Tag: Javelin Missiles

US Ammunition Supplies Dwindle as Ukraine War Drains Stockpiles

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The United States will soon be unable to provide Ukraine with certain types of ammunition that are essential to Kyiv’s battle against Russia’s invasion, as supplies are being used up faster than they can be replaced.

US Ammunition Supplies Dwindle as Ukraine War Drains Stockpiles

Previously:

07-24 – West Can Not Sustain Prolonged Conflict In Ukraine, Says Pentagon Supplier

09-30 – Pentagon stockpiles ‘uncomfortably low’ due to Ukraine arms transfers: DoD

10-10 – Whoops, the U.S. Sent So Many Missiles to Ukraine That It Depleted Its Own Stockpiles

“Everyone’s a Little Problematic in Ukraine’s International Legion”

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

by Lindsey Snell and Cory Popp

“Benjamin Velcro” is former US serviceman and volunteer with the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, the official unit of foreign volunteers under the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In early August, Russian media widely shared voice recordings in which Velcro recounted the torture and murder of a Russian prisoner of war.

“Everyone’s a Little Problematic in Ukraine’s International Legion”

Related:

An exit interview: Benjamin Velcro

I am quite good with languages, one could describe my Russian as a solid B1 (someone said B2 before but that was an ego stroke lol) I would rather understand the language of my enemy than Ukrainian. My convictions against the putin regime were largely solidified when I was part of a task force related to Georgia just prior to their invasion with the US Army. In 2014, maiden inspired me. In 2020, August, I thought the similar conditions could be met in Belarus. I travelled to Belarus. However things did not materialize.

Interesting how this “Benjamin Velcro” seems to be drawn to US-sponsored color revolutions. 👇

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Oliver Boyd: From Our Taxes, Windfall Profits for “Defense” Industry. What Ukraine is mainly about

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

By Prof. Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Substack, 8/14/22

Yes, it would be simpler and less messy all around if we just transferred the money directly from our bank accounts to Raytheon, Lockheed and the rest of them.

…

Should Ukraine simply sign over sovereignty to Russia? Well, Ukraine already signed over sovereignty, but to the USA, in 2014. The current war serves Washington interests, not Ukrainian.

Oliver Boyd: From Our Taxes, Windfall Profits for “Defense” Industry. What Ukraine is mainly about

Previously:

Russian Ops in Ukraine – Russian Advances, Ukraine Shelling Nuclear Power Plant

Russian Ops in Ukraine – Russian Advances, Ukraine Shelling Nuclear Power Plant

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Aug 13, 2022 Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for August 14, 2022:

– Russian forces continue to make incremental progress along the Siversk-Bakhmut defense line even according to pro-Ukrainian sources;

– There is no sign of any Ukrainian offensive around Kherson, even according to the Western media;

– Another US-supplied HIMARS has been destroyed according to the Russian MoD, that is now 8 out of 16 sent to Ukraine destroyed;

– The Pentagon is now struggling to explain why it is unable to supply Ukraine with sufficient weapons needed to execute the ever-pending “Kherson Offensive” yet to materialize;

– Claims made by the Pentagon regarding the effectiveness of various weapon systems sent have been contradicted by recently discovered documents from the US military itself;

– The US Army claims the effectiveness of common US anti-tank weapons like the Javelin and the AT-4 is around 19% among trained US soldiers. This would be much lower among Ukrainian troops;

– The Western media has decided to assign credit to Ukraine for a recent explosion in Crimea despite Kiev denying any involvement;

– Ukraine is shelling Zaporozhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in an attempt to force Russian troops to leave through international pressure;

Russian Ops in Ukraine (August 14, 2022) – Russian Advances, Ukraine Shelling Nuclear Power Plant (Odysee) via The New Atlas

References:

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Ukraine claims 60 dead, 100 wounded, in blasts on Crimea as satellite images show destroyed Russian aircraft

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment
Kerch Strait Bridge, Crimea.

by Clara Weiss, WSWS, Aug 13 2022

Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian minister of internal affairs, claimed on Thursday that 60 pilots and technicians had been killed and 100 people wounded in a series of explosions at a Russian Saki air base on the Black Sea Crimean Peninsula on Tuesday. Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, the air base has housed the Russian 43rd Independent Naval Assault Air Squadron.

Ukraine claims 60 dead, 100 wounded, in blasts on Crimea as satellite images show destroyed Russian aircraft

Related:

Does Ukraine Have A Stash Of Domestically Developed Ballistic Missiles?

Video via Made in Ukraine

Pentagon acknowledges sending anti-radar missiles to Ukraine; they are already in use

Colin Kahl, the under secretary of defense for policy, said at a press briefing that the US had sent “a number” of the missiles without specifying how many the US has provided or when they were sent. Kahl did not explicitly say what type of anti-radiation missile was sent.

A defense official told CNN the type of missile sent was the AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM).

Whoops, the U.S. Sent So Many Missiles to Ukraine That It Depleted Its Own Stockpiles

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Whoops, the U.S. Sent So Many Missiles to Ukraine That It Depleted Its Own Stockpiles

The United States, Poland, and Estonia have sent Javelins to Ukraine, weapons that all three countries will eventually need to replace. The Javelin missile, first issued in the mid-1990s, is still in production. To replenish those stockpiles, Lockheed Martin is set to ramp up production of the Javelin from 2,100 a year to 4,000 missiles a year. Although that sounds like a lot of missiles, it would still take two years at that rate just to backfill America’s Javelin inventory. The company will also require additional time to set up the supply chain to provide parts for the missiles, no small feat considering the global shortage of semiconductors, which the Javelin’s guidance system is reliant upon.

Another lag in the schedule is a lengthy delivery time, which is currently 32 months— meaning missiles are delivered 32 months after the missiles are ordered. Unless this is shortened by boosting production, it will take nearly three years for the first new missiles to get to troops in the field.

Related:

Production Of In-Demand Javelin Missiles Set To Almost Double:

One potential pitfall in the ability to rapidly ramp up production of Javelins has been the availability of microchips and semiconductors, provided through subcontractors, mainly in Asia. Each missile contains upward of 200 of these components.

…

Although the Pentagon has said it’s “actively negotiating” a new Stinger contract, manufacturer Raytheon has admitted that shortages of parts and materials could mean that it’s not able to actually produce these new missiles until 2023 or later. The DoD hasn’t bought new Stingers in many years and is now looking to replace it with a new missile, but that doesn’t help in the near term with diminishing stockpiles.