Russians use $14M chopper – to kill an ag sprayer
The Russians announced a coup in their counter-offensive against Ukraine, claiming that one of their KA-52 attack choppers killed an Ukrainian Leopard tank with a direct hit from a missile. Only one small problem:
The Russian Embassy in Washington announced Monday on Twitter its forces had “annihilated” eight German-made Leopard tanks, among the most advanced and powerful weapons NATO countries have provided to Ukraine.
Only one small detail prevents this from being a real headliner: analysis of the imagery provided shows that the target they blew up had four large wheels and sat high off the ground.
High off the ground…nope. Large wheels…. nope to that too.
Some speculate they actually meant Ivan destroyed a French-made AMX-10.
Well, at least it has wheels… six of them. Nope again.
Valentin Châtelet, a research associate at The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, also said the objects in the video were clearly not Leopard tanks.
“They are pointing their thermal camera at three vehicles that appear to be harvesters,” said Châtelet, who is based in Brussels. “And the first target they’re hitting is most likely a sprayer.”
I remember having to dodge the leakage from German “honey wagons” when bicycling Bavarian back roads. Guess we could dismiss this claim as just another “shitty” job.
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Is this a preview of our “woke military”?
The Ruskies perfected propaganda long ago. They are as adept at it as the Nazis in WWII.
The Russians were offended by a rival bullshit spreader.
The Ukrainians have lost Leopard tanks and other western vehicles. Here’s some imagery of them after driving through a minefield.
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/06/10/moscow-tries-to-impose-its-narrative-of-a-failed-ukrainian-counter-offensive_6030757_4.html
They appear to be mobility kills that were never recovered. Question I had at the beginning of the campaign, was do the Ukrainians have the logistical tail to support themselves and the engineering assets to reduce obstacles? It appears the answer to both is no. Without any air power to speak of and relying on drones and Western equipment for effective fires, it’s almost like a high-tech WW I.
Attacking is much harder than defending. The Vietnamization of the war, has led to a number of artificial constraints as well. These are hindering operations. Given the totality of circumstances I don’t think the campaign will be successful.
The West doesn’t really want Ukraine to win the war, they just want them to not lose and keep fighting forever. Lindsey Graham is talking about sending in advisors. He should be the first one to go, He has the training.
Everyone who voted to send BILLIONS of our hard earned tax dollars should be sent to the front line. If they last a month bring them home. If they send more money, send them back for a year.
Last I heard they were closing in on a trillion bucks.
For what ???
Why are we spending so much for a proxy war in Europe ?
Lot’s of neocons lining up at the gravy train as it winds through the halls of congress.
It’s like they actually WANT us to get involved in another 20 year long war so young Americans can die and they can get jobs with defense department contractors.
But, but… you can trust Yahoo, who trusts the AP’s “analysis”, even though Yahoo doesn’t provide any video or pictures for you to analyze. Pretty weak sauce from the globalists.
It’s pretty clear from your link, and others I’ve seen, that the Ukrainians shot themselves in the foot by driving into a heavily mined field. Bummer for them.
There are four images on a slide reel at the top of the article, only two of which show what might be images from the bird – they don’t look particularly like Leopard 2 tanks, but they definitely look much more like tanks than harvesters and the “wheels” are as likely a product of digital imperfection as real substance.
At least one of those (back right, with the plow) appears to be a Leopard 2R – a breaching variation of the 2A4, rejected by the Fins (they only built 6 and eagerly gave them all to Ukraine); several generations removed from the premiere version of the Leopard 2 and nothing close to a MBT. Obviously, the one with a main gun and the IFV are different vehicles and the others difficult to identify from the photo – but it’s not unanticipated to lose a few breachers during a breach.
Then again, according to Ukrainian propaganda, they were winning the tank war with their old soviet models and had captured more tanks than they’d lost… the need for western tanks never really fit with the official story. If they’re winning on systems they know, why bring in systems they don’t?
I’m willing to bet advisors are already on the ground. I’m also pretty sure Ukrainian pilots have been training in the US on F-16s for the better part of a year. Lindsey Graham is not particularly great for America, but he’s not the problem.
The “high-tech WW I” analysis might be spot-on. Napoleon’s legacy still contains many lessons, as it did for WWI – but the French & British commanders never realized the lessons learned from our Civil War: the napoleonic-style offense was outdated by modern weaponry – sure, tanks could take the place of cavalry if the enemy lancers were still relying on Gatling guns – but a dug-in tank still trumps a tank on the move.*
*Yes, in 73 Easting mobile tanks destroyed an entire reverse-slope defense of dug-in tanks – but our Abrams were both commanded and run by men held to a much higher standard than were those of the Tawakalna’s T-62 & T-72 crews. Moreso, while technology played a huge role, it was the GPS across the desert (the enemy were arrayed against an entirely different avenue of approach – a road US tankers didn’t even know was there) rather than the stabilized aim that made the real difference.
From the pics in the above like it appears they lost at least three Bradley’s. The shape of the turrets are a dead giveaway. The one tank with the gun tube off to one side might be an M1 or Leo. Hard to tell.
Could very well be only one (1) platoon if Ukrainians take the armor/mech combination down that low.
Commentary on Ukraine armor stuck in minefied:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/armor-expert-breaks-down-ukraines-231107678.html
Speaking of ag spreaders, there’s going to be major crop failure in the northeast this year. Rain and lots of it.
The deere self identified as a leopard…and got sprayed with some ARA. Some farmer may have a Case for reparations. Maybe he can combine it with some new art work?
Dear Ivan,
“Ag spreader” sounds like a horizontally-accessible female FFA member.
Tactical Farm Sprayer?
Lots of these on the roads.
I always wanted to drive under one of these. Probably not a good idea to do it in an Equinox.
UpNorth,
This’ll work.
I did it once, in a CJ-7. Lost a mirror, got laid.
Cause for celebration. 🙂
Sounds like an excellent trade.
Russkies probably got angry after seeing this:
Are there better images of the strike? Declaring the targets “harvesters” seems a bit presumptive from the images in the cited article (though they don’t look like Leopard 2 tanks).