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• #3777
Could put the US off of doing a war for a few years, which is nice.
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• #3778
US bombed Nord Stream gas pipelines, claims investigative journalist Seymour Hersh
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/us-bombed-nord-stream-gas-pipelines-claims-investigative-journalist-seymour-hersh-s730dnnfz -
• #3779
No chance, they are preparing for China to invade Taiwan by 2027 supposedly, it's why they are pushing the rest of NATO so hard to ramp up defending the west so that they can turn their attention east
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• #3780
🤷‍♂️
I can’t read the times article. Is there compelling evidence?
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• #3781
Enormous difference between “bullets” and an Excalibur or Javelin. Hard to surge production with either of those two.
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• #3782
"Anonymous sources"
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• #3783
The bullets were being used as an example that it is probably easy to surge fighter jet production
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• #3784
Problem is it's not just moving the planes over the border. Ignoring the logistics of spare parts etc, you need trained ground crew, trained pilots etc. I seem to recall reading that for an existing RAF pilot to be cross-trained to a new type of (similar) aircraft takes around a year. I'm sure the discussion is symbolic in term of providing western aircraft to Ukraine; it's just not feasible unless we assume there's another 2-3 years to run on the war and that Ukraine can wait a year or more for aircraft to be operational.
The real push would be for the US support Poland in return for the Polish airforce to give their Mig29 and SU22 to Ukraine in return for more F16, early delivery of their already purchased F35 and getting South Korea to deliver their ordered planes early too.
That doesn't fix any shortage of pilots but the utility of supporting the aircraft is already there in some form.
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• #3786
Relevant
As soon as he has made an assertion he cites a 'source' to back it. In every case this is either an un-named former official or an unidentified secret document passed to Hersh in unknown circumstances. […] By my count Hersh has anonymous 'sources' inside 30 foreign governments and virtually every department of the U.S. government.
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• #3787
Or we could send our Tranche 1 Typhoons,which have loads of life left, to Poland and they could send their updated MiG29s to Ukraine.
Then when this is all over the USA and Germany can have an unseemly row over who re-arms Ukraine.(Or send the Typhoons to Sweden in return for Gryphons)
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• #3788
Tagesschau.de has a fact check on the blog post (in German) and point out a few inconsistencies, including that it is hard to do an unnoticed mine laying mission in the middle of a major exercise because lots of people watching, the mine laying exercise was not specifically set up as cover but has been regular feature since 2014.
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• #3789
What would sweden do with typhoons tho? Im all for sending gripens tho just dont see us jumping in to another set of airplanes than our own.
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• #3790
If we swedes won’t buy the gripens, no one will! Not that anyone does anyway, but still…
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• #3791
Sending the Gripens to Ukraine wiould leave a gap in Swedish air defence that the Typhoons could fill.
Gripens were designed for rough airstrips and easy maintenance by conscripts so more suited to Ukraine. But Sweden is capable of maintaining Typhoons (apparently they are quite difficult to maintain and Tranche1 are the worst). -
• #3792
The venn diagram between people who are very excited about gripen planes and people who are Swedish is pretty much a circle.
But yeah, trading your own planes to receive a second hand import makes no sense whatsoever. -
• #3793
Agree. Sending gripens to Ukraine makes sense though. If we get the planes tested and proven in an actual battle, we might actually sell a few...
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• #3794
Depends if we let you this time, we didn’t when Argentina were interested.
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• #3795
unless the import adds to your capability’s. Tranche 1 Typhoons are only being retired to simplify RAF logistics there not worn out.
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• #3796
BREAKING: Satellite images and data obtained by @NPR show that Russia is draining a massive reservoir in southern Ukraine.
At stake is drinking water for 100,000s of people, agricultural production, and safety at Europe's largest nuclear plant.
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• #3797
Didn’t know this. Got a link to some reading?
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• #3798
I’ll try to find something but it was because the radar is British
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• #3799
Sounds like revenge for the damming of the North Crimean Canal after the annexation. Surely Russia wouldn't stoop so low? Oh wait...
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• #3800
Prigozhin goes a long way to promise that Wagners prison recruits who survive and return to civilian life can expect leniency if they commit more crimes.
“The police should treat you with respect. If they are being unreasonable … I myself will call, and sort things out with the governors and so on. We will find a solution.”
Wouldn't be so sure about, many in the US are concerned at the speed they are burning through stockpiles and how long it will take to replenish them