- Russian military bloggers criticized Russian tactics in Ukraine, a US think tank said.
- They said Russian troops continue to gather in large groups, enabling drones to target them.
- Ukraine has used drones to counter Russia’s manpower and equipment advantages.
Russian troops are continuing to gather in large groups to attack Ukrainian positions despite it making them an easy target for drones, Russian milbloggers said, according to a report.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, said that influential Russian milbloggers were expressing frustration at tactical blunders by the Russian military.
According to the critics, Russia is forming groups of armored vehicles and troops to attack Ukrainian positions that are easily blown up from the air by exploding drones, said the ISW.
These bloggers are morons lol. Let me break down Russian Military Tactics they have used for centuries for them.
Russian Military Tactics 101:
Send massive wave after wave of men and equipment to their deaths until position is over run or war is declared over.
End tutorial.
Weapons optional
Note that the blocking forces (troops that prevent assault troops from retreating) are always armed, however, and that blue-on-blue is a feature for them, not a bug.
This is just the latest change in which an invention changes the nature of warfare. You saw it happen with crossbows, which allowed unskilled troops to shoot people far away, gunpowder weapons, which negated armor and castles, rifles, which removed much of the need for long lines of troops using volley fire, the machine gun, which made an infantry charge much less effective, air power, which changed the nature of naval warfare, and more than I care to list.
The problem is for the very impactful changes, you have two generations of military leadership who have learned tactics and strategy based around technologies that are becoming rapidly outmoded. WWI shocked people with the level of slaughter seen.
It’s easier to adapt to using a new weapons system than it is to figure out how to respond to it, because the uses were defined as the system was being developed and just need the actual applications to be refined and optimized, while the responders have a much larger search space.
I’ll always be the first to come down on the crappiness of the Russian military - I could go on for pages about what they do wrong - but to some extent this is something all armies are vulnerable to. Look how long it took for the US to adapt to IEDs, for example.
Well said! I think this is largely a case of the Russian command structure’s authoritarian nature. If field commanders had more independence, they probably wouldn’t be massing like this.
What are they gonna do, pack umbrellas?
Cope parasols
This is the best summary I could come up with:
According to the critics, Russia is forming groups of armored vehicles and troops to attack Ukrainian positions that are easily blown up from the air by exploding drones, said the ISW.
The think tank cited one Russian milblogger who it said questioned how commanders could fail to account for Ukrainian drones and afford to lose so much manpower, accusing them of “complete stupidity and incompetence.”
It’s not the first time they’ve made the complaint in recent weeks, but frustration at the apparent lack of planning appears to have grown.
It matters because it provides insight into the tactical mistakes that have repeatedly impacted Russia’s Ukraine invasion, causing huge casualties and equipment losses.
In recent weeks, Russia has tried to take advantage of low Ukrainian ammunition stocks and waning Western support in attempting to break through Ukraine’s defenses, but with little success, resulting in steep casualties.
Ukraine has used cheap airborne drones to surveil the battlefield and blow up targets, mitigating Russia’s manpower and equipment advantages and making the type of massive attack necessary for getting past defenses very difficult.
The original article contains 316 words, the summary contains 179 words. Saved 43%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Stanislaw Lem was right about everything
