I post at The Dignified Rant: Evolved on Substack. Help me out by subscribing and by liking and sharing posts. I also post here on TDR seven days a week, including Weekend Data Dump and Winter War of 2022. I occasionally post short data dump-type items on my Substack "Notes" section.
In case you missed it on Substack: Light and ... Lethal?
In case you missed it on Substack: War. Huh. What is it Good For?
In case you missed it on Substack: Tank Losses are Normal
In case you missed it on Substack: Will Artificial Intelligence Make Barely Used Weapons Obsolete?
North Korea didn't like it: "The United States, South Korea and Japan opened an air and naval exercise off a South Korean island Monday [.]"
CRS report to Congress on Navy Distributed Maritime Operations.
Eastern Sentry mission: "British, Danish, French and German 'assets' will be deployed to NATO’s eastern flank imminently[.]"
Debunking allegations against Israel of genocide.
Don't worry. India and China can't paper over deep divisions. Unless India gives in to all of China's territorial claims. Indeed, Russia and India should unite against China.
Are the drums of war in Europe between NATO and Russia echoing in the UN Security Council? I suspect this is more of a faux crisis that the European Union will exploit to add to its powers.
Canadians need to grow up. We get it. You're not American. And that's okay. Get over what was a political taunt at Trudeau. Clinging to this reveals more about you than you think.
India won't be using those P-8s to search for AUKUS subs.
Face it, even doubling the manpower of the German military--in the years beyond 2035--will not make it adequate. But expansion takes time if you don't want a hollow military.
Apparently, the civilian-based phone alerts are no longer vital for air defense: "Ukraine may intentionally reduce the quality of mobile communications during Russian drone attacks to stop the networks being used to coordinate strikes[.]"
American forces destroyed a second narcotics vessel in the Caribbean Sea.
Indeed: "Drone interceptors are emerging as the newest munition that European manufacturers say could become a relatively inexpensive way of countering swarms of attack drones." The prophecy is fulfilled.
Israel's Gaza City operation to destroy Hamas has begun.
Russia is acting evil in a most basic way.
Sweden responds to the Russian threat by increasing defense spending.
Managing and integrating intelligence information into unit operations. I had related thoughts.
Hezbollah will not readily release its grip on southern Lebanon: "Israel struck a Hezbollah headquarters in southern Lebanon’s Nabatiyeh area on Monday, the army said."
China can now use the Arctic Northern Route for Europe-to-China shipping. I'm sure Russia likes having a grip on a Chinese trade route. But in war, how does Chinese shipping make it through the Bering Strait?
I'm not sure why it should be "unthinkable" for Poland to consider war with Russia a possibility. Poland's history says to prepare for that lest you get conquered. And it's the reason Poland joined NATO.
American Rangers are experimenting with small suicide drones. Does this suggest use in special operations rather than being a weapon for routine combat?
Has the British army forgotten the importance of artillery lethality in war? I hope not. The God of War is unforgiving on that issue. Tip to Matthew Palmer.
War: "Israel said it struck a military infrastructure site in its latest attack on Yemen's Houthi movement at the Red Sea port of Hodeidah on Tuesday."
Iraq's elections are training wheels democracy in its institutionalized sectarian balances. So not much is expected to achieve needed changes. Yet you have to admit that deciding who rules with ballots rather than bullets since the American-led coalition destroyed the Saddam regime is tremendous progress.
China's subliminal war continues: "China's Coast Guard said on Tuesday it fired water cannon at Philippine ships near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea[.]"
I'm confident that the Belarus invitation to America to send military observers to Zapad 2025 exercises with Russia is a desperate effort to prevent Russia from completing the Anschluss.
A call for NATO to exploit its amphibious warfare capability in the "High North".
So far it still seems like this Ukraine-European UGV development is for coping with static warfare ("real combat conditions") rather than breaking out of it.
I think there is a tendency to interpret actions not achieving very much as a shrewd "long game." A chess master? LOL. See also, China.
Distributed ship construction to speed American destroyer construction.
UNIFIL's moment of truth in Lebanon? Um ... again?
One does not wage a "war" with a handful of ships and planes plus a couple thousand Marines. But maybe if Maduro is overthrown that size of a force could take him and his top cronies into custody to bring them back to America for trials.
Huh: "U.S.–South Korea drills now assume North Korea could use nuclear weapons first." That seems suicidal. But I worry North Korea will have no idea it isn't under nuclear attack.
Cheap but fast motorcycles and ATVs have proven agile enough to reduce the threat of FPV suicide drones hitting them. But the vehicles offer no protection. FFS, area artillery fire, machine guns in a thicker front, or simple obstacles would defeat them.
CRS report to Congress on American special forces.
Well that's a good development: "Taiwan has officially rolled out a new anti-ballistic missile system called Chiang Kung, or Strong Bow, which it says is now in production."
Alliance in action: "The U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) conducted bilateral training in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific through the South China Sea, Sept. 15-16."
A call for Britain to rearm its "woefully understrength and underequipped" military quickly.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a mutual defense pact. Pakistan once deployed troops in Saudi Arabia, the Saudis funded Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, and the Saudis had Chinese-made missiles I suspect could use Pakistani nuclear warheads. Will this deter Iran or peel Pakistan away from China?
An Awakening/Surge end game in Gaza? "Local clans across Gaza are pushing back against Hamas control, forming understandings with the IDF and fighting in areas under pressure from Israel’s military offensive."
ISIL is down but not out inside Syria.
Huh: "The Trump administration reportedly approved its first European-financed foreign military sales to Ukraine through the Prioritized Ukrainian Requirements List (PURL) initiative." I said don't panic.
Will there be more dam problems in Africa?
Speaking of PURL: "Ukraine expects there will be around $3.5 billion by next month in a fund to buy weapons from the United States[.]"
Well, good luck with that. It sounds like a potential free-fire zone for SOUTHCOM.
Seeking means to adapt to more threats to tanks. More infantry operations and other capabilities.
Happy birthday, Air Force. They grow up so fast!
Russia ramps up threats to Finland. By Russia's standard, the threats are weak. Russia's broad threats conceal weakness as its ground forces die in Ukraine.
It seems as if airships are periodically proposed for maritime surveillance. This time for sure?
Show the videos of October 7, 2023 of Hamas and their cloud of allies and fanboys gleefully murdering, raping, and kidnapping Israelis and I bet the poll percentage drops to 15%. Well, I hope, anyway.
Oh? "President Trump said he is aiming to regain control of Bagram Air Base, [in Afghanistan.]"
China's robot army is already here. I suspect the robots are intended for the easier task of killing unruly civilians without worrying about human hesitation to kill for the CCP.
Lovely little continent you have there. It would be a shame if anything happened to it.
ATACMS works to provide deep strikes when you lack air superiority. Or when your Air Force has little interest in supporting the Army when it could win the war with an independent air campaign. I hope the replacement for ATACMS works, too.
Russian Mig-31s violated Estonian air space. When Russia pulls these stunts, rather than respond by shooting them down I'd increase support to Ukraine with weapons, usage permissions, and/or ISR information.
Egypt says it might send more troops to Sinai but won't shoot Gazans approaching the border. Israel is supposedly the target of the show of force but I think we all know it is because Egypt will never let the Gazans they love so much get inside Egypt.
Germany doesn't seem to trust France in co-developing a new fighter plane. And thus ends French plans to ride Germany to power in the EU.
Yeah, stop panicking over a India-China thaw.
We don't know if the Taiwanese have the will to fight a Chinese invasion.
Israel's drive into Gaza City.
Careful: "The [so-called Gaza relief aid] armada of about forty vessels is now roughly 1,000 miles from the coast of Gaza." Israeli warships should escort it under live video feeds because Hamas has an interest in a bunch of the vessels burning and sinking with loss of life.
Hamas wants Gazans to suffer and die: "The UN vehicles were reportedly stolen, and terrorists placed sandbags on the route to prevent new attempts to deliver aid." Hamas could end the suffering and death by surrendering.
I have seen massive hits this last week, mostly from South America. On top of my last surge of mostly Vietnam hits. .. And Hong Kong has resumed its scraping. Weird. I have never seen anything like this before this year. Is this an AI scraping my site? If not, what is it?
