Russian troops today occupy Kherson and have carried out some limited assaults on Odesa. The Russian army occupies most of the territory from Kherson and due east, including Mariupol. While Russia has said little about its long-term intentions, there is a growing awareness that Russia wants to consolidate the cities and towns, …
Ukraine War: The Crucial Coming Fight for Kherson Continue Reading >>
The Biden administration has announced that Ukraine will receive the National/Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS) to shore up Ukraine’s air defenses, which are being systematically destroyed by Russia. The NASAMS is the same system that protects the air space around the White House in the United States. There is no word yet from Ukraine where NASAMS will …
US Air Defense System Delivery Hopes to Save Kiev Continue Reading >>
Two technologies have helped Ukraine fend off a huge Russian onslaught. One of them is imported; the other is homegrown. Perhaps the more important, overall, is Elon Musk’s Starlink system. Starlink is made up of thousands of satellites in low earth orbit that provide internet service. Last February, Musk initially provided 5,000 receiver sets to Ukraine. Now …
Musk’s Tech Put to Deadly Weapon Effect in Ukraine Continue Reading >>
The long and short of it is that, while the US and NATO can fight a short conflict, neither can support a long war because there’s insufficient equipment in the now-depleted inventory and the timelines to build replacement hardware are long. Despite a history of having done so before, starting in …
US and NATO Lack Capability to Supply a Long War Continue Reading >>
No one is entirely sure if the Battle of Hastings in October 1066 was fought at Hastings, but we know two things for sure: that the Anglo-Saxon king of England Harold II (Harold Godwinson) was defeated by William, Duke of Normandy, and that Harold was killed with an arrow that struck him above his …
King Harold’s Death and the Importance of Technology Continue Reading >>
Russia’s main battle tanks have been chewed up in the Ukraine war. Many of them have been destroyed and left clustered on roadways, some by modern weapons such as the US Javelin, some by Ukraine’s indigenously produced man-portable anti-tank weapons such as the Stugna-P and still others taken out by drones like Turkey’s Bayraktar. By …
Russia’s Tanks in Ukraine are Old, Obsolete and Failing Continue Reading >>
As the US prepares to deliver its HIMARS mobile precision rocket system to Ukraine, the latest bid to fortify its forces with advanced war-fighting equipment against Russia’s offensive push, few have noticed how much Russia’s artillery systems rely on US and Western-made electronic parts and components. So while Ukraine is receiving highly …
US-Made Parts Keep Russia’s Artillery Firing in Ukraine Continue Reading >>
Russia’s military-secure ERA cryptophone system has failed in the Ukraine war, raising crucial questions about why Moscow committed to a system that was so badly flawed from the start. Cell phones have played an outsized role in the Ukraine war. In particular, they have been used to geolocate sensitive military …
The Fatal Failure of Russia’s ERA Cyptophone System Continue Reading >>
The Russian cruiser Moskva was attacked in the Black Sea on April 13th. There are unconfirmed reports also that the Russian frigate Admiral Makarov was attacked on May 6th. As details emerge, four important questions arise: First, were these vessels, equipped with supposedly excellent air defense systems, caught by surprise …
Russia is not as strong as the United States, except for nuclear weapons. Russia is not the main threat to the United States—that threat is China. Back in 1985, during his visit to Paris, Mikhail Gorbachev told French President Francois Mitterrand that the Soviet Union was not strong. In fact, …
Two Truisms About the US & Russia, Ukraine and China Continue Reading >>
