Weapons manufacturing in the US is booming
Update: I did not expect the amount of upvotes and comments for this one. Interesting to read through the info. shared and some of the interpretations.
The testing is gonna be a bit flaky soon though. The demonstration targets are soon going to be 1960s trash. That Russia is resorting to fielding T-62s is such a joke.
Right and people like to overlook the fact that HIMARS is essentially a 50 year old system.
That said, nobody really knows what kind of ammunition they're sending. An excalibur round can turn almost any 155mm artillery into something significantly more deadly and we know that those got sent.
It's old but it's still used in the American military. They recently tested a new long range rocket for the HIMARS, so they're still making new rockets for that platform.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/double-the-range-rockets-for-himars-one-step-closer-to-production
Ukraine were crying out for more missiles during the stalemate.
They suddenly stopped asking so much and then broke the stalemate and took back swathes of land. Not exactly a coincidence.
Very nice picture in last Sunday fail of an RAF Globemaster full of nothing else but missiles. Bound for some where in Eastern Europe 🇬🇧🇺🇦🇬🇧🇺🇦🇬🇧🇺🇦. Maybe something around 70 tonnes of wizzz bangs
People also overlook the fact that we only sent 16 of them to Ukraine. Those didn't include the long range rockets either, for fear of Ukraine being tempted to turn them on legitimate Russian territory. I'm not sure that there's a better advertising statistic for western arms manufacturers in all of the war.
It's public what countries are sending. We aren't sending our top of the line equipment, but it's definitely not old dusty stock.
HIMARS
TOW missiles
155mm howitzers
105mm howitzers
Mortars
Drones/switchblades
Stingers
Javelins
You're gonna stand there and tell me we ain't sending them no
whistlin' bungholes,
no spleen splitters,
whisker biscuits,
honkey lighters,
hoosker doos,
hoosker don'ts,
cherry bombs,
nipsy daisers,
with or without the scooter stick, or
one single whistlin' kitty chaser??
Auto trader, oh august edition I ain’t have this one. 1970 Cuda Hemi Plum Crazy Purple guy wants 14 grand HWHAAAAAAAA I’ll give ‘em 7500. Dudes a freak.
FIM 92 stinger - introduced 1967
FGM 148 Javelin - introduced 1996
HIMARS is new, but really it's just a platform for the same GMLRS rockets the M270 has been using since the 1983.
BGM 71 TOW - introduced 1970
M777, Krab, Caesar, PHB2000 are all quite modern.
The drones are quite modern.
RGM84A Harpoon ASM - introduced 1977.
NASAMS - 1998
AGM 88 HARM - 1988
Not all of it is dusty old stock, but a big chunk of it is in fact cold war shit and they are still kicking the Russians asses.
Apparently the HIMARS is incredibly effective. The combination of swift mobility, precision, and range is supposedly devastating. Seems that a dozen or so HIMARS are capable of sending Russia's top-heavy leadership structure into disarray by threatening and destroying command centers way behind the front lines, probably thanks to the poor software design of the weapons system that Russia prepared to counter the HIMARS.
Their trenches now are actually worse than the ones in WWI. No doglegs to keep blasts from just wrecking everything because their mechanical trench diggers dig in straight lines.
Tbh most armies have no capabilities to counter them effectively. After ww2 there were not much data for those things opponents.
Id reckon next gen tanks will have proper counter measures..
The new hotness doesn't even work all that well. The Armata series has demonstrated to be breakdown prone and needs to be babied big time. It needs years more R&D to rid it of all the brand new teething problems, and honestly?
Russia is way too corrupt to spend money on that. It's just a showcase piece for "national pride" or whatever.
Don't really need to send in the best stuff when you are plinking material designed in the 70s/80s at best. Even modernized T-72s are not anything to be impressed with.
Where are the SU-57s they've been talking up for years? Could it be that they have far too many mechanical issues and they don't want the embarrassment of their best fighter jets crashing before they even see real combat? IIRC they used the conflict in Syria as a way to test them in combat, they used them a handful of times and called it a resounding success... against an enemy with no fighter jets
Russia is saving their SU-57s and all the other high tech shit for when the REAL battle starts! They're just holding back! So far it's all been a feint to lull Ukraine into false security! It will all be brought into battle soon! Just you wait! /s
Boy, can you imagine a bunch of elderly and disabled people rolling into Ukraine on top of the line Russian tech? Because by the time they get there, that’s all they’ll have left
There's an entire warfare era between Napoleonic and WW1, check out Franco-prussian war, Crimean war and European exploration of the East using sailing steamboats.
There's even been some pictures of WWII era artillery being sent out. I think they're flak cannons, because the caption said they were anti-air cannons from the 40's.
a spear is still just as deadly as it was, as is bow and arrow. a flintlock to the face still hurts. a cannon from the 1400s will still make a hummer think twice.
At this rate they going to be fighting against russian LARPers.
It's not like US-made weapons need any advertising.
Many countries have been buying billions of dollars worth of US-made weapons every year before the war in Ukraine.
Also, most of the weapons the USA is sending to Ukraine were purchased decades ago and were sitting in storage.
Many of these weapons were already in the process of gradually being phased out of service in the US Military (i.e. the AMPV replacing the M113 APC, the JLTV replacing the Humvee) or are soon to be replaced with something more capable (i.e. 'GMLRS' rockets used by HIMARS will soon be replaced with 'ER GMLRS' rockets).
Any countries have bought Russian equipment thinking it was near pairity. That illusion has been chartered beyond any doubt. You either are prepared to fight a modern war or your equipment functionally doesn’t matter. Having fighters a generation behind Gen 5 might as well be Spitfires.
Both for US arms, and against Russian arms.
After seeing Russian tanks and other arms in action, who - other than North Korea - is going to buy from them? Bunch of paper tiger rubbish…
Honestly people aren't realizing how Putin has utterly destroyed not only his persona, but that of Russia being a world power. They were making billions by selling weapons to developing states, and now all of that will dry up. No one is buying their trash anymore. And the US is driving the final nail in Russia's coffin without sacrificing a single American soldier
This has to be the greatest geopolitical miscalculation in modern history. Putin has completely emasculated his country and people
Spot on. Lots of people do not fully grasp the magnitude of the fuck up.
We also cannot understate how history will look at the US seizing the opportunity to emasculate a former opponent.
The risk I see is a post WWI one for the Russian psyche.
Also it's technically not even "going into Ukraine", the MID is giving Ukraine weapons from its stockpiles, old and outdated weapons actually, they're not giving the new top shelf kit. They are however replacing it with new stock that is better and more advanced weapons made with American materials by American workers, the money is going straight back into the US economy.
The money isn't even going into Ukraine. The US government gives money to American conpanies to manufacture American weapons created by American workers that are sent to Ukraine on American transport manned by Americans.
In exchange we humiliate and destabilize our greatest enemy, stimulate the domestic economy, all the while Ukraine gets support.
Money is not literally being sent to ukraine. Money is being sent into the us military industrial complex and old army surplus is being shipped to ukraine.
It's basically a lil marketing stunt to further boost the us economy under the disguise of helping some poor chaps
To be fair some Russian systems, *if maintained and operated properly*, are pretty effective and decent. The Tor and Tunguska modernized systems are solid and effective. Their tanks? Well, their Armata line shows some promise...
if given a few more years of testing to iron out all the flaws and what not. Not that Russia can afford to put more R&D into that though, heh. It's basically just a showcase prototype series for now.
Yep. People say this while forgetting that the Ukrainian army primarily operates Russian/Soviet equipment, proving that these systems can be used effectively in the right hands
Yeah I would bet Russian weapons engineers are at least reasonably competent. It's one thing to design a decent weapon system. But for them to be effective on the battlefield you also have to find the money to buy/build them in meaningful quantities, train competent soldiers to use/maintain them, and employ them in a strategically successful manner.
They'll keep some, but the HIMARS is not nearly as essential to US missions as it is to a nation like Ukraine. The US would likely have air superiority in any engagement they enter within a short while. Aircraft have much better versatility for the US than the HIMARS does.
Regardless of internal needs, they've shown that there's demand for the platform.
They will definitely restock, because the alternative is the Koreans selling their version to allies instead.
Right, but the HIMARS is not some magic weapon to the US military that has to be the focal point of the military complex. Most production of this will be sold to countries as an alternative to the drastically more expensive aircraft the US will use instead.
We all agree. It’s good to clean out the old stock, keep manufacturing older versions for future sales, while upgrading for our future needs…which might be minimal after Putin is delt with.
That just doesn't justify not having redundancy. If you wanted to advance a salient/SF unit into an enemy territory that you had not yet established air superiority over yet the HIMARS would fill that role extremely well. It also would lessen the strain on the number of sorties your air force is conducting and allow them to be more flexible.
Have you seen the new AbramsX tank? - it was just unveiled. There is more too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcfuyyxFtgQ
Edit: And Germans recently also announced a new one went completely nuts with it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTBA5tQsDbE
The Panther is an export-only model, the German army has no plans to use it themselves. They are working on a tank project with France (MGCS) that is supposed to eventually replace the Leopard 2.
Abrams X is a technology demonstrator that hasn't been ordered by the USA or anyone else. It's a cool looking tank but it isn't even close to being fielded. Same with the Panther KF51 - they're just examples of what these companies can do with modern technology. The sooner the better but realistically it will be years before either tank is in field and they'll probably be completely different to these examples.
If it's after 2000 it's probably newer than the Russians are rolling... they'll be recalling the Ladas they handed out soon and adding roof handles for troop transport
Correct but I was speaking to a friend who works at an armory and he was telling me they had a shit ton of stinger missiles that where going expire within 5 years.
Stuff like that was first to go
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/14/politics/united-states-ukraine-war-aid/index.html) reduced by 47%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> The Biden administration authorized an additional $725 million dollars in security aid for Ukraine Friday, as the country recovers from Russia's recent barrage of missile attacks on civilian targets.
> The additional assistance brings the total US military aid to Ukraine since January 2021 to more than $18 billion, Blinken said.
> The assistance includes High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles, anti-tank weapons and small arms as well ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and small arms, according to a press release from the Department of Defense.
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/y4eik1/biden_administration_authorizes_725_million_in/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~672676 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **arms**^#1 **aid**^#2 **Tesla**^#3 **Ukraine**^#4 **Friday**^#5
Considering this has all been from existing inventory that would otherwise sit gathering dust in inventory until it got replaced down the road, the money was already spent a long time ago. The only new expenses are the shipping costs, whatever that amounts to. It's also all army gear, which the US has an overabundance of after finally not being involved in any ground wars anymore, might as well get it into the hands of more deserving folks.
From the article:
> The Presidential Drawdown includes “munitions, arms and equipment from US Department of Defense inventories,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Friday.
So it's still existing equipment. The war has been too short in duration for any new equipment to be made specifically for this fight and given to Ukraine, although the longer the war goes on, the more likely it is that the US might reach that point. But again, we've got all this stuff we didn't leave behind in the middle east, and this is some GREAT intel on how it performs in large-scale open combat instead of just skirmishes with Taliban and ISIS insurgents. Did we even use HIMARS and anti-air Stingers in either Iraq or Afghanistan?
This'll probably increase the size of the next equipment orders for the US army though, so future money will be spent on restocking equipment. At some point we'll be tapping into reserves we'd like to keep in supply instead of just surplus. Which isn't the worst thing for the US to be doing with its money, it's a national security concern to keep your defense industry primed and employed to retain institutional knowledge, just in case.
Yes, we used both systems in Afghanistan and Iraq. HIMARS were used by US forces as recently as 2018 in Syria.
Some of what is sent is surplus, but the more expensive things like HIMARS are from military stocks. There is actually a limiting factor on the amount of HIMARS missiles we can provide due to our ability to manufacture replacements
I do not like how much money the US puts into the military, but damn, it shows how top tier it is in comparison to everything else. The weapons specifically in this case.
You already pay more than what's needed for the healthcare, it just goes to companies instead. America would actually save money overall with universal healthcare.
Australian healthcare is pretty good. But the US spends twice as much per person than we do. Just imagine if greed didn't come into the picture. The US could truly have the most amazing healthcare in the world and only the current benefactors would suffer. Which I don't think the majority would care about.
The worst people imo. Like I get people don't chose to be stupid, but my God. It's hard for me to be sympathetic to a person who is belligerently going around "breaking stuff".
Like I have sympathy for the person that gets too drunk, and then lies around on the bathroom floor vomiting for the rest of the night. I don't have that same sympathy for the dude who gets wasted, screams, yells, wants to fight everyone, then gets in accident while driving home drunk......
Imo that same philosophy applies to stupid people.
It always pisses me off when (very rarely) other Australians will tell me our healthcare system is garbage because they had to wait 2 hours at the hospital.
I went in at the start of the year with a fractured ankle waited 1.5 hours then got the X-rays done and 2 paid weeks off work and in total spent $15 or so on pain killers, it could be better sure but fuck me I think that’s just amazing. I got my appendix out a few years ago and pretty much the same situation and cost including 2 nights in hospital.
In the US. Got a pretty serious concussion. Called my girlfriend to come get me because we couldn't afford an ambulance. She had to take a day off work. Took me to the urgent care (we had never had a legit emergency before and didn't know). They charged us $45 and had us sit there for an hour, only to tell us there was nothing they could do and to go to the ER. Went to the ER, admitted, and proceeded to sit there for 9 hours before I was seen. They gave me two tylenol at the 5 hour mark, even through Tylenol doesn't work on me, and they were informed of that by my dad (who also took a day off work because they wouldn't tell my girlfriend anything about my condition). They said it was that or nothing, as they didn't have anything else. Proceeded to promptly throw them up, as I was nauseous and hadn't eaten anything yet that day. I was charged $30 per pill. The MRI ended up being a few hundred dollars, the ER visit itself cost around $700, and the meds they finally gave me were $35. These prices were all after insurance. I had "good" insurance. This all took place in a good size suburban hospital on a Thursday morning. Don't listen to the lies about public healthcare leading to long wait times.
The people with something to lose already know what they will lose. The people with something to gain don't know what they'll gain. It's an uphill fight.
"BuT mAh TaxEs wOuLD gO Up!"
"Well yeah maybe but you wouldn't be paying obscene copays and insurance premiums."
"BuT mAh TaxEs wOuLD gO Up!"
"Yes but basic math shows you'd actually pay less."
"BuT mAh TaxEs!"
Yeah there's this weird fixation on taxes, people don't realise that just because it isn't listed as a tax doesn't mean they avoid paying for that service...
I mean ... it's a matter of will at this point. Universal healthcare in the US would still be less than the entire military budget.
It's mostly because the liberals want it that the conservatives say they don't. You know ... to own the libs.
Edit: My numbers were way off BUT universal healthcare is effectively boycotted by conservatives. There is no excuse for the US to not have it.
One of the reasons that our confidential and top-secret documents are so important.
Writing stuff on a page costs next to nothing, but R&D and production cost billions.
Anybody that mishandles that stuff deserves to be in prison IMO
> One of the reasons that our confidential and top-secret documents are so important.
Oh yeah, I found a few of those under a table at a food court of this trashy-ass golf course.
I used to feel that way too -- and I'm a US military veteran.
Then I went to Ukraine. Hooooooly shit, I will never complain about our military budget again. It's not just about uniforms and training, although I did gain a new appreciation for the training I received. It's the whole package.
When I deployed to Iraq, I was handed... I don't know, let's just say a million dollars worth of personal equipment: body armor, a rifle, a rifleman's kit, a set of uniforms, **a personal tacmed kit**, MOPP gear, etc. I was also taught to properly use all of these things by experts. (I emphasize the tacmed because it's one of the things most needed in Ukraine.)
My unit -- a single platoon -- was issued roughly 200 million dollars worth of equipment. (I'm guestimating of course.) Again, we were trained in the use of all of this equipment. Extensively. I went to nine months of technical school, in addition to three months of infantry training. For equipment not related to my MOS, I received a couple hours of familiarization and had access to technical experts 24/7. Civilian contractors with even more experience, expertise, and direct access to engineers were embedded with us.
When I went to Ukraine I had to figure out (guess, really) what I was going to need, decide which equipment would meet those needs, figure out how to get that equipment, buy it, and figure out how to use it. Myself. It was an incredible pain in the ass, and the stuff I was able to get was NOT high quality. Learning how to use it, especially the radios, delayed my deployment by several weeks. Well, there was more going on than just that -- I also did a lot of refresher training before I left, took care of personal affairs, all that. But the stuff I mentioned was the most painful and time consuming.
When I got to Ukraine I had to pay for my own food, and help pay for fuel. Lodging was provided; it was in a series of buildings in various states of "blown up."
So, I'm happy to continue to pay whatever taxes are required to maintain our current military spending. Yeah it's excessive in ways, but there are people who (in general, if not in every possible way) are working to curtail that and to keep things generally, more or less, sane.
I did not support our war in Iraq, and still regret some of what I enabled while I was there. That's part of why I went to Ukraine. I'm sure I'll continue to oppose a lot of the things our country does with its military.
But I'm not going to complain about the budget.
There's R&D and then there's demonstration. The ability for the US to test weapons against a foe with such little money spent and 0 military personnel threatened is almost unbelievable.
That and seriously a few tens of billions of dollars from the US and the rest of NATO to decimate Russia's conventional forces for a decade or more while showing other countries the value of aligning with the west? Cheap as hell.
It's kinda funny...Putin has been "the West" most reliable ally!
Getting more nations to join NATO, limiting their foreign influence and reach, decima8their military stockpile, and even killing MORE russian troops and citizens.
Putin has got to be a double spy or something, because he has been ruining Russia better and faster, than any other nation.
But seriously, I wont joke about the stress and daily struggles for the Ukrainians fighting and dying for their home, or the Russians being forced into combat, knowing their nation is in the wrong.
I mean, for the past 20 years they've been firing $100k rocket to blow up a tent containing 2 goats, has to feel nice to see it hit a russian tank instead.
If he wasn't such a Russophile the movie would be in the works.
He would volunteer due to some bullshit excuse, most camera shots of him are really darkly lit, or at a desk, or table; lotsa martial arts scenes with really fast camera shots and stunt men. He would form a relationship while saving a young attractive 20-30 year old Ukrainian girl, save the day, and have an awkward love scene at the end; and yes he is now 70. There will also be hard to understand grumbly wheezing over the top ancient knowlege monolouges, and yes several people will be killed with swords and thrown through tables!
I wouldn't be suprised if he did do that, but fighting on the otherside, something like his buddy in Donetsk calls him up for a special mission in Ukraine!
Don't forget he's use a stunt double if there are any stairs involved and he'd be sitting down at any given opportunity.
At some point I can almost respect the amount of laziness.
According to Wikipedia, [6 American volunteers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War#Foreign_fighters_and_volunteers) and [0 American civilians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War#Foreign_civilians) died in the war.
I'm sure quite a bit of American's have died. Lots of folks with military experience volunteered for the Ukrainian Foreign Legion to fight on the front lines.
If you go to the Ukraine sub you'll see there are definitely some in memoriam posts for US volunteers. Off the top of my head I can only recall about 2 o or 3, but I've probably missed quite a few. One recent one that stuck with me is a former US military guy who left behind 5 kids.
American vet Dane Partridge died fighting just this week, to name one.
https://reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/y398vq/american_veteran_and_father_of_five_dies_fighting/
When Putin is gone...I'm curious to see how Russia is gonna move forward.
The next leader has the chance to change the perception of SOOOOO many nations and people in a good or bad way.
I expect to see a continuation of the current regime, but a more western friendly leader is almost inevitable given the past leaders.
If the new Russian leader leans into EU/Middle East relations over the traditional eastern ones, the western world will be better than it has been in 100 years.
I wish the Russians could understand how far they can go if they just play by the rules of the modern world.
As an ethnic Russian I used to somewhat believe, that if Putin is gone, everything will be resolved. After seeing what people in Russia do and believe en masse, I have lost all hope. At this point, they are literally showing how they are bombing the civilians and glorifying their actions and majority don't even care and all you see is comments like "finally they get what they deserve". No matter what reason, if you applaud killing of civilians, you have no hope for any future left. I really don't see how we could avoid WW3 at this point. And special fuck you to all the politicians in EU and US, that keep repeating Russian propaganda. "we should just have peace talks", "we haven't had a single attempt at resolving the situation" "our leaders will lead us to nuclear catastrophe". Yeah, poor Putin is just a victim of evil west. Fucking morons. They don't realize, that it's complete opposite, the more they prolong this war, by being afraid of Putin's blackmail, the more strong this blackmail becomes. Putin In 5 years: "half of poland is ours now, if you do anything, we will make a nuclear strike", US politicians: "we have to make peace talks, yes he raped and killed millions at this point, but we don't want to make it billions". Makes my blood boil. The fact that military industrial complex is evil and has its own interest doesn't change the fact, that Ukraine is literally fighting for our freedom and giving them support is duty of every country. If you don't stop imperialism at it's root, it will turn into an Empire.
Now time for the GOP to whine about spending money on Ukraine rather than helping regular Americans, something they also would vote against and haven't done themselves.
it's like people only see the money and doesn't see "in security assistance"
we're not sending money, we're sending military equipments that is equivalent to x amount of dollars that WE CURRENTLY HAVE IN OUR WAREHOUSES.
people saying "oh spend some of that money on the people", ok yes I can agree with that, but this money is already spent on the vehicles, missiles, and ammo.
would you prefer Biden send a military truck build in the 70s to your house? good luck pawning that off to the dealership.
Equipment currently in our warehouses, that we already made decades ago, that costs tens of millions of dollars per year to maintain, that we would never use personally, that we stockpiled for literally this exact purpose. We built our military to ***break*** Russia. We can't afford to not take this chance.
Let us be clear.
If Ukraine falls, other European nations will fall.
The USA (and the world) cannot allow this. It would spiral into a global conflict, possibly nuclear this time.
Wars of conquest should have ended last century. It is not a mistake to equate this with the German annexation of Sudetenland and the Munich Agreement. The moment the world offers appeasement is a signal to Putin/Russia that they can invade anyone.
The inevitable outcome would be worldwide war.
If you want American soldiers in the middle of a nuclear fight in Europe, hope for appeasement. Our best action now is to prevent that. Prevention means sending gear, money, and intel to Ukraine.
Ukraine is bearing the horrible costs of war. We all see the videos in this era.
Ukraine seems accepting of the role they are in. And the least we can do is arm them to the teeth and hope for a Ukraine victory. They face death so we do not have to. Every day.
They are the canary in the coal mine.
Edit: I seem to be arguing with Russian Trolls or paid actors in some comments below. My apologies to rational people here.
Funny how the Venn diagram of "takes the Russian threat seriously" and "spent decades under Soviet domination" is pretty much just a circle. Wonder why that is...
It seems the people of Belarus, or at least a solid percentage of them, are well aware of the threat Moscow poses; they just have a delusional asshat for a dictator
He is not at all delusional. He knows that allying with Russia will help keep his dictatorial regime in power.
His interest is himself, not his country or its people.
I'd put US and UK in the "takes the Russian threat seriously" circle, the rest of Europe though...
Imagine how ridiculous it would be if the situation was reversed, like if Guatemala invaded Mexico. The US barely does anything while France and Brazil are contributing the most to support Mexico, while France promises to help rebuild it after the war. That scenario is so insane to think about, but it's happening in Europe and it feels like the nations there just don't care.
Has Russia ever controlled Bornholm? This is the first time I'm hearing about that, and not finding any references to it through google. Or are you just referring to the occupation during the end of WW2?
It's not only those though. I can say with confidence that there's at least two another countries that are fully on board. Being post soviet means knowing how they operate.
As a Brit, I'm proud of very little to do with my country but our support of Ukraine is a rare exception. I live close enough to Salisbury Plains to hear Ukranians being trained there. I think we very much understand the importance of supporting Ukraine.
> If Ukraine falls, other European nations will fall.
We know this because [Putin told us](https://www.newsweek.com/russian-tv-says-poland-next-target-invasion-1711967).
Weapons manufacturing in the US is booming Update: I did not expect the amount of upvotes and comments for this one. Interesting to read through the info. shared and some of the interpretations.
All this money into Ukraine is essentially advertising lol
Also free testing in real combat
The testing is gonna be a bit flaky soon though. The demonstration targets are soon going to be 1960s trash. That Russia is resorting to fielding T-62s is such a joke.
I mean the west probably arent sending the new hotness either. Probably just a good opportunity to clear out the old model on a discount.
Denmark sent some of their land-based anti-ship Harpoon missile launchers. That system has been in mothballs since 2003.
Right and people like to overlook the fact that HIMARS is essentially a 50 year old system. That said, nobody really knows what kind of ammunition they're sending. An excalibur round can turn almost any 155mm artillery into something significantly more deadly and we know that those got sent.
It's old but it's still used in the American military. They recently tested a new long range rocket for the HIMARS, so they're still making new rockets for that platform. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/double-the-range-rockets-for-himars-one-step-closer-to-production
Ukraine were crying out for more missiles during the stalemate. They suddenly stopped asking so much and then broke the stalemate and took back swathes of land. Not exactly a coincidence.
Very nice picture in last Sunday fail of an RAF Globemaster full of nothing else but missiles. Bound for some where in Eastern Europe 🇬🇧🇺🇦🇬🇧🇺🇦🇬🇧🇺🇦. Maybe something around 70 tonnes of wizzz bangs
People also overlook the fact that we only sent 16 of them to Ukraine. Those didn't include the long range rockets either, for fear of Ukraine being tempted to turn them on legitimate Russian territory. I'm not sure that there's a better advertising statistic for western arms manufacturers in all of the war.
Plus it a lesson In modern warfare. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2022/10/12/us-army-seeks-defense-against-kamikaze-drone-threats-seen-in-ukraine/
Yep, im in the US army and we're already being trained in counter UAS operations because videos of drones dropping munitions.
It's public what countries are sending. We aren't sending our top of the line equipment, but it's definitely not old dusty stock. HIMARS TOW missiles 155mm howitzers 105mm howitzers Mortars Drones/switchblades Stingers Javelins
You're gonna stand there and tell me we ain't sending them no whistlin' bungholes, no spleen splitters, whisker biscuits, honkey lighters, hoosker doos, hoosker don'ts, cherry bombs, nipsy daisers, with or without the scooter stick, or one single whistlin' kitty chaser??
Just snakes and sparklers.
“Well…. Snakes and Sparklers are the only ones I like” -Russia
Can't be having hoosker doos without hoosker don'ts
[удалено]
Auto trader, oh august edition I ain’t have this one. 1970 Cuda Hemi Plum Crazy Purple guy wants 14 grand HWHAAAAAAAA I’ll give ‘em 7500. Dudes a freak.
Lmao was this a Joe dirt reference? When he is talking to that guy who sells fireworks?
FIM 92 stinger - introduced 1967 FGM 148 Javelin - introduced 1996 HIMARS is new, but really it's just a platform for the same GMLRS rockets the M270 has been using since the 1983. BGM 71 TOW - introduced 1970 M777, Krab, Caesar, PHB2000 are all quite modern. The drones are quite modern. RGM84A Harpoon ASM - introduced 1977. NASAMS - 1998 AGM 88 HARM - 1988 Not all of it is dusty old stock, but a big chunk of it is in fact cold war shit and they are still kicking the Russians asses.
Apparently the HIMARS is incredibly effective. The combination of swift mobility, precision, and range is supposedly devastating. Seems that a dozen or so HIMARS are capable of sending Russia's top-heavy leadership structure into disarray by threatening and destroying command centers way behind the front lines, probably thanks to the poor software design of the weapons system that Russia prepared to counter the HIMARS.
afaik germany is sending new hot air defenses
I read that as new "hot air" defenses lol pictured Germany sending over a zeppelin or two haha
Well I mean Russians are building trenches from the first world war. Why not chuck some barrage balloons up there?
Their trenches now are actually worse than the ones in WWI. No doglegs to keep blasts from just wrecking everything because their mechanical trench diggers dig in straight lines.
Zeppelins are so hot right now.
By God no, THE HELIUM!
What part of safe, non-flammable helium, do you not understand?
Always have been
Only when they explode.
You mean Hindenburgs gender reveal right?
HIMARS and Javelin are 1990s era systems and the Russians have no real equivalent or ability to counter them effectively.
Tbh most armies have no capabilities to counter them effectively. After ww2 there were not much data for those things opponents. Id reckon next gen tanks will have proper counter measures..
Yeah. Basically, the only way to know how to counter new weapons is to get into a war against them or develop them yourselves.
The new hotness doesn't even work all that well. The Armata series has demonstrated to be breakdown prone and needs to be babied big time. It needs years more R&D to rid it of all the brand new teething problems, and honestly? Russia is way too corrupt to spend money on that. It's just a showcase piece for "national pride" or whatever.
Yeah sorry I was talking about the west and how they probably arent sending their best stuff. I edited my comment to add that context
Don't really need to send in the best stuff when you are plinking material designed in the 70s/80s at best. Even modernized T-72s are not anything to be impressed with.
Well, it's testing against what Russia actually has
*used to have
They used to. They still do. But they used to, too.
The escalator to hell is temporarily stairs
Sorry for the convenience.
Soon they will have had used too only
Wouldn't be surprised if they started bringing T-26s out off the grave at this point
"Sir the Russians are using palanquins and rickshaws."
I'm waiting for war elephants.
Where are the SU-57s they've been talking up for years? Could it be that they have far too many mechanical issues and they don't want the embarrassment of their best fighter jets crashing before they even see real combat? IIRC they used the conflict in Syria as a way to test them in combat, they used them a handful of times and called it a resounding success... against an enemy with no fighter jets
Russia is saving their SU-57s and all the other high tech shit for when the REAL battle starts! They're just holding back! So far it's all been a feint to lull Ukraine into false security! It will all be brought into battle soon! Just you wait! /s
Boy, can you imagine a bunch of elderly and disabled people rolling into Ukraine on top of the line Russian tech? Because by the time they get there, that’s all they’ll have left
We don't have to imagine. It's already happening with the mobilized recruits.
They are going to Napoleonic Wars pretty soon. Field cannons and square formations to beat back the Nazis.
There's an entire warfare era between Napoleonic and WW1, check out Franco-prussian war, Crimean war and European exploration of the East using sailing steamboats.
There's even been some pictures of WWII era artillery being sent out. I think they're flak cannons, because the caption said they were anti-air cannons from the 40's.
a spear is still just as deadly as it was, as is bow and arrow. a flintlock to the face still hurts. a cannon from the 1400s will still make a hummer think twice. At this rate they going to be fighting against russian LARPers.
Why? Most of potential enemies of the US have similar level of equipment if not worse. China is still long ways away from modernizing.
I'm hoping they roll some T-34s in so I can eventually buy one on ebay
Didn't they get enough of that in Afghanistan and Iraq? With much harsher conditions?
Yeah but if we don’t use the same budget every year then we may have to spend the money somewhere else, like… schools or something. Yuck
It's not like US-made weapons need any advertising. Many countries have been buying billions of dollars worth of US-made weapons every year before the war in Ukraine. Also, most of the weapons the USA is sending to Ukraine were purchased decades ago and were sitting in storage. Many of these weapons were already in the process of gradually being phased out of service in the US Military (i.e. the AMPV replacing the M113 APC, the JLTV replacing the Humvee) or are soon to be replaced with something more capable (i.e. 'GMLRS' rockets used by HIMARS will soon be replaced with 'ER GMLRS' rockets).
It's practically recycling
We're doing our part!
Would you like to know more?
Oddly fitting
Who knew that recycling would see such explosive growth.
Any countries have bought Russian equipment thinking it was near pairity. That illusion has been chartered beyond any doubt. You either are prepared to fight a modern war or your equipment functionally doesn’t matter. Having fighters a generation behind Gen 5 might as well be Spitfires.
Sales of many of these weapons systems has boomed since the war, with countries citing their proven effectiveness as the reason for purchase.
Weapons that can keep Russia away are valuable. Go figure.
On the other hand, it would be interesting to see the trend regarding Russian weapons sales. Russian weapons used to be quite popular.
Still good for shooting civilians.
Better Ukraine than the police
Both for US arms, and against Russian arms. After seeing Russian tanks and other arms in action, who - other than North Korea - is going to buy from them? Bunch of paper tiger rubbish…
Honestly people aren't realizing how Putin has utterly destroyed not only his persona, but that of Russia being a world power. They were making billions by selling weapons to developing states, and now all of that will dry up. No one is buying their trash anymore. And the US is driving the final nail in Russia's coffin without sacrificing a single American soldier This has to be the greatest geopolitical miscalculation in modern history. Putin has completely emasculated his country and people
Spot on. Lots of people do not fully grasp the magnitude of the fuck up. We also cannot understate how history will look at the US seizing the opportunity to emasculate a former opponent. The risk I see is a post WWI one for the Russian psyche.
Also it's technically not even "going into Ukraine", the MID is giving Ukraine weapons from its stockpiles, old and outdated weapons actually, they're not giving the new top shelf kit. They are however replacing it with new stock that is better and more advanced weapons made with American materials by American workers, the money is going straight back into the US economy.
The money isn't even going into Ukraine. The US government gives money to American conpanies to manufacture American weapons created by American workers that are sent to Ukraine on American transport manned by Americans. In exchange we humiliate and destabilize our greatest enemy, stimulate the domestic economy, all the while Ukraine gets support.
Money is not literally being sent to ukraine. Money is being sent into the us military industrial complex and old army surplus is being shipped to ukraine. It's basically a lil marketing stunt to further boost the us economy under the disguise of helping some poor chaps
Imagine buying Russian weapons after this war
To be fair some Russian systems, *if maintained and operated properly*, are pretty effective and decent. The Tor and Tunguska modernized systems are solid and effective. Their tanks? Well, their Armata line shows some promise... if given a few more years of testing to iron out all the flaws and what not. Not that Russia can afford to put more R&D into that though, heh. It's basically just a showcase prototype series for now.
Yep. People say this while forgetting that the Ukrainian army primarily operates Russian/Soviet equipment, proving that these systems can be used effectively in the right hands
That Igla a guy used to shoot down another Russian missile was pretty impressive.
TWO. He shot down two cruise missiles that day.
Yeah I would bet Russian weapons engineers are at least reasonably competent. It's one thing to design a decent weapon system. But for them to be effective on the battlefield you also have to find the money to buy/build them in meaningful quantities, train competent soldiers to use/maintain them, and employ them in a strategically successful manner.
Article says from "inventories"
Have to replenish those inventories
With the new hotness
Yeah, but not with HIMARS or howitzers or any of that old stuff. And you probably want to defend yourself with newer weapons anyway, don't you?
They'll keep HIMARS and upgrade the missiles
They'll keep some, but the HIMARS is not nearly as essential to US missions as it is to a nation like Ukraine. The US would likely have air superiority in any engagement they enter within a short while. Aircraft have much better versatility for the US than the HIMARS does.
Regardless of internal needs, they've shown that there's demand for the platform. They will definitely restock, because the alternative is the Koreans selling their version to allies instead.
Right, but the HIMARS is not some magic weapon to the US military that has to be the focal point of the military complex. Most production of this will be sold to countries as an alternative to the drastically more expensive aircraft the US will use instead.
There will always be a market for slightly redundant weapons, because Army always wants a bit of independence from AF and Navy.
We all agree. It’s good to clean out the old stock, keep manufacturing older versions for future sales, while upgrading for our future needs…which might be minimal after Putin is delt with.
That just doesn't justify not having redundancy. If you wanted to advance a salient/SF unit into an enemy territory that you had not yet established air superiority over yet the HIMARS would fill that role extremely well. It also would lessen the strain on the number of sorties your air force is conducting and allow them to be more flexible.
Actually the USMC is restructuring to add more HIMARS systems to its batteries. Theres plenty of reason to keep using them
Have you seen the new AbramsX tank? - it was just unveiled. There is more too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcfuyyxFtgQ Edit: And Germans recently also announced a new one went completely nuts with it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTBA5tQsDbE
Just googled it. [That thing is a beast.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/12/abramsx-ai-hybrid-military-battle-tank/)
It's so sexy, it'll turn people into tankies just for looking at it.
Can confirm. I'm tank-sexual now
The Panther is an export-only model, the German army has no plans to use it themselves. They are working on a tank project with France (MGCS) that is supposed to eventually replace the Leopard 2.
Abrams X is a technology demonstrator that hasn't been ordered by the USA or anyone else. It's a cool looking tank but it isn't even close to being fielded. Same with the Panther KF51 - they're just examples of what these companies can do with modern technology. The sooner the better but realistically it will be years before either tank is in field and they'll probably be completely different to these examples.
If it's after 2000 it's probably newer than the Russians are rolling... they'll be recalling the Ladas they handed out soon and adding roof handles for troop transport
> If it's after ~~2000~~ 1972 it's probably newer than the Russians are rolling
Correct but I was speaking to a friend who works at an armory and he was telling me they had a shit ton of stinger missiles that where going expire within 5 years. Stuff like that was first to go
Always has been.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/14/politics/united-states-ukraine-war-aid/index.html) reduced by 47%. (I'm a bot) ***** > The Biden administration authorized an additional $725 million dollars in security aid for Ukraine Friday, as the country recovers from Russia's recent barrage of missile attacks on civilian targets. > The additional assistance brings the total US military aid to Ukraine since January 2021 to more than $18 billion, Blinken said. > The assistance includes High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles, anti-tank weapons and small arms as well ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and small arms, according to a press release from the Department of Defense. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/y4eik1/biden_administration_authorizes_725_million_in/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~672676 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **arms**^#1 **aid**^#2 **Tesla**^#3 **Ukraine**^#4 **Friday**^#5
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Considering this has all been from existing inventory that would otherwise sit gathering dust in inventory until it got replaced down the road, the money was already spent a long time ago. The only new expenses are the shipping costs, whatever that amounts to. It's also all army gear, which the US has an overabundance of after finally not being involved in any ground wars anymore, might as well get it into the hands of more deserving folks.
Id like to see some sauce if this is true. Cause I'd love to believe it.
From the article: > The Presidential Drawdown includes “munitions, arms and equipment from US Department of Defense inventories,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Friday. So it's still existing equipment. The war has been too short in duration for any new equipment to be made specifically for this fight and given to Ukraine, although the longer the war goes on, the more likely it is that the US might reach that point. But again, we've got all this stuff we didn't leave behind in the middle east, and this is some GREAT intel on how it performs in large-scale open combat instead of just skirmishes with Taliban and ISIS insurgents. Did we even use HIMARS and anti-air Stingers in either Iraq or Afghanistan? This'll probably increase the size of the next equipment orders for the US army though, so future money will be spent on restocking equipment. At some point we'll be tapping into reserves we'd like to keep in supply instead of just surplus. Which isn't the worst thing for the US to be doing with its money, it's a national security concern to keep your defense industry primed and employed to retain institutional knowledge, just in case.
Yes, we used both systems in Afghanistan and Iraq. HIMARS were used by US forces as recently as 2018 in Syria. Some of what is sent is surplus, but the more expensive things like HIMARS are from military stocks. There is actually a limiting factor on the amount of HIMARS missiles we can provide due to our ability to manufacture replacements
Don't have links on hand but basically every m777 the US sent to ukraine was from the Marines who were getting rid of tube artillery.
Not to worry. Ukraine is best sales demonstration for the US Arms industry in a generation.
I do not like how much money the US puts into the military, but damn, it shows how top tier it is in comparison to everything else. The weapons specifically in this case.
Reminds me of day one of the war someone commented " Russia is about to find out why America doesn't have universal Healthcare "
You already pay more than what's needed for the healthcare, it just goes to companies instead. America would actually save money overall with universal healthcare.
Australian healthcare is pretty good. But the US spends twice as much per person than we do. Just imagine if greed didn't come into the picture. The US could truly have the most amazing healthcare in the world and only the current benefactors would suffer. Which I don't think the majority would care about.
It's never about the majority, just the rich few.
And the idiot minority that fight for them.
The worst people imo. Like I get people don't chose to be stupid, but my God. It's hard for me to be sympathetic to a person who is belligerently going around "breaking stuff". Like I have sympathy for the person that gets too drunk, and then lies around on the bathroom floor vomiting for the rest of the night. I don't have that same sympathy for the dude who gets wasted, screams, yells, wants to fight everyone, then gets in accident while driving home drunk...... Imo that same philosophy applies to stupid people.
It always pisses me off when (very rarely) other Australians will tell me our healthcare system is garbage because they had to wait 2 hours at the hospital. I went in at the start of the year with a fractured ankle waited 1.5 hours then got the X-rays done and 2 paid weeks off work and in total spent $15 or so on pain killers, it could be better sure but fuck me I think that’s just amazing. I got my appendix out a few years ago and pretty much the same situation and cost including 2 nights in hospital.
In the US. Got a pretty serious concussion. Called my girlfriend to come get me because we couldn't afford an ambulance. She had to take a day off work. Took me to the urgent care (we had never had a legit emergency before and didn't know). They charged us $45 and had us sit there for an hour, only to tell us there was nothing they could do and to go to the ER. Went to the ER, admitted, and proceeded to sit there for 9 hours before I was seen. They gave me two tylenol at the 5 hour mark, even through Tylenol doesn't work on me, and they were informed of that by my dad (who also took a day off work because they wouldn't tell my girlfriend anything about my condition). They said it was that or nothing, as they didn't have anything else. Proceeded to promptly throw them up, as I was nauseous and hadn't eaten anything yet that day. I was charged $30 per pill. The MRI ended up being a few hundred dollars, the ER visit itself cost around $700, and the meds they finally gave me were $35. These prices were all after insurance. I had "good" insurance. This all took place in a good size suburban hospital on a Thursday morning. Don't listen to the lies about public healthcare leading to long wait times.
I just wish we weren’t forced to subsidise the insurance industry in Australia by being coerced to get ineffectual private insurance or pay a tax.
Thank you for pointing this out. Universal Healthcare is not expensive, certainly not compared to what we all already pay now
It is expensive, but less expensive than what we have now.
Yeah but then the insurance companies wouldn't have money to buy votes from politicians
The people with something to lose already know what they will lose. The people with something to gain don't know what they'll gain. It's an uphill fight.
"BuT mAh TaxEs wOuLD gO Up!" "Well yeah maybe but you wouldn't be paying obscene copays and insurance premiums." "BuT mAh TaxEs wOuLD gO Up!" "Yes but basic math shows you'd actually pay less." "BuT mAh TaxEs!"
Yeah there's this weird fixation on taxes, people don't realise that just because it isn't listed as a tax doesn't mean they avoid paying for that service...
I mean ... it's a matter of will at this point. Universal healthcare in the US would still be less than the entire military budget. It's mostly because the liberals want it that the conservatives say they don't. You know ... to own the libs. Edit: My numbers were way off BUT universal healthcare is effectively boycotted by conservatives. There is no excuse for the US to not have it.
One of the reasons that our confidential and top-secret documents are so important. Writing stuff on a page costs next to nothing, but R&D and production cost billions. Anybody that mishandles that stuff deserves to be in prison IMO
Hmm I wonder whom you could be referring to
“I don’t care” -conservatives, for some reason.
Reason applies only when it's convenient for them.
BuT hUnTeR’s DiCk PiCs AnD dRuGs!
> One of the reasons that our confidential and top-secret documents are so important. Oh yeah, I found a few of those under a table at a food court of this trashy-ass golf course.
I used to feel that way too -- and I'm a US military veteran. Then I went to Ukraine. Hooooooly shit, I will never complain about our military budget again. It's not just about uniforms and training, although I did gain a new appreciation for the training I received. It's the whole package. When I deployed to Iraq, I was handed... I don't know, let's just say a million dollars worth of personal equipment: body armor, a rifle, a rifleman's kit, a set of uniforms, **a personal tacmed kit**, MOPP gear, etc. I was also taught to properly use all of these things by experts. (I emphasize the tacmed because it's one of the things most needed in Ukraine.) My unit -- a single platoon -- was issued roughly 200 million dollars worth of equipment. (I'm guestimating of course.) Again, we were trained in the use of all of this equipment. Extensively. I went to nine months of technical school, in addition to three months of infantry training. For equipment not related to my MOS, I received a couple hours of familiarization and had access to technical experts 24/7. Civilian contractors with even more experience, expertise, and direct access to engineers were embedded with us. When I went to Ukraine I had to figure out (guess, really) what I was going to need, decide which equipment would meet those needs, figure out how to get that equipment, buy it, and figure out how to use it. Myself. It was an incredible pain in the ass, and the stuff I was able to get was NOT high quality. Learning how to use it, especially the radios, delayed my deployment by several weeks. Well, there was more going on than just that -- I also did a lot of refresher training before I left, took care of personal affairs, all that. But the stuff I mentioned was the most painful and time consuming. When I got to Ukraine I had to pay for my own food, and help pay for fuel. Lodging was provided; it was in a series of buildings in various states of "blown up." So, I'm happy to continue to pay whatever taxes are required to maintain our current military spending. Yeah it's excessive in ways, but there are people who (in general, if not in every possible way) are working to curtail that and to keep things generally, more or less, sane. I did not support our war in Iraq, and still regret some of what I enabled while I was there. That's part of why I went to Ukraine. I'm sure I'll continue to oppose a lot of the things our country does with its military. But I'm not going to complain about the budget.
That money is a bargain compared to the open war it's preventing
And the Russian arms industry as well. Turkey, India, and others have to be looking at what they bought being used in real time.
There's R&D and then there's demonstration. The ability for the US to test weapons against a foe with such little money spent and 0 military personnel threatened is almost unbelievable.
That and seriously a few tens of billions of dollars from the US and the rest of NATO to decimate Russia's conventional forces for a decade or more while showing other countries the value of aligning with the west? Cheap as hell.
It's kinda funny...Putin has been "the West" most reliable ally! Getting more nations to join NATO, limiting their foreign influence and reach, decima8their military stockpile, and even killing MORE russian troops and citizens. Putin has got to be a double spy or something, because he has been ruining Russia better and faster, than any other nation. But seriously, I wont joke about the stress and daily struggles for the Ukrainians fighting and dying for their home, or the Russians being forced into combat, knowing their nation is in the wrong.
Seriously. It’s such a inexpensive way to ruin Russia/Putin.
And we need not spend American lives either.
I mean, for the past 20 years they've been firing $100k rocket to blow up a tent containing 2 goats, has to feel nice to see it hit a russian tank instead.
What the running count now?
15.2 billion but to put that in context the US spends 715billion a year on defense.
Around $15.2 billion
More... At least $70 billion. https://archive.is/q7rBu
$725 million in “additional weapons”
Damn, $10 million more than the budget for Rings of Power.
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Im sure some American volunteers died.
Unfortunately, none of them were Steven Segal.
"I've been flying helicopters, for like, 47 years."
They call that helicopter a skippy
It goes *skipskipskipskipskip*.
That's bullshit. You made that shit up
Was looking for the Tom quote
If he wasn't such a Russophile the movie would be in the works. He would volunteer due to some bullshit excuse, most camera shots of him are really darkly lit, or at a desk, or table; lotsa martial arts scenes with really fast camera shots and stunt men. He would form a relationship while saving a young attractive 20-30 year old Ukrainian girl, save the day, and have an awkward love scene at the end; and yes he is now 70. There will also be hard to understand grumbly wheezing over the top ancient knowlege monolouges, and yes several people will be killed with swords and thrown through tables! I wouldn't be suprised if he did do that, but fighting on the otherside, something like his buddy in Donetsk calls him up for a special mission in Ukraine!
Don't forget he's use a stunt double if there are any stairs involved and he'd be sitting down at any given opportunity. At some point I can almost respect the amount of laziness.
I mentioned desks and tables, and doubles, but forgot the stairs. I didn't want to write a full film analysis of Segal "action" movies. 😅
According to Wikipedia, [6 American volunteers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War#Foreign_fighters_and_volunteers) and [0 American civilians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War#Foreign_civilians) died in the war.
I'm sure quite a bit of American's have died. Lots of folks with military experience volunteered for the Ukrainian Foreign Legion to fight on the front lines.
FYI last figure I saw on the news was around 6 or 7 American volunteers are KIA so far.
Have you got a list of names?
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If you go to the Ukraine sub you'll see there are definitely some in memoriam posts for US volunteers. Off the top of my head I can only recall about 2 o or 3, but I've probably missed quite a few. One recent one that stuck with me is a former US military guy who left behind 5 kids.
American vet Dane Partridge died fighting just this week, to name one. https://reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/y398vq/american_veteran_and_father_of_five_dies_fighting/
Ukraine is free ad space for the US military
Well it’s definitely not free, in fact it’s quite expensive
This should be fun. It's 7AM in Moscow.
It’s HIMARS o’clock in Ukraine.
That's fucking right. It's always HIMARS o'clock in Ukraine!
Freedom never sleeps, yee haw brother
When Putin is gone...I'm curious to see how Russia is gonna move forward. The next leader has the chance to change the perception of SOOOOO many nations and people in a good or bad way. I expect to see a continuation of the current regime, but a more western friendly leader is almost inevitable given the past leaders. If the new Russian leader leans into EU/Middle East relations over the traditional eastern ones, the western world will be better than it has been in 100 years. I wish the Russians could understand how far they can go if they just play by the rules of the modern world.
As an ethnic Russian I used to somewhat believe, that if Putin is gone, everything will be resolved. After seeing what people in Russia do and believe en masse, I have lost all hope. At this point, they are literally showing how they are bombing the civilians and glorifying their actions and majority don't even care and all you see is comments like "finally they get what they deserve". No matter what reason, if you applaud killing of civilians, you have no hope for any future left. I really don't see how we could avoid WW3 at this point. And special fuck you to all the politicians in EU and US, that keep repeating Russian propaganda. "we should just have peace talks", "we haven't had a single attempt at resolving the situation" "our leaders will lead us to nuclear catastrophe". Yeah, poor Putin is just a victim of evil west. Fucking morons. They don't realize, that it's complete opposite, the more they prolong this war, by being afraid of Putin's blackmail, the more strong this blackmail becomes. Putin In 5 years: "half of poland is ours now, if you do anything, we will make a nuclear strike", US politicians: "we have to make peace talks, yes he raped and killed millions at this point, but we don't want to make it billions". Makes my blood boil. The fact that military industrial complex is evil and has its own interest doesn't change the fact, that Ukraine is literally fighting for our freedom and giving them support is duty of every country. If you don't stop imperialism at it's root, it will turn into an Empire.
Now time for the GOP to whine about spending money on Ukraine rather than helping regular Americans, something they also would vote against and haven't done themselves.
it's like people only see the money and doesn't see "in security assistance" we're not sending money, we're sending military equipments that is equivalent to x amount of dollars that WE CURRENTLY HAVE IN OUR WAREHOUSES. people saying "oh spend some of that money on the people", ok yes I can agree with that, but this money is already spent on the vehicles, missiles, and ammo. would you prefer Biden send a military truck build in the 70s to your house? good luck pawning that off to the dealership.
Equipment currently in our warehouses, that we already made decades ago, that costs tens of millions of dollars per year to maintain, that we would never use personally, that we stockpiled for literally this exact purpose. We built our military to ***break*** Russia. We can't afford to not take this chance.
They gonna replace it
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Let us be clear. If Ukraine falls, other European nations will fall. The USA (and the world) cannot allow this. It would spiral into a global conflict, possibly nuclear this time. Wars of conquest should have ended last century. It is not a mistake to equate this with the German annexation of Sudetenland and the Munich Agreement. The moment the world offers appeasement is a signal to Putin/Russia that they can invade anyone. The inevitable outcome would be worldwide war. If you want American soldiers in the middle of a nuclear fight in Europe, hope for appeasement. Our best action now is to prevent that. Prevention means sending gear, money, and intel to Ukraine. Ukraine is bearing the horrible costs of war. We all see the videos in this era. Ukraine seems accepting of the role they are in. And the least we can do is arm them to the teeth and hope for a Ukraine victory. They face death so we do not have to. Every day. They are the canary in the coal mine. Edit: I seem to be arguing with Russian Trolls or paid actors in some comments below. My apologies to rational people here.
I wish European nations other than Baltic states and Poland also understood this.
Funny how the Venn diagram of "takes the Russian threat seriously" and "spent decades under Soviet domination" is pretty much just a circle. Wonder why that is...
except for that pesky belarus
It seems the people of Belarus, or at least a solid percentage of them, are well aware of the threat Moscow poses; they just have a delusional asshat for a dictator
He is not at all delusional. He knows that allying with Russia will help keep his dictatorial regime in power. His interest is himself, not his country or its people.
I'd put US and UK in the "takes the Russian threat seriously" circle, the rest of Europe though... Imagine how ridiculous it would be if the situation was reversed, like if Guatemala invaded Mexico. The US barely does anything while France and Brazil are contributing the most to support Mexico, while France promises to help rebuild it after the war. That scenario is so insane to think about, but it's happening in Europe and it feels like the nations there just don't care.
I think most Scandinavians understand it too. It's been getting close to home up here too. Not to mention Russia's wet dream is to recapture Bornholm.
Has Russia ever controlled Bornholm? This is the first time I'm hearing about that, and not finding any references to it through google. Or are you just referring to the occupation during the end of WW2?
> Or are you just referring to the occupation during the end of WW2? Yes. They left very reluctantly.
It's not only those though. I can say with confidence that there's at least two another countries that are fully on board. Being post soviet means knowing how they operate.
As a Brit, I'm proud of very little to do with my country but our support of Ukraine is a rare exception. I live close enough to Salisbury Plains to hear Ukranians being trained there. I think we very much understand the importance of supporting Ukraine.
I’m pretty sure we here in Finland “understand”.
> If Ukraine falls, other European nations will fall. We know this because [Putin told us](https://www.newsweek.com/russian-tv-says-poland-next-target-invasion-1711967).
Which includes StarLink funding
I guess in a way, as a taxpaying US citizen, I have been helping fund this. Probably enough for a grenade or two, take that Russia!