Russia

[Sam the Centipede]

Muscle memory etc. – a few years back I watched a BBC history program which looked at the UK's domestic preparations in the 1940s for resisting a German invasion, including serial "stop lines" to slow the invaders' progress towards critical areas, uniformed militia (the Home Guard of Dads' Army fame) and covert resistance units who would harass, kill and sabotage the occupiers if everything else had failed. A couple old fellas were reminiscing about their involvement in these secretive units. They were equipped with light sub-machine guns (sten guns? I know little of firearms). I guess that's equivalent to a modern assault rifle? As you know, non-uniformed Brits don't have easy access to firearms other than shotguns, so it was at least 50 years since the old guy had handled any similar weapon yet he was chatting to the presenter while disassembling the gun neatly onto a table with barely a look then reassembling it creditably fast while apologizing for being slow.

He then popped a few rounds into a target and was content that while less accurate than his performance level of a half century ago, an enemy in front of him would definitely not be singing the Horst-Wessel-Lied.

He (or someone else in the program) said they were trained always to fire two quick rounds at an enemy, definitely with pistol, I'm not so sure about with sub-machine gun. Always two, never a single shot.

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

[Gupwalla]

Oh no, not Des Moines!

Off Topic

I actually flew into Des Moines half a lifetime ago, en route to a football game in Ames. My abiding memory of the city is that the basement and first floor of the downtown newspaper building were walled in glass, and you could stand out in the sidewalk late of an evening and watch the morning papers getting rolled through the machines.

[Volkonski]

[Suranis]

I know what everyone is thinking, but I would say its not likely to be a combat Kill. Its a bit far from Ukraine, but close enough that its still a remote possibility.

YEYSK.jpg (52.38 KiB) Viewed 1273 times

[Dave from down under]

Sounded like mechanical failure

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

This must have left a lot of jobs vacant as many of the men in the prime of life suddenly are gone.

[Volkonski]

[MN-Skeptic]

[Volkonski]

Too bad their missiles and drones don't get stolen.

[MN-Skeptic]

Oops…

[Suranis]

Ya, this is nowhere near Ukraine.

Maybe the sanctions are starting to bite into Russian Jet maintenance.

[RTH10260]

Adding this speculation: many of the expierienced pilots may have been deployed to the war region, leaving behind new entries and lesser trained pilots that have not yet learned to handle incidents with skill.

[Dave from down under]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-23/ ... /101555386

Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as Vladimir Putin's chef, revealed as Wagner Group mercenary boss

————-

My prediction - if Vlad was to suddenly die of food poisoning.. Yez would make a try for the throne.

[Volkonski]

Russia Falls into Recession

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/11/ ... ion-a79398

Russia's economy has entered a recession as gross domestic output fell by 4% in the third quarter, according to first estimates published Wednesday by the national statistics agency, Rosstat.

The drop in GDP follows a similar 4% contraction in the second quarter, as Western sanctions pummel Russia's economy following Moscow's offensive in Ukraine.

The 4% drop in economic output between July and September was less than the 4.5% contraction analysts had expected.

The contraction was driven by a 22.6% plunge in wholesale trade and a 9.1% drop in retail trade.

[Volkonski]

Russia’s hypersonic missile-armed ship to patrol global seas

https://apnews.com/article/putin-techno ... 89ec237103

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday sent a frigate armed with the country’s latest Zircon hypersonic missile on a trans-ocean cruise in a show of force as tensions with the West escalate over the war in Ukraine.

Russia touts that the Zircon missile can evade any Western air defenses by flying at an astounding 7,000 miles per hour (11,265 km/h).



Putin has hailed Zircon as a potent weapon capable of penetrating any existing anti-missile defenses by flying nine times faster than the speed of sound at a range of more than 1,000 kilometers (over 620 miles).

Putin has emphasized that Zircon gives the Russian military a long-range conventional strike capability, allowing it to strike any enemy targets with precision.

[Dave from down under]

Will it be accompanied by the usual tug and back up tug should any one ship break down?

[RTH10260]

You will better not break down else we will send you to the Ukraine front !

[Dave from down under]

You will better not break down else we will send you to the Ukraine front !

They were planning the send the Moskova...

but it was sunk..

[Dave from down under]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-05/ ... /101829896

Russia claims the Zircon missile can evade any Western air defences by flying at an astounding 7,000 miles per hour (11,265 kilometres per hour).

Commissioned by the Russian navy in 2018 after long trials, the Admiral Gorshkov is the first ship in the new series of its naval frigates that were designed to replace the ageing, Soviet-built destroyers as a key strike component.

Armed with an array of missiles, the ship is 130-metres long and has a crew of about 200 personnel.

In 2019, the Admiral Gorshkov circled the world oceans on a 35,000-nautical mile journey.

[RTH10260]

older

Russian mobile calls, internet seen deteriorating after Nokia, Ericsson leave

By Supantha Mukherjee and Alexander Marrow
December 21, 20224:53 PM GMT+1

• Russian telecoms users expected to see slower data, more dropped calls, longer outages - sources
  This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine

STOCKHOLM/MOSCOW, Dec 21 (Reuters) - When telecoms gear makers Nokia (NOKIA.HE) and Ericsson (ERICb.ST) leave Russia at the end of the year, their departure could steadily cripple the country's mobile networks over the long-term, setting off a deterioration in communication for everyday Russians.

Five senior telecoms executives and other industry sources said Russian mobile phone users will likely experience slower downloads and uploads, more dropped calls, calls that won't connect, and longer outages as operators lose the ability to upgrade or patch software, and battle over dwindling spare parts inventories.

Ericsson and Nokia, which together account for a large share of the telecoms equipment market and close to 50% in terms of base stations in Russia, make everything from the telecom antennas to the hardware that connects optical fiber carrying digital signals.

They also provide crucial software that enables different parts of the network to function together.

"We are working towards the end of the year and that's when all exemptions (from sanctions) expire," Ericsson's finance chief Carl Mellander told Reuters. Ericsson received exemptions to sanctions from Swedish authorities.






https://www.reuters.com/business/media- ... 022-12-21/