The Conservative Cave

Ukraine destroys Russia’s only flying test aircraft for airborne laser weapons

https://interestingengineering.com/military/ukraine-destroys-russia-laser-weapon-plane

A Ukrainian strike on an aircraft plant in southwestern Russia appears to have destroyed a rare Russian airborne laser testbed and at least one other advanced military aircraft, according to satellite imagery and reports from both sides.

The attack late Tuesday hit the Beriev aircraft manufacturing facility in Taganrog, a major center for Russia’s military aviation programs.
Videos posted on social media showed a large fire burning on the flight line, with one clip capturing an aircraft engulfed in flames.

Russia’s ‘one-of-a-kind’ laser test aircraft
Imagery reviewed after the strike shows that the burning airframe was the A-60, a one-of-a-kind Soviet-designed laser test aircraft built from an Il-76MD transport.

The destruction marks a significant blow to Russia, as the A-60 was the country’s only flying test platform for airborne laser weapons, a program whose current status had already been unclear.

Satellite images also show another aircraft destroyed nearby, likely a testbed for Russia’s A-100 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) project.

Putting the import of this in context, the Beriev A-50 is Russia's approximate equivalent of of the USAF AWACS. The A-50 is aging and a couple/few have been lost due to the Ukraine war (Russia only had a few). Their new AWACS platform is the A-100. Two have been built. One is undergoing test, and the other, the A-100LL destroyed, was their testbed for new equipment. Given Russia's problems with obtaining tech, replacing this A-100LL while fixing issues found in the existing A-100 will be challenging.

Laser weapons, of course, are still a development frontier. Losing their lone testbed will set back Russia's Laser R & D significantly.

The plant that was hit is, IIRC, one of two Russia has for servicing and upgrading the veberable Tu-95 "Bear", Russia's analog to the USAF's B-52. Tu-95s have been used, with some lost, against Ukraine.

All in all, this was a significant blow both to Putin's attempt to conquer Ukraine and to the future of the Russian military, benefitting pretty much the whole world.

Jilly_in_VA

Something just feels.. off...about the shooting of the National Guardsmen in DC

While the suspect did enter the US under Biden, he was given an asylum parole under Shitler. This almost feels like a false flag and an excuse for Shitler to ramp up up the military in DC and possibly declare martial law. It just stinks of fish somehow....

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220834707

Here we go.. 🙄

Is there a True-Blue DU member who hasn't cut off their family for not being a Prog-Dem?

They proudly brainwashed their children to be part of the collective. I guess the liberal N proud DUmbAss is similar to the Borg, but without the Borg's good nature.

As for the illegal orders stunt, I may be completely off base, but I told my wife the other day that their illegal orders video was a subliminal psyop type thing.

First, the DemonRat overlords and their propaganda arm (consisting of most of the MSM and many celebs) constantly call Trump Hitler and evil and a fascist, say he wants to be a dictator, and claim he can’t do what he’s doing because it’s wrong. With that, they have a little seed of doubt in the mind of some people (including some military members).

Then you have DemonRat overlords who have served in the military or intelligence community make a video that, on the face of it, is just telling people what the already know (that you should not obey unlawful orders) but, in actuality is watering a fertilizing the seed of doubt that was planted earlier. With some people who are not legal minded, that’s apt to lead to this thought process when a a completely legal order is given that he or she isn’t completely comfortable with…

Well, they say that he’s evil and a fascist and everything he does is wrong, and I’m just not comfortable with this order so it’s got to be illegal. It’s my duty to not obey it.

And the DemonRat overlords can play innocent and say that they didn't tell anyway to disobey legal orders.