What does this suggest to you? I suppose this could be accounted for in different ways. However, the wording “using up” suggests to me that the munitions are being deployed to the UK forces and are being used. It must be that they’re not as effective as we were led to believe. I saw one video—and obviously I can’t vouch for it—that purported to show a Russian tank that had taken three hits by NATO anti-tank munitions, but made it back to base under it’s own power. The turret was a complete loss, but the rest of the tank was still functioning. In any event, this news comports with what we’re hearing from other NATO countries—they no longer have any weapons to spare. The Russians are grinding them down.
Former anti-armor platoon leader in the 82nd Airborne (~2008-09 timeframe) offering his $0.02 here. The Javelin is an important weapon system, but remember that the doctrinal definition of “destroying” a tank isn’t rendering every part of it useless for all time.
A shaped charge warhead (or two firing back to back) spewing molten metal into a sealed turret and killing the crew inside, rendering the vehicle unserviceable but salvageable still counts as a kill. We need not expect the turret be blown clean off. Students of the US Army’s armored drives in 1944-1945 will recall thousands of Sherman’s being knocked out of the fight by anti-tank guns and panzerfausts only to be dragged back to field repair plants where the crew would be washed out of the turret and the vehicles would be patched up enough to be put back into action with new tank crews. If the Russians can establish such repair centers close behind the lines and find replacement crews then the Ukrainians are screwed.
Senator Klimov: “We already have Prisoners among the Professional Military Personnel of NATO countries, we will show all this when We Conduct Trials and the whole world will see what really happened”
"Did any of those billions in aid money somehow get diverted?"
Diversion of any Javelins or Stingers is a nightmare if they fall in the hands of the wrong people. I worked in the arms industry, and both were incredibly tightly controlled; only a small number of countries could even be briefed and marketed to. Nothing into Eastern Europe.
Use of such in a congested battlefield is problematic. Problems including intel and cueing - shooting the right target the right time and only once. Probably untold numbers lost to undisciplined fire (i.e., targeting light vehicles that could be safely ignored or destroyed with lighter, cheaper weapons) or repeated fire (spotting a tank at range and firing without realizing that it was already disabled).
PS - UK is United Kingdom. Ukraine is UA or UKR per ISO standards.
"SO-3166 Alpha-2. UA is the two-letter country abbreviation for Ukraine."
UKR is the three-letter country abbreviation for Ukraine.
Former anti-armor platoon leader in the 82nd Airborne (~2008-09 timeframe) offering his $0.02 here. The Javelin is an important weapon system, but remember that the doctrinal definition of “destroying” a tank isn’t rendering every part of it useless for all time.
A shaped charge warhead (or two firing back to back) spewing molten metal into a sealed turret and killing the crew inside, rendering the vehicle unserviceable but salvageable still counts as a kill. We need not expect the turret be blown clean off. Students of the US Army’s armored drives in 1944-1945 will recall thousands of Sherman’s being knocked out of the fight by anti-tank guns and panzerfausts only to be dragged back to field repair plants where the crew would be washed out of the turret and the vehicles would be patched up enough to be put back into action with new tank crews. If the Russians can establish such repair centers close behind the lines and find replacement crews then the Ukrainians are screwed.
Thanks for the feedback.
8 billion was last count. Think about how many miles of border wall that’d get ya.
Senator Klimov: “We already have Prisoners among the Professional Military Personnel of NATO countries, we will show all this when We Conduct Trials and the whole world will see what really happened”
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/british-elite-sas-soldiers-are-training-troops-ukrainian-territory
Saw that. Ouch
The deceased US mercenary's story is an odd one. He was from California and before war broke out, had been seeking to retrieve his young son abducted by his UKR mother - http://www.timesheraldonline.com/2022/03/21/us-father-desperate-to-get-2-year-old-son-home-from-ukraine/amp/
And then he was abducted by Azov and toasted.
"Did any of those billions in aid money somehow get diverted?"
Diversion of any Javelins or Stingers is a nightmare if they fall in the hands of the wrong people. I worked in the arms industry, and both were incredibly tightly controlled; only a small number of countries could even be briefed and marketed to. Nothing into Eastern Europe.
Use of such in a congested battlefield is problematic. Problems including intel and cueing - shooting the right target the right time and only once. Probably untold numbers lost to undisciplined fire (i.e., targeting light vehicles that could be safely ignored or destroyed with lighter, cheaper weapons) or repeated fire (spotting a tank at range and firing without realizing that it was already disabled).
PS - UK is United Kingdom. Ukraine is UA or UKR per ISO standards.
"SO-3166 Alpha-2. UA is the two-letter country abbreviation for Ukraine."
UKR is the three-letter country abbreviation for Ukraine.
Thatnks.
Cynics! LOL!
I am willing to just baldly assert that a lot of the weapons are being diverted to the black market.
Washington will fight Russia to the last Ukranian, and wait for it, American, too.