@GreenSpike5 @RALee85 While the idea of doing something like this to an Iron Dome is attractive. It falls apart on financial grounds.

The US Army's 227mm GMLRS runs $110,000 a round after 50,000 have been built and production lines are running at 9,000 units a year.

@GreenSpike5 @RALee85 The US Army likes to keep upgrading the GMLRS baseline over time. So their whole mass production cost reduction curve gets d*cked to h-ll and gone.

Yet even if the US Army accepted 100m versus 10m CEP, you are still in the $25,000-to-$40,000 per rocket range.
@GreenSpike5 @RALee85 Twelve Grad launchers with 40 rockets each is 480 rockets.

At $25K to $40K per rocket, you are talking about $12 million to $19.2 million for a saturation guided rocket attack.

That amounts to a virtual kill on your rocket ammo supply.

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More from @TrentTelenko

18 Jun
@idreesali114 General Mark Milley is deluding himself.

A UH-60M Blackhawk has a radius of action of 368 miles. The PLA Z-20 Blackhawk variant has improved 5-blade rotor system and more powerful engines.

It is 130 km from the Mainland to Northern Taiwan. ImageImage
@idreesali114 The capability of Mainland China to effect "bolt from the blue" coup de main vs. Taiwan grows with it's Z-20 fleet.

One hundred Z-20's isn't decisive.

Somewhere north of 300 Z-20's and things get dicey for Taiwan. Image
@idreesali114 At 1,000(+) Z-20, PLA can air lift a light infantry division (11,000 troops) to Taiwan every six hours.

And some portion of those Z-20's will be stealth helicopters.

The PLA will have 1,000 Z-20 no later than 2025.
thedrive.com/the-war-zone/4… ImageImage
Read 4 tweets
16 Jun
@Drachinifel
@AC_NavalHistory
@ArmouredCarrier

So...individual human vertical envelopment in the maritime, amphibious, & urban combat environment is a near term thing.

What can a section of Marines debarking a Merlin onto 200kg hoverboards below the radar horizon at 20km do?
Nor are squadies the only payload these multicopter "lift rings" can move around.

The Ukrainian “Thunder” loitering drone recce-ammunition uses the lift ring staging concept to lift it's munition and then acts as a radio relay
naturasigorta.com/ukrainian-loit…
Conceptually, staged drones are a partially disposable form of air to air refueling.

This reusable multi-copter staged munition drone concept certainly makes a USS Unicorn style VTOL aircraft & drone carrier a while lot more interesting.
Read 11 tweets
14 Jun
This thread is another visit into the pyrrhic victory known as Operation Iceberg, the Apr 1945 invasion of Okinawa.

This thread is based on my Aug 2013 Chicagoboyz column "Technological Surprise & the Defeat of the 193rd Tank Battalion at Kakuzu Ridge"
chicagoboyz.net/archives/38455…
1/ XXIVth Corps 19 April 1945 situation map showing the 27th InThis is the wreck of a M4 Sherman tank on the approaches to
On 19 April 1945, the US Army’s 27th Inf Div launched an attack against the Kakuza Ridge position held by the 32nd Army on Okinawa with the 193rd Tank Btn's 30 tanks, S.P. assault guns, and attached armored flame throwers from the 713th Flame Tank Btn.
2/ This is a 713th Flame Tank Battalion M4 Sherman rebuilt as a
When the battle was over, 22 of the 30 AFV had been destroyed in a coordinated ambush by Japanese AT- guns, artillery, mortars & suicide close assault teams. Among the dead was the commander of the 193rd, on whom blame was laid for attacking without infantry in close support.
3/ This is a detailed Fire Plan Map of the Imperial Japanese ArThe commander of the 193rd TB had a great deal of faith in tThis is the description of the Sherman "backscratcher&q
Read 25 tweets
12 Jun
This is a short thread on Japanese bulldozers in WW2.

There weren't many & they were small

My copy of Rikugun. Volume 2: Weapons of the Imperial Japanese Army & Navy Ground Forces 1937 - 1945 does not show a single Japanese bulldozer design.
1/ Image
There are a few hints about them on the internet.

In December 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy commissioned Komatsu to produce heavy earthmovers for the purpose of building air bases.

See this link -- kenkenkikki.jp/museum/bulldoz…
2/ Image
Only 148 of the 5,000 kg Komatsu bulldozers were produced by the end of the war. Some were sent to the Philippines to build air bases

And note "Heavy" by Japanese standards compares to the 23 tons of a US D-8 bulldozer of 1943 vintage.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterpill…
3/ Image
Read 6 tweets
11 Jun
@adam_tooze @gideonrachman A UH-60 Blackhawk has a radius of action of 368 miles with external stores system fuel tanks.

The Chinese have copied & improved on this helicopter as the Z-20.

It is 130-ish kilometers in the closest Chinese coast to the closest Taiwan coast.

thedrive.com/the-war-zone/5…
@adam_tooze @gideonrachman The Z-20 has a 5-blade rotor system and more powerful engines as well as auxiliary wing-like hardpoints attached to it, similar to the Lightweight Armament Support Structure (LASS) and External Stores Support System (ESSS) wings on the US Blackhawks.

thedrive.com/the-war-zone/3…
@adam_tooze @gideonrachman Essentially, a fleet of Z-20's with external stores can do 2 round trips from Mainland China to Taipei loaded with 11 troops per lift.

Or they can trade fuel for weapons and play assault gunship to support infantry air-landings.

A Chinese coup de main vs. Taiwan is now possible
Read 4 tweets
10 Jun
@ArmouredCarrier @NaomiClareNL @AC_NavalHistory @Drachinifel @CIMSEC @CIMSEC_UK Electronic warfare is an attritional form of warfare.

The firestorming of Hamburg due to RAF Bomber command use of an early form of chaff, code named 'Window', did not end WW2.

The Luftwaffe adapted & a few months later "defeated" them over Berlin.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_o…
@ArmouredCarrier @NaomiClareNL @AC_NavalHistory @Drachinifel @CIMSEC @CIMSEC_UK A few months after that , RAF 100 Group developed a suite of EW tactics and suppressed Luftwaffe C3I for night fighters & flak. Image
@ArmouredCarrier @NaomiClareNL @AC_NavalHistory @Drachinifel @CIMSEC @CIMSEC_UK This is a chart of the RAF Bomber Command loss rates keyed to when various electronic warfare devices and techniques changed. Image
Read 4 tweets

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