Many have seen the video of Hama fighters attacking Israeli tanks from point blank range.
Now another video emerged showing Hamas fighters attacking a Namer APC.
Again, with no supporting Israeli infantry in sight, why is that? 1/8
To understand the current Israeli urban warfare doctrine you have to look to where it came from.
All the major conflicts Israel have fought in the past were quick, high intensity wars, fought in open terrain.
From the Sinai to the Golan Heights.
The focus on these terrains is reflected in the IDF's force structure.
It has an ridiculously high ratio of armored brigades to infantry brigades.
🔸Pre 1970s, it was 2 tank brigades for every 1 infantry brigades.
🔸Now, it's 1 tank brigades for every 2 infantry brigades.
Even though the numbers are flipped, and more focus placed on infantry, the amount of amor is still very high.
From this, we can describe the Israeli urban warfare doctrine as an armored demolition team.
It's centered around the heavily armored Namer APC(armored personnel carrier) and the Puma combat engineer vehicle.
Attach some Merkava tanks and armored bulldozers, forms the "combined arms" (heavily armored) approach to urban warfare by the IDF.
Israeli infantry are encouraged to use the heavily armored Namer APC as a safe bastion.
In a stressful situation, the average infantry tend to crowd around places where they feel the safest, instead where they should be.
More so, if permissive by the doctrine they were taught
Since the 2nd intifada and 2nd Lebanon war that forced the IDF to form their current urban warfare doctrine.
It has never been tested at a large scale until this current conflict.
So Israel is going into Gaza basically blind, with an untested doctrine.
The ever present myth of an experienced IDF that's pragmatic and light on its feet, is not an entirely accurate picture.
It may be true 40 years ago, but it's certainly not the case today, when most of their experience are gained dealing with kids throwing rocks in the West Bank
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With the introduction of the diesel-electric hybrid tank by China; The ZTZ-100, we now can have sci-fi systems like:
♦️Electromagnetic armor (EFA)
♦️Electrothermal Chemical Gun (ETC gun)
Detailed thread on the future of land/armored warfare developed by China.
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The Type-100 family is made up of serval platforms, including the ZTZ-100 tank and the ZBD-100 fire support vehicle and they are only the start.
There will also be a 50 ton class heavy main battle tank with 125mm electrothermal chemical(ETC) gun with electromagnetic armor (EFA)
We will also have a long range fire support vehicle with vertical launch systems (VLS), capable of storing 20+ long range (10km+) heavy anti-tank missiles.
They together create a network of systems on land, capable of first detection, first shot and first kill.
A thread detailing the speed, range and trajectory of China's anti-ship hypersonic missiles.
Our potential enemies have no way of intercepting these missiles, so it's only fair to let them know, how their billion dollar ship will be destroyed.
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How China's 4th gen tank exemplifies the differences in force design between China and the US?🧵1/8
The US military has global projection needs, their weapons are not specialized to do certain tasks in certain regions against certain enemies. It's a case of jack of all trade.
Meanwhile, China's ZTZ-201 light MBT is specifically designed to fight in Taiwan and the Himalayas.
Taiwan's useful terrain is very flat, dotted with cities and towns that are less than 2km apart.
Hence engagement even for armored/mechanized forces will be that 2km dash over farmlands then into cities.
Short engagements between tanks, if it ever happens, will be from covered position shooting at each other.
This means drones and sensor networks are more important than pure mass in armor.
Comprehensive minute-by-minute illustrative thread, on how the Chinese aircraft carrier Fujian conducts cyclical attack operation.
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The optimal air wing composition:
⏺️24x J-35(green & red), divided into 2 attack waves of 12 each.
⏺️24x J-15T (blue & purple), divided into 2 attack waves of 12 each.
⏺️4x J-15D electronic warfare fighter (orange).
⏺️4x J-600 AEW&C (light blue).
⏺️~10 helicopters (black) for anti-submarine, search and rescue missions.
Cyclical operations are the most common attack mode of aircraft carriers, they divide the carrier airwing into attack waves and launch them with intervals in between.
This allows sustained operation for a long periods of time.
🔹Wave 1 (green J-35 stealth fighters) takes 12 minutes to launch 12x J-35, + 2 min to launch 1x KJ-600 (light blue) + 1 min to launch 2x J-15D EW fighter (orange).
= 15 minutes.
**Catapults can launch aircraft with 30 second intervals.
A comprehensive thread about Chinese aircraft carrier operations.
How do we compare to the US aircraft carrier operations?
For the PLA navy, there are 2 main types of carrier attacks:
🔹Full-deck strike (Full deck sortie).
🔹Cyclical operation.
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Full-deck strike is when we launch all fighters in a single strike package.
Cyclical operation is when we divide the fighters into attack waves, and launch them sequentially.
Full-deck strike is used when you want overwhelming firepower delivered in the initial phase of combat.
However, full-deck strike cannot be sustained for long, since all the fighters would need to land in a short span of time, which puts immense pressure on the deck crew to rearm and refuel.
The most important characteristics to 6th generation fighter is stealth.
6th gen stealth means, All-Aspect Stealth (stealthy from all directions) and Broadband (multi-spectrum) stealth.
What is it, how does it work?
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5th gen stealth is achieved by aligning control surfaces to as fewer directions as possible, this edge alignment ensures radar signals are reflected back towards specific directions.
This is a simplified explanation without going into specular reflections or creeping waves etc.
HOWEVER, the problem with 5th gen stealth is that they are detectable by low frequency radars with long wavelengths.
Resonant scattering is when radar waves interact with a target in a way that causes them to be scattered strongly, often at specific frequencies, due to the target's size and shape resonating with the radar's wavelength.