Ukraine’s new rockets are wreaking havoc on Russia’s army | Hacker News Reader

Ukraine’s new rockets are wreaking havoc on Russia’s army

economist.com

I like to look at the price of these missiles and compare them to whatever federal taxes I paid last year. It's amusing to think of how many years one American's federal taxes goes to launching a single strike!

If only we had invested in preemptive civilization.

We did but according to anecdotal evidence self preoccupied boomers forgot to pass it on.

Depends on the American.

Would you rather your fellow Americans losing their lives instead of Ukrainians defending their country and grinding the Russian army? Because that's the tradeoff being made.

Why would Americans lose their lives in a conflict in Ukraine?

Due to the war extending out of Ukraine into NATO space. You think Putin would stop at Ukraine?

I don't see any reason to believe Putin will attack a NATO member. If the combined strength of NATO isn't sufficient to deter Russia, what is even the point of the alliance?

And in practical terms Russia is suffering heavy losses against Ukraine. The idea that it will be able to take on more potent powers in an open war is wishful thinking.

Even if they don't attack a NATO member, just Ukraine and Moldova and integrate Belarus, they would pretty much screw up all the Black Sea region, Central Europe and the Baltics, including all bordering NATO member states. Which is a direct threat to NATO. So better expend some equipment now rather than human resources and equipment at a later stage when the conflict can't be contained anymore.

It wouldn't help with healthcare, homelessness and hunger in the US either. If the conflict extends, the US would expend resources that could be used to address these issues elsewhere (military + espionage) in order to counter the Russian/Chinese threat. A Russian victory could also embolden China to launch an attack on Taiwan, which pretty much sets the stage for WW3.

45,000 Americans die every year due to lack of healthcare alone. We have the lowest life expectancy and highest infant mortality rate in the developed world. Our public education systems are some of the most underperforming in the developed world. The amount of money we've sent to Ukraine so far could end homelessness and hunger in the US three times over. Killing people on the other side of the world and a proxy war is not a priority for me. Solving these problems for my own countrymen is. No contest.

> The amount of money we've sent to Ukraine so far could end homelessness and hunger in the US three times over.

Homelessness and hunger are complex in the US. Direct cash payments would likely drive up prices long term and not resolve the root causes (NIMBYs, addiction, healthcare). Other solutions are being tried yet money alone won't fix many of them.

Still I do agree US resources are too heavily tilted toward war hawks instead of housing, healthcare, reforms, etc.

Paying for healthcare with a national health plan doesn’t drive up costs in other nations. In fact the Us has the highest healthcare costs and worst outcomes of any developed nation.

While mental health and addiction contribute to homelessness these conditions are wildly exacerbated by homelessness. Housing first has shown startling success rates. The only reason it stopped working was that cities that piloted the programs stopped funding it.

Why did we stop funding it? Dunno, ideological weirdness?

what would it cost you to let Putin take over one of the largest countries in Europe and enslave its people?

Americans are so proud about being the World Police until its time to be the world police and then they try to weasel out of it by nickel and diming everything

The key points are:

America has provided eight launchers and on July 8th said it would send four more. Each one carries a pod of six gps-guided missiles accurate up to 84km...

America’s army tends to disperse and conceal its ammunition dumps across a number of smaller sites. Russia’s army, which relies heavily on trains to move munitions and human muscle to load them onto trucks, has instead created big depots close to railheads...

So, how much effect HIMARS will have seems to depend on how long it will take the Russians to adapt by dispersing their ammunition caches.

Russian military doctrine kinda relies on these central ammunition depots, they will likely have trouble with changing it. They will probably just move the ammo depots further back but the problem is, if they move them out of the range of HIMARS then because of their lack of solid logistics their time to get ammo drastically increases.

This. Russia relies heavily on trains for logistics, so all their main depots will be near a railhead. Then they have to truck the supplies to the front. They're lacking in trucks so the further back they move the depots, the longer the supply route. Putting more wear and tear on the trucks, slowing the supply amounts, etc.

And trying to disperse the depots into smaller amounts doesn't really help; say you cut it in half somehow (ignoring the doctrinal challenges). Then you actually need more trucks, and you need to plan carefully about the supply levels at each mini-depot.

Besides, if you cut the depot size, the Ukrainians will still hit them with HIMARS etc. One or two rockets is enough for most of these sites.

I thought Russia had good GPS-jamming technology. I guess like many "I thought Russia had ..." statements, we're learning how real and/or widely deployed various capabilities are.

Russia has reasonably effective GPS jamming in Moscow, but it's not exactly mobile. Also, the vast majority of Russian "tech" is made with western parts and tools so they're struggling.

Even if they did jam the GPS signal, it would only reduce the accuracy of the system since the missiles have inertial guidance systems as well. I dont know if the accuracy of such a system under degraded GNSS conditions is public knowledge, but I bet its pretty good.

From what I've read, GMLRS using inertial guidance is good for a 7 meter CEP, while the GPS part brings that down to 5 meters [1].

1. https://twitter.com/noclador/status/1532841072300380161?s=20...

I was surprised to find an expression I've never heard before:

cock-a-hoop: adjective, extremely and obviously pleased, especially about a triumph or success.

"Ukrainian commanders are cock-a-hoop. They say HIMARS is tilting the war back in their favour"

Several military bloggers have also said Ukrainian partisans behind Russian lines are providing GPS targeting information of where Russians try to hide the ammo dumps

https://archive.ph/uiR8W

The targeting information is provided from satellite images - no need to risk peoples lives.

Behind Enemy Lines, Scouts Help Ukrainians Execute Deadly Strikes

https://twitter.com/Mikayla91188348/status/15462116879795937...

A lot of mil bloggers are under the impression Ukrainian civilians are helping with targets that are under cloud cover or vegetation cover. I'd be interested to know if this is incorrect and satellites can see everything using many wavelengths

Both Russian and Ukrainian sources agree that Ukrainian civilians are providing extensive field intelligence. That doesn't rule out satellite intel. Also, as the article points out, these ammunition dumps are huge and located in predictable places, so finding them is not hard.

Non-paywall link?

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