If You Wonder.

Yes, this is in China and yes, this is Ka-52M with Chinese markings. 

Is this a real photo or neural network creation? Well, you'll be the judge of that, but since 2021 China was mulling the idea of buying a ship's version of Ka-52 Katran. 

The possible contract was reported by the American magazine The National Interest. The publication notes that there is no official confirmation of this information by Beijing or Moscow yet, but the likelihood of concluding an agreement is "very high." The topic of a potential agreement is also actively discussed in the Chinese media. "Heavy attack helicopters are needed to equip the latest Chinese landing ships. After its own unsuccessful developments, China is asking for help from Russia. In addition, the agreement will demonstrate to the United States active cooperation between the PRC and the Russian Federation, which will reduce American aggression,"- quotes the words of researcher Zhou Chenming from the Defense University of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese newspaper South China Morning Post. Earlier, the American edition of Military Watch called the Ka-52 Alligator helicopter, the shipborne version of which is the Ka-52K, "the most dangerous attack helicopter in the world."

A lot has changed since then. Ka-52 proved itself (already proven in Syria) but in SMO as a premier combat helicopter. But then again, everybody have been guessing about Iranian Mi-28s until they have been spotted in the Iranian skies. Same goes for Algerian Su-57s. They are seen and not one or two anymore. 

Which brings us to morons from Stockholm SIPRI who still continue to pour BS of dollar-expressed world arms trade to all kinds of "analysts" as a viable data. Only complete cretins judge combat power in expenditure in US Dollars while not understanding the essence of this power as a combination of ADJUSTED expenditure, technological, doctrinal, industrial and operational factors--precisely the combination which NATO people are incapable to grasp. 

I want to remind you this dawning of realization on ... USMC officer, a revelation for him really:

We allow ourselves to look at our impressive defense budget and expensive systems and throw around hyperbole about the United States having the greatest military in the world. How, then, have we been bested by malnourished and undereducated men with antiquated and improvised weaponry whilst spending trillions of dollars in national treasure and costing the lives of thousands of servicemen and hundreds of thousands of civilians? Judging military capability by the metric of defense expenditures is a false equivalency. All that matters are raw, quantifiable capabilities and measures of effectiveness. For example: a multi-billion dollar aircraft carrier that can be bested by a few million dollars in the form of a swarming missile barrage or a small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) capable of rendering its flight deck unusable does not retain its dollar value in real terms. Neither does the M1A1 tank, which is defeated by $20 worth of household items and scrap metal rendered into an explosively-formed projectile. The Joint Improvised Threat Defeat Organization has a library full of examples like these, and that is without touching the weaponized return on investment in terms of industrial output and capability development currently being employed by our conventional adversaries.

Yep, combat effectiveness calculated against serious enemy force and for high-intensity tactical and operational environment is the ONLY thing that matters. ATGMs Hermes or LMUR plugged into the profile of deployed force run by Battle Management System such as Andromeda, among others--they don't care how much your tank costs, they care only about where is this tank, or strong-point for that matter, and at what range they should blow those expensive toys to smithereens. Yes, Correlation of Forces and Means, like IDF discovered for itself (again) in Southern Lebanon. You know, those Hezbollah's pesky UAVs and, yes, Kornets again. 

I also have news for these "dreamers" who continue to defraud US taxpayers. 

The United States will struggle to defend itself against advanced missile systems developed by China and Russia, senior Pentagon officials told lawmakers as they called for funding for the proposed Golden Dome missile defense program.

I have news, it could be Golden, it could be Brilliant or any other name you find fit to stick to this Pentagon's another "big thing" but it is not going to stop shit--the US AD capabilities fell behind so bad that any mentioning of "anti-hypersonic" by any US military or policy-makers should be corrected immediately by asking the question how this Golden thing will be able to intercept something like 3M22 Zircon? Well, the US doesn't have hypersonic technology (after Russians, obviously, "stole" it from the US) to even initiate a test phase. If you think that computer simulation will do the trick--I have a bridge to sell you. You need a physical REAL hypersonic weapon (forget about having a variety of them, like Russia has) to conduct exhaustive life testing to gather data sets and test your whole damn thing--from detection (good luck detecting hypersonic weapons in flight. Launch? Maybe.) to tracking to developing firing solution by ... exactly--you need AD systems with missiles which are the next thing in energy capacity for maneuvering. The US doesn't have any. 

When I say that the US lost the arms race--this is not hyperbole or figure of speech, it literally did with a very few respectable capabilities remaining such as ISR, subs as platforms only, signal processing and ... PR. The rest--well, will say that it is very-very expensive. Ask Russians or ... Iran. 

This Is A Very Big...

 ... ouch. It is also a very strong indicator of the economic strength, or rather lack thereof.  

The U.S. Navy is pushing back the start of construction on its next-generation attack submarine by nearly a decade, citing tight budgets and a need to fund current and near-term operations. A Navy spokesperson told Defense News construction on the lead ship of the SSN(X) program, which will follow the Virginia-class attack submarine, is now planned to start in the “early 2040s.” The Navy last year planned to begin the ship class in 2035, and it was previously set for a 2031 start. In its fiscal 2025 budget, the Navy is seeking to delay spending on several modernization programs, including SSN(X), the DDG(X) next-generation destroyer, and the F/A-XX next-generation fighter.

When I say the United States lost the arms race--I mean it. This is not some hyperbole or figure of speech. Virginias are excellent subs but their Block I would be around 40 years old early 2040s. Virginia is a fourth generation sub, but while she still could be improved as a platform, her weapons' suite is not that impressive, however still dangerous. TLAMs are becoming obsolete, and UGM-84 Harpoon is not getting younger too. This suite loses outright to 3M54, P-800 and 3M22 Zircon carried by Yasen-class. But Russia already has a fifth generation sub with fifth generation capabilities--it is Belgorod, the carrier of Poseidon and hell knows what other advanced underwater drones. The work on the fifth generation modular sub has started in Russia long time ago and already in 2017 there was a very interesting news about newest Project 545 Laika (Husky-class) sub:

Судостроительные предприятия готовы заняться новой лодкой сразу же после достройки серии "Ясеней". По словам заместителя главкома ВМФ вице-адмирала Виктора Бурсука, первую "Хаски" заложат в 2023-2024 годах. Достроить и сдать ее флоту планируется на рубеже 2030-го. Даже по тем обрывочным данным, которые появляются в открытом доступе, очевидно, что засекреченный проект с научно-технической точки зрения будет революционным. ... Строить АПЛ пятого поколения начнут после сдачи серии из семи многоцелевых подлодок проекта 885 "Ясень", которые планируется ввести в боевой состав ВМФ до 2023 года.

Translation: Shipbuilding enterprises are ready to start working on a new boat immediately after the completion of the Yasen series. According to Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Vice Admiral Viktor Bursuk, the first Husky will be laid down in 2023-2024. It is planned to complete construction and deliver it to the fleet at the turn of 2030. Even from the fragmentary data that appears in the public domain, it is obvious that the classified project will be revolutionary from a scientific and technical point of view. ... Construction of the fifth-generation nuclear submarines will begin after the delivery of a series of seven Project 885 Yasen multi-purpose submarines, which are planned to be commissioned into the Navy by 2023.

See highlighted? Russian Navy currently has 5 project 885 Yasen-class SSGNs afloat. Arkhangelsk is outfitting at the pier and getting ready for tests. Perm and Ulyanovsk are being built, to be commissioned into the fleet in 2025.This is seven.

Here are some renderings of Laika compared to Yasen-class, many of whose features Laika inherits. 

What is known that Laika will use a lot of composite materials in her hull and, highly likely, a new, much longer range, version of 3M22 Zircon and advanced torpedoes and ASW missiles Otvet. What many people miss, however, is that already in both strategic missile subs of pr. 955A Borei and Yasen-class SSGN weapon systems could be used from a much greater depth than it is traditional in most previous subs which was about 50 meter give and take a few. We are talking about revolutionary technology and this is just a glimpse into it. Keep in mind also that Ulyanovsk is being built not really as pr. 885M but as pr. 09853--yes, Poseidon and other drones carrier (in Russian). I warned about it for many years, that Revolution is coming and that it is this proverbial revolver at the temple of globalist sociopaths and the US will increasingly lose, not edge, it doesn't have the edge at all for a long time, the arms race and then technology race to both China and Russia. But I am sure new CNO Lisa Franchetti knows it all, wink, wink. 

Hey, I earned myself a minute of having a smug face:

After all... drum roll, drum rolling continues, more of a drum roll: I Told You So.

Do It, Or Else.

That is Pompeo's "ultimatum" to Russia to "comply" with INF Treaty within 60 days. What Pompeo and neocon cabal in D.C. do not understand is that Moscow knows America's behavior several steps ahead. It is easy to forecast since Empire is nauseatingly predictable in self-destructing behavior. As was expected, Russian response to US was "or else what?" The bluff, yet again, will be called and the US will exit both INF and START treaties (START will follow later) because US still thinks that it is scary--it is scary, alright, in a sense of a monkey with a grenade, but in terms of actual policies and actions--US can do very little to influence Russia and, in order to stop Nord Stream-2, among other things will continue to increase the number of provocations akin to Kerch Strait snafu. But, American vassals in Europe are also getting a bit jittery. 

Der Spiegel still asks what will happen if Moscow disagrees with ultimatum (Google will do the job)? 

Dort aber endet die Einigkeit auch schon - denn was passiert, sollte Moskau nicht einknicken, ist offen. Das Problem: Russland besitzt ein Waffensystem, das die militärische Balance in Europa gefährdet. Wolle man Russland wirkungsvoll von weiteren Aggressionen abschrecken, das sagen selbst moderate Experten, werde die Nato wohl wieder aufrüsten müssen. In Frage kommt dann entweder der massive Ausbau der Raketenabwehr in Europa oder die Stationierung neuer nuklearer Mittelstreckenwaffen. 

Well, Der Spiegel is slow, Russia already explicitly stated that it has all means to counter, if need be, and if Germany and Europe really want to draw large fat targets on their maps--they might as well do it now. Russia has means which cannot be stopped by any existing or perspective anti-missile systems, so militarily it really doesn't matter for Russia. For Europe? 

Well, US also wants to exit INF for a number of Chinese "reasons", since China's defense rests to a large degree with China's medium and short range missile technology which comes very handy for the First Island Chain strategies. But while at it, the US sees a great opportunity to coral Euro-wussies and in doing so also stop this proverbial natural gas pipe from being completed, thus making primarily German industry, inevitably, less competitive and more reliant on her big boss across Atlantic. As one observer noted recently, Germany needs Nord Stream-2 way more than Russia does. This is a fact. The sabotage of the Nord Stream-2 will mean much higher energy costs for already high energy share costs of German machine-building complex (Germany's crown jewel) and that means a chance for the US to save herself by becoming an energy exporter (it is most likely a utopian dream but...) and more competitive on the European market. 

To understand that European elites, most of whom were grown and conditioned within the confines of American system of elites' manufacturing, are stupid is not difficult. There is another suicidal client in Europe and it is France. No, I am not talking about riots. As Ria (in Russian) gave a superb review of France's nuclear power energy sector, France declared that she will be shutting down a truck load of its nuclear power stations in the nearest future and will concentrate more on "renewable" sources. Last time I checked, France has a common border with Germany--why wouldn't French ask what happened to Germany's energy sector "managed" by Greens' lobby? French announced an impending closure of a number of her nuclear-power stations, whose share in France's electricity production is 71+%, the highest in the world. But no, France decided to screw herself on the advice of former French "environment" minister Nicholas Hulot whose competencies in energy sector are...drum roll in journalism and environmental activism. Well, you get the picture. So, for all intents and purposes, Russians do not really have anyone with competencies and real power to talk to in the combined West. Western elites are simply incompetent.

The US, and Trump, are not treaty-worthy because the US is not really governable anymore, Europeans are too "liberal" and globalist to follow own real interests--so, how do you deal with them? You just step back and let them do their own thing but you keep your whip ready. Combined West is imploding and there is no denial of this fact. The last remaining vestiges of competence in business are not applicable directly to the governing principles for the nation. This is a global crisis of liberalism, my friends--it is not just economy, it is all of it: cultural, spiritual, moral and ideological. It simply doesn't work and the last hope today is with this guy in Kremlin and his buddies to figure it out how to land this crazy world softly, with as little damage as possible. China may help, but will she? I guess we'll see.  

What Can Come Out Of It?

The talk of Putin-Trump summit this year, likely in the White House, is being heard both in Russia and the US. I have a dual feeling about that. On one hand, it is really necessary, even if for PR purposes, to show that both presidents get along fine and, maybe, just maybe, reduce some tensions. On the other hand, the question is inevitable--how really free Donald Trump is in his foreign policy pursuits when what he has as a national security team, for the lack of better word, can only be described as unmitigated disaster? What he has in Congress in terms of foreign policy is altogether a collection of mostly ignorant war-mongers and Russophobes.

Donald Trump very well may have genuine human intents "to get along" with Russia (after kicking scores of Russian diplomats out of the US) but what are the real political mechanisms for that? I don't see any, except, as strange as it sounds--lines of communications between Russian and American militaries. Russian-American relations in most other, state-run, aspects are completely destroyed by the American side. Obviously, hysterical anti-Russian campaign by US media and Democratic Party establishment in collusion with RINOs and neocons did impede Trumps maneuvers but, it is now 15 months as he is POTUS and US foreign policy went from completely insane to being on a straight course to unleashing a war with Iran, with good chances of eventually Russian and US clashing. What that means, I do not even want to contemplate. 

In the end, Trump is surrounded by people who are not only utterly unqualified for any serious statesman position, nor are they capable of formulating working policies, but, by the looks of it they might be mentally unstable--looking at John Bolton or at Nikki Hailey one gets exactly this impression. US Russophobia reached such a fever pitch, such a crescendo now that the Congress of Russian Americans was forced to send an open letter to POTUS about discrimination and absolutely toxic atmosphere in the US in relation to Russia and Russians. While US media and their pundits bear a lion share of  responsibility for demonizing Russia and Russians, including those who are loyal US citizens (in the end Mr. Clapper gave his vision of Russians' faulty genetics), they also bear a lion share of responsibility for moving the world closer to a terminal confrontation. These are the media which give the stage to people who openly call for killing Russians. This is also the type of people who populate Trump's Administration today and that brings inevitable question to the fore--does Trump even have powers to formulate, set and guide US foreign policy? 

It was understandable that he was greatly limited in his maneuver during huge prominence of Russiagate, but now? Summit for what? Photo-Op? I don't think that Putin is interested in that. Russia (as represented by Vladimir Putin) is interested at this stage with only one thing--a smooth and as less confrontational as possible transition of the world to a new global order which is already here, it now must be formalized politically, economically, culturally. Russia is absolutely NOT interested in US declining to the point of complete irrelevance, in fact, Russia plays Count Gorchakov's long game:

"You know the sentiments of Russia. We desire above all things the maintenance of the American Union as one indivisible nation. We cannot take any part, more than we have done. We have no hostility to the Southern people. Russia has declared her position and will maintain it. There will be proposals of intervention [by Britain]. We believe that intervention could do no good at present. Proposals will be made to Russia to join some plan of interference. She will refuse any intervention of the kind. Russia will occupy the same ground as at the beginning of the struggle. You may rely upon it, she will not change. But we entreat you to settle the difficulty. I cannot express to you how profound an anxiety we feel--how serious are our fears (emphasis in original)."   

Although those times are gone, and there is no trust left in Russia to current US (and West in general), Russia and Russians know what war is and Russia, through Putin, will do everything to avert a disaster. But it will work better if there is at least some help from Trump. Can he deliver? The new global arrangement must be negotiated, in fact, Trump ran and won elections on this program--America desperately needs rethinking of herself in most aspects of activity of the American State and this needs to be done urgently to avert a disaster which American collapse may bring both to the world at large and to Americans themselves. Nobody wants American collapse. Arms Race? Russia is not going to attack the US unless is attacked first, sure, why not talk about arms race. But is Trump a player with some aces up his sleeve or is he now nothing more than a puppet at the disposal of the American exceptionalist cabal and financial fraudsters who support it? The record is not impressive so far, to put it mildly but hope springs eternal but we may as of yet start relying on who Colonel Wilkerson describes as a "Grand chess-master-in-chief" and his last hope.  Hell, come to think about it, Putin today is, indeed, the only man in the world who keeps it from sliding into abyss. As strange as it sounds, he might be the man who gives the United States a chance to survive and maybe turn into normal country. But that is the issue of geopolitical currency and it may require a separate book.  

UPDATE:  

An excellent input on the situation from M.K. Bhadrakumar--an Indian diplomat.