petit_bateau
Active Member
Some wider aspect items of interest
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Russia/Ukraine conflict
- Thread starter amolina
- Start date
lolachampcar
Well-Known Member
The world is changing before our eyes.
Re: Aircraft and Pilots
Old dudes can pull Gs and are typically quite capable in Red Flag and WVR training engagements.
There are likely a lot of issues surrounding non-active military pilots flying F-16s for Ukraine - those people are typically not allowed to exercise those skill sets without the expressed written permission of those who trained them.
It's all "do-able" but very complicated.
Re: Aircraft and Pilots
Old dudes can pull Gs and are typically quite capable in Red Flag and WVR training engagements.
There are likely a lot of issues surrounding non-active military pilots flying F-16s for Ukraine - those people are typically not allowed to exercise those skill sets without the expressed written permission of those who trained them.
It's all "do-able" but very complicated.
A missile gap still reigns
To stay on military flight status requires passing a medical exam yearly. Those who do leave in good health are walking into very well paying airline jobs. The airlines had a rough go from 2001 to around 2015 between 9/11 and the housing crisis in 2008. They had hiring freezes on during most of that time. As a result, the pilots got older and a large number are facing mandatory retirement age for the rest of this decade. I think it's somewhere around 42% of American airline pilots will have to retire.
As a result, the airlines are offering big bonuses for military pilots and a lot of leaving. The US military is short of pilots and scrambling to increase the training regime to get more trained this year.
A large percentage of ex-military pilots who aren't flying professionally are probably not flying for medical reasons. Some of them can probably do limited maneuvers in a fighter, but they won't be able to get through a 9 g turn in a modern fighter, which also has to be done at suicidally low altitudes because of Russian AD systems. Blacking out below 1000 feet is a death sentence.
Another thought is that western fighter pilots would have to go through some training to adapt to the air environment in Ukraine. Western air forces train to be the biggest baddest thing in the sky and assume they will be able to do whatever they want once all the AD it taken out by the SEAD guys. They aren't used to sneaking around literally under the radar, popping up to fire, then ducking back down again. That would be the mission profile. Taking down the entire Russian AD network would take a force like the USAF and that kind of force under the UAF would take some time to get operational even if they had the western volunteers and the aircraft to do it.
Once the war is over, I can see Ukraine integrating their air force into the NATO network (formally or informally depending on what Hungary and Turkey have to say) and updating to an entire western aircraft fleet. They will also stress the SEAD mission because that is necessary with their likely opponent if the Russians are ever capable of coming back (which may never happen).
If a global alliance forms that is like NATO with most NATO members to counter China who may be the only serious conventional threat to democracies for the next century, or rogue nuclear powers like North Korea or Iran. Ukraine could become an impotant part of the alliance.
Militarily I think Russia is going to be flat on its back coming out of this war. Russia has blown through most of their legacy from the USSR and their industry really isn't up to building the kind of volumes needed to replace all their losses. Many of their bling weapons really haven't gone into production because they didn't get any export customers. Without a major export order or two to pay for tooling, they can't afford to ramp up production on advanced weapons systems. And many critical components of those systems are dependent on supplies from other countries.
I still think that there is a high probability for a balkanization of Russia coming out of this war. That would completely eliminate them as a serious military threat to anybody except with nuclear weapons. The new countries with most of the resources won't have much appetite for war, and the Moscow region will want to put the empire back together again, but won't have the resources to do it. Moscow contributes a big chunk to the Russian GDP, but most of it is administrative. Most of the real work that generates wealth is all done a long ways from Moscow. That will all belong to someone else post Russia.
But China is a growing global threat and maybe this war is waking Europe up to that fact. An alliance of most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, the US, and Canada would change China's calculus about taking military action. China has no recent military experience (since they shifted from an infantry heavy force to a mechanized force) and they would have to contend with a number of opponents with recent military experience. Ukrainian military advisors could train the Taiwanese military for example.
I was curious about the "middle gap" thanks for the clarification.
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
Conflicting claims about the "fuel depot/ammo depot", not sure what to believe
This is a great example of folks in the West doing mental gymnastics to believe a narrative that suits them, even when it is removed from reality.
People in this thread literally immediately believed some unverified source saying it was a depot for spent Soviet era fuel because they didn't want to believe millions in Western aid went up in smoke before their eyes.
That's why this thread is an absolute joke.
Yet you keep posting propaganda here in support of a genocidal lunatic.
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
Apparently you immediately believed some other unverified source saying it wasn't.
Tiger
Active Member
Geely is selling Zeekr EV in russia.. business as usual
They are sanctioning oil
Cleaner air is long game anyways, I approve. Also, it (imports) is taking helping tank the currency.
SwedishAdvocate
Active Member
Maybe I'm misunderstanding. I have no problem with balkanization. It's the divide and conquer part that I think is problematic. Or do you mean divide and conquer between 'fascists' and 'pro-democracy' within every new sovereign country after a hypothetical balkanization of what today is Russia? My ideal scenario would be that all that today is Russia becomes democratic. Whether it balkanizes or not is not what is most important. And I do of course realize that democracy in all of what today is Russia has 'some ways' to go before it can become a reality...
BitJam
Active Member
That is a BS channel. A recent video said Crimea was already liberated. I'm sure there are nuggets of truth to support the lies but best to simply ignore the channel.
BitJam
Active Member
Ukraine's Commander in Chief, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, gives his first video interview (since the start of the war)
The article has a link to a 50 minute video of the interview with English (and Russian) subtitles. I haven't watched it yet. The name of the channel translates to the world is upside down.
Perhaps a human life is the cheapest thing in Russia.
The article has a link to a 50 minute video of the interview with English (and Russian) subtitles. I haven't watched it yet. The name of the channel translates to the world is upside down.
Can EV's be manufactured without fossil fuels?They are sanctioning oil
