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Comment by throwaway9524 | Hacker News Reader

You are right regarding China being a considerable opponent due to its manufacturing power but you are wrong about Russia. First it is a petrostate but one that is dependent on western equipment for continued extraction. Especially with natural gas it had to scale back a lot of projects due to sanctions. Second its military complex is only good at dumb ammunitions and outdated equipment fit for human wave attacks. Those may be working in Ukraine thanks to population advantage but they are not fit for a fight against NATO. And Russia is already experiencing worker shortage in manufacturing. I wonder how that "giant military complex" will fare after another mobilization drive.

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>Second its military complex is only good at dumb ammunitions and outdated equipment fit for human wave attacks.

This comment is not based on material facts. Russia has a lot of SotA military equipment. Including AD, EW, smart bombs, glide bombs, hypersonics and so on. These so called "human wave" attacks never happened and is a complete debunked meme.

Russian weapons are nowhere near state of the art. More like hopelessly outdated Cold War designs which makes sense because the USSR unlike Russia was actually capable of innovation though often narrow in scope.

And just like every other Russian industry its MIC is heavily reliant on western components. Even dumb Shahed drones are assembled with American FPGAs and microcontrollers. https://hackaday.com/2024/06/08/how-many-western-ics-are-the...

> hypersonics

If you are talking about Kinzhal then it is hypersonic in the same way ATACMS is hypersonic. It is not maneuverable at hypersonic speeds and can be intercepted by modern air defense systems as proven by Ukraine.

> These so called "human wave" attacks never happened

How ironic to read this just a few weeks after the "Goodwin" and "Ernest" scandal. What does your metodichka say about them?

> Even dumb Shahed drones are assembled with American FPGAs and other microcontrollers.

Imagine not using cheap commodity chips that are easily available.

>If you are talking about Kinzhal then it is hypersonic in the same way ATACMS is hypersonic.

Look up Zircon and Avangard.

>How ironic to read this just a few weeks after the "Goodwin" and "Ernest" scandal. What does your metodichka say about them?

How many Ukrainian scandals should I mention? No one is saying that the Russian military is perfect, but taking this example as a way to show that Russia is utilizing human wave attacks is stupid at best.

It's hard to understand what you're arguing about - Russian troops and chain of command showed utter incompetence at the beginning of the war, with a giant convoy being stuck and gradually destroyed at will by Ukrainians.

More precisely, I wouldn't use term "human wave". It's just Russian command don't care that much about their own casualties as they are used to thinking they have a lot of human material. And while it's true, it's a terrible way to manage a state.

If an only if you have the stomach for it, first hand accounts with vids of meat wave style attacks and more are available on Reddit, at ukraineconflict. So as they say: knock yourself out! :-)

I have been following the conflict since the beginning in 2014. I've probably seen more combat footage than you ever will. Most of the real footage is on telegram btw.

The human waves did appear to be real, even if they were convicts being used ? Pretty sure the videos are out there…

Yeah I mean people who underestimate Russia, they seem to talking their cues from the disastrous opening stages of the invasion in 2022. Russia has learnt and adapted a lot. I recommend the RUSI reports on the conflict for anyone who wants to catch up - Russian EW is perfectly capable of countering HIMARS at this stage, from the reports I’ve read.

Their lancet loitering ammunition drones are really effective and so are their observation drones which they produced in large quantities and keep watch over the entire frontline.

It’s a sophisticated effort.

Russia, particularly its MIC, seems at least the third best in the world at this point, after US and China.

They produce enormous amounts of material and are now building enough to hold a war of attrition against a large neighbouring country (that’s now armed with some NATO equipment).

They’re also developing combat knowledge that virtually no other country has gained in the same way in a war against a well armed near peer competitor.

Are they capable of producing these en masse?

They are producing them en masse. Just look at how many ballistic missiles and drones they are using.

Doesn't China have quite some economical problems on their own already?

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