Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.
Display:
How to fix a howitzer: US offers help line to Ukraine troops, 28 Jan
"What do I do?" he asked the U.S. military team member, far away at a base in southeastern Poland. "What are my options?"

Using phones and tablets to communicate in encrypted chatrooms, a rapidly growing group of U.S. and allied troops and contractors is providing real-time maintenance advice -- usually speaking through interpreters -- to Ukrainian troops on the battlefield.
[...]
The exchange is part of an expanding U.S. military help line aimed at providing repair advice to Ukrainian forces in the heat of battle. As the U.S. and other allies send more and increasingly ["]complex["] and high-tech weapons to Ukraine, demands are spiking. And since no U.S. or other NATO nations will send troops into the country [FALSE] to provide hands-on assistance -- due to worries about being drawn into a direct conflict with Russia -- they've turned to virtual chatrooms.
[...]

here it comes...
A key problem, said one officer, is that Ukrainian troops are pushing the weapons to their limits -- firing them at unprecedented rates and using them long after a U.S. service member would turn them in to be [either] repaired or retired scrapped...."They're using these systems in ways that we didn't necessarily anticipate," said the officer, pointing to the tablet. "We're actually learning from them by seeing how much abuse these weapon systems can take, and where's the breaking point."

The Ukrainian troops are often reluctant to send the weapons back out of the country for repairs. They'd rather do it themselves, and in nearly all cases -- U.S. officials estimated 99% of the time -- the Ukrainians do the repair and continue on.[...]

cockroach alerts Sure: Skunk works enter, GAO 1996 Abrams depots, optimal maximum operating range, GAO 2022 service and parts plans, service level agreement

Here's every weapon US has purportedly supplied to Ukraine, a/o 26 Aug 2022, of which ...

[...]
155mm Howitzers
A towed field artillery piece that can hit targets up to 30 km, or 18 miles away. The U.S. has sent 126 of these howitzers, along with 806,000 155mm artillery rounds and 126 tactical vehicles to tow the howitzers
The M198 Howitzer is currently in active service with both the US Army and the Marine Corps though it is being replaced by the M777 ultra-lightweight 155mm howitzer in selected units.
105mm Howitzers
The U.S. committed to sending 16 105mm howitzers [towed Hawkeye, M101, or M119 series? Or self-propelled?] and 108,000 105mm artillery rounds to go with the howitzers. The U.K. has already provided the L119 model, which is a light weight howitzer that can provide direct fire support at armored vehicles or buildings or indirect fire to support combat arms in ranges over 10 km, or 6 miles.
[...]
cockroach alert GAO | Army and Marine Corps M198 Howitzer: Maintenance Problems Are Not Severe Enough to Accelerate Replacement System (1995)
by Cat on Sun Jan 29th, 2023 at 06:26:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
And since no U.S. or other NATO nations will send troops into the country [FALSE]

[reference needed]

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Mon Jan 30th, 2023 at 12:44:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Pls stop dreaming and believe what Austin and Stoltenberg spout to the compliant media.

'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Mon Jan 30th, 2023 at 01:08:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Who they?

Which NATO troops are on the ground, where?

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Mon Jan 30th, 2023 at 03:17:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Sky | Ukraine 'shows tanks are still needed on the battlefield' - but UK numbers have plummeted, 30 Jan Bleak House
...[UK Defence Select Committee chair] Tobias Ellwood told Sky News' Kay Burley that the capability of the armed forces has been "whittled down", giving the example that two decades ago the UK had 900 tanks but is now looking at going down to 148.

He said the UK should be "very concerned" after an exclusive report from Sky's security and defence editor Deborah Haynes that a US general had warned the UK's armed forces are no longer top-tier....

by Cat on Tue Jan 31st, 2023 at 03:44:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"The French" have the same problem. Like the British, they made the best tanks in the world blah blah, 20 years ago, and equipped the national army, and didn't manage to sell them to anyone else.

So they shut down the production lines, mothball half the stock for spare parts, and once they're broken, they have no tanks.

The Eurotank is a panzer.

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Tue Jan 31st, 2023 at 04:21:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
tabloid Sun Mirror | SUB STANDARD Nuclear security alert after botched attempt to fix Trident submarine with super glue, 30 Jan GRAPHIC WARNING
The bodged repairs to vital cooling pipes were only discovered when one bolt fell off during checks aboard the 16,000-ton HMS Vanguard.
[...]
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace demanded a meeting and "assurances about future work" after The Sun raised the alarm. A Navy source said [Wallace] was furious Babcock, one of the UK's biggest defence contractors, failed to come clean with the Navy.
[...]
(American) legion.org | Why Ukraine's 'MacGyver' military is winning, 15 Dec 2022 "meme"
...Now, compare the reactions of Russians being coerced into a war of aggression with the reactions of Ukrainians. In the former, those who have the means are fleeing, and those without the means are hiding, shooting themselves to avoid combat, refusing to fight, and killing their commanding officers. In the latter, a people's army of shopkeepers and artists, young women and old men, students and soldiers, farmers and techies are rushing to the fight, picking up weapons, and crafting their own makeshift weapons to defend their country and cause. From Kiev during those crucial first days of the war, to Kharkiv this past summer, to Kherson today and into Crimea tomorrow, they are winning the war Putin began....
sofrep | Combat Sandbox: Ukraine's 'MacGyver Army' Tests Western Weaponry "meme", 11 Jan instance
reference
MacGyver (2016-2021) secret agent
MacGyver (1985-1992) secret agent
archived Fri Feb 4th, 2022 in Blinken Sounding Out EU Appetite for War, Tue Mar 8th, 2022, Today -100: April 28, 1917
by Cat on Tue Jan 31st, 2023 at 09:01:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
thedefensepost | Estonia Sending All Its 155-mm Howitzers to Ukraine, 24 Jan
...Estonia currently operates 24 NATO standard FH-70 towed howitzers. Apart from the howitzers, Tallinn will send thousands of 155-mm artillery shells and hundreds of Karl-Gustaf anti-tank grenade launchers.
[...]
Estonia's defense minister Hanno Pevkur assured its people that the decision to send its 24 FH-70s to Ukraine would not affect the country's national defense because Tallinn is transitioning to K9 self-propelled howitzers produced by South Korea. The Estonian Ministry of Defense signed a contract last year for 12 K9 artillery systems.
F24 | 4:42pm: French Caesar artillery system announcement, 31 Jan
"They've been very successful in Ukraine, so the Ukrainians will be delighted, I am sure, to get another 12. I think that brings that total to over 40 now, closing on 50 Caesars in Ukraine. And the fact that the French are stepping up their training of Ukrainian troops will be welcome too. It's not just the French who are doing it; the British are contributing even more, I think, to the training [?!] than the French are."
by Cat on Tue Jan 31st, 2023 at 09:45:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Politico | [Alexander] Vindman leads new push to send military contractors to Ukraine, 2 Feb
The Trump impeachment figure is raising money to help with vehicle and weapons repairs on the front lines.
[...]
A group of former military officers and private donors is raising money to send Western mechanics close to the Ukrainian frontlines, where they will repair battle-damaged donated weapons and vehicles that have been flooding into the country.
[...]
Vindman's group has secured enough private funding to launch a pilot project in March, and has some backing from at least one company, which declined to be named but confirmed to POLITICO their interest in getting parts and material to Ukraine for more rapid repairs.
archived Twin Lts. Colonel Vindmans in US Congress impeaches self
by Cat on Fri Feb 3rd, 2023 at 02:37:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Display:

Occasional Series