Craig

@nicholadrummond @Microinteracti1 Completely agree, neither Russia or Ukrainians have the capability or willingness to luanch a larger scale attacks, it often take multiple hits to stop an AFV, adding in the success rate for a drone attack is around 10%, it would be very easy to take the wrong lessons

You're going to have to do better than this click / rage bait. Every Western army is embracing drone technology and investing in the means to shoot down drones at a cost that's lower than the cost of drones they destroy. Every Western economy is building the industrial capability to sustain output of not just drones, but munitions of all types. No single NATO army can exceed Chinese drone production, but together we have the industrial scale to overmatch China – although your claim of 4 billion Chinese drones per annum lacks any kind of substantiation. If you insist that the tank is dead, it's the same as saying manoeuvre warfare is dead. And you can't retake lost territory without armoured vehicles. And armoured vehicles cannot move without air defence and artillery – both of which Ukraine lacks. Ukraine's focus on drones reflects the reality of their situation: a lack of resources. Ukraine has done brilliantly and drones are indeed here to stay, but don't let this mislead you into believing that what we're seeing in Ukraine reflects the future of warfare.

The West Has Already Lost the Drone War. It Just Hasn’t Noticed Yet. Here is something that should ruin your Monday. A Ukrainian AI drone engineer has gone on record to explain, calmly and with considerable evidence, that Western military planning is not behind the times. It is not lagging. It is not in need of reform. It is dead. Obsolete. A relic propped up by expensive acronyms and men in uniforms who still think the tank is the apex predator of land warfare. Yaroslav Azhnyuk, founder of AI drone company The Fourth Law, has done the maths. FPV drones now account for somewhere between 70 and 80 percent of frontline casualties in Ukraine. Not artillery. Not missiles. Not the armoured columns that NATO has spent forty years and several fortunes preparing to counter. Small, cheap, autonomous flying machines that cost about as much as a decent restaurant dinner and kill with the precision of a surgeon. But here is where it gets genuinely terrifying. China can produce four billion FPV drones per year. Ukraine, a country that has been at war for three years and is building faster than anyone in the West, manages four million. That is the kind of number that makes you want to lie down on the floor and stare at the ceiling for a while. The West is not losing the AI arms race because it lacks the technology. It is losing because it is still arguing about procurement frameworks while the future arrives, uninvited, at four hundred kilometres per hour with a shaped charge attached. Latest 👇 gandalv.substack.com/p/ukraine-the-…

@thinkdefence Got to agree, about the lack of real world experience, through running a business isn't the only background needed, forces, NHS, academics, union, just not professional politicians

And that is the problem, politics is a public sector profession. The pipeline to MP and minister rarely starts in the private sector. They are all cracking at soundbites though, so at least there is that

Whichever massively under qualified non entity with a solid track record of delivering the square root of fuck all that comes after Starmer, will be worse than Starmer

@CoeKeighlan @RDPHistory @stanvdmaarel There have been stories in the wind, not worth starting a war over

@RDPHistory @stanvdmaarel There were a fair few Soviet/US subs that suspiciously vanished during the Cold War. All were put down as accidents, but I have suspicions that there was more to it than that.

May 11th 1982: A RN Wessex helicopter picks up an underwater contact, determined as a nuclear submarine: not ours, nothing Argentine either. An ASW torpedo is launched as HMS Plymouth scrambles her Wasp. Contact deploys three decoys, accelerates to 28 knots and vanishes... 1/2

@RDPHistory Claimed to sink virtually the whole task force so i don't get there logic on that one 😂

May 7th 1982: France confirms only five AM39 Exocets sent to Argentina, five not sent, and two not sent to Peru either. Meanwhile, the UK determines to use the SBS to sink HMS Sheffield to save it from being an embarrassment and to deny Argentina the joy of claiming they sank it.

@RDPHistory We were not Allies in any sense I think we still had an arms embargo against Israel at the time,

May 5th 1982: The British Embassy in Tel Aviv receives a message from Israeli Aircraft Industries to express apology at anything attributed to them in the Jerusalem Post. Oddly, they believe one of their Gabriel missiles has hit HMS Sheffield, which it certainly didn't... 1/2

@JaroslavHonzik There was a court case against Activision which Activision won games are now classed as art therefore the rules around licensing are things are allowed to look like the real thing just can't use any trademarks

😅According to the PlayStation Store, for instance, the content’s name has been changed from ‘Japanese GT500 DLC’ to ‘Japanese Prototypes DLC’. Notably, the ‘GT500’ and ‘JGTC’ suffixes have been removed from each car name (full list below). These have been replaced with ‘JP1’ and ‘JP2’ respectively. Takimiya Circuit (inspired by the Okayama venue) remain unaltered, with the vehicles remaining officially licensed. ---------- Just to ask, I know licencing is expensive, but is this just like "grey" area of avoiding licencing or something like that? Because there is Silverstone, looks like Silverstone and it is Silverstone but it is not Silverstone, and other tracks and stuff so I'm a bit confussed how does this actually work?👀😱

@prestonstew_ Interesting wargame, my question is The Russians do this with what forces, They had trouble firing and moving in 23 with fully professional units. What makes anyone think thats changed

Interesting assessment of a war game where Putin rolled the dice moving into the Baltics ahead of US elections. Lots of 'what ifs' but that's also the point of war games, makes us think through various scenarios. "With the midterms just a week away, the White House chose to engage in talks. They wanted to avoid American military involvement and instead present preventing World War III to the American people as Mr. Trump’s accomplishment. Once the U.S. president stood down, NATO was effectively deactivated: Absent America’s buy-in, allies couldn’t use the organization’s collective defense plans or command-and-control system. They could do little other than watch as Mr. Trump agreed to high-level talks with the Kremlin. Through a combination of military boldness, diplomatic cunning and brinkmanship, we discredited Article 5, NATO’s founding principle of collective defense, and fortified Russia’s position as a key power in Europe."

@thinkdefence If you're under drone Surveillance and attack a bigger vehicle and speed of set up doesn't make a difference they will just follow you, It's been the same case with SP Artillery in Ukraine

Unloading, remoting generators, pitching a 9x9, unfolding folding tables and chairs, cam nets, messing about with map and status boards, and then doing the same in reverse, all whilst under drone surveillance and potential attack. Because we refuse to buy a bigger vehicle

As you all know, I am rather partial to a nice trailer, but the very notion of replacing Land Rover FFR plus trailer and 9x9 tent with a more modern version of exactly the same is beyond madness.

@thinkdefence Got to ask the same question why?

@thinkdefence @nicholadrummond Got to agree with you on this. The only criteria should be is it easy to maintain reliable and have decent off-road

@nicholadrummond I didn't say it was being badly run, or run by idiots. I did say by including all roles in a single platform against an 80/20 use case, the 20 wags the dog. Hence, the whole thing becomes over complicated, takes forever, and costly. See OUVS for further details!

We are massively overcomplicating LMV, a vehicle that will spend 90% of its time moving bin bags across camp and ferrying hot food to a range. Its not a platform, and it doesnt need system of systems integration.

@mike7299 @RDPHistory Politics, if it was known that a real battle had been fought it complicates selling any negotiated settlement to the General Public. It suited both Governments to play down the fighting

@RDPHistory I’ve read your book @RDPHistory and I still can’t fathom a reason for this cover up, maybe shame at not being prepared? Or maybe being prepared but offering NP8901 as a sacrifice? And why have they not received their recommended awards? Disgraceful.

April 19th 1982: An MOD letter from this day, stating that Keith Mills' boys can be interviewed by the press but NOT Section 4 NP8901 or Steve Brooks RN who were there during the Falklands invasion... yet again, I have to reiterate that we were covering up the truth here.

@RDPHistory One of the reasons you will get conflicting reports from documents of the time on the whereabouts of Soviet navy subs is the potential of one getting sunk. Deniability has to be there, WW3 wouldn't start over a sub been dunk where it shouldn't be

April 18th 1982: Anchored around Ascension, RFA Olmeda sights a periscope. HMS Alacrity and Broadsword scramble and soon gain sonar contact, following for two hours. They decide it isn't Argentine and break contact after it is far enough away. Just the Russians having a look...

@thinkdefence They have done it for the tories you seem to have a short memory on that one, as for reform better hope they dont vet any of them if they get in. We set a low bar for what is acceptable in public office.

I wonder if we would have seen the civil service do the same favour if the boss was Conservative or Reform?

@JasonScotBills You're just not trying hard enough 😂 my take on the draft, theres something fundamentally wrong with the way the NFL and those pundits it brings with it evaluate talent, they are just crappy at it

Less than a week to go before mock draft season is over and I feel slightly cheated that I've not been blocked by a content creator this year for saying how fucking dumb their mock drafts are.

@JaroslavHonzik @davidperel Its a very subjective subject. And Its the internet if you disagree with someone you're either an idiot or been paid obviously 😂

I never been paid by any sim racing game. It’s not that hard to understand… I love sims thats why I play them for over 20 years and when I like something I say I like it and I play it and when I don’t I say why… and what can be better 🤷‍♂️

@JasonScotBills In my years of watching the NFL when it comes to the draft the experts get far more wrong then right

Just over a week out from the draft and after muting "mock draft" and just not getting round to listening to any podcasts, I know next to nothing about the prospects. And you know what, it's a good place to be. Because I just don't care about ESPN ranking 500 draft prospects. I'll watch the draft - I like the "spectacle" but I really don't miss all the BS leading up to it. Once we draft some guys, I'll do my reading. In the meantime I'll leave the mocks to the geeks, freaks, basement dwellers and Bruce (not his real name) and Joe the draft expert who can't predict shit. As you were.

@thinkdefence Your misunderstanding what this is. Its more of a plan of what civilian ind./assest can be changed to military application, its always been the case

Improving resilience of Critical National Infrastructure will be hugely expensive. Hence, it won't happen. Having a few documents does not a resilient nation make

@RDPHistory Did the disc have the magic goo

April 9th 1982: In Rio Gallegos, soldiers of the 24th Mechanised Infantry Regiment report a large disc floating over their camp, and two army trucks full of troops vanish and reappear several miles away, with soldiers scattered on the ground... 1/2

@RDPHistory @RSS_40 The Russians have a word for it vranyo it basically means I know I'm lying you know i am lying but we will take it as truth

@mullercj74 @RSS_40 And where the USSR was concerned, nothing was true. Probably in either case 🙄

Every year I try to correct Ricky that K-525 Soviet NAVY (Oscar-I class SSGN) couldn’t shadow the 🇬🇧 British task force on its way to Folklend. The SSGN had been on sea trials at the Barents Sea from 5 April to 21 May and then 11 June the boat arrived at Severodvinsk shipyard

@RDPHistory @RSS_40 I married into a Soviet Military family as my father in law as said many times, there's the official truth and the truth

@mullercj74 @RSS_40 I've now got the truth and there certainly was a cover story which left us both wrong.