self not as a petulant adolescent boy who is incapable to run a 7-11 store, but at least simply yet another incompetent British politician. The latter is certainly better than the former. Yes, visiting the gym once in a while is a good idea, instead of wasting the time flying to see a clown from Kiev. Who knows, maybe getting busy with solving UK's gigantic economic and political problems may occur to BoJo too? Nah, don't hold your breath...
As most of you know, I am only marginally interested in the everyday "tactical" minutiae of SMO, because now it is mostly ruthless extermination of what's very little left of VSU and sorting out these co called Territorial Defense Troops of Ukraine which are nothing more than modern iteration of the Volkssturm and have no chance against LDNR forces, let alone regular Russian Army. But while this situation is ongoing, some other very important things happen elsewhere. No, I am not talking about Turkey removing veto for Finland and Sweden joining NATO--in a larger scheme of things it changes very little for Russia. But this, below, does:
Geopolitical ramifications are huge for the region, especially when both Iran and Azerbaijan, which will have new railway built connecting Russia and Iran, capable to handle large rail traffic of cargoes ranging from wheat to oil, to metals etc. As article notices:
The International North-South Transport
Corridor emphasizes the Russian port of Astrakhan and the Iranian
Chabahar as bases for further transport to Eurasia. The development of
the latter, as well as the construction of a large petrochemical complex
and an export terminal near the port of Jask, are projects being
implemented by the Iranian government as part of the Mokran coastal
development strategy. Nevsky Shipyard, which produces
multipurpose dry-cargo ships of RSD49 (deadweight of 7150 tons,
container capacity of 289 TEU) and 005RSD03 (container capacity of 225
TEU) projects, is also engaged in the work of the North-South transit
corridor in building ships for the Caspian Sea.
This brings us to the part of Russia's shipbuilding industry which concentrates on construction of those River-Sea vessels, like these:
Nevsky Shipyard has the order for 10 of these, other shipyards also build those or similar to them transports. Caspian Sea may get even busier in terms of marine traffic in coming years. This is a very important piece of news. Together, of course, with EU now trying to "resolve" Kaliningrad "blockade" and promising to iron out details in a few days.
Of course, they are private. In the West everything now is private and secret because public is completely excluded from any "democratic" process and should know only one thing--how unified and powerful combined West is, because, obviously, the reality is exactly opposite. But who cares about reality in West's political "elite"? I doubt many can even grasp it. But they surely are very "cultured".
I believe Ben Wallace is a typical representative of British "elite"--barely educated and low-cultured, and I am on record on the "quality" of Sandhurst "products". They are good for barking, not very good for real fighting against real enemies. I guess Wallace senses this, being a defense secretary of a toy army of a toy country. Pink Floyd were wrong when singing about "hanging on a quiet desperation is the English way". Ben Wallace's desperation is that of a bellicose and verbose jester at the plastic throne.
Yes, real Germans. Who knew it all and were our buddies. I recall 4th Flotilla out of Warnemunde (all officer corps graduates from our naval academy) and girls from Rostock. It almost feels like a parallel universe.
Germany wanted freedom. Well, Russians had no problems with keeping German warrior spirit alive. It was the US who wanted Germans to be wussified completely.
But then again, can you imagine modern Germany showing this?
Not to speak of this?
Ah, wait, they still have this Ensemble Friedrichstadtpalast. You don't want to see their latest;))
... And, of course, they have been "caught". By Russian artillery.
The issue, however, is in this calming music and also weeping of some people who still have ideas that these are someone's sons and fathers. Well, let's face it--it is now much more complex than this, especially when you see a command core of a brigade of VSU (10th mountain assault brigade) abandoning their personnel and trying to escape--a familiar story by now, told by Ukrainian troops themselves. So, it is not Russian propaganda. It is a complex issue, the one I call "Lieutenant Dan" issue from Forest Gump.
But in a historic dark irony--it is impossible to explain to some Washington swamp creature that the United States, for all its huge failures, has a much more realistic claim to actual military history than whatever is called today Ukraine. Some people cannot even wrap their brains around this dark historic irony, if not sarcasm, because military history was never a strong point in the US. As the good acquaintance of mine from Baku, Colonel, the veteran of Afghanistan, told me:"Everyone wants to live." I witnessed it myself too. Is 404 worth dying for? Those who planned it for them never faced any real danger in their life--they tend to congregate in Washington D.C.
But Russia doesn't care about all those fraudsters from Moody's, IMF or World Bank. In fact, Russia is having an issue--too much cash, too strong Ruble.
So, default you say, eh? Russians don't care about US Dollar, they use Ruble, which is supported by huge resources, huge economy and gold. And, of course, rests on a massive fire power of Russian Armed Forces. It becomes increasingly clear that Western ruling "elite" has no idea what real economy is, let alone how it operates. The only thing they know and can do is virtue signalling and PR.
Meanwhile, Alex Cristoforou did an excellent job covering G-7 summit and his comments, including his really appropriate "Aye-Yai-Yai" are spot on.
While we all observe a complete intellectual and moral decomposing of the Western ruling class, here is Colonel MacGregor on... orgies and degeneracy of the Washington's "elite".
But here is a very interesting twist in MacGregor's statement about those people in D.C. thinking that they are "immune to persecution". Obviously, he speaks about internal US justice system, however compromised. But if you recall, I reminded everyone four months ago about a different kind of persecution. I spoke about it since 2014. I will remind you about a very recent one:
There are very many war criminals and criminals against humanity in D.C. and EU capitals. Some of them may and some will face war crimes tribunal, because there is no statue of limitations for war crimes and crimes against humanity. And this deeper turmoil is not just coming, it is here and none of the so called G-7 is immune to it and that, inevitably, will bring not only economic but political turmoil and then... well, all those security details of rich and powerful are amateur kids compared to people who will be looking for their masters. But that is the separate topic altogether.
The isolation of the West continues, hence desperate (and stupid, I may add) attempts to "blockade" Kaliningrad, which will cost Lithuania her economy and no, Russia will not "follow" the US plan to start a war in Europe to allow the US repeat its saving from catastrophe on the eve of the WW II, which DID save the US. Washington's primitive historic and geopolitical thinking is so transparent that Russia had very little problem anticipating West's behavior. Here is one example out of many.
Here is Marshal Rokossovsky ferry. She is a very respectable vessel of 12,000 tons dead weight and she is already servicing the route Ust-Luga--Kaliningrad. Her sister-ship Marshal Chernyahovsky is undergoing sea trials as I type this. Both ferries are designed in St. Petersburg but were constructed at Turkish shipyard Kuzey Star, because Russian shipyards are simply too busy. More vessels of similar class are getting ready to join this route which is already serviced (IIRC--please check yourself) by other 9 vessels.
Will NATO fleets dare to interdict this SLOC? Do not put it past desperate Washington, but then again, they will have to consider Russia's Baltic Fleet and those pesky Kinzhals, Zircons and Onixes with Kalibers, which can sink any combination of NATO navies not only within Baltic Sea but in their respective bases. The argument that this way of supplying Kaliningrad is more expensive than by rail is absolutely invalid. Yes, it is more expensive--but Russia will subsidize and she is awash in cash, in fact many in Russia do not want such a strong Ruble too--but it is more expensive for the peace time, it is not a peace time and this mode of supplying the Kaliningrad exclave works just fine.
And, of course, Argentina applying to BRICS and Bolsonaro being on the phone with Putin constantly gives a hint that Russia doesn't view American "sphere of interest" as untouchable. It is the end game for the United States and its lapdogs from EU. So much so that this proverbial fantastical thinking begins to dominate everything in the West.
You know what I am doing with these so called "policies"? Right, I declare myself a Superman and then call on Sergei Victorovich Lavrov to give a short summary of the situation with Western "elites".
For those who are new to my blog, this is Lavrov at press-conference with Saudi foreign minister a few years back, where he reacts to this minister's statement by whispering--Дебилы, блядь--Imbeciles, fuck. Applies fully to the West. In fact, even more so.
Fantastical thinking began to dominate Western political mind somewhere around early 1990s and it never subsided. Many do think fantastically, it is nothing new, daydreaming is one such example, or, for that matter, "discussions" on the "tactics" of Maverick from the latest Top Gun, as if people are talking not about purely fictional BS but about serious tactical and operational reality. But it is one thing when some 35+ years old boy discusses Maverick's maneuvers in the latest flick, totally another when the admiral (right) of the US Navy parades himself as a clown.
Of course, Mr. Kirby's admiral rank is a some kind of accident, because his resume is rather subdued. And one has to wonder why he remained a restricted line officer, not eligible for command at Sea, before going to... PR. Obviously spewing BS came naturally to him and that is why he thinks fantastically and continues to propagate things so "advanced" for real military science and real military professionals, that the issue arises not about his professional adequacy which is non-existent, but of his mental state, because he introduces a new concept: utterly defeated power dictating terms of peace. In related news, Clausewitz was proven wrong by Kirby because classic Clausewitz dictum about war's main objective being "to compel the enemy to do our will" by means of war, a euphemism for defeating the enemy, is, apparently wrong. Mr. Kirby and many US generals are, evidently, convinced about it now.
Take fantastical thinking by such US military "analysts" as Generals Petraeus or Keane and you will see that Mr. Kirby is not alone. I will omit here description, done on many occasions by me, of psychiatric reasons for such a fantastical thinking, but here is truly genuine US combat officer who for decades is consistent in his views, many of which (not all) were correct, speaking about why when meeting with Churchill in Moscow in August 1942 (where Sir Winston went to inform Stalin personally that there will be no Second Front), Stalin noted that "Great Britain is a sea animal, Russia is a land animal."
MacGregor speaks here about what Glantz and House spoke for decades--a complete flipping of WW II history from feet to the head. Many, even in Pentagon, still cannot grasp the scale and the scope of Soviet operations in WW II and that is why so many in the West toil tirelessly to rewrite the history of WW II in such a way as to arrive to Earl Ziemke's conclusion that Nazis were defeated on the secondary theaters of operations or on June 6, 1944 with D-Day commencing. But I am ON RECORD for many years, the US Army never fought anything comparable in scale and scope of present day SMO. Unless one wants to insist that, not taking anything away from heroism of Allied soldiers or tactical and operational capability of Allied officers, Battle of the Bulge eclipses Stalingrad, Kursk or famous "10 Stalin's Strikes", including full demolition of Wehrmacht starting with Operation Bagration. Here is David Eisenhower, the grandson.
The explanation for consistent failure to forecast or anticipate anything from Russia is easy: it is a combination of arrogance and incompetence, exacerbated by a deep seated complex of inferiority. That is why this history of the events will be steadily erased from the Western historiography until the world of fantastical history, in which the United States is omnipotent and omnipresent power "for good" will substitute reality.
... that even the Sky News cannot hide this anymore. 80% losses of VSU formations, well, no Western establishment media outlet is still ready to talk in full about the truth. But Larry gives them (and neocons) a hint:
And here is the issue. While waiting today for urgent root canal appointment (it turned out to be root canal, not extraction as I initially wanted) I hung around Barnes & Noble and while trying to sip on my medium-rare (I mean, not hot) latte I went for the Air Forces magazine.
It was May issue. Good God, people. Never in my life did I come across allegedly "professional" or, as they love to claim "officially number one authority in the world on aviation", publication filled with so much pure BS (how about their claim of the failure of RuAF EW?) and unsubstantiated claims, at least they admitted that "the ghost of Kiev" was an 'urban legend", that one can immediately conclude that those "professionals" are nothing more than amateurs who never encountered real air war and REAL SEAD operations against capable air defense. In other words, all they were writing was a feeble attempt at controlling a narrative. Of course, it is all based on their own "understanding" of "serious" air operations and, of course, Kiev propaganda and "leaks", because no one in Russia would allow those losers nowhere near operations of RuAF.
I wanted to buy this magazine (only $14) but then decided not to waste my hard earned buck on something which cannot be even used as a reserve toilet paper in the hour of need, which is coming, since the damn thing is glossy and is so full of pseudo-"analytical" BS, that one has to be aware of possibility of getting penetrated by serious butt-hurt in case of using this publication in the toilet after "the business", if you know what I mean. This brings us to an utter failure in general of even "professional" tech and forces publications in the West and them being reduced to nothing more than military porn equivalents of the glamour magazines such as Vogue or, in the best case, Country Living. Same goes for those numerous "analytical" military porn web-sites which love to claim to have an understanding of operations, but most of them being nothing more than propaganda.
In related news, I WILL watch the new Top Gun, once I gather enough spiritual strength to last through it, because the concept of F-14 fighting with Su-57 is down right bizarre.
And lively "discussions" of all kinds of fanboys and military "experts" from mama's basement on the "tactics" of that is rather hilarious. But then again, I read today the magazine and learned that effectively grounded and suppressed within first 2-3 weeks of the SMO Ukie Air Force managed to mount "a resistance". Yes, by means of flying random sorties one can count on the fingers of one hand and because Russia's EW and ECM "failed". My tooth hurts like hell after root canal today, but at least the nerve is gone, judging by the Air Forces publication, my tooth ache is nothing compared to Air Forces severe and increasing butt-hurt. Worst of all, one cannot remove the dying nerve from down there and, as I am on record, reality, like gravity, is a bitch and when it bites... I would rather stick to root canal procedures and "Top Gun Maverick".
What do you expect? Of course, between the food and the IOU from some drunk bum, most normal people will chose food--it is real, it is vital for survival and it might be even delicious. IOU? Unless one is on the paper-eating diet. In related news:
Germany is free to do whatever she deems necessary, it is not going to change anything because German economy is dying and nothing can prevent it from doing so, especially now that the last iota of the even neutral attitude towards Germany (as a country, not individual Germans) is gone from Russia, and it is all for the better. Germany is the enemy of Russia and it is a very positive development--I repeat it not for the first time--that all illusions about some Russian-German "alliance" are gone. As is true for most of Europe. And this too, is for the better.
I like Sam Chui. He is no BS air traveler and aircraft enthusiast with deservedly huge audience. I am one of his subscribers and love his air travel reporting on all kinds of the aircraft around the world. The SMO, however, did not leave, always out of politics, Sam and he had to make a video about the fate of Russian commercial aviation. It is not only understandable but good that it was made. But, and here is the problem, ever "prescient" (sarcasm on) aircraft journos (yes, people who write about industry but are not real industry professionals) and the opinions of the aviation "specialist" Jon Ostrower are especially remarkable. Just listen:
Ostrower's claims that Russia's aviation was set back by 30 years in one day and especially his quip about maps made me laugh, no, I mean it. This is the expertise one gets when, despite the fact of having a license for piloting of small aircraft one has this as a background. This is his profile from Linkedin.
So, the guy has a background in... Political Communications, that is to say that he has no education at all, and writing for WSJ or CNN automatically disqualifies him from writing anything Russia related because he would write a BS. He did, not wrote, but spoke but this is how idiotic narratives get spread around the US. Mind you, I, unlike Ostrower, have a graduate engineering degree and for long years ran the laboratory of the Tier-1 subcontractor of Boeing and Bombardier, among others, and, for all intents and purposes, was an insider of the industry and especially its Quality Management requirements and a whole lot of things related to safely flying commercial aircraft, such as Boeing-737-800 among many. In other worlds, my day would start with Boeing and Bombardier manuals and other production documents and will end with knowing every single in and out of both ASTM Vol 15.03 (testing reqs for Aerospace Industry), not to mention the fact that I worked with many former Boeing employees and even former naval aviators. So, allow me to comment now.
As you all know, I am on record that Western in general, and American in particular, "knowledge" of Russia is practically non-existent and that is true across the whole spectrum of Russia's activities ranging from economy, to military, to education, to science and R&D and Ostrower is an exhibit A of such ignorance, despite his many, namely media, titles. I am not saying that Russia doesn't have problems, she surely does, but Ostrower, obviously, fails, as is it is normal for all kinds of Western "experts", to grasp the nature of problem they try to comment on.
1. His claim that Russia was set back 30 years in one day in terms of commercial aviation is preposterous and betrays in him a typical Western media hack with zero engineering background. And here is why.
a) Historic Russia, USSR and modern day Russia was always a powerhouse in civilian aviation. One of the first things young "reformers" were tasked with was a destruction of the remnants of the Soviet commercial aerospace industry and they almost succeeded by the end of 1990s. But not quite. And while the combined West was "celebrating" its commercial success, as always it rushed and we see it today. Ostrower, evidently, has difficulty understanding that the country which completely out of own resources produces in large serial batches state-of-the-art combat aircraft such as SU-35C or SU-57 among many others, and which has a massive designer school in commercial aviation, including its huge contribution to the design of Boeing commercial aircraft such as B-787, among others, will be able to manufacture commercial aircraft on her own.
b) Unlike it was the case in 2010, today Russia has fully operational and large industry of composite materials and she has not only venerable but still very much good high bypass turbofans such as PS-90A (Russian President doesn't mind flying it), but already has PD-14, which is in serial production. In general, Ostrower should keep himself abreast on Russia's commercial aviation development just by visiting RosTec site and by reading news which preceded Sam's video.
c) Obviously, the West introduced all possible sanctions but, that is for the better because now both SSJ New and MC-21 become fully russified. But as a stop gap measure (Russians are damn good at it) is precisely where Russia's older but still excellent aircraft come in.
This was in April, by now (AFAIK) the number was revised to 20 TU-214s a year and this is an excellent plane which uses PS-90As and Russian avionics. The only thing which would be considered "backward" in it is the fact that it still uses a third crew member--an engineer. But I am sure after Boeing-737 Max which is effectively a 60 year old design freak and tends to kill people due to being "designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys", is a small price top pay for safety. How's that "automation" worked out for 350+ dead people, Mr. Ostrower?
Here is TU-214 flight in 2014 from Irkutsk to Moscow. Passengers love this plane, actually.
It is very comfortable and is a rough equivalent of the B-757.
2. The issue of "maps" is altogether risible, since Ostrower, obviously, never heard of both Russia's GLONASS and Russia's map industry being one of the best in the world, ranging from nautical to air charts. Especially now, when Russia aircraft do not fly to Europe or North America. But this simple fact is not known to Ostrower.
3. Per the park of foreign aircraft which Russia retained due to sanctions, and these are anything from A-320neo and A-321 to B-737-800 and B-777s, as Russia's engineers are on record--there will be very little problem with producing spare parts for them domestically. Again, the nation which produces in aerospace field what Russia produces will have little trouble servicing whatever commercial aircraft. And that brings us to the final point.
4. For many in the West, including Mr. Ostrower, the concept of the country being self-sufficient in practically anything is absolutely inconceivable since all these media figures, especially of Ostrower's age (and he is a young fellow), are the products of the Western globalist "education" (in reality dumbing down) which excludes completely even the fleeting grasp of the concept of self-sustainability, if not almost autarky. Not surprising for an American "expert" with degree in nothing who grew up in the country where everything ranging from the TV sets and smart phones to washing machines and computers is produced elsewhere, but not the US, such a concept could produce a serious cognitive dissonance. Especially nowadays, when this country "with economy smaller than that of Netherlands" or a "gas station masquerading as a country" is basically crushing the combined West economically and militarily.
It is a blessing that Russia finally cuts all ties to Western commercial aircraft industry and is fully returning back to its very rich and highly regarded commercial aerospace school of design and manufacturing and being pressed into self-sustainability already shows not only an incredible resilience but a very bright future, not the darkest one. But this is beyond Mr. Ostrower's "expertise", and Sam's excellent tribute to AN-225 Mria should not eclipse the fact that this magnificent airplane is not and never was Ukrainian but a Soviet one. I am sure Russia will restore it and will make a museum out of it. But it is very instructive, how circumstances allowed to revive an excellent plane which was almost removed from wide service due to illusions of Russia-West "cooperation", but now came back, and it is an excellent machine which will complement the fleet of SSJ-100s (and New) and MC-21 in coming years.
It is take-off time. BTW, beautiful plane.
UPDATE: I noticed there are a few fanboys (suddenly) of the Luftwaffe's fairy tales (and "statistics"), and, of course, "Top Gun is a documentary" types, materializing on a discussion board who bought most of the BS published in the Western "historiography" about Eastern Front. So, in order to not respond to all those "air warfare" experts, here is Von Hardesty and Grinberg from their, now classic
But in order to be more substantive here are some excerpts:
More:
I will omit here Russian archive sources which (those who want can easily find them in Russian) disclose a colossal scale of the air operations on the Eastern Front, as well as completely discredit German WW II statistics, correctly at that. But that is precisely the "statistics", much of it simply made up by Germans (e.g. verification of kills), which many of Nazi sympathizers love to use, obviously due to their military illiteracy. I am not talking about other revisionist sources which still cannot resign themselves to the fact that Axis was demolished by those Rooskies and it was the main point of WW II. So, in conclusion from Glantz and House seminal work When Titans Clashed:
Pay attention to date--mid-1944. So, my advice for those "experts"--before issuing your opinions, especially based on German "sources", learn the goddamn subject and give a simple cognizance to the fact that for 75 years combined West was rewriting the history of WW II and succeeded at that. Why it is so, read my first book--it explains in detail why. Read my lips: cream of the cream, best of the best, as well as a bulk of Luftwaffe's assets have been wiped out on the Eastern Front by mid-1944. For all air warfare "experts" the answer could be easily found in 1950-1953 in Korea and actions of the 64th Air Corps under the command of three times Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Kozhedub. This is not statistics USAF likes to talk about. I repeat, in other words: learn the subject. Those who it is addressed to know who they are.
Read the whole thing at Larry's blog. Public should be educated on real events which gave birth to the world which is ending only now and public opinion is important in shaping what is coming.
Andrei, as you all know, took a much needed break, a vacation, to rest and clear his mind, but he sends messages once in a while. This one is today and it is a good one. He gives some bullet points and in one of them he writes:
... here is where I disagree with him dramatically.
Not only I disagree with him, but many people in comments also disagree. The assertion that Russia's SPRN (missile attack early warning system) is somehow "nowhere near" the American one is dead wrong. I know where this assertion originated, professor Postol stated this a couple of years ago. And it is a complete malarkey.
It is exactly the other way around, not to speak of the fact that the US was lagging in advanced early warning radar systems behind not just Russia, but Soviet Union already in 1970s and 1980s. The proof is in the pudding. American nominally "strategic" system GMD (I will omit here a dubious effectiveness of it) is "run" by the BMEWS and its "derivatives" detection and targeting contour, akaSolid State Phased Array Radar, including its latest AN/FPS-132 Upgraded Early Warning Radar, plus some launch detecting space based assets (satellites). Here is one of those, spread by the US across the world from UK to Qatar.
The only claim that the US could use up to mid decade of 2000s was in allegedly "processing" power, but that is not the case anymore. And while most radar have the range of 3000 miles, roughly 5000 kilometers, here is Russia's modern SPRN.
But, of course, since 2010s Russia deploys an astounding variety of "BMEWS" radar such as Voronezh and here is 2018 "coverage":
With a very respectable overlaps and 100% (360 degrees) coverage of the threatening directions. Of course, Voronezh radar is just one of many other types which provide both early warning and targeting. And here is Russian TV network Rossiya 1 gives a comparison to, and you have guessed it, US latest AN/FPS-132.
You don't need to know Russian to see that Voronezh beats the best the US ever produced in "BMEWS" technology hands down. See especially the comparison with the error in targeting (developing target's coordinates). Voronezh--11 meters, AN/FPS-132--well, 120 meters. You know, the order of the magnitude less accurate, not to mention the fact of its inferior range. Of course, I am not even talking about a variety of radars Russia deploys for both ballistic and hypersonic targets such as Container radar which is full blown OTH (Over-the-horizon) system which sees everything on the ground and in the air at the range of 3000 kilometers. The United States literally looks like a backwater compared to those capabilities, not to mention the fact that, of course, the US has nothing (even considering its GBI) comparable to A-235 Nudol, not to speak of full anti-hypersonic defense capability which the US simply doesn't have and who knows when, or if, it will develop it.
This charade about Russia's ABM system in the US media is becoming really nauseating, especially against the background of S-500 beginning to be fully combat deployed and its radar is fully networked with both Voronezh and Don systems, as well as any other early warning radar system capable to allow S-500 radar to monitor the air and space to the depth of 3000 kilometers. With A-235 Nudol having its mobile version developed, and with S-550 getting ready to deploy--these are capabilities the US simply doesn't have. All listed above Russian systems are designed not only to intercept ICBMs but are fully capable of defeating hypersonic maneuverable blocks. I like this condescending tone in this article:
Obviously, comparing THAAD to S-500 with its 600 kilometer range and full low-orbit anti-satellite capability is a an exercise in arrogance because it is akin to comparing a VW Beetle to a 18-wheeler truck. With S-550 (alleged) range in excess of 1,000 kilometers and who knows what other capabilities and all of those systems fully integrated into the netcentric ABM and AD defense capability--the US has NOTHING comparable to that. But in the end, with first RS-28 Sarmat ICBMs arriving to full combat duty by the end of this year and first Avangard regiment (soon, full division of RVSN) being already in full combat readiness near Orenburg, the US ABM system simply ceases to matter in case, God forbids, serious war.
So, this silly talk of comparing Russia and US early warning systems and what they provide should stop because those desperate attempts to grasp the last straw of the myth of the US military "superiority" is a waste of time and, in the end, doesn't serve well the reputation, in this case, of a very solid and important American military thinker such as very respected by me Colonel Douglas MacGregor. He is a good man and serious professional, but I am on record, and am ready to repeat it again: the United States lost the arms race to Russia, especially in matters of truly high-end systems in the foundation of a nuclear deterrents and early warning. Note: I didn't even address Russia's space based assets.
