To be fully transparent here, from my understanding, any real heavy maintenance work, such as replacing end-of-life structural components, large scale systems upgrades, and whatever the Russian Aerospace Forces call their counterpart to a D-Check were originally meant to take place at dedicated aircraft repair plants located far away from the operational bases, such as at Kazan's Borisoglebskoye airfield. From what I can see, the bases were kept fairly minimal so that they could be brought back to an operational state after a nuclear strike, without having to clear metric tons of twisted concrete or steel from runways and taxiways.
The problem is that when the USSR collapsed, a lot of these repair plants were cowboy-privatized and many consequently went under. At the same time, the economic implosion of Russia left pretty much every arm of the armed forces, including the bomber force, were left cash-strapped, with the priority being put on keeping the bombers operational and introducing a limited number of the new high-tech Tu-160. Completely replacing the maintenance concept just wasn't on the priority list.
Elon Musk is a national security risk
Musk might finally have píssed off the wrong people with this Crimean stunt. If it's confirmed true and he actively stopped a combat mission through interference? Even if Ukraine probably can't do much about it directly, I'd be surprised if American authorities don't extend that reach a little.
Lets hope so. Certainly beyond that Musk is a contemptible person this clearly shows the dangers of having so much of the important aspects of the military in private hands. I would also throw in on Musk the following. Let's not forget he has a Tesla factory in China which now makes a huge chunk of the cars they make. So Musk is very much beholden to the authoritarian dictatorship in China whom of course are supporting the authoritarian regime in Russia in their invasion.
"The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has released a new recruitment video targeting employees of Russia's security services and the military."
https://twitter.com/MajedSallem/status/1700098796309365094?s=20
Uhh...
wow that's creepy. For all we know it's a RuZZia trick looking for people to blame and execute.
I somehow don't see the CIA as hitting social media to recruit, doesn't seem like their style.
While I havent seen much in last couple days of advances (presuming they are happening) I've seen a lot of footage of Russian armour and units getting absolutely smashed since early September. The Russian casualties the past week must be staggering
Whether or not Musk is breaking his company's contract with the US defence department appears to be a total sideshow.
Most notably today Zelensky said that Russian air superiority was 'stopping' (not slowing) Ukraine's counter offensive.
That's the real issue to be fixed, never mind Musk's shenanigans.
This site (again, not sure how legitimate it is but it seems spot on) covers in detail how UAF destroyed an enclave of RuZZian armor.
Slava Ukrainii!
Yes. Because the takeaway from all this should be that Musk's battlefield analysis is on point and not that he is a credulous moron.
Why are you validating their posts, by responding?
Not sure you read my post but anyway...
Elon Musk is a marshmallow dildo.
Last 24 hours - 23 APV, 23 Tanks, 31 Artillery
More movement at Bahkmut
Artillery certainly on the uptick over the past week.
I posted this earlier, you might have missed it - Kremlin Propagandists: Ukraine Artillery is Winning, Russia Guns Getting Taken Out – a Lot (kyivpost.com)
Yup I misread it
Your mistake was trying to read it at all.
The only US airforce base I was ever really near was the one in Kandahar, and my God, that was something else! They even had hangers for the drones. Massive is the only way to describe it, and if you had a liking for plane spotting, you'd never leave it. It was there my love affair with the A10 warthogs began, they had two of them continually patrolling, and I still think about back at the beginning of the Russian invasion, when a very long Russian convoy was stranded for several days on the roadside. I thought WARTHOGS!! WARTHOGS!!, But sadly it was not to be. I also saw the Blackhawks in action, up close as they say. And nothing can prepare you for the noise the make when they start firing their guns.
And you know, its strange. Harking back to the communist times, Russia had to be one of the worlds greatest users of cement, Everything was made with cement, and you would think that valuable aircraft hangars would have been built as standard practice, but then again, its Russia. So no hangars as standard. And I guess the Russians have learned to cope with the extremes of temperature's they face. But for sure, I would not like to be trying to service or do any other kind of work out in the open on an aircraft. I'll always remember on an IL76 flight, there was a problem with one engine, and during a stop, I was watching the engineer as he fixed it. ( I was holding the ladder for him, and handing him up the tools as he needed them) But the part he was working on had an intact factory seal on it, means not to be opened only by the factory. Did it bother him? Not one bit. He grabbed it with a pliers, gave it a twist, and that was it. Seemed to be a pump of some sort. Anyway, what ever it was he did, it worked. But I'd always be just a little bit skeptical about the casual attitude they had to that kind of work!
As for the tires. I still think that they are not meant to be a roof as such....just a kind of drone protection. If the drone explosive hit the tire, would it just rebound? Soften the blow so to speak. But even then, as these are remotely piloted, they could be diverted to a section of the fuselage that was unprotected? Back near or on to the tail section? Would that not cause the plane to break in two?
Shenanigans? He protected Russian warships that fire missiles into Ukraine on a regular basis.
That's the real issue to be fixed,
Ukraine is fighting with every arm and leg tied behind it's back. As such Zelensky has to lobby hard for the gear they need. More AA is being moved to the front, but they always need more. The F16's should, at the very least, force Russian to adopt new strategies, and they should, in theory, benefit Ukraine. It won't be some magic war winning thing, but it's just another step in the right direction.
Ukraine are going into prepared defenses, a sea of mines, kilometers of defense in depth, artillery fire zones, Alligator choppers operating at around 8km out from targets. It's a very difficult task, but incredibly they are making progress. The bar for any of this is entirely up to Ukraine, it's their strategic and tactical choice. It's their country they are liberating, it's the Russian war machine they are destroying in the process, it's the Russian military they are putting under pressure.
Musk is an odious quadruple chinned c… hopefully karma catches up with him.
In Gadaffi's Libya there was plenty of hangars too., but very few of them remained undamaged that I saw. But they did have them.
Let me start by saying Musk is a muppet and he appears to be turning into a bigger muppet everytime he opens his mouth. I have no time for him at all
That being said
Certainly beyond that Musk is a contemptible person this clearly shows the dangers of having so much of the important aspects of the military in private hands.
Starlink is nothing to do with the military though. Its a private enterprise which has been retasked in a warzone by warring parties.
It would be the same if DJI disabled their drones from flying within Ukraine/Russia/Crimea to stop them being used to kill people in the same manner they prevent them from being flown close to airports.
Now, if he has a contract with the military thats a different matter, a breach of contract. Does he have one? Does the contract only cover the Ukranian landmass maybe, and not the waters? I honestly can't keep up with all the Ukraine stuff so maybe he does have a contract in which case he may be in trouble with the US military from that sense.
Regardless, I'm happy to see him getting roasted over this, he's a twat
The avg daily loses since May are staggering. 15-30 systems lost per day.....wow
Musk does have a contract with the US Department of Defense although I think it is of more recent vintage signed from what I am seeing earlier this year. It seems according to the below article previously he had a contract with a US foreign aid agency.
SpaceX's Starlink wins Pentagon contract for satellite services to Ukraine | Reuters
Ahh, thats a very different situation so. What a dope. He could end up in front of a congressional hearing if he's not careful
The whole musk episode is a warning to all Tesla owners about how the megalomaniac in charge might change terms and conditions.
Starlink missing a massive free PR campaign by providing Ukraine with a successful high level SLA in challenging conditions.
He has clearly shown a number of times that he is far more concerned about being a childish edgelord than looking after his businesses. The state of "X" for instance.
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