Just love the “news anywhere approach”! Quick, informal, yet very informative. It isn’t about the quality of the video resolution or even the sound quality…it’s about the content! …and you were spot on. Well done and I hope to run into sometime at an airport! I’ll be sure to buy you a drink if time permits!
What I don't understand, is why aren't they field modifying some of these tanks they're throwing away with cobled together mine plows? The plow on the US assult breacher looks complicated but at it's heart it's just three independent plows, with some pretty knarley ripper teeth and a depth guide arm well out in front. Plus hydraulics and such to make it easier to use for the crew, but you could go without that for single objective pushes like the Russians have been doing. Strip a pair of bulldozers for the blades and fabricate up a frame to hold two blades staggered and peaked out front with a little overlap at the pointy end for full coverage, weld it to the front glacis, then hoist the thing up off the ground and hold it with a release hook so the crew could drop it once they're lined up. Might have to have two tanks linked for extra power, but they don't seem to have a problem with daisey chaining vehicles. They'd need a few to get the full effect and to account for loses, but it's not that complicated a modification if they do it quick and dirty like that. I imagine the extra wear on the front suspension components will shorten the lifespan of the tank, but not so much as waltzing over a bloody mine.
Hell, this has been a problem for long enough you'd think they would have something, anything, other than massed waves by now.
All well and good tactics for an army that values its equipment and men. The Russians value neither. They always have more BTRs, tanks, etc in storage (even if from WW2) and conscripts to use in meat attacks.
But that's my point. A cobbled together mine plow like I described above would still leave the tank and crew pretty much screwed at the end of the minefield, because they wouldn't have a way to manoeuvre with it stuck down and no way to raise it from the inside, which is what the hydraulics on the US ABV's plow are for. So you'd still lose tanks at a rate unacceptable to a wester army, but at least you'd have something to show for it. These meat waves are technically achieving objectives, sometimes and even then only just, but even Russian stockpiles are going to run out eventually, and it's still taking considerable time and effort to refurbish these long out of service vehicles to fighting condition. So why not improve some of them, quick and dirty like, while you're at it.
I actually wonder if the failure of the "cope cages" from the early days are hampering similar levels of "redneck ingenuity" now.
Honestly, I think it's both... And I'm not so sure the BTR in front wasn't still manned by a crew... Considering Russia's lack of concern for their troops... Maybe I'm missing something if they did that to clear a mine field... Doesn't that just leave a less mobile vehicle sitting where 1 mine is now clear, but does nothing about any others that are still active?
It reminds me of the Russian WW2 tactic of the first guy getting a rifle and ammo, then the second guy gets just ammo and follows the first guy until he's dead, then picks up the gun and keeps going.
that may be just a trope from "enemy at the gates". james holland the historian has said that the soviets had plenty of ammo/rifles in WWII (although i personally think they were really short food, tractors, boots, trucks, etc cuz thats what the US was sending them in lend lease)
Working on an historical piece about minefields. Per Twilight 2000, I have concluded from observing Ukraine that both NATO and the Soviets hugely underestimated the number of mine plows and related equipment they would need.
I don’t think this is it a case of stupidity or carelessness. Russia has always fought wars with superior numbers. These soldiers are not advancing because they are taking the initiative. They are also not advancing because they are particularly brave. They’re advancing because they will get shot if they turn around. Russia is simply using the advantage of their superior numbers to get over a difficult tactical situation. Russian tactics are logical. True, it’s a cruel logic, but logic nonetheless. Russians have done this for centuries.
Looks like the pushing BTR was also destroyed. Hard to stay exactly on the track of preceding vehicle. I hope Russia depletes itself as Ukraine withdraws and suckers them into a severe overspend.
I have been reading the comments below which present "solutions" to the mine problem.
Unfortunately, while they might look good in a video game, they are useless in real life.
First, as soon as anybody moves on the battlefield, the opposition knows about it.
Second, any axis of advance will be known and framed by artillery.
Third, as soon as anybody moves into a cleared area, they will be obliterated by artillery or mortars.
Fourth. when the dust settles, the minefield can be replenished either by aerial or artillery seeding.
So, bottom line is that a minefield is a minefield for ever.
The only time you can breach it and live to tell about it, is after the war is over and you can send in battalions of sappers with sharpened wooden sticks to find and defuse them.
It took years to clear the minefields in Normandy.
There are still minefields in Vietnam that kill numerous people every year.
So minefields are the death that keeps on killing, and is probably the most insidious and evil weapon ever invented.
There are superior methods to clear mines that I haven’t heard of being used in this war. On the fast side are air dropped darts ( needs air superiority but I guess a large drone can do this). Then on the slow side are RC water-jet disruptors - cart that goes along and fires an extremely high pressure water jet that causes a mine to weakly explode (not stealth). That recent video where the Russians drive in a line packed together behind a mine plow where Ukraine started dropping artillery was horrific. As soon as a hit blocked the retreat everything went bad.
What we have seen here is thermal signature to spot buried AT mines after dark. These maps can be used after to steadily destroy the mines with water jet cart, drone dropped dart, drone place det charge.
In my opinion even if Ukraine had many more MCLC they still couldn’t advance because of the glide bombs. Only when they get jets with adequate radar and long range AA to push back can they end this threat. Next is the KA-52 and Vihkr with ~12 km range. Also need jets with radar to engage from safety, or at least many Gepard to shoot down incoming missiles. My guess is the path forward is not frontal assault, it’s logistics erosion.
Yes, this sound goods good but as with most plans, they fall apart when the first shot is fired.
The Russians know where their minefields are. The Russians know all of the channels of advance going in both directions.
All they have to do is wait for somebody, like a sapper, to enter into that channel. Then they drop a mortar or shell onto him.
Channel closed, and one less sapper to contend with.
As I pointed out before, there are still active minefields in Vietnam and France, that nobody dares to enter. This is in addition to all the minefields that still exists all over the world.
There is simply not enough time, money and manpower to clear these minefields.
All of the suggestions made here, while well intentioned, are in reality little more than swatting a mosquito on the ass of an elephant.
These minefields are a blot on the Earth, and will still be there killing people long after the second coming.
In fact, it seems pretty evident to me that this is the strategy being employed by the Russians to destroy the Ukrainian Nation, while providing a permanent buffer between Russia and the rest of the world.
In my opinion, the only option open to the Ukrainians have is to send in a wing of B52's and drop several sticks in a linear channel across the Russian trenches. This would open a breech large enough to channel substantial forces behind Russian lines.
Then the forever task of clearing the mines, using sappers and pointed sticks, can begin.
Thanks for the reporting. Sometimes it is painful to watch and hear, but the truth always is. I appreciate your dedication, factual presentations, and data. Plus, you are a pretty funny guy. Well worth the money for the subscription and the sweatshirt. Slava Ukraini. Heroyam Slava.
My friend Derek Grout visited WW1 battlegrounds researching his book and spoke with many farmers and landowners. They walked with him, they have no concern for any pressure sensitive munitions but showed him their “crop” of old shells they accumulate to be picked up. The only shells they fear are gas as these can leak. They have modified their plows to have protection but mostly have increased the length to the blade.
Mine fields are a tactical problem with a resource constraint (combat engineers) for a commander to choose to either assault through as rapidly as possible to avoid counter-fires (artillery/ATGM/mobile armor reserves) OR completely avoid the minefield altogether. Your choice is force a crossing with absolute aggression while accepting casualties (people) and losses (equipment) or not assault through that position and fail to meet your tactical/operational objective. The assault force has to be disciplined enough to accept vehicle losses while continuing to push through and close with the enemy IOT deny counterfire opportunity. Also, the combat engineers need sufficient covering fire that their specialized vehicles are not immediately targeted which requires integrated fires which is extremely complicated.
What the Ukrainians & Russians have both failed to embrace is vertical envelopment and neither has attempted to resource for it. The Russian VDV air assault on Hostomel Airfield, despite initial setbacks was a successful seizure of an objective by an air mobile force. While the initial assault was rebuffed, the second assault with supporting armor was successful and the VDV held Hostomel for almost a month before withdrawing. Air mobile assaults (with supporting air covering and heavy counterfires to keep MANPADS-user heads down in their fighting positions) would open operational opportunities, but neither side appears to be resourced correctly to exploit. Ukraine doesn't want just Vipers ...they need Blackhawks and Apaches too. Lots of them.
Hardest working content creator on substack! Proud to support you Ryan
Agreed! Much better and more topical content than seen on any cable news show.
Driver of the BMP in front standing on the brakes and screaming
😂…this wins the internet for today!
Just love the “news anywhere approach”! Quick, informal, yet very informative. It isn’t about the quality of the video resolution or even the sound quality…it’s about the content! …and you were spot on. Well done and I hope to run into sometime at an airport! I’ll be sure to buy you a drink if time permits!
Man, those are MASSIVE explosions! Everyone in the following track must’ve gotten their bells ring!
What I don't understand, is why aren't they field modifying some of these tanks they're throwing away with cobled together mine plows? The plow on the US assult breacher looks complicated but at it's heart it's just three independent plows, with some pretty knarley ripper teeth and a depth guide arm well out in front. Plus hydraulics and such to make it easier to use for the crew, but you could go without that for single objective pushes like the Russians have been doing. Strip a pair of bulldozers for the blades and fabricate up a frame to hold two blades staggered and peaked out front with a little overlap at the pointy end for full coverage, weld it to the front glacis, then hoist the thing up off the ground and hold it with a release hook so the crew could drop it once they're lined up. Might have to have two tanks linked for extra power, but they don't seem to have a problem with daisey chaining vehicles. They'd need a few to get the full effect and to account for loses, but it's not that complicated a modification if they do it quick and dirty like that. I imagine the extra wear on the front suspension components will shorten the lifespan of the tank, but not so much as waltzing over a bloody mine.
Hell, this has been a problem for long enough you'd think they would have something, anything, other than massed waves by now.
All well and good tactics for an army that values its equipment and men. The Russians value neither. They always have more BTRs, tanks, etc in storage (even if from WW2) and conscripts to use in meat attacks.
But that's my point. A cobbled together mine plow like I described above would still leave the tank and crew pretty much screwed at the end of the minefield, because they wouldn't have a way to manoeuvre with it stuck down and no way to raise it from the inside, which is what the hydraulics on the US ABV's plow are for. So you'd still lose tanks at a rate unacceptable to a wester army, but at least you'd have something to show for it. These meat waves are technically achieving objectives, sometimes and even then only just, but even Russian stockpiles are going to run out eventually, and it's still taking considerable time and effort to refurbish these long out of service vehicles to fighting condition. So why not improve some of them, quick and dirty like, while you're at it.
I actually wonder if the failure of the "cope cages" from the early days are hampering similar levels of "redneck ingenuity" now.
Many farmers in Ukraine have made their own mine plows and they were unmanned
Honestly, I think it's both... And I'm not so sure the BTR in front wasn't still manned by a crew... Considering Russia's lack of concern for their troops... Maybe I'm missing something if they did that to clear a mine field... Doesn't that just leave a less mobile vehicle sitting where 1 mine is now clear, but does nothing about any others that are still active?
It reminds me of the Russian WW2 tactic of the first guy getting a rifle and ammo, then the second guy gets just ammo and follows the first guy until he's dead, then picks up the gun and keeps going.
that may be just a trope from "enemy at the gates". james holland the historian has said that the soviets had plenty of ammo/rifles in WWII (although i personally think they were really short food, tractors, boots, trucks, etc cuz thats what the US was sending them in lend lease)
cool, learned something. Seems it was actually a thing in WW1 for the Russians (pre-soviet IIRC).
Working on an historical piece about minefields. Per Twilight 2000, I have concluded from observing Ukraine that both NATO and the Soviets hugely underestimated the number of mine plows and related equipment they would need.
I don’t think this is it a case of stupidity or carelessness. Russia has always fought wars with superior numbers. These soldiers are not advancing because they are taking the initiative. They are also not advancing because they are particularly brave. They’re advancing because they will get shot if they turn around. Russia is simply using the advantage of their superior numbers to get over a difficult tactical situation. Russian tactics are logical. True, it’s a cruel logic, but logic nonetheless. Russians have done this for centuries.
Looks like the pushing BTR was also destroyed. Hard to stay exactly on the track of preceding vehicle. I hope Russia depletes itself as Ukraine withdraws and suckers them into a severe overspend.
I have been reading the comments below which present "solutions" to the mine problem.
Unfortunately, while they might look good in a video game, they are useless in real life.
First, as soon as anybody moves on the battlefield, the opposition knows about it.
Second, any axis of advance will be known and framed by artillery.
Third, as soon as anybody moves into a cleared area, they will be obliterated by artillery or mortars.
Fourth. when the dust settles, the minefield can be replenished either by aerial or artillery seeding.
So, bottom line is that a minefield is a minefield for ever.
The only time you can breach it and live to tell about it, is after the war is over and you can send in battalions of sappers with sharpened wooden sticks to find and defuse them.
It took years to clear the minefields in Normandy.
There are still minefields in Vietnam that kill numerous people every year.
So minefields are the death that keeps on killing, and is probably the most insidious and evil weapon ever invented.
There are superior methods to clear mines that I haven’t heard of being used in this war. On the fast side are air dropped darts ( needs air superiority but I guess a large drone can do this). Then on the slow side are RC water-jet disruptors - cart that goes along and fires an extremely high pressure water jet that causes a mine to weakly explode (not stealth). That recent video where the Russians drive in a line packed together behind a mine plow where Ukraine started dropping artillery was horrific. As soon as a hit blocked the retreat everything went bad.
What we have seen here is thermal signature to spot buried AT mines after dark. These maps can be used after to steadily destroy the mines with water jet cart, drone dropped dart, drone place det charge.
In my opinion even if Ukraine had many more MCLC they still couldn’t advance because of the glide bombs. Only when they get jets with adequate radar and long range AA to push back can they end this threat. Next is the KA-52 and Vihkr with ~12 km range. Also need jets with radar to engage from safety, or at least many Gepard to shoot down incoming missiles. My guess is the path forward is not frontal assault, it’s logistics erosion.
Yes, this sound goods good but as with most plans, they fall apart when the first shot is fired.
The Russians know where their minefields are. The Russians know all of the channels of advance going in both directions.
All they have to do is wait for somebody, like a sapper, to enter into that channel. Then they drop a mortar or shell onto him.
Channel closed, and one less sapper to contend with.
As I pointed out before, there are still active minefields in Vietnam and France, that nobody dares to enter. This is in addition to all the minefields that still exists all over the world.
There is simply not enough time, money and manpower to clear these minefields.
All of the suggestions made here, while well intentioned, are in reality little more than swatting a mosquito on the ass of an elephant.
These minefields are a blot on the Earth, and will still be there killing people long after the second coming.
In fact, it seems pretty evident to me that this is the strategy being employed by the Russians to destroy the Ukrainian Nation, while providing a permanent buffer between Russia and the rest of the world.
In my opinion, the only option open to the Ukrainians have is to send in a wing of B52's and drop several sticks in a linear channel across the Russian trenches. This would open a breech large enough to channel substantial forces behind Russian lines.
Then the forever task of clearing the mines, using sappers and pointed sticks, can begin.
Insightful observation, astute assessment, and interesting analysis, as always...two thumbs-up!
Thanks for the reporting. Sometimes it is painful to watch and hear, but the truth always is. I appreciate your dedication, factual presentations, and data. Plus, you are a pretty funny guy. Well worth the money for the subscription and the sweatshirt. Slava Ukraini. Heroyam Slava.
Hey Ryan, welcome to Cigar Town. Recommended stop: Grand Cathedral Cigars in Tampa Heights.
My friend Derek Grout visited WW1 battlegrounds researching his book and spoke with many farmers and landowners. They walked with him, they have no concern for any pressure sensitive munitions but showed him their “crop” of old shells they accumulate to be picked up. The only shells they fear are gas as these can leak. They have modified their plows to have protection but mostly have increased the length to the blade.
Mine fields are a tactical problem with a resource constraint (combat engineers) for a commander to choose to either assault through as rapidly as possible to avoid counter-fires (artillery/ATGM/mobile armor reserves) OR completely avoid the minefield altogether. Your choice is force a crossing with absolute aggression while accepting casualties (people) and losses (equipment) or not assault through that position and fail to meet your tactical/operational objective. The assault force has to be disciplined enough to accept vehicle losses while continuing to push through and close with the enemy IOT deny counterfire opportunity. Also, the combat engineers need sufficient covering fire that their specialized vehicles are not immediately targeted which requires integrated fires which is extremely complicated.
What the Ukrainians & Russians have both failed to embrace is vertical envelopment and neither has attempted to resource for it. The Russian VDV air assault on Hostomel Airfield, despite initial setbacks was a successful seizure of an objective by an air mobile force. While the initial assault was rebuffed, the second assault with supporting armor was successful and the VDV held Hostomel for almost a month before withdrawing. Air mobile assaults (with supporting air covering and heavy counterfires to keep MANPADS-user heads down in their fighting positions) would open operational opportunities, but neither side appears to be resourced correctly to exploit. Ukraine doesn't want just Vipers ...they need Blackhawks and Apaches too. Lots of them.