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[Madman198237]

The Bradley is actually made of aluminum, though ever since the US ditched the "must be able to swim" requirement they're covered in steel applique armor. BMPs have some advantages, primarily in profile (i.e., physically smaller therefore harder to see). From the front, however, the Bradley is resistant to the modern BMPs' main weapons, the same cannot be said for the BMPs' resistance to the Bradley's main weapons. Should a Bradley get hit and penetrated and the ammunition (which the Bradley has more of than a BMP, assuming only authorized stowage is being used) go off, the vehicle would be totaled same as any other, but no vehicle is ever going to be so thoroughly destroyed as to leave nothing but an unidentifiable puddle. You'd know what it had been, it'd just be completely unsalvageable.

BMPs are certainly worse off than Bradleys in the survivability department-they're lower to the ground, which means when a mine or IED goes off its energy is not dispersed into the air gap before hitting the vehicle's hull, they're less heavily armored in general, and the guys inside are extremely close together meaning that any penetrating hit from any weapon is going to cause more casualties. And getting out of a BMP is not a fast process because it's so cramped, so if one starts burning a lot of the guys inside are going to end up dead or burned as they bail.

Also the Bradley just has like three times the leg room for soldiers inside compared to the BMP. You can't win wars with leg cramps, y'know?

[Loud Whispers]

While it's nice to see them getting more stuff they can put to good use, one can't help but wonder what sort of logistics hell this is going to create for the Ukrainian army down the line. Having a bunch of leftover soviet stock (which itself had a bunch of different systems with overlapping purposes (hello T-64/T-72/T-80)) and then mixing in a smorgasbord of NATO tech into it is bound to cause issues. Even if they do have a certain amount of parts commonality, just the amount of different ammo types they'll need is headache inducing.

And while the eventual shift to mostly NATO stock is probably a good idea for long term sustainability and potential NATO integration, doing the transition during wartime is bound to cause issues. Then again, not like they have much choice in the matter right now.

The Ukrainian army has already reported some interesting phenomenon, such as having a healthy stockpile of ex-Soviet artillery systems but not enough ammunition for them, but an abundance of NATO ammunition but not enough artillery & barrels to fire them. So getting more NATO equipment may actually help ease the logistical strain on ex-Soviet stock

[Il Palazzo]

Anyone up-to-date with the situation around Bakhmut? Yesterday the Russians were breaking through on the flanks.

[Starver]

(To perhaps clear up confusion, the BMP-3 is aluminum alloy plus steel plate for front-hull protection (also significantly less sloped, so it seems they didn't mind the loss of angle protectivity for the more forward driver nw that the engine is moved to the back), while BMPs -1 and -2 were/are steel. One presumes there's other design decisions juggled to make it the late-'80s machine that it is, and somehow superior to the '60s and early '80s designs that were the 1 and 2.)

[Lord Shonus]

Seeing some very credible reports, including statements from Polish government officials, that Leopard 2 tanks will be heading into Ukraine. There's also reports that Britain will send Challenger 2s, if they can find any that work.

[Dostoevsky]

Only 10 of 'em (the Challengers), but yeah. They're currently planning on scrapping the 2/3 of them that they're not upgrading, so assuming they're in decent condition not a bad use.

As to Leopards,

Poland has decided to send a company of Leopard tanks to help neighboring Ukraine in the war with invading Russia, President Andrzej Duda said Wednesday.

But Duda, on a visit to Lviv, said that the move would be possible only as an element in a larger international coalition of tank aid to Kyiv.

Poland’s leaders have been indicating that they were in talks with other countries over a potential international coalition that would send the German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine. They haven't named the countries.

Within this potential international coalition, “we have taken the decision to contribute a first package of tanks, a company of Leopard tanks, which, I hope, together with other companies of Leopard and other tanks that will be offered by other countries will .... be able to strengthen Ukraine’s defense,” Duda told a news conference in Lviv.

So I'd argue akin to all the rounds of rumored jet-giving - lots of words and not a lot of actual provisions (yet).

Anyone up-to-date with the situation around Bakhmut? Yesterday the Russians were breaking through on the flanks.

Wagner Group is claiming they took Soledar, a small but tactically-important village in the region... but Russian military are counterclaiming that Soledar hasn't been taken yet. They're also fighting over who gets credit for whatever degree Soledar is taken or not, with Wagner claiming they solo'd it and the actual military claiming there's an ongoing joint operation.

[Starver]

Russian command reshuffle...

Forgive me if I just read it as just an attempt to stop a rival cult of personality by the actual head-cultist.

[Strongpoint]

Wagner Group is claiming they took Soledar, a small but tactically-important village in the region... but Russian military are counterclaiming that Soledar hasn't been taken yet. They're also fighting over who gets credit for whatever degree Soledar is taken or not, with Wagner claiming they solo'd it and the actual military claiming there's an ongoing joint operation.

It is quite amazing that the Russian military is more truthful than... anybody.

Soledar is contested and in the stage of a fierce street fighting. Fog of war and disinformation don't allow to say anything precise but it appears that Russia controls around 2/3 of the (ruins of) town with Ukrainian forces conducting fighting retreat and tactical counterstrikes

[Loud Whispers]

Seeing some very credible reports, including statements from Polish government officials, that Leopard 2 tanks will be heading into Ukraine. There's also reports that Britain will send Challenger 2s, if they can find any that work.

This shall be the challenger 2's finest swan song.

A completely unnecessary one, and it's puzzling for the government to commend their vital role whilst also announcing they will permanently halve the tank fleet, but that's completely in line with the gov's thinking to just keep axing anything that works :|

Russian command reshuffle...

Forgive me if I just read it as just an attempt to stop a rival cult of personality by the actual head-cultist.

"A group of animals come together to make an impromptu orchestra. The duck is on the drums, the pig on the woodwind, the cow on the strings and the dog on the piano. It doesn't sound very good. They change places and keep trying to find an arrangement that works. Eventually an owl arrives, and they ask the owl for advice on how to make their music arrangements.
'Arrange yourselves however you like, none of you are musicians,' the owl says, before flying away."
-old Russian story

[martinuzz]

Russia announced that it will start a great reform of the military. This will include revision of organisational structure, and they want to increase the number of soldiers by half a million (from 1 million to 1.5 million).

EDIT: meanwhile in Siberia, the prison holding Navalny has managed to succesfully turn prisoners into bio weapons.
Their newest method of torturing Navalny worked like this: They put another prisoner in sick ward until he was infected with corona or some other infectious disease.
Then they put him in the isolation cell with Navalny.
It took a few tries of failing to infect Navalny, but they succeeded now. Navalny is off to the sick ward with so far unspecified disease.

[Loud Whispers]

Well now that's just fucked up

[King Zultan]

Sounds like the happy fun times in Siberian prisons continue.

[Lord Shonus]

The  American ambassador to the OSCE, Michael Carpenter, has commented on the US position regarding a Dutch transfer of F-16s to Ukraine.

“We have long held the view that what our allies supply is their business. And we support the countless (defense) contributions that our allies contributed for Ukraine”.

This is the only potential roadblock to the transfer, and the Dutch retired all their F-16s last year (they're being replaced with a smaller number of F-35s, which are much more capable). From everything I can find, the Dutch aircraft are original F-16A/B models, but have been upgraded to have avionics equivalent to the latest US models, and thus can use almost any NATO air-launched weapon. If the Dutch go through with this, even if they only send a portion of their ~40 airframes, it will be a huge boost

[Ziusudra]

Another Top Russian Military Official Dead After Fall

[EuchreJack]

Another Top Russian Military Official Dead After Fall

I guess he forgot to take flying lessons...