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Could it be they did not learn the lesson they taught us?
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Drone intercept by drone
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Economically asymmetric warfare:
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Very detailed video of the structure of a robotic drone attack on a Russian warship:
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A missile boat/corvette is pretty much at the opposite end of the size spectrum from a battleship and the last serving battleships were the resurrected Iowa Class.
We are talking 500 tons v 50,000:
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Not a bad overview, though my sympathies are more towards the dissidents. I think they are over-specializing, the USMC has more duties than any upcoming conflict with China. Also one of the USMC’s selling points is their ability to internally coordinate operations across domains. [1] This becomes more difficult if you are bringing in Army assets instead of keeping them organic.
There is an interesting resemblance of the proposed islands strategy to what the Japanese did during 1941/42. I’m not sure if the tech differences are large enough to make it stronger.
OTOH, if they don’t have the budget, they have to cut somewhere.
[1] For example, USMC air support is dedicated to USMC ground actions in a way that USAF air support sometimes is not for the US Army. Every so often after you joint USMC/US Army operations you’ll hear the Army guys mentioning how satisfying it is to have that kind of support coordination. To get this kind of coordination is why the US Army has its own air assets. Unfortunately they aren’t allowed to have more than rotary wing assets in a tactical role. See Key West Agreement - Wikipedia
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As I understand it, while energy imports are an issue, China’s weak point is they have to import food.
(No idea who the Lowy Institute is, the article does generally reflect my understanding of the situation.)
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Why do people get so exercised about a particular country supplying arms to a belligerent? The US and all the European countries (even “neutral” Switzerland) are supplying massive amounts of deadly weapons to the Ukraine – and that is apparently morally justified and all right. So why should anyone get upset if Iran is supplying weapons to Russia?
The only reason I can see is jealousy on the part of the US and Euros – because we are making charitable donations, whereas the countries supplying arms & components to Russia are earning hard cash.
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As Much As You Ever Wanted To Know About 155m Artillery Shell Production and More
Not a whole lot of surprises for anyone familiar with the inefficiencies in the US Government, but it is good to see everything in one place with jargon explained.
Edit: From another source (Animats at HN), there is apparently another company with US facilities capable of making 155mm shells, NAMMO.
The US government-owned facilities are not the only US source of 155mm rounds. NAMMO [1] is a major manufacturer, and they have a facility in Mesa, AZ. Here’s their marketing video for 155mm rounds.[2] Nammo’s management complains that they are being offered 3-4 year contracts, and they need 10-15 year contracts to build new factories. Peacetime demand for large-caliber ammo is very low, so when there’s not a war on, factories are mothballed.
[1] https://www.nammo.com/product/our-products/ammunition/large-…
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Free-associating a bit, the SF author who was probably the first ro use AI military drones in fiction was Cordwainer Smith, real name Paul M.A. Linebarger, who happened to be Sun Yat Sen’s godson. Sun Yat Sen was sort of the George Washington of post-imperial China. Linebarger also introduced cyborgs and human-animal hybrids in SF and wrote the first military textbook on psychological operations.
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I had not realized that Cordwainer Smith and Paul Linebarger were the same person, despite having copies of “their” works. His book on psywar is still worth reading, along with the early 20th century classic, Bernays’ “Propaganda”.
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Russian new electronic warfare systems on armored cars (to defend against drone attacks) – deep YouTube link to a timestamp:
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It seems the RU tank has a new explosive reactive armor (ERA) on its cope cage (not just 1970s vintage ERA bricks).
Also, UA appears to have ERA on its M-1:
https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1746444192161701926
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