Up first:
U.S. Poised to Provide Abrams Tanks to Ukraine
Of note here is that this will, theoretically, spur the Germans to send their Leopard 2 tanks. The Leopard 2’s would likely be more advanced than the M-1s; and while there are more M-1’s in the world, the Leopards are closer to Ukraine and there are a number of countries willing to send Leopards. This is of course not pure altruism; they’ll likely be sending the older tanks that were about to be mothballed or scrapped; and if not, these donations will leave tank-shaped holes that will need to be filled with the latest and greatest. “You don;t need new tanks, we’ve got enough at home” no longer works as an excuse if you don’t actually have enough at home.
Additionally: the Russians might finally, rather overdue, be getting their crap in gear. So if they are faced with modern western MBTs, they’ll almost certainly launch their best anti-tank weapons at them. And sad though it may be for Ukrainians to hear, I’d rather modern NATO tanks get battlefield tested now, with Ukrainian crews, than later with NATO crews, on NATO territory. Losing these tanks to Russian weapons now will allow western designers to produce counter systems for when we need to fight Russian forces in Poland or Finland or Estonia or Wales.
Also:
McCarthy formally blocks Schiff, Swalwell from Intel panel
Never forget: Swalwell was the one who banged a Chinese spy and threatened to nuke American cities. He should *really* be the center of FBI attention, not sitting on the House Intelligence Committee. As for Schiff, he tried and failed to tie Trump to Russian collusion. Lots of people tried that, including some who should have known better at the FBI. Speaking of which…
Retired FBI counterintel agent reportedly involved in Trump-Russia probe arrested for ties to Russian oligarch
Also also: In recent years the NRA has become pretty much worthless in the fight to maintain Constitutional rights, even as they remain one of the Democrats primary boogeymen in *their* never-ending quest to render the citizens of the US into helpless subjects. But they’re finally stepping up a bit:
7 responses to “A busy news day in politics”
One big issue with giving Ukraine any Abrams is that their power train is VERY different from most armored vehicles. Turbine engines have different requirements/servicing that in turn dictates a whole different supply chain and maintenance schedule, which the Ukranians will have to learn on the fly.
The Bradley IFVs don’t have that problem. They’re diesel engines, and any Ukranian farmer worth their salt will be able to take one look at it and know how to repair and maintain it.
It’s not impossible that the US will send some Abrams, but it will add extra headaches for Ukraine’s logistics people.
Given this report from Sunday (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/15/german-battle-tanks-for-ukraine-wont-be-ready-until-2024), the only way Germany can provide tanks now is to send Bundeswehr tanks. A company’s worth has been mentioned which is a sizeable portion of their operational tank fleet.
The ‘Peace Dividend’ bites again.
Yet another needless escalation in a war that might everyone, but in which we have no strategic interest. Europe is wealthy and advanced enough to defend themselves twenty times over, yet they have chosen to take advantage of us for that purpose.
I don’t see any good coming from this, and I’m a quarter Ukrainian. My Grandmother’s side of the family was all but wiped out in the Holodomor.
we actually do have a strategic interest. weakening russia to a point where they can’t do this again for a generation saves us a lot of money and blood in the long run.
russia could choose to not cooperate with this plan, and pack up and go home. in fact if the russians went to the ukranians and said “we”re going home can you just not shoot at us on our way out so we can do this in an orderly manner we’d appreciate it” they’d probably all get home intact with their one-toilet-each consolation prizes.
instead putin is full speed ahead right onto the rocks. he will cripple his country, and become a chinese vassal state in under 10 years. russia will provide raw materials and manpower to china at bargain basement prices. all because putin can’t admit this was a mistake.
Frankly, I thought this Kursk repeat would happen in the 80’s with Andropov losing it-thinking Putin being smarter than to take too big of a bite. Russia is the ‘gator that bit an electric eel I saw on reddit. Eel shocks gator. Shock makes gator clamp down harder-which makes the eel up the volts. Let’s hope the current feedback loop is grounded.
The Leopards now and M-1s later makes sense.
There is no logistical footprint for the Abrams in Europe right now. Even Poland, which had already ordered Abrams tanks, hasn’t gotten ’em yet and doesn’t have the logistical base set up for ’em. However, just about every country in NATO seems to have Leopards.
Thus, not only are those tanks available now but so too is the logistical network needed to support ’em. At the very least, the Ukraines can send back any of their new Leopards that need fixin’ or are otherwise recovered on the battlefield. They can send them to the various repair depots throughout Europe. Not as convenient doing that as fixing them in Ukraine but it’s a relatively short train ride to get ’em out from under Russian fire and to the repair shops in the NATO countries. That’s what they’re doing with the NATO based weaponry already given to Ukraine as well as the old Soviet stuff that they send to Former Warsaw Pact countries to fix.
The Abrams will require brand spanking new logistics to be set up and that will take time to emplace physically as well as to train up the guys to do the wrenching.
Which, when you think about it, makes a lot of sense timing wise.
Those Leopards should be available to Ukraine in large numbers just in time for the coming Spring offensives.
The Abrams will likely then be available in time for the Summer’s offensives.
All of these tanks – the Leopards, the Challengers, and the Abrams will get destroyed in large numbers in combat. That’s an inevitable thing on the modern battlefield. Yeah, the crews will most likely fare a whole lot better even when their tank gets shot out beneath ’em. And as the US Army figured after reviewing the Israeli AARs (After Action Reports) from the 1970s, the tank crews are the most valuable item in the tanks. Hence the emphasis on crew survivability in the Abrams and in Western tanks in general.
But in the meantime, those Leopards will be the cutting edge of the spear for Ukraine’s Spring offensives and thus get attrited something fierce as a result. There’s quite a few Leopards at hand in Europe now but nowhere near the number of Abrams the US can lay hands on.
So, getting the Leopards into Ukraine hands now makes sense from a logistical perspective and a strategic one. And as the Ukraines run through their Leopards the Abrams will come online next to not only backfill the Ukraine losses but to also vastly increase Ukraine’s tank fleet as there’s a lot more M-1s than there are Leopards.
I’m also looking forward to seeing the Abrams finally getting to do what it was designed to do in the first place – hunt down and kill Russian tanks manned by Russian army troops.
“I’m also looking forward to seeing the Abrams finally getting to do what it was designed to do in the first place – hunt down and kill Russian tanks manned by Russian army troops.”
Yeah, that’s gonna be… interesting. Gonna be a *lot* of people watching that stone-faced, trying *real* hard to not act like a giddy fool when the Abrams start center punching Armored Ivan.
“Don’t fist-pump, don’t fist-pump, don’t fist-pump, don’t fist-pump, don’t fist-pump, don’t fist-pump…”