2s35 are very likely to be in combat.
We're desperately short on photo proofs, but units that have them are known to be in action.
Russian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter tphuang
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We're desperately short on photo proofs, but units that have them are known to be in action.
Skorpion rucksacks & sleeves (PK, PKP machine gun) purchased via crowdfunding and shipped to Russian SSO and SOBR units in Ukr; 475 rds in pack, 75 rds in sleeve.
Russia’s military industrial capabilities are much less vast than most people think.
It has remnants of isolated portions of what was once a large but already outdated military industrial capacity that was distributed across several former Soviet republics. That does not make for real military industrial capability now, much less industrial capability adequate to produce competitive products on any large scale. Worse It’s ability to reconstitute that capacity is nonexistent. At best to focus on reconstituting only small part of its previous capability on much smaller scale.
It is more than a petrol state. But what more it has is a wasting asset, not a sustainable source of long term conventional strength.
Remember, nuclear arm is the cheap shield that covers for inadequacies in much more costly large scale conventional capabilities.
Russia’s conventional strength had only avoided a even steeper decline than it actually experienced because relatively low investments that much richer countries made in the conventional arms between 1990-2020. Russia’s relative conventional decline is bound to accelerate because Russia will now become poorer, while far richer countries will invest more in conventional arms.
So Russia will certainly increasingly rely on her nuclear arms.
Biden’s stated goal of weakening Russia and make her unable to launch a similar attack is one that achieved itself in the long run. This raised the question of what would Russia do to preserve the credibility of force as a means of attaining her objectives when her ability to launch conventional invasions against major countries will inevitably be seen to decline?
The answer is Russia has to make people believe she will use nuclear weapons to solve conventional dilemmas.
So I am 99% certain Russia will use tactical nuclear weapons in this war even if there is no military necessity for it. I would not even be completely surprised if Russia attack Finland or Sweden’s military installations with tactical nuclear weapons on the eve of their acceptance into NATO.
It has remnants of isolated portions of what was once a large but already outdated military industrial capacity that was distributed across several former Soviet republics. That does not make for real military industrial capability now, much less industrial capability adequate to produce competitive products on any large scale. Worse It’s ability to reconstitute that capacity is nonexistent. At best to focus on reconstituting only small part of its previous capability on much smaller scale.
It is more than a petrol state. But what more it has is a wasting asset, not a sustainable source of long term conventional strength.
Remember, nuclear arm is the cheap shield that covers for inadequacies in much more costly large scale conventional capabilities.
Russia’s conventional strength had only avoided a even steeper decline than it actually experienced because relatively low investments that much richer countries made in the conventional arms between 1990-2020. Russia’s relative conventional decline is bound to accelerate because Russia will now become poorer, while far richer countries will invest more in conventional arms.
So Russia will certainly increasingly rely on her nuclear arms.
Biden’s stated goal of weakening Russia and make her unable to launch a similar attack is one that achieved itself in the long run. This raised the question of what would Russia do to preserve the credibility of force as a means of attaining her objectives when her ability to launch conventional invasions against major countries will inevitably be seen to decline?
The answer is Russia has to make people believe she will use nuclear weapons to solve conventional dilemmas.
So I am 99% certain Russia will use tactical nuclear weapons in this war even if there is no military necessity for it. I would not even be completely surprised if Russia attack Finland or Sweden’s military installations with tactical nuclear weapons on the eve of their acceptance into NATO.
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That is certainly not the case for the MIC. The Russian MIC is leading edge. And Russia has certain industries like nuclear power with Rosatom which are also leading edge. It is correct a lot was not produced in Russia proper, and ended up in the other SSRs, but Russia has spent almost two decades reproducing a lot of those capabilities inside Russia. It has lost access to some important things like civilian shipbuilding. Large ships typically built in Ukraine and fishing ships in Finland. Just recently they were still ordering fishing ships from Norway. But more recently they moved production of large fishing vessels to Russia as a way to load Russian shipyards. And the largest shipbuilder in the world is China. If Russia really needs to they can order civilian ships from China like everyone else does.
To a large degree, Russia did not bother making certain products inside Russia because it was easier to import them, but do not mistake lack of current production capacity with lack of capability. One good example is the marine gas turbines. They were done in Ukraine. And guess what, Ukraine was supposed to pay back the gas they got with something, and gas turbines were one of those things. But a country which can make aviation gas turbines can also make marine ones. So they did. It took like 4 years. Same deal happened with helicopter gas turbines or micro-turbines in cruise missiles. Right now, the Russian civilian power industry is concerned with the embargo on parts for large civilian gas turbines used in power generation. Well, Russia has already been designing their own for like 7 years, eventually you will see them enter service. Once again, this is the same technological base, they did not need to make their own so they imported, but after Crimea and an embargo on sales there they started the project. Civilian aviation will end up the same way. People forget the Soviets used to have a leading civilian aviation industry, used to be the second largest in the world, the Tu-154 was one of the most sold civilian transport aircraft. And guess which are the top five largest aviation markets? China, US, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. And Russia has good relations with all of them except the US.
China just by itself has a gargantuan industrial capacity which can displace the whole West put together. Even just two decades ago Russia bought next to nothing from China. Right now they are their major trade partner. And this will accelerate.
To a large degree, Russia did not bother making certain products inside Russia because it was easier to import them, but do not mistake lack of current production capacity with lack of capability. One good example is the marine gas turbines. They were done in Ukraine. And guess what, Ukraine was supposed to pay back the gas they got with something, and gas turbines were one of those things. But a country which can make aviation gas turbines can also make marine ones. So they did. It took like 4 years. Same deal happened with helicopter gas turbines or micro-turbines in cruise missiles. Right now, the Russian civilian power industry is concerned with the embargo on parts for large civilian gas turbines used in power generation. Well, Russia has already been designing their own for like 7 years, eventually you will see them enter service. Once again, this is the same technological base, they did not need to make their own so they imported, but after Crimea and an embargo on sales there they started the project. Civilian aviation will end up the same way. People forget the Soviets used to have a leading civilian aviation industry, used to be the second largest in the world, the Tu-154 was one of the most sold civilian transport aircraft. And guess which are the top five largest aviation markets? China, US, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. And Russia has good relations with all of them except the US.
China just by itself has a gargantuan industrial capacity which can displace the whole West put together. Even just two decades ago Russia bought next to nothing from China. Right now they are their major trade partner. And this will accelerate.
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That's crowd funded? How do I donate?
Try finding Maryana Naumova's page XD. Think she's organizing one.
I think you are conflating technology with industrial capability when saying Russia MIC is leading edge. There are a lot of area technology wise where Russia is still quite advanced, but it has fallen quite far behind in terms of industrial capability. It's MICs is simply incapable of producing stuff at the same rate as Chinese or American MIC (at least an order of magnitude lower).
And over the past 30 years, it has basically taken the easy step of buying electronics from Western countries to put on its military hardware rather than developing its own modern electronics supply chain. That's really hurt its military production as Western countries placed embargoes on Russia.
Russia industrial capability to sustain long operations more or less equal to US with all its globalizations. US without Russian titanium will need to import far more expensive inputs. Germanic/Italian export machines that sustain Western World depended on good relations with Russia. the more expensive Siemens turbines. the more expensive oil/gas productions.
climate change and integration of part of Ukraine further improve Russian bargaining position. Just look at Middleast and Africa you will get idea. It need some serious ability to maintain airpower and ground supply chains.
only Russia is capable of building civilian airliner 100%. even the imported one like Superjet imported components at max 50%. this cannot be replicated anywhere else.
if russia is able to build civilian airliners 100%, then why is almost 100% of its own civilian airliner fleet consist of planes that are 100% foreign made? People forget Russia is a third rate country with a first rate nuclear arsenal, and think it is a country with first rate capability out of proportion to her long time economy and productivity performance actually can somehow have that capability be overlooked.
A more realistic indication of russia’s true capabilities is to be seen from the fact that her G5 fighter fleet still consist of one fewer planes than fingers on one hand, and those 5 are of notably inferior fabrication quality compare to their vastly more numerous American and chinese contemporaries, and she has commission no new warship larger than about 6000 tons in over 20 years, and her fancy new tank needed to be towed off of the first parade they attended.
she is a third rate nation going through the motions of punching far above her weight, hoping no one will notice her light weight. but her light weight is showing more snd more clearly with each punch motion she goes through.
A more realistic indication of russia’s true capabilities is to be seen from the fact that her G5 fighter fleet still consist of one fewer planes than fingers on one hand, and those 5 are of notably inferior fabrication quality compare to their vastly more numerous American and chinese contemporaries, and she has commission no new warship larger than about 6000 tons in over 20 years, and her fancy new tank needed to be towed off of the first parade they attended.
she is a third rate nation going through the motions of punching far above her weight, hoping no one will notice her light weight. but her light weight is showing more snd more clearly with each punch motion she goes through.
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