re: #223 No Malarkey!

Drones, Javelins and Stingers may be more useful to Ukraine than fixed wing aircraft anyway.

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Force multipliers.

How much does it take to train a pilot? They’ve got to train against ground and air targets, need awareness of situation via radars and other measures to make sure that they can get to their targets.

UAVs are a force multiplier because a small team of pilots could control UAVs and not risk their own lives in the process. The cost is far less, but the damage they could do to ground targets is extreme. They can hold up convoys, pick off individual vehicles, and don’t expose pilots to risks of being inside the airframe.

Javelins can take out the tanks just as surely as an equivalent tank could. It’s clear that the Javelins can do extreme damage to tanks and less armored vehicles.

In the same way, Stingers can limit the usefulness of helicopters to get around bottlenecks of ground convoys, because deploying those stingers can mean the end of those helicopters with deadly efficiency.

It’s still a numbers game, and the Russians have a bigger military, but it’s becoming apparent to all but Putin that bigger isn’t better and Ukraine has not only held its own, but is bloodying the Russians badly.

It’s also a vivid reminder that Trump sought to extort Ukraine by withholding those Javelins unless Zelinsky opened that investigation into Biden. Trump didn’t care that there was nothing to investigate. He just wanted the appearance to make a talking point, but was willing to sacrifice Ukrainian freedom to do it. He was furthering Russia’s goals, whether wittingly or not.