How many plans has NATO gone through to try to beat Russia in Ukraine?
Let's count 'em!
Plan A: The FGM-148 Javelin
It seems absurd now, but in late 2021 NATO's leadership thought Javelin was a tank-deleting magic wand that would deter Putin from challenging Zelensky's scheme to conquer the LDPR.
Javelin failed in service and is a rare sight on the battlefield.
Plan B: The Kazakh Gambit
The West quite obviously fomented an uprising in Kazakhstan in January 2022 in hopes of distracting Russia from the then-boiling Ukrainian crisis.
Didn't work. CSTO troops arrived and helped the Kazakh government crush the would-be color revolution.
Plan C: Crippling sanctions
Undeterred by Ukraine's new shoulder-fired missiles, the Russians invaded anyways. The West responded with brutal sanctions designed to crash the Russian economy.
Not only did it fail, the sanctions scheme backfired spectacularly, choking Europe.
Plan D: Soviet Arms
Most of NATO's actual combat power in Europe was in the form of Soviet equipment left over in Eastern European arsenals from the days of the Warsaw Pact.
This equipment was handed over to Ukraine en masse, greatly weakening NATO in the process.
Plan E: Precision Weapons and ISR
NATO's blank check to Zelensky in April 2022 wasn't just for money and old weapons - they promised him cutting-edge precision fires on the largest scale they could sustain.
Didn't work out. I wrote a thread on it.
Plan F: Cope Drones
With massive Western aid, the Ukrainians stood up a series of programs in 2023 to field long-range strike and naval drones.
Generally these things have served as little more than target practice for the Russian military.
Plan G: Commandos!
Obviously planning to relive their greatest hits from WWII, the British have been heavily involved in training Ukrainian commandos and planning raids on Russian territory.
These guys' actual survival rates in these operations would make kamikaze pilots blush.
Plan H: Western Armor
Soviet leftovers weren't doing the job going into 2023, but surely Western tanks - which humiliated the Iraqi Republican Guard and their T-72s in 1991 - would send the Russians running!
Turns out Leopards, Abrams and Challenger 2s aren't anything special.
Plan I: The Arsenal of Democracy
Surely the West could produce more ammunition than Russia so as to allow Ukraine to turn the tables and win in industrial war!
Ukraine's artillery remains on a starvation diet with ancient and degraded Western factories never coming up to speed.
Plan J: A whole Western army
Piecemeal equipment donations weren't cutting it. For Ukraine's war-winning 2023 offensive, NATO trained and equipped a whole new army for them - larger than any in Europe.
It burned in failed breach after failed breach in Zaporozhie.
Plan K: Long-Range Weapons
Maybe the Russians could be beaten with precision strikes deep in their hitherto-secure rear?
NATO would hand over its most powerful and coveted standoff weapons en masse to Ukraine - and see them expended for precious little in the way of results.
Plan L: Just Buy Ammo
With the West unable to produce enough ammo, the Czechs tried to step up with a plan to buy a million shells on the global marketplace.
They paid extortionate prices for handfuls of rusted-out, often unusable munitions from Africa.
Plan M: Western Aircraft
Having run out of Soviet aircraft to send and with the Ukrainian Air Force on the verge of extinction, NATO is now reconstituting them with Western jets.
Jury's still out on this one, but their new F-16s have not made any real impression thus far.
Plan N: The Kursk Gambit
Surely a bold attack on "old" Russian territory will panic the Kremlin and turn the tables of the war!
A month in and the small Ukrainian-occupied bulge in Kursk Oblast is being ironed out and the front line in the Donbass is collapsing.
Plan O: Just... act like we've won?
The current plan seems to be to try to dictate terms at the Russians in negotiations and hope they accept them, the events of the last three years notwithstanding.
I've probably missed a few, put your nominations in the comments!
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