History in the Making: Russian Invasion

In reply to 02Pilot :

I agree that I think the Russians were not expecting any sizable resistance. The repelling of their airborne forces at the airport was likely a large fly in the ointment. I can guarantee they were expecting to be using that location today for resupply and reinforcements. They may still achieve that task but it's at least a day later. 
 

I'll give the Ukrainians credit for fighting hard up to this point when faced with better armed and trained forces. 
 

the Russians have been pretty lackluster to date and I hope that trend continues. Unprovoked aggression like this should not be championed or even accepted. I would like to see more EU support, especially air support, but I also understand they don't look forward to watching their population freeze to death this winter either. 

In reply to Beer Baron :

Unfortunately the a10 to Air Force brass has always been the red headed stepchild they never wanted. IIRC the first time they tried to kill it off in the late 80's the us army volunteered to transfer the planes to supplement the apaches. Hubris and funding made them shy away. Air Force has never wanted to be in CAS. The boys in the ground do. 

93EXCivic said:

 

Was that a downed chopper at the end of the video/beginning of the column?

In reply to Beer Baron :

Yep, I was chatting with an Air Force F-15 jock a couple of years ago.  We were discussing how good the F-15 was (and it really is a badass piece of hardware, capable of going toe-to-toe with anything in the world) and he told me about being involved in the F-22 trials where one 22 went up against five 15's for training fights.  The F-22 was undefeated in dozens of encounters.  He was quite the believer in the new hardware.

In reply to KyAllroad :

Air superiority fighters=/= cas planes. There hasn't been a fresh sheet design for a replacement CAS aircraft since republic presented the a10 in the late 60's. The air force wants to use high and medium altitude fighters to be cas bombers. 
 

tuna55 said:

stroker said:

tuna55 said:

93EXCivic said:

In reply to tuna55 :

My guess is that they believe the Ukrainians won't launch a counterattack on the area maybe.

Or Putin is about to do some of even more epically evil proportions.

I'm hoping the former. The latter doesn't make sense even from an evil perspective. As bad as Chernobyl is and was, simply destroying the buildings and letting the reactor hit the atmosphere just brings us back to 1986, it annoys everyone and over years people downstream of the plume suffer higher cancer rates and lower lifespan, but it doesn't fit into any maniacal plan really.

isn't there some sort of heat exchanger running on liquid nitrogen under the floor to keep the pile from going all "China Syndrome" into the ground water...?  I'm basing that off the HBO series so it might be complete BS...

I do not think that is accurate.

Ice walls are what they are using around Fukushima to help contain radiation-soaked water. So I'm not sure where "China Syndrome" comes that he mentioned. 

bobzilla said:

93EXCivic said:

 

 

Was that a downed chopper at the end of the video/beginning of the column?

I think artillery being towed

In reply to bobzilla :

The A10 is still an effective platform when paired with SEAD aircraft for defense against AA/SA threats (wild weasel).  I think our current SEAD aircraft is a version of the F16 Viper.  You are correct, the CAS role doesent appear to be a current Air Force priority, as it's believed the F35B model can perform comparably in that role.   But, it can't carry the ordinance load and it doesn't have that big honkin' gun that goes brrrrrt... 

Back on topic.  President Zelensky and his staff is still in Kyiv, and city residents are taking up arms according to the BBC.

06HHR (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to bobzilla :

The A10 is still an effective platform when paired with SEAD aircraft for defense against AA/SA threats (wild weasel).  I think our current SEAD aircraft is a version of the F16 Viper.  You are correct, the CAS role doesent appear to be a current Air Force priority, as it's believed the F35B model can perform comparably in that role.   But, it can't carry the ordinance load and it doesn't have that big honkin' gun that goes brrrrrt... 

Brrrrrt is love.  Brrrrrt is life.

Someone needs to take out the bridge from russia to crimea.

Russia is threatening Finland and Sweden now.

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-threatens-finland-sweden-nato-ukraine-invasion-1682715

I think there are quite a few Russian soldiers already 6 ft under in Finland

A possible thought on Chernobyl;

Aside from the melted down part of that area, I believe there might a part of the "grid" (electric distribution) that might have some centralized control. 
If so, that would be a HUGE strategic thing to have control over. 
Just a thought... no clue on its accuracy 

z31maniac said:

tuna55 said:

stroker said:

tuna55 said:

93EXCivic said:

In reply to tuna55 :

My guess is that they believe the Ukrainians won't launch a counterattack on the area maybe.

Or Putin is about to do some of even more epically evil proportions.

I'm hoping the former. The latter doesn't make sense even from an evil perspective. As bad as Chernobyl is and was, simply destroying the buildings and letting the reactor hit the atmosphere just brings us back to 1986, it annoys everyone and over years people downstream of the plume suffer higher cancer rates and lower lifespan, but it doesn't fit into any maniacal plan really.

isn't there some sort of heat exchanger running on liquid nitrogen under the floor to keep the pile from going all "China Syndrome" into the ground water...?  I'm basing that off the HBO series so it might be complete BS...

I do not think that is accurate.

Ice walls are what they are using around Fukushima to help contain radiation-soaked water. So I'm not sure where "China Syndrome" comes that he mentioned. 

Apparently that part of the HBO series was "dramatized"

"

8. The miners

The brave miners who made huge efforts to dig a tunnel under the reactor building to install a heat exchanger to remove heat from under the core also did so in vain: the heat exchanger was never used as the core cooled before it was installed. The risk of radioactivity entering the water table under the reactor (sited near a lake and river system) was found to be elevated, but still low."

Per this

Bosses family is opting to stay put in Poltava.  They're elderly.

They say things are calm in their city and not to worry, but their neighbors (Haikov?) are currently under fire.  They say most people in that town have taken shelter in bunkers, etc. 

(Map for reference I'm the yellow pin, they're the red)

Mr_Asa said:

Brrrrrt is love.  Brrrrrt is life.

My friends from the "conflict" refer to puff the magic dragon...

In reply to 06HHR (Forum Supporter) :

They are trying the tried and failed "one size fits all approach". 

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

If the Ukrainian people are anything like my friends in the Polish community here in Chicago, many of whom grew up under the USSR, I highly doubt there are many with the "meh" attitude.  They're all vehemently anti-Russian, even before this situation started.

So the French embassy and staff is still in Kyiv. If that gets hit, does that kick off Article 5?

Moldovan chemical tanker and Japanese bulk carrier both attacked by Russians today.

https://splash247.com/two-more-ships-hit-in-the-black-sea/

I wonder what Japan is going to do with that?

93EXCivic said:

Russia is threatening Finland and Sweden now.

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-threatens-finland-sweden-nato-ukraine-invasion-1682715

I think there are quite a few Russian soldiers already 6 ft under in Finland

A good time to fast-track them into NATO. I would not want to mess with Finland.

Javelin said:

Moldovan chemical tanker and Japanese bulk carrier both attacked by Russians today.

https://splash247.com/two-more-ships-hit-in-the-black-sea/

I wonder what Japan is going to do with that?

Likely strong words since it was a commercial vessel. They're friendless now (Russia) and it appears more and more like a petulant child throwing a really big tantrum.

tuna55 said:

 

A good time to fast-track them into NATO. I would not want to mess with Finland.

Finland might want to check and see where they get almost all their natural gas from...

tuna55 said:

Javelin said:

Moldovan chemical tanker and Japanese bulk carrier both attacked by Russians today.

https://splash247.com/two-more-ships-hit-in-the-black-sea/

I wonder what Japan is going to do with that?

Likely strong words since it was a commercial vessel. They're friendless now (Russia) and it appears more and more like a petulant child throwing a really big tantrum.

I am not going to lie. I am starting to worry. Things seem to be coming apart quickly.

Putin seems more and more unstable.

aircooled said:

tuna55 said:

 

A good time to fast-track them into NATO. I would not want to mess with Finland.

Finland might want to check and see where they get almost all their natural gas from...

You can't plan a war based on commodities. The plan would have to include toppling Putin and setting up Russia as a new state, who I'm sure would be glad to sell its resources. There are also other sources of natural gas. There are other ways to get electricity as well. I don't mean this to be simplistic, but we (NATO, US, Finland, whoever) can't simply be afraid that Russia wouldn't maintain the economic status quo, they are likely not to anyway.