Army Future: Technology and Leadership Today

[biscuits brown]

That RPO Shmel is that some kind of fuel air explosive warhead being used in one of the rounds?

My Russian is "rusty"

[Bypah]

Give me an SVD sniper rifle and I'll block any tank, IFV or armored car. I'll shoot optical/vision blocks and blind it. After, I can kill all the crew, one by one. And I'll disable any plane or radar, shooting engines or radar dishes.

Give me an RPG and I'll tear apart anything to pieces.

Give me some ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel and I'll blow anything up.

Cracker, you can kill that Stryker very easy with an RPG, shooting from above. The armor is thinner upper side any tank or IFV. This is the first thing I was learned about armor in the Romanian Marines.

Technology is a wonderful thing, but when the batteries are dead, all you can do is pray for your men, to fight at most basic level, with fists, boots, knives and victorious is the most determined men.

Throw away that poodle shooter M16 and get a serious weapon. And thanks God for AK47.

Read this, JFKO:

http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/battle.htm

THIS IS what I have been talking about all along....
Technology is not everything in the battlefield.As I mentioned earlier, asymetric warfare ( guerrilla, urban...etc) has been and still is the thorn of the US and other western militaries. They rely too much in technology and forget the lessons learned in the past.
They forgot for example the effectivenes of the molotov in an urban setting....

By the way Adrian...Have you seen the news SVU-AS sniper rifle??

UAV drones,carpet bombing and smart munitions and missiles IS NOT everything....At the end it all goes to the soldiers on the ground and the determinations of BOTH the defenders and the agressors.
Peace!

[biscuits brown]

Some of the best armies in the world today started out as guerilla forces.

Can you think of any?

[ak70g2]

US military forget that you'll need "boots on the ground" to hold an teritorry. Drones, carpet bombing don't mean anything, when on the ground is at least one "opposite" warrior. That mean HE is"in charge", not you. Yeap, you can nuke entire Afghanistan/Iraq, wipe all the population and go away, this is the only case you can win. But if you go away and is there only a man who oppose you, you lost.

Regarding Biscuits Brown question, North Vietnamese and China's PLA armies come into my mind first, also various groups of "merry guys" like British SAS, Popski Private Army, Haganah which became Istrael Defence Force comes alive as guerilla/raiding groups.

Bypah, i saw this rifle on the news, but if you can, look for December 2009 edition of Small Arms Review magazine, is a very interesting article and test of russian VSS Vintorez silent sniper rifle. One of their editors, Dan Shea, give me one, at a Romanian arms fair. Unfortunately, is more costly the postal fees than subscription itself, that's the reason I didn't subscribe to this magazine.

Two pictures for drone, carpet bombing and M16 fans:

Beat this

[Bypah]

Some of the best armies in the world today started out as guerilla forces.

Can you think of any?

Not the best armies though.... the cubans,the vietnamese, the PLA,the Yugoslavians (Serbia),the IDF.

I think that in the 21st century conflicts are as we can see not measured by the confrontation of big armies like back in
WWI-II.

[Bypah]

The Vintorez is a nice piece of hardware...

[biscuits brown]

Dunno. Anyone of those armies would give a "Western" army a very hard time methinks. The NVA are the heirs of "Charlie" later known as "Mr Charles" as sign of the US grunts growing respect for them. They also resisted successfully the most advanced and sophisticated military force on the planet at the time.

If I was jungle fighting, give me a regiment of NVA at my back. Not the best?

The PLA nearly defeated the UN in Korea. It got so bad in the winter of 1951 that MacArthur publicly wanted to use the A bomb. Truman then sacked him. Not a "best" army, despite showing incredible courage, fortitude and zeal, under a steel rain of Western air and artillery superiority?

Those Serbians are the heir to Marshal Titos guerrila army that tied down on average 20 German divisions at any one time, especially after 1943. The USSR were very wary of fighting Yugoslavia for all of the cold war. Not the best mountain fighters?

The Cubans have performed very well in Africa in the 80s-90s too. in the early 60s they would have fought to the death to repel any US invasion. Casualties would have been horrific for both sides. Not a "best army" despite 50 years of crippling sanctions?

The IDF is just unique. It also has some of the best armoured and special ops forces in the world. Its airforce is arguably the best in the world. Fact. It has fought and won 6 wars, including a desperate defence in oct 1973, turned to a remarkable counter attack nearly occupying Cairo and Damascus. A campaign studied in staff colleges around the world? And lets not mention the 6 day war..
Not the best?

That arbitary dismissal of brave and capable forces is not like you Bear. I would call your list Western bougeous imperialist underestimation..

Actually I was thinking of the US army
The origins of the U.S army are very much rooted in insurgency. The revolutionary war of 1776-83.

That was an 18th century insurgency. Very similar to Vietnam in many ways. The R.W was Britains 18th century Vietnam.

Even the US forces were similar in that they had a "regular" army like the NVA and a guerrilla / insurgency element. The hostile population. Like the Viet Cong.
The French support of the Colonies were the R.W equivalent of the Russians/Chinese arming and training the NVA/VietCong

Even the cold war element of client backing. The British used many indiginious tribes as allies (with a lot of success) just like the US with the Montegnards and other ethnic groups in Vietnam. Britain and France were the US and Sovs of the 18th C.

The parallels are striking.

None of this is new, it aint a 20/21st century thing. Only the weapons change. And the ideologies, but even that not too much.

[ak70g2]

Bravo Bravo, if you give me a e-mail adress, I'll send you a little document, written by a German officer in 1789 about use of light infantry in US Revolutionary War. Is called "The Partisan at War", by Lt. Col A. Emmerich. It's still useful

[biscuits brown]

PM sent

[ak70g2]

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