US officially will send 50 Bradleys to Ukraine!

How do Bradley IFVs fare against T-72s?  Quite well actually, as the Iraqis found out.  Especially with those TOW missiles we already sent.



And they're exactly what Ukraine needs right now.  Unfortunately, it'll take a couple of months to fully train up the Ukrainians, which is why it's better to pull that trigger sooner rather than later.  We have something like 6000 of them stockpiled, so it's not like we're going to miss them.  We won't miss a few Abrams if they happen to get "misplaced" in Poland, either.  *wink wink*

Germany will send Marder IFVs, which I know a lot less about so I can't comment on that, but they seem like they're great, too.

I remember early in the war seeing the Ukrainians do some massive damage to invaders with domestic/Soviet-era IFVs - slightly excited to see what they can do with something up to NATO quality standards and not Soviet Union standards.

Quote from: Shiranu on January 05, 2023, 08:03:53 PMI remember early in the war seeing the Ukrainians do some massive damage to invaders with domestic/Soviet-era IFVs - slightly excited to see what they can do with something up to NATO quality standards and not Soviet Union standards.

It also would be nice to see the Ukrainians rely on equipment using western ammo rather than soviet ammo, because there's not a lot of soviet ammo left, and of course russia has a lot of what's left.  Switching over to NATO standard would make keeping the guns fed a lot easier.

Quote from: Hydra009 on January 05, 2023, 06:54:36 PMUS officially will send 50 Bradleys to Ukraine!

How do Bradley IFVs fare against T-72s?  Quite well actually, as the Iraqis found out.  Especially with those TOW missiles we already sent.

Why didn't those 8, T-72s shoot the Bradley's while they were reloading the TOW missiles?

Quote from: Cassia on January 05, 2023, 09:34:13 PMWhy didn't those 8, T-72s shoot the Bradley's while they were reloading the TOW missiles?

Excellent question.  All I can tell you is that one Bradley was indeed lost to enemy fire.



Judging from the photo, I'd assume a very high difficulty in establishing a target solution.

HIMARS and new friends!
Left to right: French AMX-10 RC light tank, German Marder IFV, US Bradley IFV, US HIMARS.

Inspiring the troops, lol

Poland is considering giving Ukraine its Leopard tanks

QuotePoland gave Ukraine more than 240 modernized Soviet-type tanks early in the war. Now, Poland is considering a request from Ukraine to donate its German-made Leopard main battle tanks, a senior Polish diplomat said.

QuotePoland has more than 240 Leopard tanks, enough for two tank brigades, and plans to eventually unload all of them, said Slawomir Debski, director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs, a Warsaw think tank close to the Polish government. The pace at which it could give those to Ukraine depends on how quickly Poland receives replacement tanks it has ordered from manufacturers in South Korea and the U.S., he said. Berlin would also need to approve.

"It's a question of not if, but when," said Mr. Debski, adding that the Western reluctance to provide tanks was finally diminishing after months of diplomatic pressure. "It's exactly something Poland has argued for, for many months."

Send tanks to Ukraine Poland ASAP!

Btw, the Ukrainians found a way to MacGuyver their Soviet-era BUK anti-air to fire Sea Sparrow anti-air missiles.  This significantly improves their ability to keep these anti-air batteries supplied.  Sea Sparrow is designed for short/medium-range defense, especially against lowflying missiles (a favorite Russian tactic)

Ukraine's S-300 anti-air is basically overkill against a lot of the stuff Russia has been sending out, so having more versatility is nice.  That way, they can save those missiles for serious targets.

Putin's 38 hr ceasefire for the orthodox xmas. What a joke. It's what baby orthodox jesus would have wanted.

Yeah, I wasn't gonna even bring it up as a possibility because I smelled that BS from halfway around the world.  Putler is as pious as Trump.

While Russian invaders have stalled around Bakhmut, they have advanced north of Bakhmut, pushing about 10km in just a few days.  Definitely a cause for concern and gives Russians the false impression that they have "momentum", that they're winning the war because they're taking land.  They need to be bisabused of this delusional thinking.

And yesterday, they were.  Ukrainian forces counterattacked and pushed them back, partially undoing recent gains.

Hopefully, before long, Ukraine will be launch another sweeping counteroffensive to liberate another large chunk of Ukraine or at least prevent the invaders from taking another km of land.

When it is obvious that Russia is no longer taking territory, then Pro-Putin propagandists cannot claim success convincingly.

Near Bakhmut, a Ukrainian sniper team repelled a group of Russians and eliminated their commander, causing the remainder to flee