Pence is actually running? Who in their right mind would vote for him?

Who? Neocons, NeverTrumpers and Lincoln Project assholes. Those people exist.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Pence is actually running? Who in their right mind would vote for him?

He's not running because he thinks he can win.
Maybe it's to sell books, or to stay 'relevant' but Pence has no chance to win and probably knows it. Furthermore, there's no way he would be chosen as VP again.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
Furthermore, there's no way he would be chosen as VP again.

Or even a Cabinet position if Trump wins. DeSantis might toss him a bone though, but not for VP.

^^^ I don't think that even that's possible, unless he's given a formal title and then simply left to twiddle his thumbs. Pence has quite simply proven that he's no team player unless he gets to be the tail that wags the dog - you know, sorta like Romney, only a hair more subtle at the early stages.

The truth is that neither of the viable candidates have really locked in what they will do in the future by making those statements, and there's some twenty months to go before the elections. Any Republican elected in '24 will have to deal with what exists in '24, and it took Tucker Carlson to try to make the question a news story at this stage.

Well Russia forced down a Reaper drone over the Black Sea,


https://youtu.be/mE1pBffmgsY

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...drone-Black-Sea.html

US SUMMONS Russian ambassador as Moscow DENIES its fighter jet collided with American Reaper drone in international airspace and sent $32M unmanned spy plane crashing into Black Sea after dumping fuel on it

US military said a Russian fighter jet clipped the propeller of the MQ-9 drone

Crash forced the US drone down over the Black Sea in a total loss of the aircraft

US slams Russian fighter pilots as incompetent, unsafe and unprofessional



With Biden in the commanders seat what could possibly go wrong?

Russian Su-27 Collided With U.S. MQ-9 Over Black Sea

quote:

The collision occurred at approximately 7:03 A.M. local time, according to a press release from U.S. Europe Command (EUCOM). News about the incident had already begun to emerge with reports saying officials were working to determine whether or not the drone was shot down. The USAFE statement makes clear that this was not the case.

"The Russian Su-27 aircraft struck the propeller of the MQ-9, causing U.S. forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters," the press release explains. "Several times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound, and unprofessional manner."
....

https://theaviationist.com/202...lides-with-u-s-mq-9/

quote:

...
It is not known from where the MQ-9 was launched for the mission. The US have MQ-9s forward deployed to NAS Sigonella (Italy), Miroslawiec AB (Poland), Campia Turzii (Romania) and recently Larissa Air Base (Greece). The RPAs routinely depart their bases to perform missions over the Black Sea, together with the larger RQ-4 Global Hawk.

Several ISR aircraft were operating in the region when the “close encounter” occurred. Among them, the Italian Air Force G550 CAEW of the Task Group “Argo” deployed to Romania.

At the time of writing, a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon is flying over the Romanian coastline: its presence there can be related to the recovery of the Reaper drone.

Interestingly, as the news of the collision was released, the Italian MOD posted a tweet about the latest QRA launch of the Eurofighter Typhoons supporting NATO enhanced Air Policing Area-South, from Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base, Costanta, Romania. At the moment we are unable to confirm whether the Italian aircraft were scrambled to respond to the Russian Su-27 activity near the MQ-9 or not.

For you pilots and plane aficionados, an MQ-9 Reaper flies around 150-170 mph, the stall speed of an Su-27 is about 190 mph, probably a bit lower if you drop landing gear and spoilers. Will be interesting to see if any video will be released.

The next one needs to be packed with explosives and ball bearings.

Apparently the SU-27 passed dangerously close, dumped fuel on the drone as it flew over (assuming an attempt to cause an engine fire or shut down the engine), then disabled the propeller. Seems like an escalation to me.



Seems to be a question about how to recover it. I recall the US Navy having specialized teams to handle situations like this.

The Dardanelles is currently closed to military vessels because of the war. If we go to recover, we have to wait for Russia's illegal invasion to end.

But Russia, keep showing us who is the problem child is.

Ryan Mcbeth stated that after they dumped fuel they attempted to light it on fire with the afterburner. Is that even possible?

quote:

Originally posted by IrishWind:
The Dardanelles is currently closed to military vessels because of the war. If we go to recover, we have to wait for Russia's illegal invasion to end.

I thought the Montreaux Convention only allowed Turkey the ability to bar transit of warships of belligerent nations during a war. So that'd apply to Ukraine and Russia. (With the exception of belligerent nation warships returning to their home port on the Black Sea, which are still allowed through.)

If that's accurate, US Navy ships could still transit. We're not a (declared) belligerent in the war.

Even if we cannot, Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria are NATO members with vessels in the Black Sea, who could assist.

quote:

Even if we cannot, Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria are NATO members with vessels in the Black Sea, who could assist.

If we don't recover it, Russia will.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
If we don't recover it, Russia will.

Which while it wouldn't be good, likely won't tell the Russians anything they don't already know.

The Russians already have access to several Reapers downed in years past, including one downed in Libya by the Wagner Group in 2019, and three downed in Yemen by Iranian-backed forces from 2017-2019 (with Iran being a Russian ally). There were also several Reapers downed over Syria and potentially recovered by Russian-backed government forces.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
I thought the Montreaux Convention only allowed Turkey the ability to bar transit of warships of belligerent nations during a war. So that'd apply to Ukraine and Russia. (With the exception of belligerent nation warships returning to their home port on the Black Sea, which are still allowed through.)

If that's accurate, US Navy ships could still transit. We're not a (declared) belligerent in the war.

Even if we cannot, Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria are NATO members with vessels in the Black Sea, who could assist.

There is wiggle room. In addition to barring ships from the combatants in a war, if Turkey is at war, or feels threatened by war, it is allowed to take any actions it sees fit with regard to allowing warships through the straits. So, they aren't allowing any warships through at the moment, and everyone has been respecting that.

However, I'm pretty sure the US could hire a salvage crew to go pick up the drone and Turkey would let it through as civilian traffic. Turkey aren't even being super-diligent about civilian ships carrying military cargo going through, so sending a salvage team in a ship that isn't armed or carrying a bunch of surveillance gear should be fine. Honestly, the surveillance gear might not even be a deal breaker.

- Bret

quote:

Originally posted by Skull Leader:
Ryan Mcbeth stated that after they dumped fuel they attempted to light it on fire with the afterburner. Is that even possible?

Possibly but timing would be critical. I'll guess the goal of dumping fuel was to get the engine to either ingest enough fuel to catch fire, or cause it to stall due to lack of sufficient airflow. Either result would bring it down unless it has the technology to pause and re-start on its own.

Link



Desperate Putin empties museums of obsolete T-62 tanks to repurpose them for his war in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin is desperately emptying Russian museums of obsolete tanks to repurpose them for his creaking war effort, it has emerged.

Ageing Soviet-era T-62s are seen being 'modernised' in a round-the-clock factory in Chita, Siberia, in alarming footage.

The drive to retrofit the decades-old tanks highlights the desperation of Putin's military machine - while Ukraine is being supplied with the most modern Western tanks.

Some of the tanks being revamped at the 103rd Plant may be 60 years old, dating from the time Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev were ruling the USSR.

'It is sad that the number of exhibits of military museums will be reduced,' said one report.

Russia halted T-62 production 12 years ago, but may still have as many as 2,500 of them held in stores and museums.

READ MORE: How America's Abrams, Germany's Leopard 2 and Britain's Challenger compare to Russia's outdated T-72 tanks

But war fanatic Lt-Gen Andrey Gurulev, 55, a prominent state TV personality, Putin propagandist and MP, said there was method in the redeployment of the tanks.

On a visit to the plant that is found six time zones east of Moscow, he said: 'Tanks, more than 50 years old, are being transformed into modern, normal machines capable of carrying out tasks and meeting the current frontline challenges.

'Look at the finished products. A tank battalion has already been shipped to the front,' he claimed, while standing in front of some of the hardware.

He boasted: 'These T-62 tanks are completely modernised.'

They have new 'engines, communication systems, control systems, thermal imagers, dynamic active protection' is installed in the antiquated tank shells, he said.

'So here is a completely different tank for today that can work.'

A former tank commander and Putin loyalist who now serves on the Russian parliament's defence committee, Gurulev said the refashioned fighting machines were 'no worse than modern ones'.

He said: 'Our guys dismantle them, make them completely, and take off the turrets. They completely disassemble the machines. All the old units are removed. New ones are installed, upgraded.'

In order to motivate them, workers at the plant have been put on boosted pay - £750 a month - before unspecified bonuses.

The tanks were first built in 1961, a further development of the T-55 series, and became the standard tank in the Soviet arsenal, and remained in reserve in many former USSR countries, and in frontline use for other countries.

More than 22,700 T-62s were built in total, and it was was replaced on the production lines by the T-72 in 1973 which is still widely in-use in Russia and Ukraine today.

Russia, as well as Ukraine, has relied heavily on the Soviet-era T-72 tanks in Ukraine, which have been destroyed in their thousands in more than a year of fighting.

Russia has also deployed around 1,000 of its advanced T-90 tank in Ukraine, compared to around 5,000 T-72s. The £4million T-90 is supposed to be one of the best tanks in the world, and has upgraded armour and missile protection systems - compared to the T-72 - which in theory make it harder to destroy.

However, since Russia invaded Ukraine, countless T-90M Russian tank have been destroyed by rocket launchers and western Javelin anti-tank guided missiles.

Some 50 BMP-2 amphibious infantry fighting vehicles are also being repurposed for the war. These date from the 1980s.

The West is sending Leopard 2 tanks, made in Germany, Challenger 2 tanks from Britain and M1 Abrams tanks from the US.

After Ukrainian advances throughout the second half of 2022, Kyiv has focused on the defensive for the last three months.

Meanwhile, Moscow has launched an offensive campaign using mobilised reservists and convicts recruited from prison as mercenaries - targeting the city of Bakhmut.

Kyiv is widely believed to be planning a counter-assault of its own later in the spring when muddy ground dries and when the hundreds of Western armoured vehicles and Challenger and Leopard battle tanks arrive.

The tanks would have a major impact, said Leonid Khoda, commander of Ukraine's 1st Tank Brigade which is fighting in the Donbas, comprised of Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 'Everyone is waiting, 1st Tank Brigade is waiting too.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
If we don't recover it, Russia will.

Which while it wouldn't be good, likely won't tell the Russians anything they don't already know.

The Russians already have access to several Reapers downed in years past, including one downed in Libya by the Wagner Group in 2019, and three downed in Yemen by Iranian-backed forces from 2017-2019 (with Iran being a Russian ally). There were also several Reapers downed over Syria and potentially recovered by Russian-backed government forces.

The Reaper has been in-service for nearly two decades now, the tech isn't new or, revolutionary. Oddly the Russians never really invested much into drones (they are capable), and thus they're turning to the Iranians who seem to have made it their niche in the worldwide weapons market in drone development.

If you're pulling military vehicles out of museums you need to seriously reconsider the war that you're waging in another country.

On the flip side, if Ukraine were to target all of the Russian military museums they'd likely put a quick end to the war.