Russia at its limits

[Gelston]

While the Kremlin’s newly professionalized military is armed with top-of-the-line ship-launched cruise missiles, flying more capable strike aircraft and firing precision munitions Russia, “does not have the ability to sustain forces far from the border,” a military expert said on Wednesday.

“Syria pushed Russian logistics to its limits,” Anton Lavrov, a visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and affiliated with the Center for Analysis and Technologies in Moscow, said.

Moscow’s logistical trouble in Syria to maintain the 5,000 personnel, helicopters and aircraft illustrate one of the serious shortfalls in President Vladimir Putin’s drive to pull Russia’s conventional and nuclear forces out of their post-Soviet decay.

“Russia doesn’t have the capability to sustain 20,000” troops in continuous operations far from its borders for any length of time. Even getting there is a challenge — from pier to pier, Lavrov said. The Kremlin had to buy old Black Sea merchant ships in Crimea and convert them into transports to move the soldiers and equipment including large trucks and heavy artillery, to its base in Syria and ports under the control of President Bashar al-Assad.

And that was for movement into an uncontested area at the water’s edge.

Moscow has not invested in amphibious assault in its current modernization program.

https://news.usni.org/2018/05/17/exp...ary-capability

This is a common theme with Russia, and the Soviet Union before. They've always been more of a regional power with weak power projection. Sure, they have nukes, and that is why they need to be taken seriously... But Saudi Arabia outspends them on Defense.

Hell, they used to have numbers but they don't even have that any more. They have about 2500 tanks on active service, compared to our 9000, and that is straight up M1 Abrams tanks. Theirs is majority T-72s.

Basically, stop being worried about Russia. They are more bark than bite. Those sneaky maple lubed beaver fuckers to the north are who you should be worried about.

[Taernath]

Basically, stop being worried about Russia.

Who is worried about a Russian invasion? Red Dawn wasn't a documentary.

[Gelston]

Who is worried about a Russian invasion? Red Dawn wasn't a documentary.

There is always people worried about Russia.

[Wrathbringer]

Let's not forget the time Putin waved at a bird and it waved back.

[Gelston]

Let's not forget the time Putin waved at a bird and it waved back.

Yes, I forgot, they have to loyalty of the birds. No car will be left shitless.

[Gelston]

I think there is a vast over-estimation of US capabilities especially in the Baltic and Mediterranean. The Russians have the carrier group Kuznetsov along with Akula-class subs and more that can be drawn from their Northern Fleet. A naval fight in the Mediterranean will be along intricate littoral waters with heavy ground-to-sea support (all of which are hostile to US forces). Casualties in a situation like this will be in the thousands for US sailors, it would be political suicide for an already shaky administration.

Also, the Russians spend about 60~70 Billion USD on their military, below the Americans and Chinese, they are formidable especially if concentrated in a single region.

rofl. They have A carrier that has to be pushed around with tugboats. It is a massive pile of shit. And no, most of the Med isn't hostile to the US. Israel is definitely a good buddy of ours. The only country that would possibly attempt to help Russia is Syria. Turkey is a NATO ally. Their Navy would be smashed before they realized they were in combat.

[Taernath]

Topical

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...-hunger-strike

Ukraine is home to some of the more adventurous military blue-sky thinking, mostly hangovers from the Soviet era. As well as a 160-metre high, 500-metre long radar that was supposed to be able to warn of nuclear attack, it also has a secret programme that trains sea mammals to carry out military tasks. Ukraine has a dolphin army at the Crimean military dolphin centre, trained and ready for deployment.

Or at least it did, but after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, the dolphins were captured. Ukraine demanded their return, but Russian forces refused. Some believed the Russians were planning to retrain the dolphins as Russian soldiers, with a source telling Russian agency RIA Novosti that engineers were “developing new aquarium technologies for new programmes to more efficiently use dolphins underwater”.

Four years later and it seems little has come of these supposed Russian plans and most of the dolphins have died. But this week Boris Babin, the Ukrainian government’s representative in Crimea, claimed that they did so defending their country. He said that the dolphins died “patriotically”, refusing to follow orders or eat food provided by the “Russian invaders” and that the hunger strike led to their eventual death.

He told the Ukranian Obozrevatel newspaper that the dolphins were more honourable than some human soldiers: “The trained animals refused not only to interact with the new Russian coaches, but refused food and died some time later. Many Ukrainian soldiers took their oath and loyalty much less seriously than these dolphins.”

[Gelston]

WE HAVE MILITARIZED SEA LIFE TOO PAL

[RichardCranium]

But do they have frickin' lazerbeams attached to their heads?

[Gelston]

But do they have frickin' lazerbeams attached to their heads?

Well... It is possible. We have been doing a lot of testing with lasers.