Armored blooming onion?

I am grateful to our warriors for downing three Russian “Su” aircraft over our Kherson region today in Ukraine's south.
 
This is the result of our Air Forces, specifically the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade of Odesa.
 
Thank you, warriors! Every Russian pilot must know that… pic.twitter.com/1O1KcTC6pw

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 22, 2023

Bravado.

Destabilizing effort toward Europe in the war, using as usual Syrian/moslem 'migrants' and refugees:

..."Northwind" (btw., the Russians called their logistics operations for the military invasion of Ukraine in 2014 "Northwind"). According to Belarusian investigative journalist Anton Motolko, creation of "Southwind" was purely a special operation in FSB-style. No wonder... 2/x

— Sergej Sumlenny, LL.M (@sumlenny) December 22, 2023

Yesterday morning, another assault on the farm was repulsed in the area of Novomikhailivka village. Russians have been trying to assault this farm and a cemetery every day for months now to gain a foothold for the assault of the village itself. Below: drone follows a Russian… pic.twitter.com/5gxs36Xj9k

— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) December 22, 2023

Shark UAV corrects HIMARS strikes on Russian positions and were able to hit 2 BMP-2's near Velyki Kopany, left bank of the Kherson region. pic.twitter.com/TEn0tvZ4lD

— NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) December 22, 2023

Bradley doing some work.

bradley video https://t.co/38ul3y7bOp pic.twitter.com/VgCGD2GzpA

— imi (m) (@moklasen) December 22, 2023

Another thought on those 3 SU34s that were just shot down. What's the anti-air range for an F16? They've been training for a while now. Maybe they've got a few in theater not announced? I mean why in the world would they announce when they're operational.

Waffledynamics said:

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Yesterday morning, another assault on the farm was repulsed in the area of Novomikhailivka village. Russians have been trying to assault this farm and a cemetery every day for months now to gain a foothold for the assault of the village itself. Below: drone follows a Russian… pic.twitter.com/5gxs36Xj9k

— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) December 22, 2023

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Is that ****ing thing STEAM powered?

docb said:

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Another thought on those 3 SU34s that were just shot down. What's the anti-air range for an F16? They've been training for a while now. Maybe they've got a few in theater not announced? I mean why in the world would they announce when they're operational.

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Here is how the fighters were ambushed by a Patriot

docb said:

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Another thought on those 3 SU34s that were just shot down. What's the anti-air range for an F16? They've been training for a while now. Maybe they've got a few in theater not announced? I mean why in the world would they announce when they're operational.

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IANAFP but it would seem to me that air to air combat isn't the first or primary mission for which F-16s would be used, especially against an Su-34 that probably has parity of weapons and sensors with the F-16s that have been sent to Ukraine. I would think (purely amateur opinion) that the F-16s would be used to destroy Russian air defenses and logistics infrastructure. The PAC-III provides the potential for surprise of Russian fighters better than F-16s which aren't stealthy and don't have the benefit of support from airborne jammers in Ukraine (at least not the the US will admit).

Ag with kids said:

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Waffledynamics said:

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Yesterday morning, another assault on the farm was repulsed in the area of Novomikhailivka village. Russians have been trying to assault this farm and a cemetery every day for months now to gain a foothold for the assault of the village itself. Below: drone follows a Russian… pic.twitter.com/5gxs36Xj9k

— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) December 22, 2023

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Is that ****ing thing STEAM powered?

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It almost looks like the smoke generator from an M60 tank or AAV. The generated billowing clouds of white smoke by spraying diesel/JP8 on the hot exhaust manifold. That doesn't really work when your vehicle is hauling ass and leaving the smoke trail behind.

https://www.technology.org/2023/12/23/ukraine-took-down-3-su-34s-and-interesting-conspiracy-theories-emerged/
More on the SU34s. Also apparently at least one prominent Russian channel thinks that a dozen F16s are already in Ukraine. Probably the patriot is the most plausible. But it's good for Ukraine if the Russians think it even could be F16s that did it.

Ukraine fields new jet-powered drone with much higher speed and the range to hit Moscow.

UJ-25

74OA said:

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Ukraine fields new jet-powered drone with much higher speed and the range to hit Moscow.

UJ-25

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I'd love to see 100 of these launched in a swarm at Sevastopol.

We've gone back to the v2

I'm having a hard time seeing the design compromize leading to forward swept wings. The forward sweep is unstable in yaw requiring larger vertical stabilizers or 'ruddervators' in a v tail. It doesn't come with a huge drag or cross-section penalty but seems really unnecessary.

lb3 said:

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I'm having a hard time seeing the design compromize leading to forward swept wings. The forward sweep is unstable in yaw requiring larger vertical stabilizers or 'ruddervators' in a v tail. It doesn't come with a huge drag or cross-section penalty but seems really unnecessary.

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The forward swept wings give quicker maneuverability response.

Ag with kids said:

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lb3 said:

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I'm having a hard time seeing the design compromize leading to forward swept wings. The forward sweep is unstable in yaw requiring larger vertical stabilizers or 'ruddervators' in a v tail. It doesn't come with a huge drag or cross-section penalty but seems really unnecessary.

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The forward swept wings give quicker maneuverability response.

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And only passenger aircraft care about stability. Anything shot at, the easier to maneuver, the better.

Jetpilot86 said:

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Ag with kids said:

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lb3 said:

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I'm having a hard time seeing the design compromize leading to forward swept wings. The forward sweep is unstable in yaw requiring larger vertical stabilizers or 'ruddervators' in a v tail. It doesn't come with a huge drag or cross-section penalty but seems really unnecessary.

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The forward swept wings give quicker maneuverability response.

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And only passenger aircraft care about stability. Anything shot at, the easier to maneuver, the better.

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That's why highly maneuverable fighters are designed to be unstable, modern ones requiring a central processor making many minute adjustments each second to keep them controllable.

It's not a fighter. It's basically a cruise missile. Nothing in its mission profile requires it to pull 20 Gs nor does it have an engine large enough to maintain a reasonable energy state while maneuvering aggressively. A budget vehicle like this won't have the sensor suite to identify and autonomously avoid SAMs even if doing so wouldn't result in a massive loss of energy.

It's a design decision with only negative impacts on its mission as far as I can tell.

I'll quit derailing and take this to the aeronautics board.

lb3 said:

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It's not a fighter. It's basically a cruise missile. Nothing in its mission profile requires it to pull 20 Gs nor does it have an engine large enough to maintain a reasonable energy state while maneuvering aggressively. A budget vehicle like this won't have the sensor suite to identify and autonomously avoid SAMs even if doing so wouldn't result in a massive loss of energy.

It's a design decision with only negative impacts on its mission as far as I can tell.

I'll quit derailing and take this to the aeronautics board.

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Didn't say it was. Was just commenting on instability as a desirable aeronautical design feature. <shrug>

There are a lot of decisions that could affect it. The spar would be at the back, giving more usable space up front. Better transonic handling. Smaller overall wing. Depends on a lot of the overall design choices.

Use of ruddervators isn't necessarily a negative. Probably makes it harder for Russian air defenses to see.

Christmas joy is hard to find in Ukraine this season.

UPDATES

Waffledynamics said:

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Yesterday morning, another assault on the farm was repulsed in the area of Novomikhailivka village. Russians have been trying to assault this farm and a cemetery every day for months now to gain a foothold for the assault of the village itself. Below: drone follows a Russian… pic.twitter.com/5gxs36Xj9k

— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated) December 22, 2023

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It looks like the shot came from the drone?

Quote:

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Reportedly a ship with ammunition was hit in Feodosiya

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https://liveuamap.com/en/2023/26-december-reportedly-a-ship-with-ammunition-was-hit-in

This is in the Southeastern part of Occupied Crimea.

BREAKING:

The Ukrainian Army just sunk another Russian 112 meter long Ropucha-class landing ship in Crimea.

Massive explosion! pic.twitter.com/qdZIhr3WLS

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) December 26, 2023

More: FIREBALL

Merry Christmas, mother****ers!

The US stealth cruise missle from the 90s also had forward swept wings. Must be some LO benefit.

Quote:

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The latest reports indicate that the Russian Ministry of Defense has indeed confirmed that the landing ship Novocherkassk was at least damaged in an attack that involved a Ukrainian air-launched cruise missile.

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I love these understated admissions of "damage" from the orcs. Just a scratch lol

Reportedly loaded with iranian Shahed drones. That fireball clearly suggests that it had a lot of explosives of some kind on board, so good job Ukranian AF!

Quote:

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Russian Defense Minister: Our forces are advancing on all fronts

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https://liveuamap.com/en/2023/26-december-russian-defense-minister-our-forces-are-advancing

Another winter offensive for Russia, it sounds like.