Posted on 12/25/2022 2:50:50 AM PST by RandFan
Probably.
Patriot systems, can, however, be moved.
The system is not a bit worse in re concealability or mobility than S300, which the Ukrainians have been using all this time.
The Russians (and the Chinese) welcome the opportunity to test their weapon systems against Western technology. It is similar to how the world powers used the Spanish Civil War in the run up to WWII.
Certainly, the Pentagon is also testing our weapons systems against the Russians in this proxy war. Virtually all the artillery shells, bombs, and missiles from both sides are landing on Ukrainian soil. The big loser is Ukraine. The proxy war is destroying an already poor country.
Patriot is old.
This system dates from the 1980s.
Its direct equivalent is the Soviet S300.
That's some neat logic. The country that is successfully fighting off an aggressor who has declared its intentions of conquering 90% of the country except maybe part of the west (Russkies put out such maps early in the conflict) is somehow the "big loser".
Hopefully, the current Patriot system will perform better than it did in Desert Storm. Its performance then was an unmitigated disaster that was hidden from the public.
See my post #17.
Yes America is all about money now. Back when I grew up America was about freedom and liberty, about protecting and defending weaker countries from aggression.
Now invasion and genocide are OK, as long as it does not cost the America a dime.
We have better things to spend it on like Climate Change, Chinese solar panels, rare earth mined by forced child labor to make magic EVs etc.
As for selling US weapons to Russian - what are you smoking? Is it laced with fentanyl?
The war is being fought entirely on Ukrainian territory. It has been going on for 8 years ever since the 2014 coup that spawned the separatist movement in the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbas and the first Russian invasion that annexed Crimea without any real resistance.
Before the war, Ukraine was already a poor country with a per capita GDP of $14,200, just $100 more than Cuba’s. This proxy war is causing senseless death and destruction in Ukraine. It will end only with a negotiated settlement. Russia and Ukraine share a 1,500 mile border. Neither party is going anywhere. A modus vivendi must be established.
There are limits to what the US can and should do. We watched the Soviets put down uprisings in Hungary and Czechoslovakia without intervening.
We are the world’s largest debtor nation. Our annual debt servicing costs will soon exceed DOD’s yearly budget. We have to borrow the money to send to Ukraine. Government spending is out of control. Spending trillions on endless wars has weakened us. We can no longer be the world’s policeman.
Replace democrats with uniparty and you are right.
Sure yeah you betcha - BTW how’s the weather there in St. Petersburg?
And if we don’t know exactly how, we thank the American President for providing the opportunity to learn its weaknesses and how to destroy them.
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Short memory the war cheerleaders have, the Afghanistan arms give away is just another example. When do they wake up? Anything senile Joe supports or mandates is designed to cripple America, from vegetable heads Covid vax hoax, shutdowns and mandates to his backfired sanctions , to his depleting our weapons stores to de-dollarizing the world.
Better software does not increase it’s detection and intercept range. If multiple Patriots had a hard time dealing with single SCUDs, it’s hard to see how a single Patriot battery is going to do against time-on-target salvos of Russian missiles. And once the antenna is damaged or destroyed, the battery becomes a sitting duck.
Andrei Martyanov did a good video 2 days ago comparing the Patriot system to the S-400s, side by side.
“To Patriots About Patriots.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFFdlXXb7ls&ab_channel=smoothieX12
Well worth the time.
At $3M a shot, Putin doesn’t need to destroy it, just send in a few drone waves.
When you have MANY S-300 and other systems with overlapping defense radii, you have a ginormous force-multiplier effect.
When you have ONE Patriot battery, and it’s location is known, [observed by Russian AWACS over Belarus minute by minute] it will be hit with salvos of missiles.
Question: How many missiles does the promised Patriot package contain?
Other problem: the Patriot battery, tracked and followed in transit across Poland and into Ukraine, might be taken out before it is fully operational.
This is not 1990, with six months to safely deploy massive complimentary assets to Saudi Arabia before the first shot is fired.
The country that is successfully fighting off an aggressor
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Really? Ukraine is de- energized, depopulated, deindustrialized, their currency and GDP tanked, infrastructure destroyed, with historic inflation, shortages, and unemployment you somehow will have us believe they are winning?
Fact is they are now the world’s largest welfare state, depending on the West for survival.
Ukraine 1991-2023, RIP , the sooner the better.
“I don’t see that this escalates anything. It’s a strictly defensive weapon.”
The problem will be the 100 or so troops operating the system when incoming arrives, and at $3M a shot, they WILL NOT be Ukrainians.
“This will have the same effect on Patriots as it did on HIMARS - Putin will claim and trolls will acclaim that hundreds have been taken out.”
One thing I’ve noticed is that there aren’t many HIMARS headlines these days...
Sad. Anyone who is against our involvement in this proxy war is a supporter of Putin. I am an American First supporter. I have put life and limb in the service of this country for 36 years from Vietnam to Desert Shield/Storm to Iran to Poland. Your questioning of my patriotism is despicable.
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