I believe I've just finished creating the world's most advanced AI book editor, utilizing a custom GPT after experimenting with different prompts for a full day. I've been using it to edit my book, and the initial reviews have been phenomenal #openai#ChatGPT#chatgptprompts 👇👇
@GabeZZOZZ@ZelenskyyUa@POTUS The most obvious thing about your profile connection with the mother russia, beside your stupid propaganda, is the fact that you joined X in February 2022. Rings a bell?
@BehizyTweets Just like a bully who irritates everyone, acts like he’s ready to start a fight, and then when things get serious, says:
“Yo, chill… it was just a joke. I was just making sure we’re friends, not enemies.” WTF???
Analysis of the lifting of restrictions on ATACMS and Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG
These days, most likely, the decision to lift US and UK/France arms restrictions will be formalized. We will see if it will only refer to ATACMS and Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG tactical missiles or the rest (e.g. F-16 and related munitions). Further I want to see what this could mean for Ukraine.
I know there are many who don't read me for technical analysis and I understand them, time is the most important resource for all of us. For you, at the end I conclude. For those more interested in these technical details, I invite you to go through the whole text.
Since the beginning of the war there have been constant expectations of "wonder weapons" to change the course of the war. Some have lived up to expectations of game changers, some have not. At the beginning of the Russian invasion, the weapons that attracted the most attention were the Javelin mobile anti-armor launchers (US), Singer anti-aircraft (US), Starstreak (UK) and TB2 Bayraktar drones (Turkey).
The above indeed played a crucial role in slowing down the Russian columns and greatly helped the Kyiv counter-offensive in the early months of the war. Their effectiveness is more than recognized, but I want to say from the outset that there is no single operational military capability in Ukraine that is a "wonder weapon". Each of these capabilities only get the job done in conjunction with other weapons.
Further in 2022, the most significant impact on the Russian Army was the guided missiles (GMLRS 227 mm) launched by the HIMARS and M270 versions (M270 -US/UK, LRU - France, MARS II - Germany). Generic known as HIMARS, the missiles used in August and September 2022, with a 70 km range, managed to destroy command centers, block Russian logistic lines, and cause panic and despair among the invaders. The use of HIMARS forced the Russians to adapt, moving their command and control centers away from the front line, favoring surprise attacks and creating breaches in the Russian defenses.
The effects of HIMARS were seen in the successful Kherson and Kharkiv counteroffensives, unique in contemporary warfare, due to the fact that not since the Second World War has an operation with two main vectors of attack on two separate, large, and successful sectors of the front been seen to succeed. HIMARS was a clear game changer in 2022.
Since 2023, less and less has seen capabilities that can live up to HIMARS when talking about the overall impact on the front line. The Leopard 2 (Germany), Challenger 2 (UK), Abrams M1A1 (US) tanks were too few to change the fate of the war. The supporting armor needed to form an "iron fist" with the tanks listed above was also scarce. Among them, however, the Bradley M2A2 (USA) stood out, which generated many international headlines, not only for the fact that they saved the lives of the soldiers using them, but also for their ability to fight and destroy new and (at least on paper) high-performance Russian tanks like the T-90M.
The Stormshadow/SCALP-EG (UK/France) cruise missile Stormshadow/SCALP-EG and ATACMS ballistic missiles entered the Ukrainian component too late in 2023 to salvage the failed counteroffensive on the southern front. They do, however, have some notable successes: making Crimea militarily unsupportable by destroying the Russian Navy's main command center in Sevastopol (thanks to Stormshadow) and destroying or damaging a large number of Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters (thanks to ATACMS missiles equipped with cluster munitions).
However, Ukraine has been demanding since 2023 the lifting of home country limitations on these two capabilities. The motivation?
To hit Russian airfields where airplanes carrying and launching missiles and guided bombs on Ukrainian fortifications and civilian targets are stationed. We are mainly talking about FAB and the family of Kinzhal cruise and hypersonic missiles launched from bombers. Or at least that is the main official motivation.
Some details about these capabilities:
1. Stormshadow/SCALP-EG:
- Description: Air-launched, long-range, guided cruise missile;
- Guidance system: GPS and INS (Inertial Navigation System);
- Operational range (Ukrainian variant): 250 km;
- Warheads: Single warhead, weight 450 kg, Broanch type with two detonation stages;
- Launch platform: Air. Su-24;
- Main use: destruction of ground targets, specialized for destruction of bunkers or buried targets. In Ukraine it has been used (among others) to destroy command and control centers, radars and Russian S-300, S-400 air defense systems;
- Current production: no information on production capacity to replace missiles used in Ukraine;
2. ATACMS:
- Description: Ground-launched short-range tactical ballistic missile;
- Guidance system: GPS and INS;
- Operational range (variants located in Ukraine): 300 km - M39A1, cluster munition and 165 km - M39 cluster munition;
- Warheads: M39 Block 1, inertial guided. Uses 950 M74 APAM (anti-personnel anti-personnel anti-armor munitions) and GPS-guided M39A1, which uses 300 M74 APAM munitions;
- Launch platform: Sol. HIMARS (M39 and M39A1) and M270 (M39);
- Main use: command and control counters, airfields, logistic centers, troop or equipment concentrations;
- Current production: the M39 is no longer in production, and the various ATACMS variants in production number 500 pieces/year;
The question that naturally comes up is: will lifting these limitations on deep bombing Russian territory make any difference to the fate of the war?
The answer is complicated, because the situation is complicated. It will certainly put the Russian Army on its guard and force Russian commanders to make decisions they may not have wanted, such as pushing command and control centers further back out of range of these missiles, abandoning or at least using at reduced capacity airfields within missile range, and putting increased pressure on their logistical lines.
The map compiled by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) shows at least 245 military targets (military bases, factories for the production and repair of military equipment, airfields, command and control centers, etc.) within range of Ukrainian missiles. Perhaps one of the most important targets coming within the ATACMS range is the Kerch Bridge.
But the ATACMS missiles being used by Ukraine do not have a unitary warhead, but one containing cluster munitions, and thus they will not be able to be used on the Kerch Bridge, and Stormshadow missiles will not reach the bridge unless launched at high risk from the southern frontline (Robotyne-Verbove area).
In conclusion: the Stormshadow and ATACMS if used intelligently (and they will certainly be used intelligently) will put the Russian Army in a tough situation, especially in the Kursk sector, where they would be best employed against the Russian counteroffensive that just started the day before yesterday. At the same time, these new targeting possibilities for Ukraine will help sever some Russian logistical lines, disable some Russian airfields used for bombing Ukrainian fortifications, and give Russian commanders a hard time, but they will certainly not be game changers.
What we still need to pay attention to is the number of missiles delivered to Ukraine, because this indicator is crucial in generating the desired effect. Neither does announcing it through a press conference help Ukraine extraordinarily much, in my opinion, but it is true that better now than never.
Please make contributions to the post, especially in the technical area, and contradict me with sound arguments where you think it is appropriate. And one more thing:
I saw that my account has been massively reported by pro-Russian trolls, I am currently the target of nationwide media hounding in Romania and all my accounts are under attack. If you find this post valuable, please share, comment and like.
Slava Ukraini!
@GabeZZOZZ For russians coming to take over, after you ruined the entire city and killed millions across the whole country.
The shittiest country in the world.