National Risk Register/National Resilience Update - Nothing new to us.

[HorseGuy]

Most of the veterans I know will need some much larger kit and will fail the most basic fitness tests. I generalise obviously, some are still pretty fit, but if they are looking to recruit those whom are now in there 40/50’s they’ll struggle to get many ‘ready to go’. Most folk, myself included struggle to keep the level fitness required to do proper soldiering.

I've never been in the army so this is only my amateur and probably completely wrong impression of how war in Ukraine is currently being fought.

It seems to me that the majority of the soldiers now are conscripted older men in their 40's and 50's with only basic training and are poorly equipped. It also seems to me that their main purpose is to find enemy locations when they get shot at and to draw drone fire away from the other 10% of soldiers which make up the highly trained and well equipped special forces who are doing more important work elsewhere.

 

[Sooty22]

I've never been in the army so this is only my amateur and probably completely wrong impression of how war in is Ukraine currently being fought.

It seems to me that the majority of the soldiers now are conscripted older men in their 40's and 50's with only basic training and are poorly equipped. It also seems to me that their main purpose is to find enemy locations when they get shot at and to draw drone fire away from the other 10% of soldiers which make up the highly trained and well equipped special forces portion who are doing more important work elsewhere.

Ι think the war in Ukraine has turned into a WW1-type trench warfare style stalemate along the 'front', due to both sides having developed equipment that allows defending an area very effectively from infantry, so they just resort to endless onslaught of attack upon attack that keep getting repelled or won for a bit and at extreme cost, or just bombing each other with missiles and larger drones. Small FPV drones are lethal, as bad as the machine gun and gas attacks were in WW1.
Not sure what the 'panzer' equivalent will be in the future, which will overcome all that and start a new 'blitzkrieg', but it scares me.

 

[TeeDee]

Ι think the war in Ukraine has turned into a WW1-type trench warfare style stalemate along the 'front', due to both sides having developed equipment that allows defending an area very effectively from infantry, so they just resort to endless onslaught of attack upon attack that keep getting repelled or won for a bit and at extreme cost, or just bombing each other with missiles and larger drones. Small FPV drones are lethal, as bad as the machine gun and gas attacks were in WW1.
Not sure what the 'panzer' equivalent will be in the future, which will overcome all that and start a new 'blitzkrieg', but it scares me.

Drone warfare is the new Sniper of the battlefield.

 

[Sooty22]

https://www.engine-specs.net/honda-small-engines Useful reference site? Honda made/have made previously an amazing number of different small engines and over a hundred variants. I tried to use a spreadsheet to see if there was any obvious parts crossovers. There probably is, but I couldn't see it.

The trick is to keep periodically running them, and have lots of spare filters and oil. Once serviced, 2nd hand should be ok. I don't know anything about these portable power supplies but think there is a lot to be said for them.

Unfortunately generators of all types, large and small, are of great interest to criminals. Like the calls of deer and owls, they can recognise the sound of one from a distance, and tuck this knowledge away for the future. Being inquisitive types, they also like going exploring and noting potential future foraging spots. Favourite foraging areas are remote places like farms and country housing, who are used to being resilient, preferably with easy access to the rear.
Then, when market demand or a potential relocation arises, they go foraging.

Exactly the sort of areas where it is reported that in major incident priorities, the Govt have already mapped out as being harder to restore and low population density.

Gennies are superb. If you get something that looks in good nick externally, is a decent make (Honda, Hyundai etc), test it and it runs fine, then it will start again no bother when you need it. To test it, if it's a 2kW gennie, take a 2kW kettle and do a couple of boils; a kettle uses exactly what it says on the label without surge currents on startup, so it's pretty safe to try.

I have a Stanley 2kW suitcase one, it was half the price of a Honda at the time I got it in 2016, not a fancy brand and have seriously abused it. Done several oil changes and run it for probably well over 200h, some of them with cement mixers or charging battery banks at 2kW draw. But it starts quickly and always runs great. Make sure you always do the oil changes at the correct interval. If you will be storing it for a long time, drain it of fuel, then run it till it cuts off from lack of fuel. Remove the sparkplug and crank it a few times with a teaspoon of oil in the cylinder, then replace the plug. And keep your petrol in a jerry can in good condition and with 'fuel preservative' in it, which will keep it fine for 5 years no bother.

 

[HorseGuy]

Drone warfare is the new Sniper of the battlefield.

Drones appear to be far more accurate and deadly than a sniper. Once they have you in their sights the chances of escape seems to be vanishingly small. I don't like watching footage of soldiers dying but I have seen a few of those drone videos in the news where it chases people around for a few seconds before finally zooming in for the kill.

I couldn't help wonder how effective a kids one-handed rounders bat would be against these small drones? The short 18" rounders bats are small and light enough to be fast and nimble. It probably wouldn't work but you might get one last chance for a lucky close quarters swing when the drone comes in for that final kill shot.

 

[GeraldTheBonsai]

Back in 2017, the Future Of Life Institute release a short spoof video called Slaughterbots. It suggested that, in the future, you could have swarms of small drones that used facial recognition to hunt down people. The drones were fitted with small amounts of explosives and blew up when close to the target. At the time, it was just sci-fi.....

Its on YouTube somewhere.

found it -

 

[Falstaff]

Sure it's been done by now, Ukraine are suggesting it has, and released a video purporting to show it killing. But this might be propaganda to put the wind up the Russians.

 

[Woody girl]

Oh ,but if you go and buy a rounders bat nowadays, you get arrested by a cop jumping on your back and radioing for back up, then you get arrested by six burley law ossifers, for carrying an offensive weapon, after taking about twenty steps out in to the street, even if its still in its packaging, and you keep telling the aforementioned terrified people that you are off to play in the park with your mates.

 

[TeeDee]

Drones appear to be far more accurate and deadly than a sniper. Once they have you in their sights the chances of escape seems to be vanishingly small. I don't like watching footage of soldiers dying but I have seen a few of those drone videos in the news where it chases people around for a few seconds before finally zooming in for the kill.

I couldn't help wonder how effective a kids one-handed rounders bat would be against these small drones? The short 18" rounders bats are small and light enough to be fast and nimble. It probably wouldn't work but you might get one last chance for a lucky close quarters swing when the drone comes in for that final kill shot.

I wasn't talking in terms of lethality. Although there are similarities.

More in terms of area denial over a large area , creating a sense of systemic fear knowing that they are deployed , for relatively small investment of manpower ,( sniper and spotter ) and drone ( seemingly cheap as micro chips ) , and also as an intelligence asset capable of ISR.


Rounders bat ?!??
Er... No...

Trying to play swingball with high speed fpov C4 isn't going to end well.
But I'm happy to watch it if you want to give it the best of British.

 

[Woody girl]

I wasn't talking in terms of lethality. Although there are similarities.

More in terms of area denial over a large area , creating a sense of systemic fear knowing that they are deployed , for relatively small investment of manpower ,( sniper and spotter ) and drone ( seemingly cheap as micro chips ) , and also as an intelligence asset capable of ISR.


Rounders bat ?!??
Er... No...

Trying to play swingball with high speed fpov C4 isn't going to end well.
But I'm happy to watch it if you want to give it the best of British.

A pea shooter might be a better long range counter measure!