Moskva sinking, Ukrainian weapons development, and a wee bit of ranting, of course.

 So, of course, someone re-posted the sinking of the Moskva as if it happened last week, when in fact, it was sunk in April of 2022!  Apparently, over 520 men went to their graves that night.

Sadly, the topic became twisted, and folks started hating onto Ukraine.  Others defended it.  Such as myself.  The haters started complaining that Ukraine "had to accept the western fighting doctrine".

Well, kinda. It was offered.  First to ground troop training, then the other services.  Offered.  And Accepted.  Gratefully, I may add. This was back in 2014, when Canada, Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, the UK and the USA provided Joint Training under the name of "Operation UNIFIER"

It wasn't "had to accept", it was "Do you want to learn the modern battlescape and other stuff?".

Of course they said "sure"! I mean, Ukraine wants to join the EU, and a quick hand up to modern equipment, modern Ethics, Battle Procedure, NCO training, and more were like a Genie offering 3 wishes. Of course, they said yes!

Then Western countries sent our soldiers to the Ukraine and Poland to teach face-to-face with their soldiers that were already, or may be soon fighting the Russians. This happened right after Russia took the Crimea. And the Ukrainians fighting for Crimea learned these lessons, went back home and suggested changes that would work best in Ukraine.

Of course, money was always an issue, and while donations were coming into the Ukraine like crazy, training on all the different weapon systems, tactics, team-building and so on happened quickly using regional equipment and supplies. Modern weapons were a gift, initially. Now, they are becoming a burden because while they now have trained and transitioned to the new "modern" weapons, they have no new modern ammunition to fire on these systems.

Shortly after taking office in 2017, then President МудакTrump started sticking his nose into the Crimea business, stating that Russia owns it now. Then accuses Ukraine of money laundering and other political gaffs, that in reality, simply did not exist. Then, finally, trying to blackmail the Ukrainian president to lie for President Trump, or no weapons. So disgusting!

Let me be very clear here - МудакTrump was the single worst President in American History. He is so in the back pocket of Putin that he actively worked against the Ukrainian people. And American interests.

How?

1. МудакTrump took Russia's side when the conflict began. In 2014, when Ukraine ousted the Pro-Russia regime, Russian troops soon invaded the Crimea. Within weeks, МудакTrump praised Putin for how he handled the takeover of Crimea. Then he began to deny activities that Russia did to further their goals. He denied that Russia shot down a civilian airliner that killed 298 people. МудакTrump sowed doubt about that affair, embracing Putin's denials.
   
   
2. МудакTrump mixed record on arming Ukraine.
   In 2016 during the GOP Convention, the party blocked language from the party platform that called on the US to send lethal arms to Ukraine. In 2019, trump with-held $400 million in military aid to pressure President Zelensky to announce sham corruption investigations into Biden and his family's business dealings. This caused his first impeachment. GOP Senate acquitted Trump.
   Apparently, the GOP are really Russian "Hawks", and МудакTrump continuously pushed a litany of false claims about Ukraine - in public and private.
   
   
3. МудакTrump led an anti-Ukraine smear campaign.
   Throughout his presidency, МудакTrump continued to push a litany of false claims, and never missed an opportunity to criticize Ukraine. МудакTrump believed "Ukraine was a corrupt country, full of terrible people." I wonder where he got that idea from???
   Even knowing that Russia helped МудакTrump win the 2016 election, he claimed it was Ukraine, which he repeated dozens of times, that he was the victim. They downplayed Russia's brazen attack on US democracy, while simultaneously smearing Ukraine. 
   
   
4. МудакTrump repeatedly undermined Zelensky.
   In 2014, Zelensky was a fledgling politician that Trump and his cronies took advantage of as part of a ham-handed attempt to smear candidate Biden. Veteran US Diplomats in Kyiv tried to get more shipments of American weapons, and Zelensky wanted to meet МудакTrump at the White House. These diplomats were smeared and sidelined, and were soon replaced by a band of Trump loyalists  who made his demands clear. Admit Ukraine was investigating Biden and Family, and Trump will release weapons to Ukraine.

But, since then, we've (Canada) had soldiers on the ground training them in: firefight doctrine, advance-to-contact that Canadians perfected, tactics, methodology, S&R, Prisoner Control, Trench Warfare goodies, weapons control and team building for infanteers and tankers alike. Additional training teams are still helping train Ukrainian soldiers on vehicle systems, comms, mine clearing, and many other topics, some very technical. Also on the training calendar were our Engineers showing them "alternate" methods of developing or even utilizing weapons. Officers and NCO's were taught leadership - Western Style, where NCO's can make decisions based upon the orders of officers. Many independent tank commanders are either frocked NCO's or are still NCO's.

To underscore my point about Ranks and Leadership, the Ukraine approved new ranks, NATO-style amendments to military instructions. Because each rank is a higher "trust" level, that Russia does not subscribe towards.

Getting back to how Ukraine may be underdogs, but they are masters at taking old stuff and creating a new weapon. Or to use doctrine that western armies do not necessarily utilize. For example, I would never have thought of using a tank to clear entrenched positions. Usually there is a fireteam behind each tank to do the clearing, while the Tank protects them from enemy vehicles.

I am not a "tanker", so do not know if this is old, or new doctrine, but look, each tank shell costs between $500 and $1500 depending upon application/use. I will innocently assume that the $500 round is a simple HE round. High Explosive. Perfect for trench clearing???

5.56mm (USD$.32 each) or even 7.62mm (USD$.42-.86) bullets are at most, under a dollar each. A .50cal, is a bit more around USD$3.14 each , but what a bang for those bucks, eh?

Recycling and repurposing old out-dated Russian Arms into modern weapons on the cheap. Some teams are still in Poland assisting the ongoing training for Ukrainian soldiers, sailors and airmen. (No NATO soldiers allowed in Ukraine...)

Ukrainians have always been "jacks of all trades, masters of none", but seem to always come up with brilliant solution to seemingly complex problems.

It was probably obvious that Drones would eventually be incorporated into their Weapons Vault, initially only for Recce's! And now, they have their own fledgling industry building their own Bomb-laden Drones, LR-Drone Airplanes and ELR- Drone Missiles.

For example, personal weapons built under license, such as the Israeli "Fort-221 (TAR-21) Bullpup 5.56mm, RoF=750-900 rounds per minute.

And so much more!

Doctrine has been radically challenged by the Ukrainians as well - for example, no need for armoured taxi's in the rear areas when Upgraded SUV's work just as well, and are a helluva lot cheaper than a Bradley or BMP-80. And several non-profit agencies have been and continue raising money to purchase upgraded SUV's, many of them donated, then shipped to Ukraine for small artillery transport, or fireteam relocations. Real non-battle-taxi's.

Why add wear and tear on armoured vehicles moving a couple guys in the rear areas 20 km, when a SUV will suffice?

Save the armoured veh for front-line replacement!!!

And now, as more armoured vehicles are landing in the Ukraine, (Such as the Aussie monster, the "Bushmaster"!), so these SUV's can stay in the rear areas making transiting between HQ's much faster, if not a bit more comfortable too. Let the Bushmasters do the front-line taxi service, eh?

SUV - 4 soldiers w/kit. 40km move, perhaps 15L gas. One driver.
APC - 4 soldiers w/kit, 40km move, perhaps 80L Diesel. Plus Driver and Crew Commander, and perhaps a gunner. So 3 folks taken away from other duties.
Plus extra maintenance, oil, track/wheel repairs...

For example, the Bradley IFV has a 0.75mpg US Gallon) average fuel consumption. (Yes, I looked this up, and it's true, apparently...)
This is why the Bradley also has a Secondary Generator to provide power using a much smaller motor, when static. Oh, and the metric mileage? Conveniently, that works out to about 175L/100km! Can you just imagine???

Yeah, the Ukrainians are not dumb. Just willing to try stuff out, making us look like fools. I mean, it took Canada 20 years to decide on, purchase, develop and finally start to receive the new choppers. Still waiting for the last 2. It would probably have taken Ukraine 2 years to do the same purchase. Decide what they want, put out tenders, sign ironclad contract, start receiving goods with a couple years.

Big Difference, but that is just my opinion - based on how slow Canada is to get new kit for it's warriors!

Today, dozens of Ukrainian companies are making drones that play a critical role in the war. Many of those drones are doing reconnaissance work or carrying out attacks along the frontline inside Ukraine. But increasingly, Ukraine is sending attack drones deep into Russia to hit air bases, weapons depots and fuel storage sites.

"Most of the companies here are the companies that were created a couple of years ago, or even a couple of months ago," a representative of the drone company Airlogix, stated.

I hate to say it, but Ukraine runs their arms industry like Мудак Elon Musk runs SpaceX. Fast iteration.

I cannot wait to see what they come up with next.

Slava Ukraini!

Ukrainian report by NPR on latest developments, builds and uses of Drones

4 things to remember about Мудак Trump.

 Whups!  Wait a second

Hold on folks, I'm sure you have some questions about the colouring of certain lines of text. 
Check it out!

Color Coding - I hope to enact and carry this out from now on:

Black will be regular text, the story.
Bold Black will be regular Headers.
Light Blue will be links to other articles outside of this one.
Red/Brown will indicate that which I think is my own opinion or knowledge based upon my old training/education.
Dark Blue will be "researched facts", and IMO, is the truth as I understand the fact.

Perhaps more will come out with feedback, etc.