This comes amid Kyiv’s failing counteroffensive and poses a major risk of escalation, President Volodymyr Zelensky has desired to use the long-range weapons to attack the Russian mainland.
White House Close To Providing Kiev With Cluster-Armed ATACMS
Ukrainian Troops Trained by the West Stumble in Battle
Ukraine’s army has for now set aside U.S. fighting methods and reverted to tactics it knows best.
H/T: Emil Cosman
On June 18, 2023, in the OCU monastery on the Cossack graves, Serhiy Dumenko “consecrated” a new icon, which they called “With weapons in the hands and God in the heart,” the 104th brigade of the territorial defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, for which the image was painted, reports on its Facebook page.
Dumenko “consecrates” the icon with Bandera and Shukhevych
Ukraine’s military used UK-supplied long-range missiles to target civilians in the Russian city of Lugansk, resulting in several children being injured, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defense and local authorities.
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Later, however, it [Joint Center for Control and Coordination] clarified that the strike involved two Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles and a US-made ADM-160B decoy missile.
UK-supplied missiles used to strike civilians in Lugansk – authorities
Related:
Evidence Of ADM-160 Miniature Air-Launched Decoy Use By Ukraine Emerges
The ADM-160B has a stated maximum range of around 500 miles and reportedly has the capability to mimic the radar signatures of various different kinds of aircraft. It is designed to follow a preprogrammed route, which can include loitering over designated areas.
In 2012, the Air Force also began acquiring ADM-160C variants, also known as MALD-Jammers or MALD-Js, which added an active radar jamming capability. Further improved variants of the MALD, which the U.S. Navy has also been acquiring, have since been developed as you can read more about here.
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It is worth noting that in December 2022 the Pentagon announced new aid for the Ukrainian armed forces that included what was only described at the time as a “counter air defense capability.” That U.S. military assistance package was also a so-called “drawdown,” meaning that all the items it contained would come straight from existing U.S. military stocks.
If the Ukrainian military has indeed begun receiving MALDs, this would not be the first time the Pentagon has transferred higher-end weapons and other equipment and not initially disclosed it. The sudden appearance of MALD wreckage would also fit the same general pattern of how it first emerged that the U.S. military was supplying its Ukrainian counterparts with AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM) last year, which was eventually confirmed.
Britain is sending Ukraine Storm Shadow missiles in a significant upgrade to Kyiv’s arsenal, allowing it to hit targets that have long been out of reach, including the Crimea bridge.
How long-range Storm Shadow missiles could help Ukraine destroy the Crimea bridge
H/T: Emil Cosman
Related:
Ukrainian Armed Forces Carried Out Powerful Missile Attack On Luhansk (Video, Photo)
Britain appears to be moving closer to sending Ukraine longer-range missiles that the Biden administration has so far refused to provide.
Britain Moves Closer to Sending Long-Range Missiles to Ukraine
The military must set realistic requirements for munitions stockpiles based on the certainty of the high rates of expenditures that will be experienced in any future conflict with Russia or China.
Pink Flamingo: The U.S. Military Will Pay for Its Munition Shortage
Imagine that!? With all of the handouts to the military industrial complex, they didn’t have enough 💰 to make munitions for the National Defense Stockpile?! I call 💩!
New $1.1 Billion Arms Package for Ukraine Includes 18 HIMARS Launchers
The HIMARS that the US has been sending to Ukraine are equipped with missiles that have a range of about 50 miles. But that can change, and Kyiv is requesting Army Tactical Missile Systems, which have a range of 190 miles, but Washington has been hesitant to send the longer-range missiles. Russia has warned that providing such arms would cross a “red line.”
Related:
The U.S. and Europe are running out of weapons to send to Ukraine
In the U.S. weapons industry, the normal production level for artillery rounds for the 155 millimeter howitzer — a long-range heavy artillery weapon currently used on the battlefields of Ukraine — is about 30,000 rounds per year in peacetime.
The Ukrainian soldiers fighting invading Russian forces go through that amount in roughly two weeks.
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Is the U.S. ability to defend itself at risk?
The short answer: no.
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The U.S. has essentially run out of the 155 mm howitzers [M777?] to give to Ukraine; to send any more, it would have to dip into its own stocks reserved for U.S. military units that use them for training and readiness. But that’s a no-go for the Pentagon, military analysts say, meaning the supplies reserved for U.S. operations are highly unlikely to be affected.
The United States may secretly transfer a number of weapons to Ukraine
The US authorities may not publicly announce the transfer of certain types of weapons to Ukraine as part of military assistance. About it writes Politico.
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The new military aid package for Kyiv, announced last week, includes Excalibur guided artillery shells, according to two Politico sources. At the same time, they are not mentioned in the Pentagon’s official statement on weapons supplied to Ukraine.
Politico also read the official notice to Congress in connection with the allocation of another aid package to Ukraine, which, according to the newspaper, notes that the weapons supplied by Washington to Kyiv “are not limited” to those listed.
On The ‘Woke’ Flight To Taiwan
That too old ‘woke’ lady with the massive freezer full of very expensive ice-cream let it know through Taiwanese media that she wants to arrive in Taipei tomorrow, August 2, at 22:30 local time (14:30 UTC) and stay over night.
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There is also this thought, by Cynthia Chung, which might become relevant:
In October 2019, Jake Sullivan, who became U.S. National Security Advisor in 2021, stated in an interview that the U.S. needed a clear threat to rally the world and play the role of saviour of mankind and that China could be that organizing principle for U.S. foreign policy. In the 2019 interview, he acknowledges that the problem was that people were not going to believe that China is a global threat, that their view of China is too positive and that the United States would need a “Pearl Harbour moment,” a real focusing event to change their minds, something he calmly stated that “would scare the hell out of the American people.”
She correctly traces such ‘Pearl Harbour moment’ thinking back to neo-conservative movement. Chung closes with this:
Thus, when Jake Sullivan observes that there is not enough anti-China sentiment to bolster an image of the United States as a “saviour of mankind” against China and that America is in need of a “Pearl Harbour moment” I would be very wary.
The circus around Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan in the coming days, and evident glee that is coming forth from many of these neocons frothing at the mouth over this prospect is a clear sign that something incredibly reckless and stupid is about to happen.
Pelosi’s airplane might indeed be shot down on her completely irrelevant and unnecessary trip to Taiwan, and if it is, don’t be surprised if it was the Americans themselves who are behind it, who have shown they are willing to do anything for that “Pearl Harbour moment.”
Related:
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