Discussion of Military, real or fictional

[Darth Fluffy 339]

5 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

Um okay. So how does the loitering munition decide whether or not a tank looks like an AI?

Oops. Fixed it.

 

[Don Edwards 562]

Or if you can quickly make a pile of dirt that looks like a tank to the AI...

[mlooney 3,605]

The mortar rounds in question work with infrared signatures, so pile of dirt isn't gonna look right to it.

[ijuin 596]

In that case a cheaper motor vehicle could be made up as a decoy tank.

[Darth Fluffy 339]

Reminds me of that AI song, 'I think I'm a drone now'.

[The Old Hack 2,489]

12 hours ago, mlooney said:

The mortar rounds in question work with infrared signatures, so pile of dirt isn't gonna look right to it.

You don't need to resort to anything as primitive as a pile of dirt. There is a Swiss company that creates vehicular decoys to order. Ukraine bought dozens of them made to look like a HIMARS. So the Russians ended up expending a lot of very expensive missiles on some quite cheap decoys, which is optimal only in a universe where you can convince Putin that they were actual HIMARS. And might help explain the Russian claim that they had destroyed more HIMARS systems than Ukraine had actually received.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,619]

 

Before becoming a politician, didn't Putin work in intellegence?

 

[mlooney 3,605]

Yep.  Part of the KGB station in East Germany.

[Darth Fluffy 339]

3 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Before becoming a politician, didn't Putin work in intellegence?

I think it might be better described as 'dabbled in unsuccessfully'. He botched his one big duty, destroying classified records when the Wall fell.

[ijuin 596]

On 10/1/2024 at 7:14 AM, mlooney said:

I haven't played it since the 1st one. I think I played some "FreeCiv" back when I played games on Linux machines.

Oh, since Leonard Nimoy was brought up on the Listening thread, I thought I would mention that Nimoy provides all of the narration for Civilization IV.

[mlooney 3,605]

Need to watch Henry V today. That or kill a bunch of Frenchmen with my long bow. Which I don't have, so watching Henry V it is.

[mlooney 3,605]

Today we honor the men of Taffy 3, the Light Brigade and the men of Henry V army,

[mlooney 3,605]

Dear NSA|FBI|DHS|CIA agent or agents watching access to ODIN.  I'm a wanna be war game designer and I need all those data sheets I'm downloading.  Really, this year I promise I'll actually use them in a published war game. Please don't send a SWAT team to my house, that would upset my cat.  Plus I don't think Small City Kansas has a SWAT team.

[The Old Hack 2,489]

13 hours ago, mlooney said:

Dear NSA|FBI|DHS|CIA agent or agents watching access to ODIN.  I'm a wanna be war game designer and I need all those data sheets I'm downloading.  Really, this year I promise I'll actually use them in a published war game. Please don't send a SWAT team to my house, that would upset my cat.  Plus I don't think Small City Kansas has a SWAT team.

Maybe they'll send a SWAT bicycle cop.

[mlooney 3,605]

4 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Maybe they'll send a SWAT bicycle cop.

They might, if SCK had bike cops.  Don't even have motorbike cops here.  Just normal cop cars and of course, this being sorta rural Midwest, cop pickups and SUV

[The Old Hack 2,489]

7 hours ago, mlooney said:

cop pickups

For some reason it hit me that a good shortened form of a cop pickup would be a cockup.

[mlooney 3,605]

I think I have mentioned this this before, but for a military that has such obvious command and control problems, Russia has a damn lot of C2 vehicles.  Of the 35 C2V that the US Army thinks are worth mentioning for training reasons all but 9 are Russian.  The US has 2, one for Stryker brigades and one for every body else.  UK has 2.  Every body else ( Slovakian, Finnish, Australian, Polish, Swiss) has one.  Obviously there are more than these listed in existence, (the lack of PRC vehicles is the most obvious issue)  and the Russian ones (and one of the US) are used world wide, but still, 26 C2V for a country that has such horrid command and control seem like it's overkill.

[Darth Fluffy 339]

2 hours ago, mlooney said:

I think I have mentioned this this before, but for a military that has such obvious command and control problems, Russia has a damn lot of C2 vehicles.  Of the 35 C2V that the US Army thinks are worth mentioning for training reasons all but 9 are Russian.  The US has 2, one for Stryker brigades and one for every body else.  UK has 2.  Every body else ( Slovakian, Finnish, Australian, Polish, Swiss) has one.  Obviously there are more than these listed in existence, (the lack of PRC vehicles is the most obvious issue)  and the Russian ones (and one of the US) are used world wide, but still, 26 C2V for a country that has such horrid command and control seem like it's overkill.

Perhaps they are thinking "A new vehicle will fix this." when the problem is not the vehicles.

[mlooney 3,605]

Of course the "C2" vehicles don't include the 'K' modifier for tanks.  K tanks are commander tanks and have extra equipment.  The USSRRussia loves them.

As a general rule western armies give their commanders just a normal tank.

[The Old Hack 2,489]

On 10/29/2024 at 9:00 PM, mlooney said:

As a general rule western armies give their commanders just a normal tank.

The way the war is going, Putin will soon be issuing his commanders K-troikas.

[Darth Fluffy 339]

9 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

The way the war is going, Putin will soon be issuing his commanders K-troikas.

As illustrated in Enemy at the Gates, "Pick up a weapon from those ahead of you when they fall."

[The Old Hack 2,489]

On 10/31/2024 at 10:12 AM, Darth Fluffy said:

As illustrated in Enemy at the Gates, "Pick up a weapon from those ahead of you when they fall."

Surely the best way ever to increase troop morale. Tell them to scrounge for their own weapons and ammo.

[ijuin 596]

Great for morale and budget, but your troops’ combat effectiveness is lower until they have acquired the weapons.

[mlooney 3,605]

30 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

Surely the best way ever to increase troop morale. Tell them to scrounge for their own weapons and ammo.

The Russian have found a better way.  Have the commanding officer demand that the troops give him 50% of their pay, or get to lead the next charge.  To make this even better, the troops aren't being paid the amount they were told they would be paid.

[Darth Fluffy 339]

1 hour ago, mlooney said:

The Russian have found a better way.  Have the commanding officer demand that the troops give him 50% of their pay, or get to lead the next charge.  To make this even better, the troops aren't being paid the amount they were told they would be paid.

Are you suggesting that a corrupt military might not be effective?