Military Thread: “An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep.”

[rjshae]

54 minutes ago, kanisatha said:

Yes, now they have a powerful opponent (in Europe) but we don't. So if anything, they should be spending more than us.

Your conclusion does not follow. Germany faces one powerful threat; the USA faces multiple.

[kanisatha]

8 minutes ago, rjshae said:

Your conclusion does not follow. Germany faces one powerful threat; the USA faces multiple.

I specifically said in Europe, because we're talking about NATO spending.

And no, even globally, the only powerful threat to the US is China. No one else.

[rjshae]

13 hours ago, kanisatha said:

I specifically said in Europe, because we're talking about NATO spending.

And no, even globally, the only powerful threat to the US is China. No one else.

Well the politicians would have you believe otherwise, but whatever. Defense spending should be measured against national GDP. In that regard, Poland actually spends more on defence in Europe: 4.12% versus 3.38% for the USA. Presumably it's a response to their eastern neighbors.

[kanisatha]

8 hours ago, rjshae said:

Well the politicians would have you believe otherwise, but whatever. Defense spending should be measured against national GDP. In that regard, Poland actually spends more on defence in Europe: 4.12% versus 3.38% for the USA. Presumably it's a response to their eastern neighbors.

Yes absolutely. Poland is the best, and I give them complete credit for it. And it's not just spending, but what they're spending on. They're doubling the size of their army, making it completely mechanized, and also doubling the number of fighter squadrons in their air force flying 4.5 or 5th gen aircraft carrying long-range missiles. They're doing everything right.

But this is also exactly why I worry they may face a preemptive strike by Putin.

[HoonDing]

The biggest threat to US is ISRAEL. They could literally bomb every ship city and US would never fight back.

[rjshae]

5 hours ago, kanisatha said:

Yes absolutely. Poland is the best, and I give them complete credit for it. And it's not just spending, but what they're spending on. They're doubling the size of their army, making it completely mechanized, and also doubling the number of fighter squadrons in their air force flying 4.5 or 5th gen aircraft carrying long-range missiles. They're doing everything right.

But this is also exactly why I worry they may face a preemptive strike by Putin.

It would be interesting to consider what a preemptive strike looks like with a horde of drones combined with hypersonic missiles. That could be overwhelming. Particularly if Ukraine has fallen, opening up another flank along the polish border.

[kanisatha]

19 hours ago, rjshae said:

It would be interesting to consider what a preemptive strike looks like with a horde of drones combined with hypersonic missiles. That could be overwhelming. Particularly if Ukraine has fallen, opening up another flank along the polish border.

Well, any Russian attack against NATO, whether preemptive or not, and even if the main target is Finland and/or the Baltic states, will surely include an attack on Poland coming out of Kaliningrad and Belarus, because Russia closing off the Suwalki gap will be critical to their having any hope of winning the war. And likewise for NATO, any hope of successfully defending the Baltics, and even Finland, will depend almost entirely on keeping the Suwalki gap open. That's why Poland is positioning its best land forces for the coming Suwalki gap fight.

[HoonDing]

Israel getting a B2

[Katphood]

The new NATO standard.

Sugar powder!

 

[Agiel]

 

[Gfted1]

US: World’s first microwave-armed robot zaps drone swarms in seconds

[Gorth]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr4345k05z3o
 

Royal Navy ships to be equipped laser batteries by 2027. Tests at the Hebrides show great efficiency at shooting down high speed drones 

[Zoraptor]

Trump has announced a new fleet of US battleships: the Trump class. Yes, battleships, the class of ship that has been obsolete for 70 years and defunct for 20. The first ship will be the USS Defiant, and be launched in 2.5 years time.

I was so very tempted to put this in the funny things thread instead as there's literally nothing about the announcement which isn't hilarious. Trump class? funny. USS Defiant? funny. 2.5 years to build a 30000? 40000? ton ship, and with no actual design yet? hilarious.

Should have hidden those intel reports about the Nakhimov finally having its refit finished, one suspects. 

They haven't even built the weapons systems he wants put on it yet so another Zumwalt type catastrophe of having a weapons system with no ammunition made for it would be on the cards; if it weren't obviously going to be cancelled by the next President without any work having been done.

[Malcador]

Sounds the US version of the Kirov, in theory, anyway

 

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Malcador

[Gfted1]

Once they work out the barrel wear kinks, I think railguns could make an effective AA platform. Im not so sure about the direct ship to ship utility though. As seen in this video, the railgun ammunition punches really impressive holes directly through the test ship, but unless you hit a sweet spot, its just a really small hole in a really big warship, seemingly.

Railgun Damage To Japanese Target Ship Seen For The First Time

[rjshae]

In his mind, the USS Boondoggle serves the purpose of building something big having his name on the class. It'll at least make a nice reef.