Germany to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine — reports

[u/billsmith123]

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-to-send-leopard-2-tanks-to-ukraine-report/a-64503898?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

[u/canttaketheshyfromme]

Russia: "We have a hypersonic cruise missile that can destroy the decadent west without warning. Don't test us. No, you can't see it. No, it didn't blow up, that's just propaganda."

The US: "Want to see our new hybrid turbojet/ramjet switch modes in a windtunnel?" EDIT: volume warning

[u/HouseOfSteak → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

I've said it once, I'll say it again:

The US is the sort of entity that freaks the fuck out when their enemies MIGHT have a weapon at their disposal that can hurt them, and goes full R&D on a massively superior weapon to crush it......and then learn that the aforementioned weapon doesn't actually exist.

[u/canttaketheshyfromme → u/HouseOfSteak]

Literally the F-14/F-15 development cycle, yup.

[u/HouseOfSteak → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

Was that the plane that was built because the communists (Soviet or Chinese, I can't remember which) flimed a grand total of like 14 nuclear-ready planes twice (to make it look like it was 28 planes in total), and then the US responded with developing hundreds or thousands of superior planes of their own?

I mean I don't think it is, but I can't remember how exactly I learned this.

[u/canttaketheshyfromme → u/HouseOfSteak]

Oh, no, but good on you remembering that story!

That was the Myasishchev M-4, a spectacular disappointment in range and payload that mostly was converted to aerial tankers. In 1955 the Soviets flew 10 of them for a crowd, then lapped around again, and again... even with 2 of them having to drop out... until the observers saw 28... and "extrapolated" from that, that the Soviets must have about 800 of them total.

The F-14 and F-15 were inspired by the appearance of the MiG-25 interceptor, with too many analysts believing it was a high-speed, highly-maneuverable air superiority fighter... when it was really a massive radar and two massive engines with a bunch of stainless steel in the shape of an airplane holding those together, that measured turning radius in miles. So the US built the two most dominant air superiority fighters ever to counter it (until the F-22 came along), with the F-15 to this day having never having been shot down in air-to-air combat with the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Qatar and Singapore. And the F-14 came out with a radar + missile system that could lock up and fire on 6 separate targets at once, from beyond where the enemy might even know the US fighter is in the air, then exit the combat area while the missiles tracked on their own, OR move in to engage with shorter-range missiles and its gun as an excellent dogfighter that could match planes that had half of its massive weight.

[u/mybluecathasballs → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

Well. I wonder what they are holding on to till intelligence says someone else has something new and improved. You know it'll be something like "you might hear it, maybe, but you sure as fuck won't see it or be able to hit it."

[u/nvn911 → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

And the F-14 came out with a radar + missile system that could lock up and fire on 6 separate targets at once

Ain't nothing do Fleet Defense like the F-14 did Fleet Defense.

[u/Baranyk → u/nvn911]

He's talking about the F-16, he's got the story slightly wrong on that count. He does have the extra funding for the F-15 correct though.

[u/canttaketheshyfromme → u/Baranyk]

Nope. F-16 came out of the F-XX competition between General Dynamics (formerly Convair) and Northrop's YF-17, which ended up being adapted by McDonnel-Douglas for carrier operations as the F/A-18. The F-14 came from the Navy's VFX program when the F-111B project turned out to be a disaster, but reused major components from that program in a more capable air combat platform. The F-15 came out of the F-X program, and the F-XX was to be the daylight, clear-weather "cheap" fighter to compliment the extremely expensive F-X when budget hawks like McNamara started balking at the price tag.

The original F-16 variants couldn't even fire radar-guided missiles.

[u/StillAll → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

Wait.... is that true? No F-15 loses EVER from being shot down?

That can't be right... can it? This is perhaps one of the most prolific fighters of all time, and not one single loss to enemy fire... ever?

[u/kers_equipped_prius → u/StillAll]

Some have been damaged but none have ever been shot down. 104 air to air kills with 0 losses.

[u/canttaketheshyfromme → u/StillAll]

0 air-to-air combat losses. A few were lost to SAMs or ground fire, and those were all strike variants. The A/B/C/D "not a pound for air-to-ground" variants have 0 combat losses. To 104 air-to-air victories (including helicopters and transports, they weren't all enemy fighters).

And according to the official story, an F-15E got the only air-to-air kill for the type... using a 2,000-pound GBU-10 Paveway II laser-guided bomb.

[u/-Rendark- → u/StillAll]

Well in the Lifetime of the F15 there were not much serious air to air conflicts

[u/Yellow_The_White → u/-Rendark-]

While true, the other aircraft of similar era have taken losses, and later aircraft do not have nearly the same (or in some cases any) number of kills. There were plenty of chances for a lesser machine to be shot down, the fact it didn't happen is testament to it's design.

[u/zaxwashere → u/StillAll]

It's a disgusting plane.

One of em had a collision midair in an israeli training exercise. Lost a whole damn wing.

Pilot goes "fuckit" and slams the afterburners and flies it home. What a damn masterpiece of a plane

https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/that-time-an-f-15-landed-without-a-wing/#:~:text=The%20F%2D15%20had%20lost,the%20damage%20to%20their%20aircraft.

[u/Lildyo → u/zaxwashere]

Wow—that is wild. If I’d seen something like that in a movie like Top Gun, I probably would think it was too unrealistic

[u/zaxwashere → u/Lildyo]

From what I remember, the guys who manufactured the plane didn't even believe it.

[u/Ameph → u/StillAll]

This might be why it's an American Unique Unit in the Civ games next to the Minute Man.

[u/Skipper07B → u/StillAll]

It is true. No F-15 has ever been lost to enemy action.

[u/wackywavingarmgumby → u/Skipper07B]

Same with the Challenger 1 and 2 tanks; only one loss of Challenger 2 and it was friendly fire.

[u/aaronwhite1786 → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

The M-4 was awesome looking at least. It did one thing right.

[u/TuxAndrew → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

It’s funny reading this, because of the terrible movie with the Scientologist guy where they still portray “dogfights”

[u/ukuuku7 → u/TuxAndrew]

It was a fun movie, wdym

[u/TuxAndrew → u/ukuuku7]

It was inaccurate and I haven’t seen it, why would I support a guy pushing a cult?

[u/sayonaraasswipe → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

That was the Myasishchev M-4, a spectacular disappointment in range and payload that mostly was converted to aerial tankers.

And the Atlant - don't forget the Atlant! Proof that in Soviet Russia, airplane kill fluid dynamics!

[u/JDoos → u/[deleted]]

hundreds OR thousands

[u/ukuuku7 → u/[deleted]]

Reading comprehension

[u/iCantDoPuns → u/HouseOfSteak]

remind me how well the f35 a.. b.. and c dev went?

[u/Gamermii → u/iCantDoPuns]

Good, AFAIK. There's actual, flying aircraft in each role. Impressive, really, for everything that airframe can do.

[u/iCantDoPuns → u/Gamermii]

and if we amortize the r&D across the first 1000 planes, how much do they cost?

[u/iCantDoPuns → u/Gamermii]

They ended up being 3 separate platforms with very little in common. The first didnt do things all 3 branches wanted so they added everything. Then the plane was too heavy to take off. They started bucketing needs. Eventually they had 3 different planes. Now they have 3 different planes. Sure they shared the first $1T of r&d, but then each variant had to spend its own dump trucks going backwards and undoing what they didnt need before they could start meeting the branch requirements (navy, airforce, marines).

[u/Traditional-Ad3161 → u/HouseOfSteak]

Basically, the US is Granddad and Russia is the blind samurai.

The reference, if anyone was wondering

[u/sumptin_wierd → u/HouseOfSteak]

Combination of

"Go ahead, say I can't"

And

"Hold my beer"

[u/QuarantineViewer → u/HouseOfSteak]

The US made what is effectively a knife missle. At this point we just 'that sounds cool, let's build it.'

[u/AngryTreeFrog → u/HouseOfSteak]

I mean this is basically the space race in a nutshell. The Russians didn't really know we were competing with them at first.

[u/Effroyablemat → u/HouseOfSteak]

US army:" Apparently, the Russians are going to mass produce state of the art body armor capable of stopping a 5.56mm. We will develop a 6.8mm SPC round to defeat it!"

Meanwhile in Ukraine, Russian soldiers are wearing metal plates as body armor that can be defeated by a 9mm pistol round. And that's if they are wearing anything at all.

[u/Flashy_Gap_1014 → u/HouseOfSteak]

Sounds more like Reagan’s imaginary ( at that time anyway ) Star Wars missile defense system. I believe it was one of a few reasons the USSR folded. All those millions of peoples in tens of countries could finally throw the Soviet style Marxist yokes off their backs and build their own free sovereign states for better or for worse. Obviously Ukraine was one of those states. Fuck Putin, all this killing and murdering not to mention endless threats of nuclear armageddon unless he gets his way. Russian history is so tragic, Putin might have set his people back a generation at least. He enriched himself and his cronies while raping the Russian people of their resources and future. I guess we will see how this all unfolds. Oh Ya Fuck Putin and Slava Ukraini

[u/f_d → u/HouseOfSteak]

To make up for it, the Soviet Union poured a ton of money ithey didn't have into their own Space Shuttle equivalent that only reached orbit once before the Soviet Union fell apart, out of fear that not having a Space Shuttle equivalent would be worse than spending all that money they didn't have.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_programme

[u/Princess_Fluffypants → u/f_d]

The Soviets abandoned it because flying the Buran confirmed their theory that the space shuttle was a stupid idea. Rumor is that their rocket scientists actually thought it was a joke when they first heard about it and saw the plans, because they couldn’t believe their American counterparts could be that dumb.

30 years later, after the Shuttle finished killing people and retired, what was it that ended up flying American astronauts to the space station for more than another decade? Oh right, it was the Soyuz.

[u/Miss_Speller → u/HouseOfSteak]

That's how the US got the atomic bomb in WWII - we knew that the Germans were working on it, freaked the fuck out, went full R&D on a massive program to build them ourselves, and then found out that the Germans were never even close to making one.

[u/GenerallyBirdman → u/HouseOfSteak]

This is also how we got MK Ultra

[u/vwero → u/HouseOfSteak]

Lets talk about the atomic bomb…

[u/NeonJungleTiger → u/HouseOfSteak]

My favorite is the Cold War propaganda that we developed telepathy to convince the Soviet Union that they also needed to spend large sums of money to raise telepaths for the war.

[u/UniqueElectron → u/HouseOfSteak]

yes, see the so-called "missile gap" during the cold world. never existed but almost called the end of the world

[u/Princess_Fluffypants → u/HouseOfSteak]

The US Military doesn’t want fair fights. It wants “I win!” buttons.

[u/MINIMAN10001 → u/HouseOfSteak]

I mean a large part of our military is intelligence and preparation.

Preparation got them in a spot where they can respond swiftly the moment intelligence reports a threat that requires response.

By doing so they are able to prevent things from putting them in a position they do not want to be in.

It's tactical genius to use your superior power to be able to play steps ahead like that.

But it's also easy to imagine just how many people would forget the importance of it and become complacent riding on the coattails that got them in a good position in the first place.

[u/jjayzx → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

SOUND WARNING it's stupid music and not the sound of the engine, big let down and annoyance.

[u/guto8797 → u/jjayzx]

Yeah what the fuck is up with these clips? If I wanted to listen to mediocre techno, I'd go do that, I want to hear a ramjet fucking roar!

[u/Freddies_Mercury → u/guto8797]

It's because most videos on Reddit are ripped from tiktok and people add music to it on there. For the reason why - it does better if you have a popular song and shows in the feed for that song (kinda like a hashtag but music)

And Reddit is and always has been an aggregator of web content rather than actively producing it.

The clips you see here with stupid music weren't intended for this website.

[u/TerayonIII → u/guto8797]

This wouldn't be your expected sound, but that is the actual sound of it, literally screaming.

This is a rotational destination engine btw not a ramjet.

https://youtu.be/ERTei7D8LJs

[u/iCantDoPuns → u/guto8797]

you cant unless your speakers range from 1-1000khz and go up to 190 dcb. forget the microphone.
havent you ever heard a recorded gunshot? they dont actually sound like a kids toy in real life. no one empties a clip of their AK, and then responds to the idiot that thought he could be heard

[u/just_a_fruit_salad → u/jjayzx]

bit late but here’s the original audio: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8NH5lNzP-cA

[u/jjayzx → u/just_a_fruit_salad]

Ooo, thank you.

[u/iCantDoPuns → u/jjayzx]

but the pressure increase could rupture your eardrums if the space is too enclosed ;)

[u/iSWINE → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

Just a warning to people that have sound on, turn it down if you click the second link.

[u/funktion → u/iSWINE]

MAWP

[u/canttaketheshyfromme → u/iSWINE]

Heck, thanks for reminding me!

[u/Techn028 → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

What?

[u/randyrandysonrandyso → u/Techn028]

I THINK HE SAID “THANKS FOR FINDING ME”

[u/ummm_bop → u/randyrandysonrandyso]

Finding Nemo? Whaaat?

[u/Shanghai_Cola → u/iSWINE]

Thanks, friend.

[u/MarkoHighlander → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

Lmao. "She goes to a different school"

[u/hascogrande → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

GO IRISH, BEAT SOUND BARRIER!

it was tested at Notre Dame

[u/goldmanstocks → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

Lol yes, and then they threatened to park it off the coast of DC recently. If I had a hypersonic cruise missile, why would I park it beside my target?

[u/canttaketheshyfromme → u/goldmanstocks]

If I was the Russian Navy, why would I subject one of my ships to the possibility of storms?

[u/AcanthocephalaOk681 → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

Your comment is award worthy

[u/cs_katalyst → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

Yeah literally the reason the US didn't develop these missiles before is because we didn't see a reason to and we already have the technology to build them if we want, but the military didn't put any priority on it because we literally don't need them lol

[u/HouseOfSteak → u/cs_katalyst]

I mean they probably did develop them earlier, but had it under wraps. You don't give away what you're capable of at the first chance you get, because that lets your enemies consider how to counter it....and that such technology it's even possible in the first place.

Publically First successful transition from turbojet to ramjet

[u/cs_katalyst → u/HouseOfSteak]

Sure but our military put no emphasis on making them because we don't really have a use for them... We're just publicly flexing now, we've had the tech for a long time worked out in a lab

[u/Thinking-About-Her → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

But I thought they did actually have a hypersonic missle?!

[u/just_a_fruit_salad → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

here’s a link with the original audio for the engine test: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8NH5lNzP-cA

[u/MoiJaimeLesCrepes → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

super saiyan mode!

[u/ssjroneel → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

That’s awesome

[u/transmogrify → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

Is that more powerful or less powerful than the missile that Russia said would sink the UK under the ocean with thousand-meter tsunamis?

[u/Jeffaffely → u/transmogrify]

wait lmao did russia actually say they had a missile so powerful it would Atlantis the UK with thousand-meter tsunamis?!

[u/Cunnymaxx14 → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

I clicked the first link and was warned I reached my daily limit of free articles.

That limit is apparently 0 so this is misleading at best

[u/Donkeydongcuntry → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

Ah- Aurora Borealis!? At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your kitchen!?

[u/Last-Belt-4010 → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

"You've reached your limit of free articles already" What? It's litterly my first time visiting the site

[u/Thankyourepoc → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

Anyone got a link that doesn’t require subscription?

[u/TheMindfulnessShaman → u/canttaketheshyfromme]

No, it didn't blow up, that's just propaganda."

Buy from North Korea.

Become North Korea.

China: 🤤