Artillery, especially rocket artillery, requires a lot of transport and logistic capacity. Good militaries plan ahead to ensure munitions flow efficiently from factory to front.
But russia's military isn't a good military.
1/n
First let's go back in time to WWII:
In WWII artillery ammo came in wooden crates. Be it the US Army (color photo) or Red Army (b&w photo) - lots and lots of crates. Each crate had to be unloaded by hand, stacked by hand, loaded on trucks by hand.
Slow, tedious work.
2/n
And yes, you guessed that right: russian ammunition still comes in wooden crates.
Here we see a 152 mm projectile and the cartridge holding the charges in their crate. Lovely carpentry work... but dreadful to transport.
3/n
And I am sure you guessed this too: yes, russian troops still have to load and then unload each crate by hand, stack them by hand, then load them on trucks by hand, unload them again by hand...
4/n
And when you unpack crates you get:
• projectiles with fixed fuzes. Need to use a different fuze? You can't. If you didn't grab the right crate at the logistic point you're stuck now.
• cartridges holding a fixed charge. Need less or more charge? You can't.
5/n
The russians even pack their Grad rockets in wooden crates... 42 wooden crates for one Grad launcher load... and each 80-85 kg Grad missile has to be loaded by hand.
6/n
But the absolute pinnacle of russian engineering is how Uragan and Smerch missiles are transport: 4x respectively 2x missiles in a metal cage, but
7/n
neither Uragan and Smerch can reload on its own. Both need specific reloading vehicles. No reloading vehicle = the Uragan and Smerch are useless.
Naturally the two reloading vehicles are not compatible and each missile needs to be reloaded on its own.
8/n
What about the TOS-1 flamethrower? That's a modern vehicle for sure... nope: 2x missiles in a metal cage, a dedicated reload vehicle and every missile needs to be pushed in separately... by hand.
9/n
Now let's look at Western armies... where all artillery ammo comes on pallets.
• projectiles - on pallets
• charges - on pallets
• fuzes and primers - on pallets
because Western armies have a secret tool, the knowledge of which has never reach russia. 10/n
That tool is the forklift.
NATO armies: 24x projectiles on a pallet + 1x forklift
russian army: 24x projectiles = 24 crates
The forklift is done in a minute, the russians in 30 minutes.
11/n
And Western armies unload 35x charges and 24x projectiles in 2 minutes thanks to trucks with cranes.
Everything that leaves Western munitions factories is packaged in the most easy way to handle for logistic troops.
12/n
And if you're in a hurry to supply a battery - well as you can see a standard NATO truck can unload the entire ammo supply for a battery in one go and in under a minute.
13/n
And when it comes to Western rocket artillery - again: everything has been optimized for speed and efficiency.
A supply truck lowers a rocket pod with 6x rockets on the ground and a HIMARS or M270 with their build in cranes pick the pod up and reload on their own.
14/n
Reloading rockets is a breeze for NATO armies... while for russian troops it is a continuous clusterfuck.
Flawless logistics is the difference between a military that wants to win, and a clown show, which only exists to parade once a year before the dear leader.
15/n
With Western weapons Ukraine also receives Western logistics standards. This will further improve Ukraine's capabilities, especially on the offensive.
And on the offensive Ukraine will go as soon as HIMARS and Patriot arrive in Ukraine.
16/n
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The vicious online reaction to The Acolyte shows, that right-wing "media critics" are film-illiterate grifters, who latch onto even the most minuscule line to disparage each episode. All to confirm their delusion that media involving #LGBTQ & colored 1/5
creators are an attack on the "white male", who they pretend to be the true arbiter of "culture".
@Lucasfilm even gave a hint in the first line of the first trailer that this is a #Rashomon style story. This didn't stop these "critics" to complete lose it after the first 2/5
flashback episode, which is a child's viewpoint.
Disney's third trailer showed us that what we saw in the child's flashback (left image) isn't, what actually happened (right image).
The Acolyte is by no means as good as #Andor (which is an anti-fascist masterpiece), but 3/5
1× frigate
1× submarine
1× oiler
1× tug to tow the above home when they break down
The russian ships were shadowed by:
🇺🇸Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Helena
🇺🇸Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Donald Cook & USS Truxtun
🇨🇦Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ville de Québec 1/2
🇺🇸Legend-class cutter USCGC Stone
🇺🇸1× P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft
And in case the russians would have done something funny: there are some additional 50+ P-8A Poseidon at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, which is also home to the 159th Fighter Squadron, which 2/5
flies F-35A & at Homestead Air Reserve Base the 93rd & 367th Fighter Squadrons fly F-16C/D Block 30 Falcons, at Tyndall Air Force Base the 43rd & 301st Fighter Squadrons fly F-22A Raptors, while the 95th Fighter Squadron flies F-35A Lightning.
For 20 years war criminals from Karabakh had Armenia in their iron grip. In 2018 they were forced by the people to allow free elections and the democratic opposition won 70% of the vote, while the Karabakh criminals' party lost 90% of its votes and did not enter parliament.
1/4
Aftet the disastrous defeat in the 2nd Karabakh war, the Karabakh clans demanded a snap elections, got it, and were crushed again with the democratic and pro-peace forces of Pashinyan receiving 54% and the two let's-have-more-Karabakh-wars parties at 26%.
Now, as Pashinyan is
2/4
negotiating a peace treaty with Azerbaijan, the same Karabakh clans try to overthrow the government with street protests led by a bishop, who is for issuing ridiculous ultimatums.
The deranged Armenian diaspora is hyping up the bishop and protest, and theu are salivating at
3/4
How to do mobilization for war in the perfect way: the @USArmy in #WWII:
When Germany invaded Poland the US Army consisted of just 6× divisions (1st ID, 2nd ID, 3rd ID, 1st CAV, Hawaiian Division, Philippine Division).
1/12
In October 1939 the Army added the 5th ID and 6th ID. Afterwards the US Army fielded 8× divisions.
After the Germans invaded France with 141× divisions, the US Army activated another 4× infantry (4th, 7th, 8th, 9th) and 2× armored (1st, 2nd) divisions.
Total: 14× divisions. 2/n
In fall of 1940 the National Guard was federalized. This added 10× infantry divisions (27th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, 35th, 36th, 37th, 41st, 44th, 45th).
In spring 1941 a further 8× National Guard divisions were federalized (26th, 28th, 29th, 33rd, 34th, 38th, 40th, 43rd).
3/n
Today Germans found out that raising and stationing a Panzerbrigade in Lithuania will cost up to €11 billion...
Of course, because if you devastate your military for 30 years and create gaps in personnel, materiel, etc. it costs MORE to rebuild than it would have cost to 1/5
maintain your military. Germany between 1989 and 2024 reduced its battalions (active and reserve) by the following %:
CBRN Defense -63,64%
Artillery -92,68%
Reconnaissance -45,45%
Paratroopers -66,67%
Signals -66,67%
Air Defense -100,00%
Gebirgsjäger -25,00%
Panzer -91,76%
2/5
Army Aviation -70,00%
Light Infantry -96,98%
Logistics -83,70%
Panzergrenadier -82,81%
Engineers -83,33%
Medical -84,00%
Bridging -92,86%
Total: -87,47%
Disbanded the units, paid to have the equipment and materiel scrapped, sold of the bases, and retired the people with the 3/5
People have forgotten the insane density (and cost) of NATO's Cold War SAM belts.
In Germany alone the HAWK belt consisted of (from North to South):
• 24× German
• 12× Dutch
• 8x Belgian
• 35× US Army
• 12× German
1/8
HAWK sites, each of which was filled with radars and missile launchers. (Photo: the Dutch HAWK site on Velmerstot in Germany).
Between the SAM belt and the border mobile radars, and short range air defense systems like Gepard, Roland, Chaparral, VADS, etc. as well as mobile 2/8
Javelin and Stinger teams covered the units operating there.
And behind the HAWK SAM (Surface to Air Missile) belt followed a second SAM belt, with long range NIKE HERCULES missiles, which carried nuclear warheads. All this was backed up by German, US Air Force, British 3/8