Europa Delenda Est?

It looks like. Here is Mr. Medvedev explaining WHY Russian Defense Ministry published the list of European companies supplying 404 with UAVs and other equipment--which in itself is a very noticeable change of tone by Russia. 

The Russian Ministry of Defense has published a list of European enterprises where drones are assembled for strikes against the Russian Federation. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that these addresses should now be considered as potential targets for the Russian Armed Forces. "The statement of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation should be taken literally: the list of European industries where drones and other equipment are made is a list of potential targets for the Russian Armed Forces. When the strikes become a reality depends on what happens next. Enjoy your dreams, European partners!" the politician wrote on the social network X.

Russians do not want to kill Europeans, but they will if it comes down to it. The first to go will be Baltic States and Finland who provide their territory for strikes against Russia. So, the time is coming when the boomerang returns. If the message will not be understood, well ... Europe as it exists today is doomed anyway, so if they decide to go down with a bang Russia will oblige. So, Europe is now on notice. 

The continent which loves them Nazis, warmongers and perverts, such as cretin bimbo Kallas or EC head or German government as a whole--you all know where it is all going. But it will be really fast this time. 

It Was Known All Along, Just Never Said Publicly. It Changed Now.

The issue, however, is this: there is no denial that UK and its "intelligence" services were suspected in all these false flags be them hapless Skripals or Douma "chemical attack". But when Russia's Defense Ministry states this:

"Today, the Russian defense ministry has other evidence proving the United Kingdom’s direct involvement in the organization of this provocation in Eastern Ghouta," he said, adding that the so-called White Helmets had been pressed by London in a period from April 3 to 6 to hurry up with the implementation of the planned provocation.

Unlike pathetic and hollow spectacle by London, it means Russia has real proof and the gloves started to come off. Could those rumors that Syrians (or Russians) hold couple of SAS POWs from Eastern Ghuta be true then? There are possible ramifications for... drum roll Steele and his BS "dossier" which may also factor mightily into all of that. But I think, Russia also just pointed out that if, God forbids, push comes to shove--first targets which will be shot down or sunk will be British ones. Let those ass-holes and war-criminals from 10 Downing Street sort it out after that. UK was clearly identified as a power behind Syria's atrocity and this may be just the start.

UPDATE: "Freedom" of speech in UK. British Armed Forces officer is cut  off the the air for speaking competent truth. 

In related today's news from UK and now from the US too: 

Surreal.

Damned If You Don't!

If true, this could be vindication of some of my personal (admittedly not always correct) views on naval warfare in general and naval aviation in particular. I always loved STOVL, that is why, with all my criticism of F-35 program (and it is rather embarrassing program), I still follow F-35B STOVL development fairly close because it is the concept that is sound. In the end, some of the technical solutions in F-35B were... Soviet/Russian, borrowed from what promised then, in the end of 1980s, to be a revolution in carrier aviation--Yak-141 Freestyle. 

Now, Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov drops a bomb today when revealed (in Russian) that discussion on development and production of a brand new Yakovlev STOVL (based on the ideas of Yak-141) aircraft is in a full swing and that this new aircraft must enter series production in 2025. Oh boy! This is sensational and without going too deep at this stage into the details of why these are exciting news, I will present here a single (there are many more, of course) pro argument:

Modern naval combat is already deep into the missile paradigm in which any aircraft carrier, including classic American CATOBAR mastodons, are not immune from hyper-sonic weapons. But here is the thing, especially for those who intent on fighting Sea Control/Sea Denial battles--the essence of any aircraft carrier is its flight deck and all infrastructure immediately underneath it which make it so vulnerable--catapults, arresters etc. Once one of those elements is gone, and the probability of a deck suffering a major damage in real modern combat is very high, CATOBAR carrier becomes merely a huge pile of steel incapable to launch or receive its air wing. Well, this issue is mitigated on STOVL carriers--their decks are simply more "survivable": 

Now, considering a level of modern aerospace technologies where it is possible to make parameters of STOVL aircraft comparable to their CATOBAR colleagues, it becomes only natural to explore the venue of much less expensive than CATOBAR, STOVL carriers which in Russia's case would fit really well into her strategic and operational requirements. Knowing what Russians do with aircraft, it could be really fascinating to see what could be accomplished in this field. After all, Yak-141 was so ahead of its time and that is why Gorbachev rushed to close this program. Now, it seems, it is being reincarnated on a completely new technological foundation. We'll see, but this is exciting, after all, US Navy is flying F-35B, despite all of its failures.