The New York Times reported Wednesday that Russia has been able to significantly ramp up its production of ammunition and other armaments despite Western sanctions meant to degrade the country’s military industry.
According to one senior Western defense official, before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia could produce 100 tanks a year. Now they can make 200. Western officials also believe Russia is on track to produce 2 million artillery shells per year, twice the amount they estimated Russia could make before the war.
As a result of the increase in production, Russia can make more ammunition than the US and Europe combined. The US and its NATO allies are working to bolster their production, but results aren’t expected to be seen for years. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg previously said Ukraine was using artillery rounds at a faster rate than the entire alliance could produce.
Kusti Salm, a senior Estonian Defense Ministry official, estimated in comments to the Times that Russia’s current ammunition production is seven times greater than the West’s. The figure demonstrates how time is on Russia’s side in the conflict and how fueling the proxy war may be unsustainable for the US and its NATO allies.
According to the Times, US and other Western sanctions targeting certain technologies, such as advanced semiconductors, initially hurt Russia’s ammunition production. But Moscow was able to find ways around the sanctions, and its economy has also adapted to the US-led economic blitz by finding new markets for energy exports in Asia.
‘There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.’ ~Lao Tzu
It has been been very obvious, for a long time now, that the West has been badly underestimating Russia’s military-industrial capacity. And bullshitting the world, and itself, about its own capacity.
“There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.” ~Lao Tzu
Exactly what Putin did when he decided to invade Ukraine. It doesn’t matter what happens on the battlefield. Russia might even defeat the Ukrainian army. But Russia can never defeat the Ukrainian resistance. Eventually Russia will have to withdraw. Putin is just another wannabe imperialist who underestimated his opponent. Asymmetric wars of national resistance are decided by hearts and minds, not force of arms.
Do you work for the BBC ?, Russia will in this war come what may for the long haul , the German soldiers of WW2 were the best trained , best armed and with a discipline Western Generals could only dream about , that was Churchill`s opinion which he kept to himself , however it didn`t stop the Russian Red Army from destroying it . you need to read up on the fighting spirit of the Russian people .
“[Under estimating the opponent is e]xactly what Putin did when he decided to invade Ukraine.”
That’s true. The Kremlin misjudged US-NATO willingness to goad Kiev into sacrificing enormous numbers of its people and fighting a hopeless battle that has been wrecking the country. And then the Kremlin reorganized and has been fighting a war of attrition that has seen Kiev suffer horrendous losses with no appreciable gains.
“Putin is just another wannabe imperialist . . .”
You’re parroting one of the most nonsensical points from the official Russophobe’s Talking Points Bulletin. There is exactly no evidence — none — that Russia has imperial ambitions. And no one ever even pretended that it does until the Maidan coup and assault on the ethnic Russians of the Donbas triggered the annexation of Crimea and secession of Lugansk and Donetsk.
“Asymmetric wars of national resistance are decided by hearts and minds, not force of arms.”
Perhaps, but that’s not what’s happening in Ukraine. What is happening there is resistance to a pogrom against ethnic-Russian Ukrainians, led by the hate-filled ideological descendants of Stepan Bandera. The pogrom was funded and supported by the US-led West in its decades-long campaign to prevent Russia from developing as a regional power capable of challenging US hegemony (and, in the fever dreams of the craziest neocons, breaking Russia into manageable chunks and plundering its resources). Ultimately, the pogrom triggered a proxy war, which is exactly what the instigators in Washington wanted. It’s not going the way they wanted it to, though.
US/NATO aid has never been able to motivate people to fight. Otherwise the US would have won in Vietnam and Afghanistan. The Ukrainians are fighting because they oppose Russian imperialism. Eventually they will win and the Russians will leave in defeat.
The “round eyes” would have won the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese? Kind of diminishing your constant claim that Russia couldn’t possibly win the hearts and minds of people who aren’t a whole hell of a lot different from them.
“… Otherwise the US would have won in Vietnam and Afghanistan….’
Oh, stop showing off your ignorance of history. You think with the size of the US invasion force in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, they couldn’t defeat a crowd of peasants because they weren’t motivated enough?
I have a few friends who were there, who can tell you you are full of crap.
Same goes for Afghanistan.
Wouldn’t it be great if things were simple.
A civil war erupted in Ukraine immediately following the Euromaidan Coup in 2014. As a practical matter, Kyev declared war on the Donbas region. Russia sided with the Rebels. The US sponsored Kyev. So now, Kyev is fighting to retain control of the land they lost during the civil war, even though they despise the people who have lived there for generations.
There is no love for the ultra-nationalists in the regions currently held by Russia. If Russia pulled out and Kyev re-annexed the Donbass, it would be the ultra-nationalists who would be worried about grassroots resistance.
Ethnic Russians have legitimate grievances in the Donbas. But that was an internal dispute. In Zaporizhia and Kherson ethnic Russians are a very small minority.
The Russian invasion is classic revanchist imperialism led by a Russian chauvinist who was blind to the fact that this is a war Russia can never win. Wait and see.
NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed, in an interview with The Washington Post, May 9, 2023, (speaking on behalf of NATO) that the “war didn’t start in 2022”. “The war started in 2014”
The legal implications of Stoltenberg’s statements are far-reaching. The beginning of the Ukraine war coincided with a U.S. sponsored Coup d’état. Having stated that “the war started in 2014”, and has been ongoing since 2014 as confirmed by Stoltenberg, Russia’s Special Military Operation cannot be categorized as an “illegal invasion” (under Article 2(4) of the UN Charter).
NATO can no longer claim that Russia’s Special Military Operation (SMO) of February 24, 2022 constitutes, from a legal standpoint, “an invasion”. As the war started in 2014, Art 2(4) applies to both the Kiev Nazi regime as well as US-NATO which was behind the February 2014 illegal Coup D’état.
From a legal standpoint, US-NATO on behalf and in coordination with the US sponsored Nazi regime had initiated a war against Luhansk and Donesk. Legally this was not “An Act of War against Russia”. this was an “Act of War against Ukraine and the People of Ukraine”.
President Putin had defined a Special Military Operation (SMO) in support of the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. The stated objective was to “demilitarise” and “denazify” Ukraine.
Article 51 of the UN Charter confirms that “Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, Russia’s SMO complies with the exercise of self defense.
The stated objectives were a excuse to claim territory for Putin’s new Russian Empire. He’s losing. Live with it.
@Rational Thinker
“… stated objectives …”
There were and are overwhelmingly good reasons to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine. So it is convincing that these are indeed the objectives.
So how is that denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine going?
Russia cannot even take Bahkmut.
how in hell is it going to demilitarize Ukraine when Ukraine now has one of the strongest and most capable Armies in the region. You need to take the entire country to demilitarize.
And Denazification? Do you still believe that crap?
Didn’t Putin exchange about 230 super dangerous Azov battalion “neo nazis” for few of his boys last year?
@Don Julio Concerning denazification you have a point, in so far as for instance Andrej Biletski is still alive. Zelensky recently met him.
I’m (machine-)translating Biletski’s Слово білого вождя (Word of the White Leader) into english. But apparently the Heroic White Leader has left fighting at the front to others.
They weren’t the real reasons but you keep on believing.
@Rational Thinker
“They weren’t the real reasons”
Ukrainian nationalists’ including nazis’ offensive aggression against other peoples or ethnicities has been a fact for a hundred years. US regime offensive aggression against Russia using Ukraine as a proxy has been a fact since 1991.
Those facts provide good reasons.
Nope
@Doom Sternz
Thanks for your instructive reply. But what weight would Stoltenbergs remark have in a legal judgment? Would it be considered a convincing admission?
Law has gone out the window. Its a pointless reply i made. In a world that was just and fair what i said would apply, but the world is a jungle of fascism and war where the elites consume humanity.
@Doom Sternz: Yes, law has gone out of the window, but that doesn’t make your reply pointless. Law, justice, fairness, ethics still provide a standard or reasons for a judgment.
This is douche stermz in real life.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2775e9e1f4f24070c8ebfdd23abd6fa2109d8e1096f2ff70492ef27107b6b228.jpg
I like to show how Ukraine would have looked if the coup had not happened.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2012_Ukrainian_parliamentary_election_-_List_results.svg#/media/File:2012_Ukrainian_parliamentary_election_-_List_results.svg
Wait and see
I’ve waited all summer and all I see are 66,000 dead Ukrainians and a pile of scrap metal that was once NATO.
I’m pretty sure that figure is attributed to Russia but the Kremlin always spins it towards Ukraine.
You realized that you and your cronies here have posted Ukraine KIA figures over the last 18 months — 500K – 1M which means the number of WIA is anywhere between 1.5 M – 3M; that practically translates into Ukraine not having anyone alive to fight and zero weapons left.
Basically Marvels Nuland and Sullivan fighting solo in the frontlines.
Ridiculous.
DRINK!
The Russians are looking to the North Koreans for ammo. Headline can say whatever they want but the reality is different.
That goes to show how desperate Putin is.
But according to some posters here, the Russian output of weapons is far more than West. Yes, with museum cannons.
There’s also the tankies not understanding that Russia NEEDS a shit-ton of artillery ammo because their old tech is woefully inaccurate compared to Western shells.
Tankies are better than Stankies, Stanky.
Oh, and so witty! Child-like taunts and child-like thinking. Right on brand!
Thank you very much, Stanky.
Actually, that’s according to the New York Times.
The US and UKraine are looking to the South Koreans for ammo.
OK. Yes, because the US doesn’t want to deplete it’s own ammo. What’s your point?
Conceptual thinking is difficult for you right-wingers, isn’t it?
I’m sure that Biden thinks our economy is so strong that he can ruin Russia’s economy by outlasting them. But Ukraine will run out of soldiers long before that could happen.
To complicate things further, Europe’s economy isn’t doing well. Enthusiasm for this unnecessary war is, in my opinion, giving way to the popular realization that higher energy costs, higher food costs, lost revenues from now-banned sales to Russia, fleeing heavy industry, etc. have hurt their own economies badly. Their leaders will find it much more difficult to get reelected.
Still, if Russia can end this quickly, without suffering massive casualties by trying to move too fast, Biden may be forced to try something else. Given Ukraine’s impending shortages of viable soldiers and munitions at this time, Russia may not find a better time to push Z and B back into their holes than the next few months.
Take a closer look. Consider Bakhmut. Prigozhin had no reason to lie when he admitted the Russians took 20,000 casualties there.
A direct result of the Bakhmut battle was the permanent withdrawal of Russia’s most effective fighting force, the Wagner mercenaries, from the Ukraine war. Bakhmut was a stunning strategic victory for Ukraine. Russia gained a few square kilometers of devastated territory at the cost of 20,000 casualties and the permanent withdrawal of Wagner from the war.
No reason not to believe Prigozhin other that he was a certifiable lunatic.
With anymore “stunning strategic” victories like that and you can take Ukraine iff the map!
But it won’t happen.
It’s happening; Crimea, Lugansk, Zaporizhnia, Donbas. Soon Oddessa.
Then… Brooklyn!
Sky, you persist in thinking that Ukraine is a normal western nation where borders and nationalities have been settled and fixed for a long time where in reality these are artificial borders and much of the population would rather affiliate with Russia.
I mean, did we not learn this from Crimea’s seamless entry into Russia?
Borders are settled by international recognition, not by war. Putin chose aggression and Russia will be worse off because of Putin’s war.
Crimea is a special case and the only part of Ukraine where ethnic Russians are a majority. Actually, Crimea is neither part of Ukraine or Russia, but the homeland of the Tatars who were exiled by Stalin. The Russians and Ukrainians in present day Crimea are descended from settlers who displaced and replaced the indigenous Tatars.
“Borders are settled by international recognition, not by war.”
1. The US regime bullies UN member states into voting as it wants, but the world is changing rapidly.
2. LPR and DPR can be considered states according to the Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States (before they decided to join Russia for reasons of self-defense). The people have the right to self-determination according to article 1 UN Charter. The West-Ukraine regime forfeited its right to territorial integrity because of its discrimination, suppression, terror and ethnic cleansing against the people in East- and South-Ukraine. There is no applicable rule of international law that is violated by LPR’s and DPR’s unilateral declaration of independence, as in the ICJ opinion on Kosovo.
There are indeed international and recognized borders. What we are talking about, though, are “real” borders … such as they exist.
The point re Crimea is that the recognized international border of Ukraine includes Crimea, even though the Crimeans don’t think of themselves as Ukrainian.
The same is the case for the majority of the people who live in the areas Russia has taken over. This is why your “Russia defeat” is unlikely: that kind of defeat requires a belligerent local community. If Russia was trying to conquer western Ukraine, you’d be right; but it’s not.
Is that the new talking point? – “wait and see”
@ Skywalker
“But that was an internal dispute.”
Which the US regime exploited for its proxy war against Russia – one of its standard practices for regime change.
“The Russian invasion is classic revanchist imperialism.”
No, Russia was and is defending itself against US regime aggression and is defending East- and South-Ukrainians against Ukrainian nationalist aggression.
In the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union fought to liberate itself and Europe from the nazi regime.
Now, Russia in effect also fights to liberate the world from the US regime. That’s why people around the world support Russia.
“Wait and see.”
Yes, wait and see till European peoples kick out their vassal-politicians, kick out the US regime, and end propping up Kiev.
The “civil” war was provoked by Zeus’s is and supported by “little green men” (Russian military). The Ukrainians ARE attempting to re-annex Crimea and I think they’ll eventually be successful. We will all see who’s right.
Russia can’t pull out from Donbass because Donbass now is a part of Russia.
Russia could pull out of Moscow if it had to.
But it’s about as likely to be forced to pull out of Donbas as it is to be forced to pull out of Moscow.
Russia in Donbas is a lot like Israel in Lebanon or France in Algeria or UK in Ireland and it will end the same way.
The UK still controls Northern Ireland though
Russia can never defeat the Ukrainian resistance.
That only works when you have the support of the people and they clearly do not. Witness the referendums to reunify with Russia. The neo Nazis you shill for won’t get any traction in liberated Ukraine and will instead turn their wrath against the West who they’ll claim “stabbed us in the back!”…
A referendum conducted under military occupation that show 98% of the people in the occupied territories want to unite with the occupier is by definition bullshit. If the referendum meant anything, there would be no one willing to fight for Ukraine.
You should brush up on democracy. I would suggest some reading on present day American democracy for starters.
You think that Trump’s people wouldn’t vote to leave La La land were there enough of them concentrated in a few states?
And consider this: his supporters aren’t even being violently attacked by the present regime.
That’s pretty much what the West does, go in, destroy a country, and then leave and declare it a victory.
When did they declare victory?
In the words of the immortal George W Bush. “Mission Accomplished” for one that comes to mind.
It was mission accomplished up until that time because the objectives were met.
US had not left Iraq when that statement was made.
So since you decided to protect Bill, tell us, when did the US destroy a country, left, then declared Victory?
What mission was accomplished? The original? Or the ones that replaced the original because the original was bullshit. There were no WMDs. Bush lied to declare victory. Doesn’t count. I’m sticking with my answer.
Libya, Vietnam, Lebanon, Syria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, should I go on? Also, you don’t have to necessarily invade a country militarily to destroy a country, sanctions do a wonderful job of that just ask the people of Iraq. You don’t have to thank me for enlightening you pea brain. https://www.indy100.com/news/usa-american-army-invasions-police-actions-overseas-dod-defense-war-troops-deployment-marines-7908611 They might not have declared victory as such, but the destruction was done regardless.
In this conflict there are those who think the war started in 2022 and those who know it began in 2014. And you can subdivide that latter category into people nonetheless pretend it started in 2022, and those who acknowledge the truth.
If the area Russia now occupies is so keen on resisting them, why did they fight a Civil War with Kiev for the last 8 years prior to invasion?
“In this conflict there are those who think the war started in 2022 and those who know it began in 1917.”
Fixed, no charge.
Are we talking about the Russian revolution of 1917 or Wilson entering WW1 in 1917? Or both???
The US has had it in for Russia since the 1917 revolution, and has pretty much continuously acted that way the entire time since then except for a brief “well, guess we need to team up temporarily to settle Hitler’s hash” period.
@ Skywalker
“Russia can never defeat the Ukrainian resistance.”
There is no “Ukrainian resistance” in Crimea and the Luhansk and Donetsk Peoples Republics; nor in the Kherson and Zaporozhia regions, nor will there be in the Odessa oblast – people there remember 2014.
“Putin is just another wannabe imperialist”
The US regime is just another wannabe hegemon.
Politicians are thinking of the large campaign donations when the contracts to replace all the stuff being sent to Ukraine and that’s the only reason this war is continuing in the face of certain Russian success.
There is some truth there. But I’m convinced that there is also a conviction that the US has a manifest right to control all other countries. This attitude was expressed by the Monroe Doctrine. But its roots go back much further, and the more control we get, the more we want.
When I say “we”, I’m talking about our policymakers. The American people they represent typically don’t even think about such things.
The American people they represent typically don’t even think about such things.
Unfortunately, this is true. But what is really unfortunate is that they believe what they are told if they do think about such things.
Current US ‘policy makers’, working on behalf of the Administrative Deep State, have perverted everything this country was founded on in their lust for power. I think you need to reread the Monroe Doctrine. It has nothing to do with getting involved in other countries but, instead, prohibit other countries from getting involved in our sphere of influence. Putin sees the West, led by the Globalist American Empire, as invading their sphere of influence.
@rametindallas Russia doesn’t even have to put in in terms of spheres of influence. Interesting are two OSCE documents, the Istanbul Charter for European Security (1999) and the Astana Declaration (2010). Article 8 and article 3 thereof contain the “principle of indivisible security”.
“The security of each participating State is inseparably linked to that of all others.” Member states “will not strengthen their security at the expense of the security of other States.” Russia invokes that principle. Russia holds that NATO countries strengthen their security at the expense of Russia. Russia’s ambassador to the US Antonov mentioned it in an article in Foreign Policy of 30 dec. 2021, Putin mentioned it in some of his speeches, and Lavrov too. The principle has been agreed upon, and Russia has a point.
NATO ignores it. In my opinion NATO countries violate international law in more instances that Russia does.
Politicians are not autonomous agents, but obligated to act at the instruction of their donor class. This latter developes policy goals to solve their problems, actual and anticipated. The policy plans are worked out by their wholely owned intelligentsia (universities and think-tanks). Their memoranda are then handed to the wholely owned donor class K St. law firms who craft it into legislation and hand it to their respective wholely owned pols who formalize it into law.
By the time we see an increase in the production of ammo in the west, will there be any Ukrainians left?
Ukraine is giving you hell from the beginning and I’m sure they still be there giving you hell even after your boy Putin brings his 3 million fresh troops with unlimited amount of tanks, artillery, and all those futuristic intergalactic weapons that no one’s ever seen.
weapons that no one’s ever seen.
And you won’t until it’s too late…. BOOM!
Yeah, Jesus is coming too.
Britain just attacked Russia in Crimea. No response from Russia?
The Russians and Chinese don’t think and operate the way the powers in the U.S. do, always seeking instant gratification. They play the long game.
“Officials estimate Russia’s current ammunition production is seven times greater than the West’s. ” – it was much greater than the West’s even before the escalation. Those who sabotaged Minsk Agreements and planned the war against Russia knew it very well. Only ignorant people could hope for Ukraine’s victory. It is highly unlikely that US military leadership and congressmen are really so ignorant. So, the question is: what they hoped for and what they planned to achieve? Why they organized such a great PR campaign for “victorious Ukrainian army”? Maybe they hoped that the sanctions could cripple Russian industry to such a point that Russia collapses? It also looks a bit phantasmagoric. Most likely, the only real reason why they did all that is the corruption on high level. They redistributed US budget in favor of MIC and most congressmen benefited from it. And what is worse, they are going to continue this policy.
The corruption is key here. The wealth transfer from the middle class upwards continues apace. There is also the added benefit of using Ukraine as a base of operations for money laundering and other shit that the U.S. elite can’t get away with legally.
Most of US elected politicians are corrupted. I see no other explanation. Most of them are working for the oligarchy. They are pretending they believe all the corporate media lies because it is profitable for them. EU politicians are the same. They don’t care about their own people.
I just learned something new. I never in my ignorance thought about it that way.What a stupid I am. Money laundering is a way of life in the US among the oligarchs and plutocrats.
“Officials estimate Russia’s current ammunition production is seven times greater than the West’s. ”
All that BS and cannot fight a war against a poor midget adversary they thought they could bullied.
Only ignorant people could hope for a Russian victory.
Only Nazis could hope for a Ukrainian victory.
That’s right, towards their end, Wagner were almost hoping that Ukraine would win.
Remember, Wagner had many Neo Nazis within to include its founder that died with Prigozhin. Yes, that guy with Nazis tattoo that named Wagner after a Nazis and had photos posing with Putin.
Did you also know there are exponentially more Neo Nazis in Russia than in Ukraine.
Your Nazi line is a complete BS that only you idiots repeat. Even Prigozhin is on record stating there were no Nazis in Ukraine. Look it up, perhaps it’ll stop you from spewing nonsense.
It’s not my Nazi line, it’s yours, just like all the other bullshit you espouse.
Almost a trillion dollars given to the American Offense Industry and they still can’t come close to Russia’s output of weapons even spending far less, although one must take into consideration the billions going into the pockets of the elites joined at the hip with the Offense Industry.
Most of those money are stolen one way or other.
Even worst in Russia
Hardly. Not that they aren’t the same as the US but that they are pipsqueaks in comparison.
Hardly? did you know that 40-60% of the Russian military budget disappears to corruption at all fking levels and the biggest percentage is taken by Putin and his inner circle. This has been going on for decades.
And what would that percentage be in the US? And they’re playing with a much bigger pile of cash.
By elites, you meant the Putin’s pals.
Well, no one is going to beat Russia producing worthless weapons. Did you see the Russian arms sales lately? Is doing really good. Lol
According to data from the European Commission to which EL PAÍS has had access, Russia fires between 40,000 and 50,000 artillery shells per day, compared to 5,000-6,000 Ukrainian forces expend. The Estonian government, which has been one of largest contributors to Kyiv’s war effort, puts the average use of artillery at between 20,000 and 60,000 Russian shells per day, and 2,000 to 7,000 Ukrainian rounds, according to a document sent to EU Member States by Tallinn, to which this newspaper has had access. These numbers equate to between 600,000 and 1.8 million Russian shells fired per month, compared to between 60,000 and 210,000 by Ukrainian artillery.
So whats you fking point? What does that have to do with my response?
All those figures are More reasons for your boy Putin to be embarrassed by fighting a less capable country and cannot even conduct significant offensive operations.
But they are really good at destroying the country and killing civilians.
Go and pull data on your radical putin lovers here when they post BS?
Learn to read and comprehend and you would know the fking point. Wars didn’t stutter
His anger doesn’t let him think clearly.
deleted
“ALL THAT BS”
That was your response to this comment:
“Officials estimate Russia’s current ammunition production is seven times greater than the West’s. “
So Don, do you now get my fking point?
But you weren’t done. First you had to regurgitate your one and only talking point. Do I have to explain what that is too?
I don’t remember the Us ever being sorry for wiping out the Vietnamese,The Iraq infrastucture or fucking up Central America. The real question is who is next?
“I don’t think the US should ever apologize for anything”- B. Obama, on CNN (2008), cited by William Blum.
Au contraire the Us has a lot of making amends for the sins they have committed in the search for power and profit
I remember H.W. saying something similar after shooting that Iranian Airliner down.
Go and pull data on your radical putin lovers here when they post BS?
I don’t and won’t because of their sources. But this is the f*cking NYT telling us this.
oh sh*t = it seems as if Raytheon and General Dynamics et-al better step up their game
That’s what happens when you lard your company with a bunch of old government retirees.
Yea, but the elites running the Offense Industry need lots of money to buy up more mansions and land so that they will have some place to ride their horsies.
I wonder if the Russian government pays its military contractors $10,000 for a quoted $390 oil switch or $700 for a hammer
I would think not, although Julio might be able to give us more information on the state of the Russian military.
Anybody who listens to Don Julio is probably dumb enough to vote for Biden or Trump.
No doubt.
They don’t have to, they focus on quality and they know Russia is full of shit with their paper numbers.
focus on quality
Wow. I don’t think you even believe that. They focus on PROFIT.
Re tanks: They forget that Russia also refurbishes and upgrades hundreds – maybe 700 or more – of T-72 tanks to current standards every year. The 200 new tanks are T-80s. So the actual total of “new” tanks is around 1,000.
Yes. To the limited extent that Western media covered stories about Russian tank production, e.g., Medvedev’s visits to factories in Nizhny Tagil and Omsk, it was always to depict them as evidence of Russian desperation. Remember reports, this past winter, of Russia “losing half its tank fleet?” It was all obviously preposterous, but it fit the fantasy narrative and Western media and brainwashed Western masses ate it all up.
Meanwhile, at the only US tank production facility, in Lima, Ohio:
“The Army plans to produce 22 tanks in FY23, 80 fewer than previously planned; 30 in FY24, 71 fewer than planned, and 53 in FY25, 60 fewer vehicles. This equates to roughly a half a Brigade Combat Team a year.”
https://www.defensenews.com/land/2022/05/18/army-acquisition-chief-would-welcome-tank-ramp-up-if-congress-funds-it/
T-90-Proryv is the best tank. They produce both T-90 and T-80. Also T-14-Armata though we never have seen them yet on the battlefield.
“Also T-14-Armata though we never have seen them yet on the battlefield.”
Tass apparently saw them on the battlefield for “testing” — before they were withdrawn.
Yes, they told they tested it but nothing more than that. The specialists say, T-90 is the best. Obviously they mean it is also better than Armata.
This is what the US does with its M1 tanks, which have not seen entirely much new production for many years. They had some 8,000 stored, awaiting refurbishment, a few years ago. That is what the Lima Tank Plant has done, refurbish old M1 tanks.
The paper tiger doing what it does best.
Propaganda.
For decades they fooled the West and the World into believing they had the biggest and most capable Army in the world.
Then enter Ukraine… and they showed their ass to the World.
Can’t even secure Bakhmut.
Now back at it, instead of bringing their cannon fodders back home and stop the war, they are continuing with their imperialistic ambitions taking land that does not belong to them.
Instead of increasing the amount of sh!t tanks and shells, they should focus on providing benefits and salaries to their soldiers, veterans, and pensioners. Sure they can continue waging war, but at the cost of the Russian people.
200 tanks a month, Pfff. Who believe that crap?
200 tanks a month, Pfff. Who believe that crap?
Senior Western Defense officials.
Yeah, those guys.
The article if from The New York Times. They must have done diligent work to get those numbers. Especially given the fact that they are “stenographers for the war party” (plagiarized from the late Justin Raimondo).
The dead Ukrainians believe it.
Those who control the air space will make the final call. I’ve said this before, WW3 will start and end with missiles. Ammo and tanks are yesterdays playbook.
Air is for show; artillery and infantry win land war. Rockets are good deterrents during normal times; but once normal is gone and industrial total war starts, you have to grind out the result in the trenches.
You can’t go “industrial” if you have no city standing.
Through the most intense aerial bombardment in history over the period from 1944-45, Germany continued to produce more and more armaments every period. Of course, they had the genius of Speer and use of enslaved labor, but the point is that a determined country can produce until the ground is physically taken away.
May I also remind you that in WW2, it took only two atomic bombs to get Japan to unconditional surrender.
Agreed. I would go further and say WWIII starts with the total destruction of Britain. Britain is ahead of Poland now and really egging Russia to push that nuclear button. The US may hesitate initially in how to respond, but it will eventually push its button and everything ends. Britain may be the world’s largest host country for imbeciles. Imbeciles are usually never satisfied until they self inflict death upon themselves. (Sarcasm)
Unfortunately, the VIPs of Britain have likely escaped to the Swiss Alps, Norway or South Africa. So sinking that Island will just kill bunch of serfs.
That’s the Antiwar spirit.
You guys are chocking on Nukes.
Because facing a possible harsh reality makes one pro war. Kind of like the people who look at the possible harsh reality that Ukraine faces. They instantly become pro Russia. At least to people like yourself.
Did people learn literally nothing from Stalingrad? These people are in their element when their back is against the wall. The trouble here is that Russia wants to “win.” NATO just wants to create chaos and make money. Regardless, the Donbass and Ukraine lose as they get transformed into a Slavic Cambodia by two superpowers that should have ceased to exist thirty years ago.
“The trouble here is that Russia wants to ‘win’.”
More exactly, Russia believes that it cannot afford to lose. That’s a much more powerful motivator then simply wanting to win.
Backing a nuclear-armed great power into a corner is a really bad move.
The leadership of the NATO crime syndicate shall remain Stupid for “as long as it takes”.
This is characteristic of the Soviets and Russians, something we had long talked of in our military media.
US histories of WW2 have always been quite proud of the ability of Stalin to relocate heavy industry away from the German invasion, and at the same time to maintain a vast level of production of ammo and weapons. Some artillery ammo was delivered unpainted, meant for immediate use.
After the War, the US commentary frequently noted that the Soviets had taken to heart as a lesson of the War the need for vast overcapacity in heavy industry for military purposes. They maintained gigantic stocks, often in poor conditions, with pictures of those ammo dumps in US media during the 90’s that I saw, so many must have seen. They could and did maintain production anyway, with a factory capacity to increase that drastically.
It was a characteristic of their economy, and a major “lesson” they took from their wartime experience. Of course they can do this. This sometimes seems like the only thing they can do well.
It is a major error to project onto Russia the US approach to military heavy industry, which is a very different private, profit oriented industry that downsized drastically, and takes years to ramp back up. That is not what the Russians are. Those are state factories, and have been there for going on a century now.
Turns out not all GDP is equal. It actually matters whether it comes from industrial capabilites or the “value” of your trademarks for luxury goods
Yup. It also matters, greatly, whether it’s measured in $US-equivalents or purchasing power parity.
It is called Gross Domestic Product and what is more Gross than Western Domestic Product.
In over 3 months of the Russian SMO NATO has lost 71 thousand troops (casualties) and 8,200 pieces of equipment. Trillions have been spent in the nearly 10 years of this NATO war on humanity and according to US politicians its the best money they have ever spent. These are psychopaths, predators consuming humanity. Absolute MONSTERS.
NATO has already lost; 467 Aircraft, 249 helicopters, 6759 UAV’s, 437 Anti Aircraft systems, 11826 tanks inc. APC’s, 1150 multiple rocket launchers, 6374 field artillery and 12982 military automotive equipment. Approx. $1 Trillion of NATO hardware.
NATO pushed the so called “Counter Offensive” to break up the Russian war of attrition which NATO was loosing badly. The so called “Counter Offensive” was a last ditch effort to shape the European battlefield in favour of NATO.