Posted on 06/11/2023 1:23:51 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Air-defense system is finally doing what it was designed for, 40 years later
The missiles were coursing toward Kyiv, some as fast as six times the speed of sound and many heading directly for the crew’s missile battery. The Ukrainians didn’t panic, their commander said in an interview. They didn’t have time.
Early that morning, May 16, the Patriot’s radar detected the missiles, including six Kinzhals, at a distance of about 125 miles. The system’s computer tracked the missiles and launched interceptors, destroying all of them, the last at a distance of about 9 miles—seconds before impact. “No one was 100% sure that the Patriot was capable of destroying a Kh-47 hypersonic missile,” said Col. Serhiy Yaremenko, commander of the 96th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, which defends Kyiv. “Ukrainians proved it.”
...Russian officials criticized the U.S. and allies on the decision to send Patriots, but said they wouldn’t be able to stop Russian missiles. Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the Patriot in December as “quite an old system.” “Fine, let them deliver it,” he told reporters. “We’ll smack the Patriot as well.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Is this a joke? Because it’s entirely untrue.
I’m against giving lots of stuff to Ukraine. However, it’s to our benefit to give some of our newer Patriots to Ukraine so we can learn how well they match up to Russia’s tech. IMHO we’ve probably gotten about as much useful info as we can for now and have no value in giving more away.
We can afford to replace Patriot missiles. Russia can’t replace its Soviet-era aircraft and they can’t produce modern aircraft.
That makes the Patriot very effective against Russia.
This war is designed to (maybe with our own consent, or maybe by tricking our retarded naive foolish current administration) cripple our supplies, bankrupt us eve further, weaken us on the world stage, and to demonstrate why joining the BRICS nations will be the smart choice for the 21st century.
Here is the article.
https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/how-the-u-s-patriot-missile-became-a-hero-of-ukraine-war.769597/
You’re proposing that Putin started this war in 2014 with the intent to draw in NATO and other countries against Russia? C’mon, I’m no fan of Putin but even I don’t think he’s that stupid.
Agree: Our politicians would not give a damn if there were no interests in it for them.
Agree: The big corporations and financial institutions see the EU and NATO as their insurance policy, they wanted this, and the political class in the West follows the money.
Disagree: BRICS is in opposition to us, and we’re not joining that, EVER.
I think we agree: We caused this war (NATO East expansion) overwhelmingly and Ukraine most likely lost a bunch of land, an industrial area and port cities as its wager in what amounted to a huge gamble.
It is ironic when we use the idea of “sovereignty” regards Ukraine as some rationalization for our actions, seeing how we came into Ukraine post Cold War and in a concerted effort between our state department, CIA, NGOs, foreign aid, military assistance and media essentially took over that place. You could see the struggle and how the Russian influence was essentially being purged by us. I would not doubt (but no western media would care to look) that Mr Z was essentially installed by us. What I know for sure, is that by this point in the game, his own survival depends on us and we own him.
I think we agree: The likelihood of Ukraine getting that real estate back is very low.
Where we disagree: Much of Ukraine’s success in how much damage they caused on the Russians is because of systems like our javelin which we sent their way in huge numbers.
I wouldn’t diminish the capabilities of our weapon systems. We are often far ahead of even our other wealthy NATO allies in key technologies or systems. We build some fine weapon systems.
Give away a rook in exchange for a pawn.
I am not a weapons expert. So I hope you are right. I tend to have the theory that the Pentagon and defense contractors have been corrupt for decades to the point that they literally do not care anymore if the weapons are the best. Or even work. It's just a game for some or a get rich scheme. And they're based on 1940s-1990s power projection models of aircraft carriers doing "shock and awe" against countries that can't fight back. And if the weapons don't work? Who's going to be around to sue? We don't have the hypersonic weapons of china or even russia. Their students in college are smart, while ours be woke. and our best students are form china Iran India...
Here's to hoping the demons posing as aliens have something up their sleeve.
The Russians aren’t even our threat. The probability of them using nukes is extremely low, because despite all the garbage we’re spewing about them, they are highly predicable (stable bureaucracy and doctrinal), rational, measured, they are a Euro and Christian culture in value system.
We are far more unpredictable than they are. We have a high turn over in government and our bureaucracy. We are societally very faddish, going to extremes with politicians out front, example: Covid, LGBTQIA...
No matter what promise or even treaty we sign, it isn’t worth the paper it’s written on since the next administration and Congress don’t care about the promises made by their predecessors. The media only mentions it if this works in their agenda. The US public has a short attention span and frankly put, is ignorant about the world outside the US.
We are politically influential, we have economic and military might on the global stage. But our foreign policies and how we conduct ourselves is literally like some African or Caribbean regime, only with a lot more formality and the appearance of tradition and culture.
***That is why US foreign policy can shift like the wind. That is why you will see logical and moral inconsistencies. That is why promises made by us today are promises broken tomorrow.
It is truly amazing that we ended up where we are today. But we always weren’t like this.
***The ONLY consistency you will see in US foreign policy today is that our government follows the money, i.e. acts in a manner which benefits the corporations and oligarchs who have influence on government.
The Russians aren’t even our threat. The probability of them using nukes is extremely low, because despite all the garbage we’re spewing about them, they are highly predicable (stable bureaucracy and doctrinal), rational, measured, they are a Euro and Christian culture in value system.
We are far more unpredictable than they are. We have a high turn over in government and our bureaucracy. We are societally very faddish, going to extremes with politicians out front, example: Covid, LGBTQIA...
No matter what promise or even treaty we sign, it isn’t worth the paper it’s written on since the next administration and Congress don’t care about the promises made by their predecessors. The media only mentions it if this works in their agenda. The US public has a short attention span and frankly put, is ignorant about the world outside the US.
We are politically influential, we have economic and military might on the global stage. But our foreign policies and how we conduct ourselves is literally like some African or Caribbean regime, only with a lot more formality and the appearance of tradition and culture.
***That is why US foreign policy can shift like the wind. That is why you will see logical and moral inconsistencies. That is why promises made by us today are promises broken tomorrow.
It is truly amazing that we ended up where we are today. But we always weren’t like this.
***The ONLY consistency you will see in US foreign policy today is that our government follows the money, i.e. acts in a manner which benefits the corporations and oligarchs who have influence on government.
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