* Posts by EvilDrSmith

573 publicly visible posts • joined 30 Jan 2018

Page:

Climate change means beer made from sewer water, says North Carolina brewery

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Obviously; all rivers have beds.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Not sure if that's just a bit of snark in response to some of the jibes at Americans or a serious question, but anyway the answer is yes (drinkable water), in relation to freshwater streams.

Not so much the major rivers, but that applies to most major rivers worldwide, and in the UK, despite the recent obsession with sewage outfalls / discharges (which is as much about political point scoring as it is about environmental protection), the water quality in the rivers is better now than it has been for a couple of hundred years.

See for example:

https://www.zsl.org/what-we-do/projects/state-of-the-thames-2021

Or just read up about the 'great stink' and the construction of the Bazalgette sewer system (including about the collision between the 'Princess Alice' and the 'Bywell Castle', though not just after you've eaten).

So UK rivers - still room for improvement, but water quality is much better than it was, and is generally well protected.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

In Beer, Strength...

In water, Bacteria.

Making beer involves boiling the water, so it has historically been a good way of dealing with water contaminated by organics.

See also John Snow:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1854_Broad_Street_cholera_outbreak

Though hopefully, anything coming out of a full treatment works is fully potable water, anyway. (Hopefully).

German defense chat overheard by Russian eavesdroppers on Cisco's WebEx

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Didn't the British Army (well, presumably a Welsh regiment thereof) do that in Bosnia (only speaking Welsh)?

Brit chip industry wonders if UK budget will put its money where its silicon is

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: Situation Normal

Please define what you mean by 'industrial capacity'.

If you are referring to manufacturing capability, your assertion is commonly expressed, but is wrong.

The UK remains a major global manufacturing nation - around the 8th to 9th most important (depending on year)

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/manufacturing-by-country.

That is certainly not to say that everything is rosy, and it is the case that the traditional 'heavy industries' of steel manufacture, ship building and (to a lesser degree) car making have significantly contracted. That is in part due to the policies of various governments, but is mostly because other nations can do this stuff cheaper (and in some cases at least, better) than we can. However, even in these fields, we have not lost all capability (though that does seem to be the intent at the moment, with regard to steel making).

Micron New York mega fab faces an environmental exam

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: Why a wetland?

Looking on Google earth, Clay looks to be a tiny place (nestled in amongst a whole load of residential suburbs for the larger city to the south), but is about 7000 linguine (~2/3 mile or about 1km) south of a decent sized substation ('clay substation'), so possibly it's the ease of power supply + cheap land + close enough to a skilled workforce?

The whole region looks to be a tad damp, generally.

Space nukes: The unbelievably bad idea that's exactly that ... unbelievable

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: Star wars?

" <50 tanks, mostly earmarked for Challenge 3 upgrades"

Roughly 227, with 148 to be upgraded to Chally3

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: Star wars?

By the way, Lurko, my earlier response to you was to dispute certain points, not the underlying argument that you were making: UK defense has, indeed, been cut excessively over the last 3 decades.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: Star wars?

It was on 30-days notice to sail.

Meaning it wasn't expected to be ready in less than 30 days.

but it was ready to sail in 7 days.

That meets the criterion of 'can always deploy'.

And it does have aircraft.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: Star wars?

"Even to hit Nato's 2% rule, the current Tory clowns had to include military and civil service pensions back in 2014, amongst other fudge factors"

No fudging involved, merely following NATO's accountancy rules:

"Personnel expenditure includes pensions paid to retirees."

Taken from here:

https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2023/7/pdf/230707-def-exp-2023-en.pdf

Also:

"The RN have two very unreliable carriers, "

Nope.

The Royal Navy has two aircraft carriers. There have been issues particularly with the propeller shafts, I think. Seeing as it's a common design, if there is an issue with one, it's likely to affect the second. Aircraft carriers are somewhat bespoke - you don't build half a dozen prototypes before the first production version; the first ship of the class is thus prototype and production version.

My understanding is that the latest issue affecting QE led to the decision not to deploy and suffer a potential break down while at sea, but instead to deploy PoW. PoW was at 30-days readiness to deploy, but actually sailed about 7 days after notification.

This demonstrates the logic behind the Royal Nay having two carriers - it isn't to enable the RN to routinely deploy both carriers simultaneously, it's to ensure that it can always deploy one.

The Royal Nay have two aircraft carriers that look to be fundamentally good ships - if you saw the TV series last year, you would have seen that QE deployed as core of CSG21 for an 8 month trip out to the Pacific on her first significant deployment (in 2021). there were some minor teething troubles, but no significant reliability issues.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: That was my thought, too.

"Anyone with a basic knowledge of history should have realised that someone fighting against Russia during WW2 wasn't fighting for the allies."

In 1939, the Poles, who most definitely were part of 'the allies', were fighting against the Russians and the Germans, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany being allies at that time.

Ukraine claims Russian military is using Starlink

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Apart from the fact that the Russians air assaulted Hostomel airport and fought ferociously to keep it.

And drove on Kyiv's suburbs from multiple directions.

And then their logistics collapsed, with vehicles running out of fuel, only to be towed away (with much publicity) by Ukrainian farm tractors, after the Russian crews had given up and started walking home.

It doesn't matter how many times you tell the lie that it was a 'show of force'. We all saw the TV pictures and read the news reports - it was less than 2 years ago.

It was a Russian assault on Kyiv, and it failed.

It also doesn't matter how many times you lie about Boris stopping a peace deal. We have seen the interviews with President Zelensky and others in the Ukrainian government that make it clear, in their own words, that there was never such a deal in the offing.

What guaranteed that the Ukrainians wouldn't even consider such a deal was the multitude of raped and murdered Ukrainian civilians that the Russians left behind when they retreated from Kyiv.

Or do you think that Stronk Russian Army do show of force by means of rape?

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

The Russians are kidnapping Ukrainian Children, and are seeking to destroy Ukraine culture and language. They intend to destroy Ukraine as an independent country, with it's own unique national identity. It's genocide.

"I find your use of the word offensive"

I always try to be as polite on an internet forum as I would be in real life, so never aim to be offensive.

However, in this case, I really don't care.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

"...a Russian win. They said at the start what they were going to do and the land they were going to take and they took it."

So the Russian assault on Kyiv, including the airborne assault on Hostomel airport, that was repulsed, with the Russian logistics effort then collapsing, leading to the Russians have to abandon all the territory they took in that region, was a win?

And the Russian rout from outside Kharkiv, that led the Russians to have to abandon a huge chunk of the territory that they had occupied was a win?

And the Russian withdrawal from Kherson city, part of Kherson oblast, which Putin claims all of, was a win?

And the continuous losses to the Russian Black Sea Fleet that started the war aggressively pushing at the coast near Odessa, and which now mostly lurks off the coast of Georgia, and which if it ran away any further would have to rename itself the Caspian Sea Fleet, is a win?

"I still have huge doubts that at the beginning of the conflict Russia sent a loads of tanks completely unprotected up a main road to Kiev on what is a suicide mission."

Then you clearly didn't watch any news broadcasts during February or March 2022.

"We have no evidence of Russian losses"

Apart from plentiful photographs, social media posts, the display of wrecked Russian vehicles in Kyiv, the Oryx website [https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-equipment.html], and numerous other confirmed sources.

"Ukraine refused journalists access to the front line"

Yet strangely, I've been reading first hand accounts from journalists in multiple different media organisations, plus seeing BBC reports, continuously for the last 2 years, reporting from the Ukrainian frontline. Often, the Ukrainian's take the opportunity to appeal for additional assistance from the world's democracies in their defence against Russian genocide.

CERN is training robot dogs to spot radiation hazards at Large Hadron Collider

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

SPOILER ALERT.

That's not Robo-lassie, that's a prototype of the aliens' robo-dogs from War of the Worlds.

You could have heard a pin drop: Virgin Galactic reports itself to the FAA

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: The pin fell off?

So what's out there?

Perfect timing... US Navy throws Boeing $103M to update its sub recon jets

EvilDrSmith Silver badge
Pint

Re: Third-Party Inspections

Ta for the clarification.

Since it's Friday >>>>

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: Third-Party Inspections

There is a report on Aviation Week that Boeing are trying to get the FAA to sign off on a known non-compliance with the 737-7 - basically, the 'planes should be allowed to fly with a known safety issue for a few years until it's fixed. Something to do with operating the engine's anti-icing, in non-icing conditions, which has the potential for breaking bits of the engine. No decision yet, as far as I can tell, but it seems slightly concerning (as someone that is completely unqualified to comment on the technical aspects) that the answer was not an immediate and resounding 'No'.

Former Post Office boss returns CBE to sender over computer system scandal

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Can we not turn this into a party political argument, please? It's not 'the Tories', it's 'the establishment'.

Lib Dem leader Ed Davies, sorry, SIR Ed Davies, was post office minister for part of the period that this happened, but apparently he was misled by his civil servants, so he can't be held accountable, even though, as minister, he was paid to be accountable. I don't see him offering to hand back his knighthood or ministerial salary.

Much has been made of how it was the Post Office that carried out these prosecutions, but not entirely - some were carried out by the CPS, under the direction of man-of-the-people Kier Starmer, sorry, SIR Keir Starmer (with his very only piece of statue legislation named after him [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/2588/contents/made]) - I've not seen Sir Kier offering to hand back his K. or his Director of CPS salary.

With the publicity from the TV show, and the petition to revoke the CBE hitting 1.2 million, it was clear to the powers-that-be that the little people (that's us, in case you had any doubts) were angry, and a scapegoat was needed.

So Vennells 'voluntarily' returned her CBE.

The guilty people here are spread throughout government, with no regard for party politics.

Musk floats idea of boat mod for Cybertruck

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: 7,000 lbs?

So a quick check of the cybertruck website (and apologies in advance for not using approved Reg units).

95" wide by 223.7" long = 2.4m by 5.9m, which gives a rough plan area of 14.2m2

empty weight of 3.2t displaces 3.2m3 of water (1m3 of water = 1 tonne), so it sits about 0.22m in the water (if it doesn't leak) (and ignoring tires and wheels, and any other appendages)

Payload is given as 2500lbs, so that pushes it to a draft of about 0.3m

Ground clearance is 17.5", height is 70.5", so overall height of body = 53" = 1.35m. (Not a simple cuboid shape, but sufficiently so over the lower body that would be below the waterline for a simple w*l*h calculation)

So in theory, if it doesn't leak (big if), it should be possible to make the thing float.

Of course, the shape of the vehicle looks like it would encourage a bow wave to form, flow over the cab and into the load bed, which would simultaneously drive the vehicle nose down (as the water flows over) and further into the water, and destroying any buoyancy created by the load bed.

Plus you need good seals everywhere.

And if it starts to leak, and thus to sink, you then have water pressure holding the doors shut, so getting out might be a tad tricky.

I don't think I'd take one for a swim.

UK will be HQ for high-flying next-gen fighter jet treaty with Italy, Japan

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

"it likely to have a few air to surface weapons sellotaped on, as the Typhoon has"

>sigh<

Will people PLEASE stop repeating this rubbish? Typhoon was designed from the start to have full air-to-ground capability; the capability is not 'taped on'.

One of the UK's requirements was that it replace the Jaguar attack aircraft.

There are plenty of books (and websites) available that describe Typhoon's gestation that make this quite clear.

Also, claiming as the article does that work on the Typhoon began in the 1970's is somewhat misleading - the initial design requirements were being considered, perhaps. However, a quick check on the RAF website confirms that the formal specification for the European Fighter Aircraft was issued September 1987.

Post-Brexit tariffs on EU-UK electric vehicle imports staved off for three years

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: Question about import taxes

If I recall correctly, at the time of the Brexit vote, it was 75% of the tariffs collected by member states that went to the EU, with the individual state keeping 25%.

There was a proposal to change that to 80%-20% (which I think pre-dated the referendum, but was kept quite quiet), but I think that proposal was rejected by the member states, and it might still be 75%-25%.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: So, Brexit means Brexit, except when it doesn't

Yet another example of the EU and the UK acting like grown ups, and addressing a specific issue of concern to both fairly and logically.

Google goes geothermal to power some bitbarns

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Earth's crust or Earth's core?

Being picky, is the heat generated by the Earth's crust or the Earth's core.

I was under the impression that geothermal actually obtains heat that is moving through the crust (the solid rock) having come from the core (or perhaps that should be the mantle).

Also, if the data centre uses water for cooling, is that 'pre-heated' water then being used as what is pumped into the ground?

Virgin Atlantic flies 'world's first fossil-fuel free' transatlantic commercial flight

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: "There's simply not enough SAF"

"We have enough trouble feeding people as it is"

But is that a problem of production or of supply?

My understanding is that there is more than enough food in the world for everyone, but shortages (famines) are caused by a combination of localised crop failures and lack of local distribution capability (often due to war or similar).

Also, we could at least initially repurpose agricultural land that isn't being used for food crops - crops for SAF production might be viewed as having more social and economic benefit that tobacco, perhaps?

Ukraine cyber spies claim Putin's planes are in peril as sanctions bite

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: A380?

I assumed it was just a "here's an example of 'planes being used for spares" comment, and is not referring to that specific type being stripped for parts in Russia.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: "the civil aviation sector of terrorist Russia"

No I oppose ethnic cleansing, and all other war crimes, which is why I support the blue and yellow flag.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: "the civil aviation sector of terrorist Russia"

It appears to be you that is confused.

Donbas was/is part of Ukraine, and was even recognised as such by Russia up to the day before Putin's 3-day SMO started (630+ days ago).

Crimea was/is also part of Ukraine, but the Russian government had declared it part of Russia. An attack by Ukraine to recover their Crimean territory would mean attacking Russian military, and thus trigger a direct conflict.

Since you are always telling us how much more powerful Russia is than Ukraine, it would be nonsensical for the Ukrainian's to start a war in that manner.

If Russia were concerned, they could simply have increased the defensive forces present.

Except of course, that your claim is a lie, pure invention.

It is correct that some civilian deaths have resulted from Ukrainian military action against separatist areas - in all cases that I am familiar with, the civilian casualties were inadvertent, with viable military targets attacked. Such civilian deaths are low in number (though any number is too high form a humanitarian point of view).

The actions of the Ukrainians can in no way be considered comparable with the actions of Russia's military, which is engaged in a war of genocide against Ukraine, with sustained deliberate targeting of civilians, residential areas, vital civilian infrastructure (power and water) etc.

Russia started the SMO because it is led by a sociopathic, kleptomaniacal dictator that ruthlessly murders (has murdered) any and all political opponents, and who determined to demonstrate his greatness (and prove that he remains a master strategist) by obliterating a neighbouring country that was steadily becoming less corrupt, more democratic, and therefore making its people freer and wealthier, in a way that the Russians could have no hope to achieve under their leadership.

Ukrainian civilians fled Ukraine mostly to avoid being murdered by the Russian military,

President Zelensky was fairly and democratically elected; the coming elections are likely to be suspended, because the country is under martial law. The country is under martial law, because the genocidal Russian regime is trying to obliterate the country and its culture. If you think that the elections should not be delayed there is an easy solution - persuade your friend Putin to withdraw Russian forces from all of (internationally recognised) Ukrainian territory.

Greenpeace calls out tech giants for carbon footprint fumble

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: WTF????

According to Greenpeace, the sea is not a dustbin:

https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/47744/brent-spar-the-sea-is-not-a-dustbin/

If we are not supposed to leave our rubbish in the sea, then we are not supposed to leave our rubbish in the sea.

Personally, though, I quite agree that a large lump of steel stuck in the sea bed is a low risk item in relation to environmental damage.

It's a slightly bigger risk in relation to development of off-shore wind (or sea bed cables, pipelines, etc, or other as yet unforeseen development), since it's a potential obstruction to future installation of bigger-and-better turbines on the same site (Re-use of old foundations is a thing, and can be done, but it's surprisingly not so common - there are complications with doing it). I suspect it is this factor that is the driver for the requirement to remove fully all parts of the turbine's structure at end of life.

I also doubt there will be many fished-based ecosystems developing below the sea bed (foundations do tend to be below ground level).

But it doesn't change the fact that under terms of licences (at least in some cases), the foundations are supposed to be removed. It is for the wind farm industry to develop the techniques and technology, and to pay the cost of meeting the regulations that affect their industry. And that looks to be a challenge.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: WTF????

blackcat,

There are some interesting (well, to me) developments now, where 'expired' wind turbine blades are being used as structural elements for things like footbridges. The idea seems to work, though obviously, long-term durability has yet to be proven.

However, that doesn't alter the fact that the concept of having an end-of-life plan for a structure (ie how to dismantle it and recycle as much as possible) has been mainstream for some time, so it's depressing that we are in a position of 'what can we use these blades for now?', rather than having thought it through before we built the things.

A more significant issue, which doesn't seem to have been picked up as much by press and activists, is what do we do with the foundations of life expired off-shore wind turbines?

I believe that the licencing conditions for construction wind farms is that at end of life, all elements are to be removed from the sea bed.

An offshore wind turbine foundation is typically a mono-pile - these can be a couple of meters in diameter and are typically (high) tens of meters in length. The frictional resistance to pulling these things out of the sea bed is huge, so how can they be removed?

These seems to be driving a lot of work to extend turbine life (on the grounds that it is easier to extend life than deal with the licencing condition at end-of-life).

Of course, we could just change the licence conditions, and allow the old piles to be cut off and left in place - but is that environmentally friendly?

Politicians and activists shout and scream, but it's the poor put upon engineers that have to actually make the insanity work....

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: re: Greenpeace are one of the organisations most responsible for climate change

A long way back, there was a Greenpeace representative interviewed on BBC News night - this was with Jeremy Paxman as interviewer, so shows how long ago it was. Also, I think it might have been when we didn't have climate change, but had global warming instead, so it really is going back.

Anyway, Paxo let the activist make his point - global warming was the biggest threat to mankind ever, and we had to pay any price to stop it, without exception.

Paxo being Paxo, he gave the guy the rope -

'absolutely any price?' 'Yes'.

'Without any exception?' 'Yes'

'so you support nuclear power' 'Oh no...'

Apparently, not accepting nuclear power wasn't an exception, but was a price that Greenpeace were not willing to pay.

Greenpeace have been adamant that 'we' have to pay any price, but 'they' don't have to give up any of their ideology or make any concession. Nuclear is low carbon (zero carbon at point of generation), but we can't have it / haven't built much if any for 30 years, because Greenpeace and their ilk have blocked it. So instead, we've burnt coal, oil and gas, and released huge volumes of CO2 which we could have avoided and, were it not for Greenpeace, would have avoided.

Royal Navy flies first mega Mojave drone from aircraft carrier

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

The STOVL / F35B option also provides for better interoperability with other nations - USMC, Italy and Japan all operate F35B from ships (well, Japan may still be thinking about it, with their Helicopter-destroyers, that are absolutely not aircraft carriers-honest), and I think a few other nations are looking at getting the '-B' model.

With a conventional carrier, the option would be USN and French navy only, and carrier inter-operability isn't just having cats-n-traps, but having the right equipment to launch each aircraft type. I'm not sure if F35C can operate from the French carrier, for example.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: Numbers planned

Thanks - I had forgotten that the 138 figure was through to end of life, so included what were effectively replacements for lost/worn out/too-expensive-to-update airfames.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Numbers planned

Isn't 74 the number that have actually been ordered, while the plan is for 138?

Or did I miss another treasury-driven defence cut?

X fails to remove hate speech over Israel-Gaza conflict

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: Mr. Elon Musk doesn't budge

Well, the current discussions are taking us forward 4 years.

We are now 630 days into Putin's 3-day special military operation, so that will take us to day 2090 of the 3-day operation.

Russia is, in terms of GDP, shown to be the 11th largest economy.

Ukraine is being supported by:

USA (1) ; Germany (3), Japan (4), UK (6), France (7); Italy (8), Canada (10) plus many more (within and outside the EU) outside the top 10, plus the EU as separate entity.

Having the US support gives access to global money markets through New York (which would not necessarily end even if US political opinion changes) and from the UK the City of London - the two global money markets that really matter, and which can raise huge sums of money. That money will be available to Ukraine and the nations supporting Ukraine. (A glance at history will show how vital but also reliable and effective the UK's ability to raise money through the City to finance war has been). Russia does not have any access to that level of funding.

There is not the slightest possibility that "the major European economies can't afford it".

However much Russia's supporters try to undermine democratic support for Ukraine against Russian aggression, financially at least, Russia cannot defeat Ukraine and the democracies.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: Mr. Elon Musk doesn't budge

I didn't forget.

Yes, it is true that a fair number of countries in Europe and outside were slow to offer assistance. for various reasons, while others, such as the UK and some of the Scandinavian/Baltic/East European nations where providing aid from the start (or even in the days before the war started in February 2022).

That does not alter the fact that in Europe now, there is no significant pivot from providing aid to Ukraine to Gaza/Israel, instead, there is a steady ramping up of assistance in terms of value, volume and capacity. Thanks to such assistance, Ukraine will get steadily stronger, and, it is to be hoped, will drive out the Russian aggressor.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: Mr. Elon Musk doesn't budge

Currently the EU are working on a deal to provide Euro20 billion of additional aid and support to Ukraine over the next 4 years.

This is in addition to measures already in progress, and to the support from individual nations both within and outside the EU that is in progress / has been promised - Germany declared only 2 days ago that German support for Ukraine is to be "massively expanded" in 2024, for instance, while training on F16 for operational debut next year continues apace.

EU membership for Ukraine is progressing.

From the right-side of the pond, it does appear that some with the US are seeking to use the current situation in Gaza to cut back on support to Ukraine in their war of survival against the Putin's genocide.

This appears to be more to do with internal US politics than anything else.

Fortunately, it appears that most Europeans (whether EU or not) understand the necessity of resisting tyranny, both because it's morally right, and because it is ultimately in our own self-interest. There is no 'epic pivot' away from Ukraine in Europe.

The only person to blame for the huge number of bodies that are piling up is Putin.

Russia's Sandworm – not just missile strikes – to blame for Ukrainian power blackouts

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: Like I've said before

Fair points, but I still think you're being too kind when you suggest that the Russians may have only intended to stop at the Dnipro.

The overall evidence (including Putin claiming all of Kherson Oblast as Russian in September 2022) shows their ambition, even if they were (fortunately) too incompetent to achieve it.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: Like I've said before

"Maybe the plan was to swallow Ukraine East of the Dnipro, not to conquer the whole place, who knows?"

You're being kind in your response.

The Russians drove on Odessa, or tried to - they were stopped at ? (Mykolaiv?). That's comfortably west of the Dnipro.

The plan was clearly the annexation of the entirety of Ukraine.

The Russian statements over the last 600+ days makes that clear.

There is no need to be kind to those that are seeking to defend Putin's war of genocide.

US actors are still on strike – and yup, it's about those looming AI clones

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: AI good enough

"what happens to the entirety of entertainers?"

Theatre?

At least for the ones good enough / keen enough, live performances on the stage.

At least until the 3D holograms come along.

Russia hustles to fill impending void left by the ISS

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

"So an aircraft first flown in 1974 carrying a 1990s era missile with a much shorter range that the R-37 will work.. somehow. Point being Russia seems to have stolen (possibly literally) a lead on missile and rocket tech over the West, and Ukraine's paying the price for seriously underestimating Russia's capabilities."

Unless Ukrainian the talent for making HARM work on a soviet aircraft not designed to use it, or Storm Shadow work from a Soviet aircraft not designed to use it, is put to good use enabling a NATO standard aircraft (F16, or possibly Gripen, which is under active consideration for Ukraine) launch a NATO standard missile (Meteor, which Gripen is already cleared for).

Meteor being a (I think the first) throttleable air-to-air missile, meaning in re-engages its motor in the terminal phase, making it much more lethal than the current R37 (which was designed originally to hit large, non-agile high value targets like tankers and AWACs), which it also (reportedly) out-ranges.

With R37, Russia established a lead over the west; with Meteor, the west takes it back. The question is how long it will take before Ukraine is supplied with Meteor.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/special-edition-campaign-assessment-ukraine%E2%80%99s-strike-campaign-against-crimea

Reports Neptune being used as a land attack missile vs an airfield.

Plus:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-360_Neptune#:~:text=On%2023%20August%202023%2C%20according%20to%20Ukrainian%20media,systems%20near%20Yevpatoriya%20using%20drones%20and%20Neptune%20missiles.

Yes, it's wiki, but only because I couldn't be bothered to dig out other references to the S400 system being taken out by Neptune.

"Credible" - given the number of missiles and drones of all types claimed to be launched by the Russians in each strike, and the number of claimed by the Ukrainians of shoot downs, I don't expect to see photographs of the wreckage of every missile destroyed. However, reported casualty figures that are often a few individuals suggest that Kinzhal is not routinely getting through Ukrainian air defence and hitting its target. If it is, they are being launched so sparingly that it is insignificant.

"Many of which have allegedly been shot down, or wasted on unimportant targets"

Your turn - citation needed. Who is making these allegations?

Because while I am sceptical about Ukrainian pronouncements, on a 'trust but verify' level, I treat Russian pronouncements as lies unless and until proven otherwise. As I have had cause to mention before, they were claiming to have destroyed more Bayraktar than the entire production run, claiming to have destroyed Bradley months before the first arrived in Ukraine, etc.

I am quite confident that the Russian Black Sea Fleet HQ is now a smoking ruin, since I've since the video posted by Russians on social media, who received so little warning of the strike that they were still on the street to film the results of the first strike when they caught the image of the second missile scoring a direct hit into the hole created by the first, straight down into the building basement.

That's not an unimportant target. (And it doesn't matter whether the BSF admiral survived or not - that's the fleet HQ hit on a working day with no significant warming - so that's the fleet staff that are now dead or wounded - the planners, comms experts, logistics guys, etc; much more important than just the admiral)

The burnt out wreck of the landing ship destroyed in dry dock was not an unimportant target.

The kilo class submarine (that the Russian's originally claimed had suffered only minor damage, but which had a hole blown in its deck, and a large hole blown out through the side of the pressure-hull) was not an unimportant target.

"Meanwhile, an increasing number of Ukraine's aircraft are being shot down by S-400s with improved missiles, or Russian aircraft carrying R-37 missiles, possibly improved variants"

Again - your turn... citation please

The Ukrainian's recently suffered the probably loss of two fixed wing aircraft on the ground, due to the use of extended range loitering munitions.But then, the Russians just lost 14 destroyed helicopters (burnt wrecks counted by satellite imagery) and some additional number damaged (likely >5) thanks to two 27-year old ATACMs.

What Russian air defence doing?

Where were these wonderwaffe new-and-improved S400?

I've seen no claim by the Russians or admission by the Ukrainians of an inflight loss of a Ukrainian fixed wing aircraft for a long time (whereas there have been multiple claimed and several confirmed Russian fixed wing losses in the last few weeks).

All of which points I find of great interest, but all of which are ultimately irrelevant to my original post of course, which was that Ukrainian defence industry is doing ok.

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

"How's it's arms industry"

I can't comment on it's space programme, but it's arms industry seems to be doing ok.

For example, when Putin launched his 3 day SMO over 600 days ago, the Ukrainians had only just introduced their 'Neptune' land based anti-ship missile into service. Not content with using two of them to sink 'Moskva', the Ukrainians have modified the missile to give it a precision land-attack capability, that has been demonstrated to work.

Meanwhile, Russia's wonderwaffe Kinzhal hypersonic missile is proving less than wonderous, with credible claims that the Ukrainians are relatively routinely knocking them out of the air (with patriot - so well done, left-pondians).

Ukraine's Soviet-era aircraft have been integrated to launch western weapons (HARM, StormShadow).

So yeah, doing ok.

King Charles III signs off on UK Online Safety Act, with unenforceable spying clause

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: Poor, deprived Americans

So they have no polymaths?

Engineers pave the way for building lunar roads with Moon dust

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Re: And how long before

ULEZ?

Ultra Luna Emissions Zone...

EvilDrSmith Silver badge
Headmaster

Re: Inevitably

Though generally nowadays, 'Tarmac' should actually be 'Bitmac', since I believe it is made from bitumen, rather than tar.

I think most tar for road surfaces came from gas works (converting coal into coke + town gas + tar), and we don't do that anymore.

it's my understanding that bitumen mostly comes from the same fractional distillation of oil process that creates petrol and diesel, etc

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Practicality

But how do you get the sharks (with the lasers) into space suits?

Microsoft takes concrete steps (literally) toward greener datacenter construction

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Fly Ash

Use of fly ash seems to be becoming increasingly popular as a cement replacement material, driven largely by the desire to cut carbon. Which is potentially a problem, since as the article notes, fly ash comes from coal combustion (it's the ash that goes up the chimney, but doesn't quite escape). Since we're not supposed to be burning coal anymore, we're not making the stuff like we used to. Still, we have a reasonably large amount 'stockpiled'.

UK splashes £4B to dive into next-gen nuclear submarines

EvilDrSmith Silver badge

Continuity of workload

This should actually be good for continuity of workload (and hence, one would hope, efficiency).

I believe the Barrow yard now has a clear work schedule of last few Astutes - The Dreadnoughts (the SLBM carriers) - then the AUKUS boats.

This is the sort of long term work load that enables businesses to make sensible decisions on investment, training, etc, which we tend to call out for in his country, as opposed to the short term - '5 years is a long time' type planning we tend to muddle through with.

Techies at Europe's biggest council have 8 weeks to pull finance reports from Oracle system

EvilDrSmith Silver badge
Happy

Touche!

Page: