The effective border to defend against is much longer. See the flight tracks into Ukraine for shaheed and its ilk. You’d have to secure the Baltic Sea edge also.
Then there are the Baltic states, Finland, Sweden, Romania, Norway, turkey, etc. And those are just the NATO members.
No, it’s pretty apparent that the path to success is not intercepting stuff as it flies into your kill zone, rather it’s sending a very explosive happy meal package into the production sites inside Russia that make Shaheed or similar components.
It means severing vital east-west railway networks inside Russia that allow the replenishment via china / North Korea.
It means intercepting the shadow fleet and cutting off Russian income by stopping oil, gas, and fertilizer / potash purchases. They’ll go bankrupt faster than a drunken sailor on shore leave.
But the main point remains that the Chinese appear unwilling to take IOUs so cutting off the legs of the Russian economy by stopping oil and gas sales could quickly end this war also.
The Ukrainian strategy to go after oil and gas export terminals, refineries, and pipelines certainly suggests this is their way forward, especially now that Jake Sullivan is no longer around to tell them not to treat most of Russia like a sanctuary zone.
It would be even cheaper to stick the guns in ISO containers than build as custom vehicles. These AD don't need to be shoot and scoot. Couple with Giraffe Radars/EO systems on the ground and then theatre wide AWE&C queuing.
Add in some SAMs in ISO containers to compliment the guns you've got what you need for a Iron Wall.
Yep. You can start simply with just the guns and sensors and expand to include SHORAD missiles, UAS, interceptor drones as you go. Initially, you could probably do a 3 container cluster (sensors, missiles, guns). To cover Poland/Ukraine and Romania/Ukraine borders you'd need about 120 nodes or about 360 ISO containers.
NASAMS and CAMM/CAMM-ER are both ISO container ready. Martlet has also been tested in ISO containers (though shorter range than other missiles).
An additional bonus is you could order these sets for Ukraine as well. Offload some of the pressure on the mobile units and also open more AD protection for civilian targets.
If the EU and the Brits (fuck NATO) are expanding 40 clicks clusters into Ukraine, why stop there? Why not gradually move the shield Eastward, until it covers all of Ukrainian airspace?
And then go even further, because we're talking about airspace security with hardware firmly placed on Ukrainian soil - why not expand it 40 clicks into Russian airspace?
Also, what to do when Putin starts firing missiles from Belarus? On paper that's an independent country. By sending missiles Belarus would be declaring war on the EU. We don't have to be as considerate and careful with Belarus as we are with Russia.
Destroy a few Belarussian military bases? Power plants?
Poland remembers how quickly nation’s forget their promises!
Ukraine, USA, Russia and the UK signed the Budapest Memorandum (1994) which gave security “assurances” to Ukraine for relinquishing its nuclear weapons! France and China signed similar agreements for Ukraine 🇺🇦!
What a joke!
Can anyone explain how Jake Sullivan and Joe Biden weaseled out of that agreement?
An excellent rundown on what us Europeans could accomplish.
Additionally:
"Europe should authorize a limited, defensive CSDP mission under Article 44: Sky Umbrella. Its purpose is simple and measurable—to deny Russia cheap terror effects against civilians and critical infrastructure in Ukraine’s west, to protect the EU’s own border communities from spillover, and to impose discipline on Europe’s delivery pipelines by publishing what counts: effects."
Poland is NOT depending on cowards and laggards for its defense! The Poles understand that security guarantees mean nothing!
In 1994 the major powers signed the Budapest Memorandum, giving Ukraine security “assurances” for relinquishing its huge nuclear weapons arsenal after the fall of the Soviet Empire!
What a joke! Twenty years later Putin invaded Crimea and the West winced!
Oops! Sorry! We don’t want to upset Putin! He had nukes!
Excellent news, and I’m glad the UK is scaling up their development of this inexpensive drone technology so quickly. I guess all European nations are starting to realize NATO, as for as the US is concerned, isn’t a reliable partner and can’t be trusted to support Article 5 in its charter.
Perhaps it’s time Ukraine considers invading Belarus. Russia has been using Belarus as a staging ground for its “special military operation,” and since there is already a government in exile in Lithuania (Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya), legitimacy for an invasion is already warranted.
Additionally, it would force Russia to regroup, since it would cut off one of Russia’s key supply lines, as well as shift the political realignment in the region. Just a thought….:)
Along with continuing to arm Ukraine directly, that sounds like Europe’s first order of business. Oh, and may Trump gag on his Big Mac today. Him and his daddy Vlad.
By the way, I think Putin's ultimate goal is - blowing up NATO. He will succeed.
At some point, we'll be forced to call Trump out to offer support, if not literally, then formally. Trump won't answer, worse, he'll formally state that the criteria for support haven't yet been reached. That's basically already happening.
That will formally be the end of NATO.
I think that that's the playbook Putin and Trump agreed upon in Alaska. Now, I don't think Trump likes that playbook, because it makes him look weak, but Putin most likely laid down the law with the compromat he has on Trump, and ordered him to drop formal support for NATO allies.
Whatever the origin of Trump's reluctance to back NATO, we already know where he stands, and it's not behind NATO.
Then the question arises - should we feel sorry for NATO becoming a dead letter here in Europe? No. Because NATO is already a dead letter. Formalizing that will be a rude awakening for Europe. But accepting that fact will also allow us to move on and accelerate building our own defences.
We should start treating Trump and the US for what it is - a weapons dealer until we can make what we lack militarily ourselves. No more, no less...
Nat sec is dangerous territory. It will stick. Hope Newsom doubles down. It was Afgan that wrecked Biden. He never recovered from that fiasco the great Sullivan handed him. Two days after the withdrawal was when his approval sank, and it stayed.
The effective border to defend against is much longer. See the flight tracks into Ukraine for shaheed and its ilk. You’d have to secure the Baltic Sea edge also.
Then there are the Baltic states, Finland, Sweden, Romania, Norway, turkey, etc. And those are just the NATO members.
No, it’s pretty apparent that the path to success is not intercepting stuff as it flies into your kill zone, rather it’s sending a very explosive happy meal package into the production sites inside Russia that make Shaheed or similar components.
It means severing vital east-west railway networks inside Russia that allow the replenishment via china / North Korea.
It means intercepting the shadow fleet and cutting off Russian income by stopping oil, gas, and fertilizer / potash purchases. They’ll go bankrupt faster than a drunken sailor on shore leave.
Yes. That is why long-range missiles were my number 1 recommendation. The one I explained here is part of second and third.
Didn’t see that article, apologies.
But the main point remains that the Chinese appear unwilling to take IOUs so cutting off the legs of the Russian economy by stopping oil and gas sales could quickly end this war also.
The Ukrainian strategy to go after oil and gas export terminals, refineries, and pipelines certainly suggests this is their way forward, especially now that Jake Sullivan is no longer around to tell them not to treat most of Russia like a sanctuary zone.
Yep.
ah yes the one and only joke sullivan who for years was a thorn in ukraines side
It would be even cheaper to stick the guns in ISO containers than build as custom vehicles. These AD don't need to be shoot and scoot. Couple with Giraffe Radars/EO systems on the ground and then theatre wide AWE&C queuing.
Add in some SAMs in ISO containers to compliment the guns you've got what you need for a Iron Wall.
Europe does have all the components it needs to do this.
Yep. You can start simply with just the guns and sensors and expand to include SHORAD missiles, UAS, interceptor drones as you go. Initially, you could probably do a 3 container cluster (sensors, missiles, guns). To cover Poland/Ukraine and Romania/Ukraine borders you'd need about 120 nodes or about 360 ISO containers.
NASAMS and CAMM/CAMM-ER are both ISO container ready. Martlet has also been tested in ISO containers (though shorter range than other missiles).
An additional bonus is you could order these sets for Ukraine as well. Offload some of the pressure on the mobile units and also open more AD protection for civilian targets.
I may or may not have designed such as system as an intellectual exercise.
Haha.. understood
If the EU and the Brits (fuck NATO) are expanding 40 clicks clusters into Ukraine, why stop there? Why not gradually move the shield Eastward, until it covers all of Ukrainian airspace?
And then go even further, because we're talking about airspace security with hardware firmly placed on Ukrainian soil - why not expand it 40 clicks into Russian airspace?
Also, what to do when Putin starts firing missiles from Belarus? On paper that's an independent country. By sending missiles Belarus would be declaring war on the EU. We don't have to be as considerate and careful with Belarus as we are with Russia.
Destroy a few Belarussian military bases? Power plants?
Yes. One by one. If they can get one cluster done. Then you just keep adding.
I wish the US still considered us to part of NATO instead of trying to destroy Europe, or at least weaken it to be less threatening to Russia.
But Europe has indeed learned. They won’t go back. Ukraine now has friends and supporters and neighbors who are helping.
Poland remembers how quickly nation’s forget their promises!
Ukraine, USA, Russia and the UK signed the Budapest Memorandum (1994) which gave security “assurances” to Ukraine for relinquishing its nuclear weapons! France and China signed similar agreements for Ukraine 🇺🇦!
What a joke!
Can anyone explain how Jake Sullivan and Joe Biden weaseled out of that agreement?
An excellent rundown on what us Europeans could accomplish.
Additionally:
"Europe should authorize a limited, defensive CSDP mission under Article 44: Sky Umbrella. Its purpose is simple and measurable—to deny Russia cheap terror effects against civilians and critical infrastructure in Ukraine’s west, to protect the EU’s own border communities from spillover, and to impose discipline on Europe’s delivery pipelines by publishing what counts: effects."
https://enlightentheday.substack.com/p/sky-umbrella-a-european-mission-worth
Very clear proposals. I am persuaded that this is workable where much else is not. Thank you.
Poland is NOT depending on cowards and laggards for its defense! The Poles understand that security guarantees mean nothing!
In 1994 the major powers signed the Budapest Memorandum, giving Ukraine security “assurances” for relinquishing its huge nuclear weapons arsenal after the fall of the Soviet Empire!
What a joke! Twenty years later Putin invaded Crimea and the West winced!
Oops! Sorry! We don’t want to upset Putin! He had nukes!
Excellent news, and I’m glad the UK is scaling up their development of this inexpensive drone technology so quickly. I guess all European nations are starting to realize NATO, as for as the US is concerned, isn’t a reliable partner and can’t be trusted to support Article 5 in its charter.
Perhaps it’s time Ukraine considers invading Belarus. Russia has been using Belarus as a staging ground for its “special military operation,” and since there is already a government in exile in Lithuania (Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya), legitimacy for an invasion is already warranted.
Additionally, it would force Russia to regroup, since it would cut off one of Russia’s key supply lines, as well as shift the political realignment in the region. Just a thought….:)
Along with continuing to arm Ukraine directly, that sounds like Europe’s first order of business. Oh, and may Trump gag on his Big Mac today. Him and his daddy Vlad.
By the way, I think Putin's ultimate goal is - blowing up NATO. He will succeed.
At some point, we'll be forced to call Trump out to offer support, if not literally, then formally. Trump won't answer, worse, he'll formally state that the criteria for support haven't yet been reached. That's basically already happening.
That will formally be the end of NATO.
I think that that's the playbook Putin and Trump agreed upon in Alaska. Now, I don't think Trump likes that playbook, because it makes him look weak, but Putin most likely laid down the law with the compromat he has on Trump, and ordered him to drop formal support for NATO allies.
Whatever the origin of Trump's reluctance to back NATO, we already know where he stands, and it's not behind NATO.
Then the question arises - should we feel sorry for NATO becoming a dead letter here in Europe? No. Because NATO is already a dead letter. Formalizing that will be a rude awakening for Europe. But accepting that fact will also allow us to move on and accelerate building our own defences.
We should start treating Trump and the US for what it is - a weapons dealer until we can make what we lack militarily ourselves. No more, no less...
Trump and the Gop will be cooked in the midterms and in 2028. Good for the world.
From your lips to God's ears. And with my blessings.
I’m not so sure. MAGA are masters at spin and marketing. Deny, deflect and project. And it’s been working out well so far…:)
Nat sec is dangerous territory. It will stick. Hope Newsom doubles down. It was Afgan that wrecked Biden. He never recovered from that fiasco the great Sullivan handed him. Two days after the withdrawal was when his approval sank, and it stayed.