Posted on 12/01/2021 4:39:52 AM PST by tlozo
As Russian mechanized forces massing near Ukraine raise fears of an invasion this winter, tank watchers on social media have identified more and more Russian tanks sporting unsubtle field modifications seemingly aimed at fending off Ukraine’s newest weapons: U.S.-supplied Javelin anti-tank guided missiles and TB2 Bayraktar drones supplied by Turkey. Both pose a deadly threat to the top armor of armored vehicles, where protection is drastically weaker... Russia’s military is visibly experimenting with at least two new methods to protect against top-attacking menaces.
The first is to fit an umbrella of slatted armor on top of the tank. Slat armor is intended to disable or misdirect the fuse of the chemical-energy HEAT munitions in an anti-tank missile, causing it to unleash its jet of armor-piercing molten metal at an ineffectual angle and/or distance vis-a-vis the tank’s turret... These modifications, which have been seen on Russia’s workhorse T-72B and T-72B3 tanks, are non-standardized, suggesting experiments implemented in the field to address a possible operational contingency, rather than a factory-issued perfected solution...
Furthermore, according to munitions expert Neil Gibson, the molten jet projected by a Javelin’s warhead is likely long enough and a tank’s top armor thin enough that the cage armor would provide insufficient protection even if its triggers the main warhead from 0.5 to 1.5 meters away.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Russia also has a legitimate concern about possibly unfriendly countries being right on their border. For example, the Baltic States now belong to NATO.
Back in the early 1960s the United States got all worked up about Soviet influence in our back yard (Cuba). And now we wonder why Russia feels the same about the Ukraine.
AMX
;>)
Yeah I bet Russia is worried about Estonia invading them. /s
No one is going to invade Russia. Russia will do all the invading.
Interesting. I thought only the older TOW-2A were used in Syria, which are not top attack mode.
Quote: “ Russia takes Ukraine. Chicoms take Taiwan. President poopy pants blames covid.”
Correction (slight) President Ice Cream blames white Trump supporters who aren’t vaccinated.
I’m going to install an umbrella of slatted armor on top of an old car I have and drive around.
I wonder what kind of attention I’ll receive?
Nope. Independent (non-Russian) video and photo evidence of Javelins and later TOW marks not only being present but being used exists.
The vast supermajority of TOWs documented in Syria were the TOW-2A, but there were at least a dozen photographed and two known videoed TOW attacks that displayed a clear top-down attack profile.
They will wonder why the weird guy is driving around with a pergola on top of his car. :P
Not seeing much that three words couldn’t fix:
“Warthog depleted uranium”
;-)
Not sure
I just know my collection would have several hundred cars lol
Good thing I don’t have millions of dollars
😜😜😜
> Yeah I bet Russia is worried about Estonia invading them. /s <
Back in the 1970s I took a course on Soviet international politics. It was taught by an anti-communist, by the way. The course meant to show not how things actually were, but instead how the Soviets viewed things.
Little countries were viewed as possibly threatening. For example, little Finland had allied with Germany during WW II and allowed German troops to be stationed there.
And as for NATO, it was formed before the Warsaw Pact. So the Soviets saw NATO not as a defensive, but as an offensive organization.
None of this means Putin is right today. But it might give some insight into how he thinks.
Everything!!
China can’t just ‘take’ Taiwan. China probably can’t sustain battlefield logistics in the field more than a week. And the Three Gorges Dam being as janky and massive as it is can be compared to being in a kickboxing match with your balls hanging out of the front of your trunks.
China isn’t afraid of losing people. They have 80 million extra men over there that are completely disposable. They ARE afraid of losing what little working infrastructure they possess.
That’s a lot of mouths to feed. Tough to do it in permanent midnight with no working main arterials and under six feet of water.
No, Russia is going to defend its naval base and Russian citizens in Kaliningrad Oblast.
The Baltics, Poland and Germany are just in the way.
That’s why the precedent of protecting Russian citizens was used in the Crimean invasion.
Media blames Trump.
How about for rooting for the victim, rather than the aggressor?
> Media blames Trump. <
Yep. I can see the headlines now. “Trump allowed to relations to deteriorate, made war inevitable.”
It would actually be funny except 50% of the country will believe it.
LOL.
“Like minds”
Uh, no? The AMC 304/360/401 engines were all AMC. Which sucks for them because you can’t just bolt on the much more widely available Chevy go-faster parts. :P
The current ongoing conflict between China and India would put the lie to the “can’t sustain battlefield logistics for a week” statement...
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