The Military Thread

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/uvllol/empty_nlaw_nextgeneration_light_antitank_weapon/

Interesting use of a NLAW casing turned into an improvised shower.

Unsurprising though. Necessity is the mother of invention, and being stuck out in the middle of fuckall-nowhere sitting on a defensive line or a remote camp behind enemy lines means you gotta get creative with what you have.

Knew a guy who insisted on rigging up a shower in the field "just like it was in Iraq" - a 5 gallon water jug, a pallet and a bar of soap.

The tradition of field kludges in action

Looks like Belarusians are the newest bunch of recruits that the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Battalion changed to a regiment to accomodate them.

There's still the Pahonia/Pahonya Regiment and the Freedom of Russian Legion.

From Yonhap News: Multiple Russian, Chinese warplanes enter KADIZ without notice: JCS

https://www.reuters.com/world/colombia-train-ukrainian-military-landmine-removal-2022-05-23/

Colombian demining (soldier) specialists are heading to Europe to train Ukrainians who are going to handle demining in the country.

Edited by Ominae on May 24th 2022 at 8:30:44 AM

https://twitter.com/JimmySecUK/status/1529033260780732416 Got a vid of a possible Switch Blade use on a T-72, though it could just as easily be a Warmate or Phoenix Ghost, or even a Ukrainian "Silent Thunder."

Anyone recognize the HUD?

Looks to be a Switchblade 300. Seems like a waste, Switchblades won't do shit to a tank.

Does look like there was crew outside the tank it was vectoring for on the left side of it.

Mighta been going for them and not the tank. After all, it's basically just a big expensive paperweight with no crew.

Possibly. Other videos of the event show the tank driving away afterwards, if there are people in the video I’d assume they’re dismounted infantry rather than the the tank’s crew.

Well, still likely the drone's target rather than the Tank itself, I'd think.

Course, it's possible it was also a Warmate or Phoenix Ghost, which do have significantly larger Warheads as well. But we'd really need a comparison of the HUD Cams of all three to know for sure.

Edit: Yeah, there's a closeup pic (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTgoi5LWQAAmAwi?format=png&name=360x360) of just before impact, there's about five or six guys on the left side of the tank, and the HUD targetting point is focused on them.

The 300's essentially a flying Claymore Antipersonnel Mine, after all.

https://twitter.com/KyleJGlen/status/1529077456803708933 RT proudly showing one of their Armed Orland-10s.... completely missing everything it was dropping bombs at.

Edited by Pendrake on May 24th 2022 at 5:04:00 AM

Highly, highly doubt it's either of those other ones. There are numerous videos of this incident, some of which show the SSO team that launched the weapon. It's definitely a Switchblade 300.

If I had to guess, I'd say this probably dates back a few weeks to when the Switchblade was just entering battlefield use and its operators were lacking real-world experience. In the video you can see that the white crosshair which indicates projected flight path/impact location is well in front of the tank opposite the side the people are on, which could indicate that the operator was unfamiliar with the warhead's directionality, and they're also flying it through power lines which is a no no for any RPA.

The warhead isn't really like a Claymore, it's tiny in comparison. Claymores contain 24oz of explosives, a Switchblade's warhead has less than an ounce. Due to the standoff distance it detonates at it's often relying entirely on fragmentation to hurt a target, direct effects from the blast are very minimal unlike a Claymore which can kill with explosive force alone out to almost half of its lethal frag range.

Switchblade's payload is more comparable to a 40mm rifle grenade if not a little weaker.

Well, I meant more due to it being a shaped charge frag grenade that sprays the shrapnel in a frontal cone. That part's like the Claymore. I'm well aware it's not as powerful an explosive.

The Switchblade 300 has roughly similar power to a 40mm UBGL grenade. It is a directed fragmentation warhead that fires forward. It can impact or air burst the warhead.

Dunno if it's been posted - here is an ABC news link to the proposed new names of Forts for the US Army. No more honoring Confederate traitors.

Fun Fact - despite the protests of uncles, aunts and grandparents on Facebook, the naming of Fort Hood, Fort Benning et. al. was done to placate the Congressmen and the local of the camps the Army needed in the run-up to WWI and WWII.

Finally. Those names always baffled me.

Claymores aren’t considered shaped charges, that term refers specifically to the kinds of charges that create penetrating metal jets.

Edited by archonspeaks on May 24th 2022 at 8:31:06 AM

Ah., right, meant "Directional" charge.

I am glad to see the Confed names go.

Qatar's hosting the 2022 Milipol Qatar.

They're also self-promoting FIFA.

Of all of Albert Krupp's many, many crimes, turning the military-industrial complex into an annual circus may in fact just be at the top of the list.

On the Topic of Harpoons, looks like the ones being sent by the Danes are some of their Block I land-based Coastal Defense Batteries. From their "Fishery Protection Squadron."

Man, they're serious about protecting their source of Ludefisk.

Edited by Pendrake on May 25th 2022 at 6:18:26 AM

Lutefisk are a Swedish thing, but yes, fish protection is serious business.

I looked it up, and it's apparently a thing in all Nordic countries, corrected it with the Danish spelling for it. XD The Norse and Finns apparently have their own version as well.

Not too surprising, Sea regions around the same area do tend to share recipes and put their own spin on things thanks to trade (For instance, nearly every country around the Eastern Mediterannean has their own version of the grain salad Tabouli, from Greece to Egypt).

But yeah, the Harpoons the Danes are providing are Block 1 Land-based Truck launchers. May not necessarily be much of a threat to the more modern Russian Black Sea Elements, but they still will be to the grand majority of the fleet, which is dated. And those three Admiral Grigorovich-class Frigates can't cover the entire fleet with their point defenses.

Edited by Pendrake on May 25th 2022 at 6:24:23 AM