2022-2024 Russo-Ukrainian War

[Amled]

Merely a flesh wound!

"Flesh wounds" have been known to turn septic!
Also if the victim is immobile, also known to attract "predators"?

[Officer of Engineers]

https://www.businessinsider.com/offi...taries-2023-11

Compounding the problem is that a Ukrainian headquarters unit in the field can only control a fraction of the troops under its command. "Essentially, you have brigade command posts commanding about two companies forward at a time," Watling said in a recent War on the Rocks podcast.

[Monash]

Starting to see an uptick in reports on Ukrainian military incursions across the eastern bank of the Dnieper River into Kherson Oblast which is interesting only because that stretch of the conflict line doesn't appear to have been as heavily fortified by Russia (for obvious reasons). Which then leads me to to speculate about what it is exactly Ukraine hopes to achieve or thinks it can achieve with the resources available along this section of the front?

[Ironduke]

Well I can't imagine they are in earnest trying to retake the left bank of the Dnipro. The supply lines would be too at risk if the Ukrainians were to, say, land thousands of troops. I would think this is meant to divert, to get the Russians to reinforce the area and divert personnel and materiel from other fronts.

[Monash]

Well I can't imagine they are in earnest trying to retake the left bank of the Dnipro. The supply lines would be too at risk if the Ukrainians were to, say, land thousands of troops. I would think this is meant to divert, to get the Russians to reinforce the area and divert personnel and materiel from other fronts.

That's more or less what I was thinking. Bridges are out of the question which leaves ferrying men, equipment and supplies across on flat bed boats. Doable I suppose but your talking about A LOT of hulls if your going to sustain a force of any size. Which just leaves spoiler/diversionary attacks.

Pity.

[Ironduke]

I think Ukraine would be smart not to ferry any more troops across than they can quickly withdraw. A large force would be seriously endangered of being cut off from retreat and defeated in detail. If this is a Ukrainian diversion, I think the Russians see it for what it is and realize the Ukrainians won't advance much further past the river. Hence no strong Russian reaction.

Maybe I'll be proven wrong.

[Monash]

I think Ukraine would be smart not to ferry any more troops across than they can quickly withdraw. A large force would be seriously endangered of being cut off from retreat and defeated in detail. If this is a Ukrainian diversion, I think the Russians see it for what it is and realize the Ukrainians won't advance much further past the river. Hence no strong Russian reaction.

Maybe I'll be proven wrong.

That's the problem I see with any large scale operations on the east bank i.e. the Russians must know they're diversions or feints. Hence I struggle to see what it is they're trying to achieve.

[Ironduke]

Another thought I had, the Ukrainians could be baiting the Russians to send personnel and materiel near the Dnipro, so they can attrit them with artillery from higher elevations on the right bank. So diversion plus the creation of opportunities for favorable attrition ratios that would not exist if they didn't cross and provoke Russian reinforcement.

I'm not an artillerologist, but perhaps besides the increased danger posed to Russian troops and vehicles sent as reinforcements by right bank artillery fire, maybe counterbattery fire would also be more favorable firing right to left than left to right due to the differing elevations, enhancing further the ability to attrit. In other words, all else being equal, maybe Russian artillery would be more at risk from Ukrainian artillery than the other way around.

[Albany Rifles]

I wondered where to put this but I recall we discussed artillery production capabilities here in the past.

I recall Top Hatter saying he was concerned with our industrial base's ability to ramp up. Looks like we have doubled production capability within a year. And I also know we are not yet at full production.

One of the other failures on Putin's part...he has allowed the US and other NATO allies to invigorate their industrial bases.


https://www.army.mil/article/271572/...ery_production

Strengthened Army industrial base doubles artillery production




Soldiers fire a howitzer during training in Hawaii, June 23, 2022. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. David Block)



U.S. Soldiers assigned to 1st Platoon, Charlie Battery, 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, conduct a live-fire exercise with the M777 towed 155mm howitzer at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, March 2, 2020. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Spc. Derek Mustard)


A U.S. Soldier, assigned to A Battery, Field Artillery Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, carries a 155mm round for M777A2 Howitzer during a Table XV Battery Certification live fire exercise, Nov. 9, 2022 at the 7th Army Training Command's Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany. 2nd Cavalry Regiment, assigned to V Corps, America's forward deployed corps in Europe, works alongside NATO allies and regional security partners to provide combat-credible forces capable of rapid deployment throughout the European theater to defend the NATO alliance. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Markus Rauchenberger)

WASHINGTON — The Army’s artillery production doubled in the last year with the service currently producing 28,000 155-millimeter howitzer rounds a month.
The dramatic uptick comes as the Army expanded its capacity at current facilities while looking to bring new ones into the mix next year. "We will have taken, over a couple years, what was a very fragile, admittedly, industrial base and dramatically improved its strength,” said Doug Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology.
The need for the increased artillery comes in response to supporting the war in Ukraine, the recent conflict in Israel and replenishing U.S. stockpiles. The service has sent more than two million rounds to Ukraine thus far.

Currently, the Army ships steel from Ohio to two facilities in Pennsylvania, the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, and a sister facility in Wilkes-Barre. These two plants turn 2,000-pound steel rods into two-foot-tall artillery shells. The shells are then transported to the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, where they are filled with explosives and sealed. The propellent and charges for the rounds are mostly produced at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Virginia and the Holston Army Ammunition Plant in Tennessee. Throughout this year, the Army expanded production at these facilities by constructing new buildings, installing new equipment and improving automation. These upgrades helped double the Army’s artillery production rate, Bush said.



With the expanded capacity at current facilities, the Army is shifting its focus in fiscal year 2024 toward bringing brand-new production facilities into the manufacturing process. This will give the service multiple sources for each production step. "Which is what you want in the ammunition production world,” Bush said. “You don’t want one building being the single point of failure.”
The service is building a new factory in Mesquite, Texas, and it awarded a contract last year to a Canadian company to build the artillery shells. It is also funding two new facilities to load the shells with explosives. One will be in Arkansas, and the other will be in Kansas.

The improved production process is part of the Army’s modernization plan to bring the industrial base into the 21st century. Current and future Army readiness requires modernization on a sustainable path that develops, implements, and deploys new technologies to deter current and emerging threats. Bush said the Army aims to increase 155-millimeter production to 60,000 by next summer and to 100,000 by the end of 2025. The 100,000-round goal is largely contingent on the approval of President Joe Biden’s request to Congress for fiscal year 2024 emergency supplemental funding, which has $3.1 billion for 155-millimeter artillery production and facility modernization.

"This important legislation is needed to make sure the Army is ready to meet the growing challenges we face today, and in the future,” Bush said. “It will strengthen our industrial base to ensure we can supply our defense needs while we serve as the arsenal of democracy for our allies.”

[TopHatter]

I wondered where to put this but I recall we discussed artillery production capabilities here in the past.

I recall Top Hatter saying he was concerned with our industrial base's ability to ramp up. Looks like we have doubled production capability within a year. And I also know we are not yet at full production.

One of the other failures on Putin's part...he has allowed the US and other NATO allies to invigorate their industrial bases.

The gift that keeps on giving.

[Ironduke]

NATO expansion, industrial reinvigoration, the gift that keeps on giving, there must a Viagra joke there somewhere.

[Albany Rifles]

NATO expansion, industrial reinvigoration, the gift that keeps on giving, there must a Viagra joke there somewhere.

I'm more of a Cialis man!

[Officer of Engineers]

It's damned sad that we need pills just to watch porn.

[Ironduke]

I'm more of a Cialis man!

I never understood their graphic in the commercial with a husband and wife holding hands in two adjacent single-person bathtubs. How's it supposed to work if you do that? Or what is it supposed to imply?

https://www.google.com/search?q=cial...rcial+bathtubs

[Ironduke]

It's damned sad that we need pills just to watch porn.

I'm sure Putin popped a couple to sire a couple bastards on that gymnast from Tatarstan. The one that's in Switzerland now.