U.S. General: If We Get Into a Land War With Russia, We’re in for a Rude, Cold, Awakening
Stunning advancements in ground warfare tactics and technology have given Russia a decisive advantage over the US in ground warfare capability; right now, the US would lose a ground war. Such is the essence of Lt. General H.R. McMaster’s analysis of US ground force readiness as determined by analyzing what Russia has achieved in Ukraine.
Reactive armor and cross-domain fire capabilities are just some of the items on the Army’s must-have list.
When Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster briefs, it’s like Gen. Patton giving a TED talk — a domineering physical presence with bristling intellectual intensity.
These days, the charismatic director of the Army’s Capabilities Integration Center is knee-deep in a project called The Russia New Generation Warfare study, an analysis of how Russia is re-inventing land warfare in the mud of Eastern Ukraine. Speaking recently at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., McMaster said that the two-year-old conflict had revealed that the Russians have superior artillery firepower, better combat vehicles, and have learned sophisticated use of UAVs for tactical effect. Should U.S. forces find themselves in a land war with Russia, he said, they would be in for a rude, cold awakening.
“We spend a long time talking about winning long-range missile duels,” said McMaster. But long-range missiles only get you through the front door. The question then becomes what will you do when you get there.
“Look at the enemy countermeasures,” he said, noting Russia’s use of nominally semi-professional forces who are capable of “dispersion, concealment, intermingling with civilian populations…the ability to disrupt our network strike capability, precision navigation and timing capabilities.” All of that means “you’re probably going to have a close fight… Increasingly, close combat overmatch is an area we’ve neglected, because we’ve taken it for granted.”
So how do you restore overmatch? The recipe that’s emerging from the battlefield of Ukraine, says McMaster, is more artillery and better artillery, a mix of old and new.
To remedy that, McMaster is looking into a new area called “cross domain fires,” which would outfit ground units to hit a much wider array of targets. “When an Army fires unit arrives somewhere, it should be able to do surface-to-air, surface-to-surface, and shore-to-ship capabilities. We are developing that now and there are some really promising capabilities,” he said.
While the full report has not been made public, “a lot of this is available open source” said McMaster, “in the work that Phil Karber has done, for example.”
Karber, the president of the Potomac Foundation, went on a fact-finding mission to Ukraine last year, and returned with the conclusion that the United States had long overemphasized precision artillery on the battlefield at the expense of mass fires. Since the 1980s, he said last October, at an Association for the United States Army event, the U.S. has given up its qualitative edge, mostly by getting rid of cluster munitions.
Munitions have advanced incredibly since then. One of the most terrifying weapons that the Russians are using on the battlefield are thermobaric warheads, weapons that are composed almost entirely of fuel and burn longer and with more intensity than other types of munitions.
Karber also said the pro-Russian troops in Donbas were using an overlapping mobile radar as well as a new man-portable air defense that’s “integrated into their network and can’t be spoofed by [infrared] decoys” or flares.
What makes the T-90 so tough? For starters, explosive reactive armor. When you fire a missile at the tank, its skin of metal plates and explosives reacts. The explosive charge clamps the plates together so the rocket can’t pierce the hull.
But that’s only if the missile gets close enough. The latest thing in vehicle defense is active protection systems, or APS, which automatically spot incoming shells and target them with electronic jammers or just shoot them down. “It might use electronics to ‘confuse’ an incoming round, or it might use mass (outgoing bullets, rockets) to destroy the incoming round before it gets too close,” Army director for basic research Jeff Singleton told Defense One in an email.
Singleton said the United States is looking to give its Abrams tank the Trophy, which uses buckshot-like guns to down incoming fire without harming nearby troops.
The Army is also experimenting with the Israeli-made Iron Curtain APS for the Stryker, which works similarly, and one for the Bradley that has yet to be named. Raytheon has a system called the Quick Kill that uses a scanned array radar and a small missile to shoot down incoming projectiles.
The past has a funny way of re-inventing itself, says McMaster.
“I never had to look up in my whole career and say, ‘Is it friendly or enemy?’ because of theU.S.Air Force. We have to do that now,” said McMaster. “Our Air Force gave us an unprecedented period of air supremacy…that changed the dynamics of ground combat. Now, you can’t bank on that.”
Karber’s track record for accuracy is less than perfect, as writer Jeffrey Lewis has pointed out in Foreign Policy. At various points, he has inflated estimates of China’s nuclear arsenal from some 300 weapons (based on declassified estimates) to 3,000 squirreled away in mysterious tunnels, a claim that many were able to quickly debunk. In 2014, he helped pass photos to Sen. James Inhofe of the Senate Armed Services Committee that purported to be recent images of Russian forces inside Ukraine. It turned out they were AP photographs from 2008.
“In the haste of running for the airport and trying to respond to a last-minute request with short time fuse,” Karber said by way of explanation, “I made the mistake of believing we were talking about the same photos … and it never occurred to me that the three photos of Russian armor were part of that package or being considered.”
As the current debate about the authorization for the use of force in Iraq shows, the commitment of large numbers of U.S. ground troops to conflict has become a political nonstarter for both parties. In lieu of a political willingness to put troops in the fight, multi-sectarian, multi-ethnic forces will take the lead, just as they are doing now in Iraq and Syria.
http://www.allselfsustained.com/u-s-war-russia-rude-cold-awakening/
Stunning advancements in ground warfare tactics and technology have given Russia a decisive advantage over the US in ground warfare capability; right now, the US would lose a ground war. Such is the essence of Lt. General H.R. McMaster’s analysis of US ground force readiness as determined by analyzing what Russia has achieved in Ukraine.
Reactive armor and cross-domain fire capabilities are just some of the items on the Army’s must-have list.
When Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster briefs, it’s like Gen. Patton giving a TED talk — a domineering physical presence with bristling intellectual intensity.
These days, the charismatic director of the Army’s Capabilities Integration Center is knee-deep in a project called The Russia New Generation Warfare study, an analysis of how Russia is re-inventing land warfare in the mud of Eastern Ukraine. Speaking recently at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., McMaster said that the two-year-old conflict had revealed that the Russians have superior artillery firepower, better combat vehicles, and have learned sophisticated use of UAVs for tactical effect. Should U.S. forces find themselves in a land war with Russia, he said, they would be in for a rude, cold awakening.
“We spend a long time talking about winning long-range missile duels,” said McMaster. But long-range missiles only get you through the front door. The question then becomes what will you do when you get there.
“Look at the enemy countermeasures,” he said, noting Russia’s use of nominally semi-professional forces who are capable of “dispersion, concealment, intermingling with civilian populations…the ability to disrupt our network strike capability, precision navigation and timing capabilities.” All of that means “you’re probably going to have a close fight… Increasingly, close combat overmatch is an area we’ve neglected, because we’ve taken it for granted.”
So how do you restore overmatch? The recipe that’s emerging from the battlefield of Ukraine, says McMaster, is more artillery and better artillery, a mix of old and new.
Cross-Domain Fires
“We’re out-ranged by a lot of these systems and they employ improved conventional munitions, which we are going away from. There will be a 40- to 60-percent reduction in lethality in the systems that we have,” he said. “Remember that we already have fewer artillery systems. Now those fewer artillery systems will be less effective relative to the enemy. So we need to do something on that now.”To remedy that, McMaster is looking into a new area called “cross domain fires,” which would outfit ground units to hit a much wider array of targets. “When an Army fires unit arrives somewhere, it should be able to do surface-to-air, surface-to-surface, and shore-to-ship capabilities. We are developing that now and there are some really promising capabilities,” he said.
While the full report has not been made public, “a lot of this is available open source” said McMaster, “in the work that Phil Karber has done, for example.”
Karber, the president of the Potomac Foundation, went on a fact-finding mission to Ukraine last year, and returned with the conclusion that the United States had long overemphasized precision artillery on the battlefield at the expense of mass fires. Since the 1980s, he said last October, at an Association for the United States Army event, the U.S. has given up its qualitative edge, mostly by getting rid of cluster munitions.
Munitions have advanced incredibly since then. One of the most terrifying weapons that the Russians are using on the battlefield are thermobaric warheads, weapons that are composed almost entirely of fuel and burn longer and with more intensity than other types of munitions.
Karber also noted that Russian forces made heavy and integrated use of electronic warfare. It’s used to identify fire sources and command posts and to shut down voice and data communications. In the northern section, he said, “every single tactical radio [the Ukrainian forces] had was taken out by heavy Russian sector-wide EW.” Other EW efforts had taken down Ukrainian quadcopters. Another system was being used to mess with the electrical fuses on Ukrainian artillery shells, ”so when they hit, they’re duds,” he said.“In a 3-minute period…a Russian fire strike wiped out two mechanized battalions [with] a combination of top-attack munitions and thermobaric warheads,” said Karber. “If you have not experienced or seen the effects of thermobaric warheads, start taking a hard look. They might soon be coming to a theater near you.”
Karber also said the pro-Russian troops in Donbas were using an overlapping mobile radar as well as a new man-portable air defense that’s “integrated into their network and can’t be spoofed by [infrared] decoys” or flares.
Combat Vehicles and Defenses
The problems aren’t just with rockets and shells, McMaster said. Even American combat vehicles have lost their edge.If the war in Eastern Ukraine were a real-world test, the Russian T-90 tank passed with flying colors. The tank had seen action in Dagestan and Syria, but has been particularly decisive in Ukraine. The Ukrainians, Karber said, “have not been able to record one single kill on a T-90. They have the new French optics on them. The Russians actually designed them to take advantage of low light, foggy, winter conditions.”“The Bradley [Fighting Vehicle] is great,” he said, but “what we see now is that our enemies have caught up to us. They’ve invested in combat vehicles. They’ve invested in advanced protective systems and active protective systems. We’ve got to get back ahead on combat vehicle development.”
What makes the T-90 so tough? For starters, explosive reactive armor. When you fire a missile at the tank, its skin of metal plates and explosives reacts. The explosive charge clamps the plates together so the rocket can’t pierce the hull.
But that’s only if the missile gets close enough. The latest thing in vehicle defense is active protection systems, or APS, which automatically spot incoming shells and target them with electronic jammers or just shoot them down. “It might use electronics to ‘confuse’ an incoming round, or it might use mass (outgoing bullets, rockets) to destroy the incoming round before it gets too close,” Army director for basic research Jeff Singleton told Defense One in an email.
The T-90’s active protective system is the Shtora-1 countermeasures suite.
The Pentagon is well behind some other militaries on this research. Israeli forces declared its TrophyAPS operational in 2009, integrated it onto tanks since 2010, and has been using it to protect Israeli tank soldiers from Hamas rockets ever since.“I’ve interviewed Ukrainian tank gunners,” said Karber. “They’ll say ‘I had my [anti-tank weapon] right on it, it got right up to it and then they had this miraculous shield. An invisible shield. Suddenly, my anti-tank missile just went up to the sky.’”
Singleton said the United States is looking to give its Abrams tank the Trophy, which uses buckshot-like guns to down incoming fire without harming nearby troops.
The Army is also experimenting with the Israeli-made Iron Curtain APS for the Stryker, which works similarly, and one for the Bradley that has yet to be named. Raytheon has a system called the Quick Kill that uses a scanned array radar and a small missile to shoot down incoming projectiles.
Anti-Drone Defenses
One of the defining features of the war in Eastern Ukraine is the use of drones by both sides, not to target high-value terrorists but to direct fire in the same way forces used the first combat aircraft in World War I.The past has a funny way of re-inventing itself, says McMaster.
“I never had to look up in my whole career and say, ‘Is it friendly or enemy?’ because of theU.S.Air Force. We have to do that now,” said McMaster. “Our Air Force gave us an unprecedented period of air supremacy…that changed the dynamics of ground combat. Now, you can’t bank on that.”
Pro-Russian forces use as many as 16 types of UAVs for targeting.
Russian forces are known to have “a 90-kilometer [Multiple Launch Rocket System] round, that goes out, parachute comes up, a UAV pops out, wings unfold, and they fly it around, it can strike a mobile target” said Karber, who said he wasn’t sure it had yet been used in Ukraine.Karber’s track record for accuracy is less than perfect, as writer Jeffrey Lewis has pointed out in Foreign Policy. At various points, he has inflated estimates of China’s nuclear arsenal from some 300 weapons (based on declassified estimates) to 3,000 squirreled away in mysterious tunnels, a claim that many were able to quickly debunk. In 2014, he helped pass photos to Sen. James Inhofe of the Senate Armed Services Committee that purported to be recent images of Russian forces inside Ukraine. It turned out they were AP photographs from 2008.
“In the haste of running for the airport and trying to respond to a last-minute request with short time fuse,” Karber said by way of explanation, “I made the mistake of believing we were talking about the same photos … and it never occurred to me that the three photos of Russian armor were part of that package or being considered.”
No Foolproof Technological Solution
All of these technologies could shape the future battlefield, but none of them are silver bullets, nor do they, in McMaster’s view, offset the importance of human beings in gaining territory, holding territory, and changing facts on the ground to align with mission objectives.As the current debate about the authorization for the use of force in Iraq shows, the commitment of large numbers of U.S. ground troops to conflict has become a political nonstarter for both parties. In lieu of a political willingness to put troops in the fight, multi-sectarian, multi-ethnic forces will take the lead, just as they are doing now in Iraq and Syria.
Sometimes that happens at the end of a tank gun…“What’s necessary is political accommodation, is what needs to happen, if we don’t conduct operations and plan campaigns in a way that gets to the political accommodation,” he said. “The most important activity will be to broker political ceasefires and understandings.”
http://www.allselfsustained.com/u-s-war-russia-rude-cold-awakening/
Today at 5:28 pm by Rocky
» utube MM&C 4/16/24 IQD Update - Iraq Dinar - America - Activate - Massive Economic Deals -
Today at 5:24 pm by Rocky
» Al-Sudani urges the US corporation Honeywell to help finish the Basra refinery
Today at 2:48 pm by Rocky
» Al-Sudani Meets with Representatives of Western Media Outlets in Washington
Today at 2:46 pm by Rocky
» Chairman of the Investment Authority signs the United Nations Convention on International Mediation
Today at 2:44 pm by Rocky
» PM: We will sign a contract to establish the Al-Faw refinery with a Chinese company
Today at 2:42 pm by Rocky
» PM arrives in Houston as part of his visit to USA
Today at 2:41 pm by Rocky
» Militia Man & Crew 4/18/24 Bush signed it and all presidents implemented it. Iraq’s funds have been
Today at 1:46 pm by Rocky
» Association of Iraqi Private Banks: The suspension of some electronic payment services yesterday was
Today at 7:14 am by Rocky
» Iraq is close to launching the electronic signature
Today at 7:12 am by Rocky
» The Basra government discusses with an international oil company the implementation of social benefi
Today at 7:11 am by Rocky
» The Prime Minister confirms to an American company: Gas projects in Iraq are a priority for the gove
Today at 7:10 am by Rocky
» The Minister of Planning discusses with the World Bank mechanisms for scheduling external loans
Today at 7:09 am by Rocky
» Oil sets the twenty-seventh of this month as the date for opening contracts for the fifth complement
Today at 7:08 am by Rocky
» “Electronic begging”...professionalism and fabrication of stories” generates millions of dinars dail
Today at 7:05 am by Rocky
» Al-Sudani calls on the American company Hanwell to contribute to the completion of the Basra refiner
Today at 7:03 am by Rocky
» An American company expresses its willingness to establish LED lighting production lines in Iraq
Today at 7:02 am by Rocky
» Including Iraq.. Iran announces the possibility of exporting 300 megawatts of “renewable electricity
Today at 7:01 am by Rocky
» Political forces present two options to find an alternative to Al-Halbousi
Today at 6:58 am by Rocky
» Parliament is awaiting the arrival of the budget schedules and the government is studying higher spe
Today at 6:56 am by Rocky
» The International Monetary Fund adjusts its expectations for the development of the world’s economie
Today at 6:54 am by Rocky
» A representative talks about the difficulty of finalizing the file of “electing the Speaker of Parli
Today at 6:50 am by Rocky
» Work on preparing a law for diplomatic passports
Today at 6:49 am by Rocky
» A female representative accuses the Ministry of Immigration of corruption
Today at 6:47 am by Rocky
» Minister: Solving the Kurdistan salaries problem is the beginning of addressing other disputes betwe
Today at 6:45 am by Rocky
» About 270 million dollars were sold by the Central Bank of Iraq in the currency auction
Today at 6:42 am by Rocky
» The volume of trade exchange between Jordan and Iraq will exceed 800 million dinars in 2023
Today at 6:41 am by Rocky
» Iraq signs memorandums of understanding with American companies in the fields of electricity, oil an
Today at 5:31 am by Rocky
» The American company that manufactures the F16 expresses its readiness to implement the terms of con
Today at 5:30 am by Rocky
» The volume of expected Qatari investments for the Iraq Fund for Development exceeds $3.5 billion
Today at 5:29 am by Rocky
» Decrease in dollar prices in Baghdad and Erbil
Today at 5:27 am by Rocky
» The President of the Region brings together the Kurdish parties to resolve the election file
Today at 5:26 am by Rocky
» Al-Sudani receives in Washington the Chairman of JPMorgan
Today at 5:25 am by Rocky
» Transport is starting to transform its ports into smart ones
Today at 5:23 am by Rocky
» Sudanese reveals the volume of exchange with America
Today at 5:22 am by Rocky
» "Al-Eqtisad News" publishes the memorandums of understanding signed between the Iraqi delegation and
Today at 5:21 am by Rocky
» Al-Sudani urges an American company to contribute to establishing a chemical materials factory
Today at 5:20 am by Rocky
» Iraq stresses the importance of Lockheed Martin's commitment to opening military aircraft maintenanc
Today at 5:19 am by Rocky
» Iraq is on the verge of a “water disaster” by 2035
Today at 5:18 am by Rocky
» Great satisfaction and optimism with the results of Sudanese’s visit to Washington
Today at 5:16 am by Rocky
» Transport is beginning to adopt a plan to transform its ports into smart ones
Today at 5:15 am by Rocky
» Completed 8,000 loan transactions at the Housing Bank
Today at 5:14 am by Rocky
» Prime Minister: We plan to invest production capacities for export
Today at 5:12 am by Rocky
» Transformation and partnership...a new horizon in Iraqi-American relations
Today at 5:10 am by Rocky
» What is new in the economic dimension of the Washington visit?
Today at 5:09 am by Rocky
» Two letters to the future
Today at 5:08 am by Rocky
» National interests first
Today at 5:06 am by Rocky
» Iraqi-American rapprochement...a national necessity
Today at 5:05 am by Rocky
» Al-Sudani’s visit to Washington and the course of Iraqi-American relations
Today at 5:04 am by Rocky
» Sudanese carries security, economic and development files to Washington
Today at 5:03 am by Rocky
» Armament and military development... features of a sustainable partnership
Today at 5:02 am by Rocky
» Analysts: Sudanese's visit to Washington will achieve excellent results in the future
Today at 5:01 am by Rocky
» Iraqi-American relations...the legacy of the past and the aspirations of partnership
Today at 5:00 am by Rocky
» Sudanese and external necessities
Today at 4:59 am by Rocky
» The Strategic Framework Agreement... 7 important provisions
Today at 4:58 am by Rocky
» Joint statement of the Iraqi-American discussions
Today at 4:56 am by Rocky
» Supreme Coordinating Committee: Iraq's role is vital to the security and prosperity of the region
Today at 4:55 am by Rocky
» Towards an effective bilateral economic relationship between Baghdad and Washington
Today at 4:53 am by Rocky
» She saw it as a new, different chapter in Iraqi-American relations... Al-Sudani’s visit to Washingto
Today at 4:52 am by Rocky
» Al-Sudani’s visit to Washington.. Implications and results
Today at 4:51 am by Rocky
» Advisor to the Prime Minister: The relationship with America has moved to the stage of cooperation
Today at 4:50 am by Rocky
» Sudanese sponsors the signing ceremony of memorandums of understanding in America
Today at 4:47 am by Rocky
» Al-Sudani: The volume of exchange between Iraq and the United States does not exceed 10 billion doll
Today at 4:46 am by Rocky
» During Erdogan's visit on Monday, Iraq seeks to sign the "Water Protocol" with Türkiye
Today at 4:45 am by Rocky
» With the escalation of tension between Tehran and Tel Aviv...an expert reveals the secrets of Sudane
Today at 4:43 am by Rocky
» There are 150 draft laws on the parliament table waiting to be voted on... and the debates require c
Today at 4:42 am by Rocky
» Al-Sudani stresses the necessity of continuing the dialogue with the US Treasury, the Federal Reserv
Today at 4:41 am by Rocky
» Deputy: We reject the term sanctions, and Iraq is financially independent
Today at 4:38 am by Rocky
» Warnings of a “political impasse” after Barzani’s boycott of the elections... Al-Sadr raises questio
Today at 4:37 am by Rocky
» The head of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s representative office in Baghdad visits the external
Today at 4:36 am by Rocky
» Al-Sudani: There are no combat forces in Iraq to withdraw.. The Iraqi Prime Minister confirmed in Wa
Today at 4:34 am by Rocky
» Do the Iraqi political blocs really intend to hold the second early elections?
Today at 4:33 am by Rocky
» Baghdad is not aware of the factions’ participation in the attack on Israel, and Washington is revie
Today at 4:32 am by Rocky
» Progress: Al-Halbousi may return to the presidency of Parliament
Today at 4:30 am by Rocky
» Al-Sudani: Iraq has distinguished relations with Iran and America
Today at 4:30 am by Rocky
» Minister of Industry: Iraq is not a rich country and the electricity problem will not be solved even
Today at 4:29 am by Rocky
» A prospective law to employ prisoners and detainees... job and retirement opportunities similar to E
Today at 4:27 am by Rocky
» Sako in Baghdad.. Three possible scenarios for his return after the “withdrawal of the decree” crisi
Today at 4:26 am by Rocky
» Parliamentary Integrity reveals a move with the judiciary to recover TBI Bank’s funds
Today at 4:24 am by Rocky
» Iraq signs 18 memorandums of understanding with Washington
Today at 4:22 am by Rocky
» An Iraqi judicial delegation arrives in Syria to discuss terrorism files and document ISIS crimes
Today at 4:21 am by Rocky
» A plan to exploit new lands...the latest developments in the wheat, barley and rice season in Iraq
Today at 4:19 am by Rocky
» Al-Abadi accuses oil companies of causing 70% of the cancer rate in Basra
Today at 4:17 am by Rocky
» Justice announces the formation of a higher committee to resolve the state’s real estate file
Today at 4:16 am by Rocky
» Deputy: Iraq seeks to sign the “Water Protocol” with Türkiye
Today at 4:15 am by Rocky
» Al-Sudani stresses the importance of the American company Lockheed’s commitment to opening military
Today at 4:13 am by Rocky
» The team accompanying Sudanese in Washington: America will hand over to Iraq the antiquities that we
Today at 4:12 am by Rocky
» Al-Sudani sponsors the signing ceremony of memorandums of understanding with American companies
Yesterday at 3:38 pm by Rocky
» MM&C 4/17/24 Saleh: The budget tables are almost complete and will take into account urgent circu
Yesterday at 3:36 pm by Rocky
» Saleh: Private banks in Iraq are considering reorganizing themselves with another government structu
Yesterday at 3:33 pm by Rocky
» Al-Sudani: It is not possible to work in any development sector without reforming the banking sector
Yesterday at 3:32 pm by Rocky
» Minister of Oil: Kurdistan’s exports will soon resume, and the region must hand over its oil to SOMO
Yesterday at 3:30 pm by Rocky
» An economic expert identifies ways for Iraq to get out of oil rents... starting with $350 million
Yesterday at 3:29 pm by Rocky
» Parliamentary Oil: A proposal to establish Iraqi refineries in neighboring countries... and these ar
Yesterday at 3:28 pm by Rocky
» Al-Ardawi: The Sudanese government seeks to liberalize the Iraqi dinar and stabilize the economy
Yesterday at 3:27 pm by Rocky
» MM&C 4/17/24 Al-Sudani receives in Washington the Chairman of JPMorgan
Yesterday at 2:41 pm by Rocky
» MM&C 4/17/24 US Supports Iraq in joining WTO
Yesterday at 2:36 pm by Rocky
» US Supports Iraq in joining WTO
Yesterday at 10:17 am by Rocky
» utube 4/14/24 MM&C Iraqi Dinar - Iraq Prime Minister in Washington - Coming to
Yesterday at 8:58 am by Rocky