This is an important WW1 history note vis-a-vis' Russian artillery use in Ukraine.
None of the Russian arty ammo stocks being used now in Ukraine were planned for by Putin's military, just like happened with the belligerents at the beginning of WW1.👇👇👇 1/
WW1 & WW2 history gives us some clues/signs to look for as to whether Russia has such shortages
o Reduced artillery use
o Much higher dud rate due to use of "time expired" ammunition whose propellent & explosives are unstable
o Substitution of mortars for heavier artillery
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And by "mortar substitution," I mean we will be seeing Russian made 240mm mortars in action.
Text via Strategy page
"This Russian 240mm mortar remains useful despite short range (about 9,700 meters) because it is accurate and effective at that range, 3/ strategypage.com/htmw/htart/art…
especially if firing at fortifications or in urban areas. The 240mm mortar fires a shell that can carry a variety of payloads. The basic high-explosive version can create lethal fragments out to 150 meters. But what has kept the 240mm mortar in use is the anti-fortification
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shell can go through several meters of earth and concrete to destroy an underground bunker or troops firing from the basement of a multi-story building. One of the incendiary shells can set fire to most of a large structure, which is useful when firing at warehouses or factory
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buildings. There is a rocket assisted 240mm shell with a range of 20 kilometers (but a smaller warhead and less accuracy). There is also a laser guided shell for precise targeting."
Look for them in Kharkiv & Mariupol because Russian railway logistics favor their use there.
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Artillery shell shortages have been a feature of every large artillery war, every time they have been fought.
The ability of non-state actors UAV's to play SEAD games by going after Patriot C-band emitters with this radar interference tracking tool is a threat not to be underestimated.
Patriot and other SAM radars will have to shift to using lower power wideband frequency hopping to push the peak power below the threshold of the satellites.
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Militaries are going to need to play the WW2 style close range anti-drone air defense of primary air defense weapons like the quad-.50 cal Maxon turret was shielding 40mm autocannon and 90 mm HAA from strafing fighters.
Since I'm seeing a lot of misinformation surfacing about the Ukrainian logistical posture. It is time for a thread🧵on planes, trains and automobiles in the Ukraine war in relation to NATO Lend Lease.
Where are the Russian red arrows compared to the Ukrainian train tracks? 1/
None of those red arrows cut off rail lines going to Kyiv, Odessa & deeply into the East Ukraine right up to the Donbas battle area.
The Eastern 1/3 of Ukraine is under UAF air superiority. Putin cannot shut down Ukrainian trains filled with East European ammo & EU fuel 2/
...provided for free.
This is why you are seeing lines of Ukrainian infantry with anti-tank rockets for a 1/2 dozen NATO states so quickly on the battle line. 3/
2nd the Russians are using bigger truck convoys. This is a tactical improvement in that there are fewer targets for Ukrainian Territorial "Road Burning Sweeps" or Spetsnaz kill teams.
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3rd, the Russians haven't put _ANY_ combat or civil engineering efforts to clear wrecks and open lanes for their trucks.
Heck, a T-72 tank with a bulldozer blade could have cleared those wrecks in 30 minutes so the convoy didn't have to slow down past that bottle neck.
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Because I saw it in 2015 and wrote about just this in relation to the Ukrainian VDV "Cyborgs" fight for the Donetsk Airport Terminal building from July 2014 until 22 January 2015.