Posted on 04/21/2022 8:53:05 PM PDT by Zhang Fei
Another $800 million in security assistance is headed to Ukraine, the Pentagon announced today. This is the 8th drawdown package announced, which is gear pulled from existing U.S. military stock. Included in this package are 72 155 mm howitzers, 144,000 artillery rounds, 121 Phoenix Ghost unmanned aerial systems and vehicles with which to tow the howitzers.
The Phoenix Ghost Tactical Unmanned Aerial System, said Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby, is a system developed by the Air Force in response to Ukrainian requirements.
"Phoenix Ghost is a tactical, unmanned aerial system ... [it] provides similar capabilities to the Switchblade series of unmanned systems — similar capabilities, but not exact," said Kirby. At this time he was not willing to elaborate further on the capabilities of the Phoenix Ghost.
The Phoenix Ghost system, he said, will likely require minimal training for Ukrainian users who are already experienced in operating other UASs.
"We're going to be working through those training requirements directly with the Ukrainian Armed Forces," he said.
Last week the U.S. announced it would ship 18 howitzers to Ukraine, along with 40,000 artillery shells to go with them. The U.S. will now ship 72 additional howitzers to Ukraine and 144,000 additional shells. That brings the total number of howitzers to 90.
"These additional 72 howitzers will help basically fit out five more ... artillery battalions for the Ukrainians," Kirby said. "This was ... very much in keeping with their needs, specifically in the Donbas, and the kind of fighting that has already started there and we expect to continue over days and weeks ahead."
The latest security assistance package also includes 72 tactical vehicles which can be used to tow the howitzers.
So far, eight drawdown packages of security assistance have been targeted at Ukraine. Helping move that equipment and also to move equipment and supplies donated by U.S. partner and allied nations, is the Eucom Control Center - Ukraine.
During a background briefing this morning, a senior defense official said Eucom Control Center - Ukraine was established in March in Stuttgart, Germany, to support both security force assistance and humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainians.
"[It's] responsible for consolidating Ukrainian assistance needs. The Eucom Control Center coordinates and synchronizes timely delivery of U.S., allied and partner contributions of assistance," the official said. "This cell is co-located with the UK-led International Donor Coordination Center, which coordinates resources from amongst our international community partners to enable donor countries from around the world to provide military equipment and aid to the armed forces of Ukraine."
The official said for the latest security assistance package, Eucom Control Center - Ukraine has been working with the services and with the joint staff on sourcing solutions for the equipment and material. It's expected the first flights will leave the U.S. in the next 24 to 48 hours and that the first rounds of that equipment will be in the Ukrainian hands by the end of the weekend.
Ukraine ping
Yet another instalment ($800m) of the $13b aid package passed by Congress on March 15, 2022. Ukraine to get a brigade’s worth (72 pieces) of M777 howitzers, along with perhaps a week’s worth of ammo (2000 rounds per howitzer), as well as brand new Switchblade-equivalent drones that have reportedly just emerged from development and testing.
For some perspective, Russian and Chinese equipment flows to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War (the final link is a Russian website):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_in_the_Vietnam_War#Confronting_U.S._escalation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Brezhnev#The_Vietnam_War
https://www.rbth.com/history/332396-how-soviets-fought-against-americans
Be sure to send the war material on the Lusitania II.
[Be sure to send the war material on the Lusitania II.]
An how many hypersonic tests did you actually successfully complete?
Oh that'd be zero. Please Putin go ahead strap some mega tonnage to that hypersonic fantasm - push the button or shut up - shit Belgium cold probably kick Russias ass.
Our inventory of all sorts of weapons must be depleted close to a dangerous level.
.
President Biden said today that Ukraine already has 10 anti-tanks weapons for each Russian tank. Why do they need anymore? I smell a scam.
Thanks Zhang Fei.
Does this qualify as a ‘successful completion?’
MIRV - multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle.
[President Biden said today that Ukraine already has 10 anti-tanks weapons for each Russian tank. Why do they need anymore? I smell a scam.]
Artillery is also necessary to clear areas populated by the enemy so Ukrainian units can retake territory currently occupied by the Russians. It’s going slowly now because they lack the firepower to get the Russians to keep their heads down during Ukrainian advances.
Ukrainians have howitzers too. Their problem is that many of their factories have come under attack, and production of both howitzers and ammo may be difficult or impossible. Now, if the US bombed Russian equipment and ammo factories, that would level the playing field. But it would also trigger WWIII. So simply supplying the Ukrainians is a solution that keeps them competitive without triggering a wider war.
why are we sending weapons to a despotic child-smuggling and money laundering country used by the deep state where hunter biden even sat on the board of the national gas co. , where we ALREADY sent weapons last week and the Pentagon claims to have “lost” them?
Hopefully to kill as many Russians as possible
Ukraine ping
max americana: [why are we sending weapons to a despotic child-smuggling and money laundering country used by the deep state where hunter biden even sat on the board of the national gas co. , where we ALREADY sent weapons last week and the Pentagon claims to have “lost” them?]
You’re an idealist. I’m a realist. The world is populated by countries, many of which won’t exactly share our beliefs. When a country that has expanded its territory for 1000 years (Russia) and is, by itself, 69% of the territory of NATO, combined, and 4x the territory of the EU says it feels threatened, you know it’s lying. Germany, with 1/40 Russia’s land area, and the survivor of the cataclysmic 30 Years War in which many German regions saw 50% population declines, understandably felt it needed lebensraum.
Russia simply does not. It could move its key cities and industries 2800 miles east and still have 2800 miles left to go before hitting the Pacific. It keeps them near Europe not because it is threatened by Europe, but so it can threaten Europe.
The problem with Russia is not that it has been imposed upon, but that it imposes on others. Part of the Russian mythos, dating back almost a thousand years, and given firm foundation by its vast territorial expanse acquired at swordpoint, is its indomitable martial prowess. In 1898, the Russian General Staff carried out a comprehensive study of Russian warfare since the foundations of the state. In the summary volume, the editor told his readers that they could take pride in their country’s military record and face the future with confidence — between 1700 and 1870, Russia had spent 106 years fighting 38 military campaigns, of which 36 had been “offensive”.
Yeah but zelensky played the piano with his oenis!!!
,...
Seriously though very good explanation...
You are out of your realm talking about defense, The hypersonics have been tested and successfully used. Stick to golf it’s more your speed.
Yes they do work and they have 4 variants of HS missiles deployed. They got started in this direction with the SS-22 Sunburn anti-ship missile which they armed the Sovremenny class destroyers with. China successfully tested their YJ-21 yesterday.
The Nazi Ukrainian batallions are already encircled in Mariupol. It’s gonna be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Non-revisionist weighted history doesn’t leave much room for offensive Russian offensive variance.
Russia has fought many wars against much more even adversarial opponents.
The political climate is amazingly in RU favor, even to the present.
RU is still circumnavigating energy export for profit in a big way, while simultaneously in a strong economic and defense agreement with Keetai. As well, the EU will not for a while yet be able to ween itself from profiting the Kremlin, and the US is almost seemingly taking orders from the same.
That being said, if it weren’t for Russian strategic and massive WMD arsenal power, I would almost suggest Moscow as a proxy battering ram which has penetrated the EU in a significant way, as it has the US.
However, at the moment they are working together, ad offer each other significant offensive “specialization”.
As such, almost regardless of the armament headed into UA, this is one of the best climates (on paper anyway), Russia has had to deal with in it’s many larger scale historical offensives.
What has already turned out to be a decisive and critical Trump “stop gap” with advanced infantry training and nimble anti-armor Javelin’s (matched by the Brits derivative), will already go down in history as having kept UA in this fight long enough to break the back of the 3-7 day UA capitulation and RU government takeover of UA. Other very important factors have been Weather, social media, and continued flow of weapons into UA.
In a sense, advanced Western ground systems have for now made it a deadly proposition for RU pilots to just fly all over UA. RU hasn’t yet established a RU no-fly zone. This is absolutely critical.
Now the US is beginning to send in even more near-robotic/launch-and-forget type weapon systems (”ghost drones”).
This has turned out to be a very dynamic war.
The greater scheme is still geopolitical hegemony of EU foreign and domestic economic and military policy. As well, there is truly only a window in time for Putin to pull it off.
He may well also find it necessary to even keep Israel from continued development of it’s Eastern Med energy, in order to keep to force the EU into submission.
Crazy times...
Non-revisionist weighted history doesn’t leave much room for Russian offensive variance.
Russia has fought many wars against much more even adversarial opponents.
The political climate is amazingly in RU favor, even to the present.
RU is still circumnavigating energy export for profit in a big way, while simultaneously in a strong economic and defense agreement with Keetai. As well, the EU will not for a while yet be able to ween itself from profiting the Kremlin, and the US is almost seemingly taking orders from the same.
That being said, if it weren’t for Russian strategic and massive WMD arsenal power, I would almost suggest Moscow as a proxy battering ram which has penetrated the EU in a significant way, as it has the US.
However, at the moment they are working together, ad offer each other significant offensive “specialization”.
As such, almost regardless of the armament headed into UA, this is one of the best climates (on paper anyway), Russia has had to deal with in it’s many larger scale historical offensives.
What has already turned out to be a decisive and critical Trump “stop gap” with advanced infantry training and nimble anti-armor Javelin’s (matched by the Brits derivative), will already go down in history as having kept UA in this fight long enough to break the back of the 3-7 day UA capitulation and RU government takeover of UA. Other very important factors have been Weather, social media, and continued flow of weapons into UA.
In a sense, advanced Western ground systems have for now made it a deadly proposition for RU pilots to just fly all over UA. RU hasn’t yet established a RU no-fly zone. This is absolutely critical.
Now the US is beginning to send in even more near-robotic/launch-and-forget type weapon systems (”ghost drones”).
This has turned out to be a very dynamic war.
The greater scheme is still geopolitical hegemony of EU foreign and domestic economic and military policy. As well, there is truly only a window in time for Putin to pull it off.
He may well also find it necessary to even keep Israel from continued development of it’s Eastern Med energy, in order to keep to force the EU into submission.
Crazy times...
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