Cutting Edge Weapons are Being Sent to Ukraine By the US and Britain, But Is It What They Really Need? – Opinion

Ukraine got some welcome news on Sunday when the British government announced it would send arguably the best Man Portable Air Defense System (and you thought MANPADS was something to do with transsexuals, didn’t you?)

Perhaps the weapon system is the answer to keeping Russian fixed and rotary-winged planes out of combat space.

British -made anti-aircraft missiles are about to be deployed by Ukraine in the conflict for the first time, threatening to heap further humiliation on Vladimir Putin over his disastrous invasion.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told The Mail on Sunday that the Starstreak system – a shoulder-mounted missile that travels at more than three times the speed of sound to take down low-flying enemy jets – was ready to be used imminently.

(Watch the video to savor the narrator’s accent, if nothing else).

Some state-of the-art equipment is available from the USA.

As part of a massive military aid package announced Wednesday, the Biden administration is providing Ukraine with U.S.-made killer drones — cutting-edge guided missiles that could accurately target Russian troops from miles away — two congressional officials briefed on the matter told NBC News.

The White House referred to the weapons in a fact sheet on the aid package as “100 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems.” NBC News reported exclusively Tuesday that this move was under consideration.

The Switchblade 300 is a variant of this weapon. It was also sold by AeroVironment to the U.S. Special Operations Command, which is based near Washington. The 300 can be used to strike personnel with pinpoint accuracy, while the 600 will destroy armored vehicles and tanks. Officials from the Congressional were unsure which version would be given to Ukraine or if both versions would be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehm-NRdjMPY

The Ukrainian Army will welcome both of these weapons. Starstreak will make life Hobbesian (“solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”) for aircraft flying below about 15,000 feet. Switchblade will cause havoc on Russian artillery and resupply lines. The question now isn’t what NATO will give Ukraine but which weapons and why.

The Russian troops pulled back significantly along the northern front today. As US “officials” are so fond of saying, these units are not withdrawing; they are repositioning. DC’s big brain thinkers are all investing in Russia and the Donbas to maintain their gains. The Donbas will be used by Putin to distract from the Ukrainian troops being pulled there and then go after Kiev. Whatever Putin’s next move, it will look very much like the one before.

Putin has used about 75% of the Russian Army’s maneuver units in this campaign. They were mauled. This is not to say they haven’t dealt damage themselves to the Ukrainian Army as well as the casual damage to cities and the killing of civilians, only that vehicle and personnel losses are pushing those units into combat ineffectiveness. The next two weeks will be spent integrating new soldiers and replacing equipment in the units that are now withdrawing to Russia and Belarus. These soldiers could be former war veterans, members of disintegrated units or even some of Putin’s 100,000 reservists who are being called to active duty. The soldiers will move laterally by rail to Donbas after the rebuilding. With the rebuilt units, Donbas draftees (Putin’s fake republics have increased their maximum age of conscription to 65), and new units pulled in from other parts of Russia, a new offensive will kick-off. This offensive will expand Donetsk/Luhansk territory, and create a landbridge to Crimea.

Ukraine will be given two weeks to refocus and determine how to face the challenges. Training the Ukrainian army to win the war’s second phase and winning it will be part of this challenge.

According to me, the Ukrainian army needs Surface-to-Air Missiles systems (SAM) that can penetrate Belarus and counter Russia’s attempts at attacking that country. The Ukrainian Army needs new tanks and infantry fighting cars to enable it to generate the shock effect and mobility required for decisive actions. The Russian Navy will find it more exciting to have anti-ship weapons. Also, they need the famous MiG-29s to ensure that the Ukrainian Air Force can, together with SAMs and SAMs create an air superiority or even air supremacy. NATO members who were once part of the Warsaw Pact had SAMs, tanks and aircraft which are well-known to Ukrainian troops. They can then be activated before Russia begins its Phase II offensive.

If you look carefully at the weapons we’ve sent to Ukraine so far; they’ve been totally defensive. But you can’t win a war based on defense alone. When defense is used for offensive purposes, it can only be a prelude to defeat. Ukraine cannot win with Javelin and Starstreak or Switchblade. It can only hold its ground, wait for Russia’s interest to wane, and then lose it. The Ukrainian Army grows more dependent or foot-bound on commandeered civilian vehicles every day.

More than two weeks have passed since Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin traveled to NATO ally Slovakia, where he discussed transferring that country’s most advanced air defense system to Ukraine. But as Russian missiles continue to rain down on Ukrainian hospitals, schools and apartment buildings, there’s no visible progress. The result is that Congress has lost patience, and Ukrainians are suffering from loss of life.

Standing next to Austin in Bratislava on March 17, Slovakian Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad’ said his country was ready to transfer the Russian-made S-300 missile defense system, which the Ukrainians know how to operate, “immediately.” Compared to what Ukrainian forces have now, the S-300 could cover more ground and intercept more advanced incoming aircraft and missiles, potentially saving a lot of civilians. Nad’s one condition was that the United States should replace Slovakia’s S-300 with another missile defense system at least as capable. Austin offered no commitments beyond continuing negotiations with NATO partners.

Two weeks later, U.S. lawmakers and Ukrainians are wondering why there’s no movement. Bulgaria and Greece, both NATO member countries with S-300 system, are not open to direct military aid for Ukraine. Slovakia is available to help. So, what’s the holdup?

“The transfer of any system is being closely scrutinized by the White House and National Security Council as to whether or not it meets their test of what’s escalatory and what’s not,” a senior congressional aide told me. “That’s causing the system to be constipated.”

This “afraid to make Putin mad” impulse in a White House that is bracing itself for what is on Hunter Biden’s laptop and the compromising material that is undoubtedly in possession of Putin’s FSB is what Jack Keane was discussing on Fox News recently.

The bottom line. This is the beginning of a new phase in the war. The initial Russian attack has burned itself out (Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Reaches Its Culmination Point and Zelensky Plays Hardball in the Peace Negotiations). They are being pulled back from the lines by Zelensky to rebuild in safer areas. At the same time, Ukraine is building units and absorbing “home guard” outfits raised by Zelensky’s call for levee en masse. This next phase should last approximately two weeks. The next phase will see Ukraine trying to transform its army away from being a Territorial Defense Forces-based force to one that is capable of decisive action. To keep Russian drones and aircraft from reaching its skies, it needs to have air defense. NATO will not supply the necessary weapons systems if this war goes to a standstill. We should not want that.

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