Posted on 05/07/2022 6:38:33 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
A 'hero' Russian world champion in an international tank warfare competition was killed when he was sent by Vladimir Putin into a real battle in Ukraine.
Bato Basanov, 25, from Buryatia, was in a record-breaking tank biathlon team that performed last year in war games in front of defence minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the army general staff Valery Gerasimov.
But his conflict ended in death when his tank was hit in Ukraine.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Gee, that’s too bad.
L
oops
Competition is not actual combat?
Go figure.
Just as I feel sad about the loss of life on the Moscow, I can’t dance on the grave of a fallen Russian tank ace.
I’d save the vitriol for Putin.
War is NOT a game
It’s a bit different than sitting on the couch with a controller in your hands.
It would be more sad if he had lived to kill numerous Ukrainians.
I’d like to see a Ukraine battalion of US style armored Calvary equipped with Abrams go up against Russian armored units.
The game changes when the other side is shooting back.
When you think about all of the people that have been killed in wars and how much love, talent, intelligence and bravery has been vaporized, it is beyond heartbreaking.
Here’s what I’ve learned regarding Russian designed tanks. Since WWII Russia has designed with cheapness and ease of manufacture as primary concerns. I worked for General Dynamics on the M1 series and other tanks. (Although I was not involved directly with the design, I was on numerous sub sections in various capacities and saw what the priorities were.) Number 1, crew safety. That prefaced every discussion. Some of the Russian designs have an autoloader and the ammo is stored in the turret. If the turret gets hit the ammo can cook off incinerating the crew. In present US designs the ammo is kept in an armored compartment and has a lower probability of going off if the tank takes a hit. I no longer know the exact numbers off the top of my head but something like 25 Abrams were lost in Iraq and no crew were killed as a result. (Lots of things can cause a loss, including driving off bridges.)
It appears that much of the money allocated to Russian modernization instead went into yachts. If I had used any of my budget for even coffee and donuts for the designers, I’d go to prison.
Too bad Ukraine wasn’t at the international tank warfare competition or they would have won.
I agree. I understand the necessity of killing the Russian invaders. Those that are killed are victims of Vladimir Putin. Of those that have committed war crimes, I celebrate their death as I will the death of Putin.
Feel-good story of the day.
Have you seen The Pentagon Wars?
Better to be ‘lucky’ than good?
Plenty of examples of that since 1991 albeit against inferior troops and hand me down Russian armor and it’s never turned out to well for those troops.
Still, the big bad scary Russian bear appears to be more of a teddy bear.
All this time and money spent preparing for war and they show up with poor tactics, poor training, poor battlefield communication systems, and advanced warning and defense systems for their Navy. 60+ days in and they don’t even have air superiority over a country that has less than a 1/10th of their air capabilities.
This kid, who looks 12, was a tanker. It wasn’t a video game competition he won.
Some guy last week did analysis of a blown-up Russian tank, and the armor platting which was around the wreckage. There were supposed to be compartment areas where I guess extra ‘sheeting’ (armor) would have been to protect the occupants...but none of these were obvious on the ground. His thoughts were that either at the factory or later in the unit...they were taken to sell (either by the commander or members of the unit).
Same story assumed on the radar being off on the first ship that was sunk...some belief that it might have been sold on the parts market. (Anyone’s guess on this idea)
I will say this...if you were making a dismal pay situation, even as a officer, selling off fuel or parts would probably be a regular monthly experience.
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