[Goose]

I believe there is also 13+ billion in presidential draw down, about a billion committed in the first aid package.  I wonder if Ukraine wants hundreds or even over a thousand IFV's (Strykers and Bradleys).  The US has a lot in storage, it would be nice to get those going, but maybe Ukraine isn't asking for that many right now?  I'd love to see more bulk packages, giving Ukraine the armor needed for a serious offensive.

I obviously don't know for sure what Ukraine's priorities are, but I suspect they are in no position to field additional armored units. They are running low on personnel and sending lots of people to Grafenwöhr for training right now just isn't in the cards. Ukraine's most critical need right now in terms of material is IMO F-16s to rebuild the Air Force. Obviously artillery and small arms ammunition is most critical immediate need, but these are "expendables".

I really do wish Ukraine had started their major mobilization months, or years ago.  I get the political balance, but from what I hear from the people who know things, they can't believe it didn't happen a long time ago.

The approach Ukraine uses for their draft is indeed very different than the one the the US used in the past. IMO the Ukrainian approach, originally drafting people in the  27-60(!) years old, isn't "logical". The 18-21 range is generally less disruptive to the individual and delivers people who are easier to "train". Russia has a draft age (for "mobilization", aka fighting ) of 18-30. The "normal" age for Russian UMT is the low end of the range, i.e. 18 unless you somehow get out of it. Why Ukraine has such high age limits seems strange in a full scale existential war that is disrupting everybody's life.

FWIW, this Quora link shows a big demographic "hole" in the 18-25 age range. This is one reason lowering the draft age doesn't bring the much larger pool that one might expect.
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-lowering-th...-is-at-all

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/100-mile-us-g...41583.html

Not a surprise. A new weapons system having problems is pretty normal. The reference to "mud" as a problem is too cryptic to know what it actually means. I suspect the real problem is that GPS jamming makes these weapons relatively useless. Calling intentional interference "EMI", while not semantically incorrect, is unusual. This term is normally used  for unintentional interference created by normal operation of other systems. This article may be overstated, but IMO is substantially correct.

I find it amazingly "brain dead" that neither NATO, Ukraine, or the US military has deployed weapons to destroy GPS jammers. These things are sitting there continuously screaming "hit me".  That wish should be honored. These jammers are rendering many weapons either totally ineffective or less effective than they should be. One can easily design from scratch a drone-based anti-radiation weapon that flies to the largest signal on 1575.42 MHz and/or 1227.6 MHz and blows it up. Granted, it may be only the antenna that gets hit, but that does take down the jammer until it is replaced. This situation is very strange to me.

[Goose]

I believe there is also 13+ billion in presidential draw down, about a billion committed in the first aid package.  I wonder if Ukraine wants hundreds or even over a thousand IFV's (Strykers and Bradleys).  The US has a lot in storage, it would be nice to get those going, but maybe Ukraine isn't asking for that many right now?  I'd love to see more bulk packages, giving Ukraine the armor needed for a serious offensive.

I obviously don't know for sure what Ukraine's priorities are, but I suspect they are in no position to field additional armored units. They are running low on personnel and sending lots of people to Grafenwöhr for training right now just isn't in the cards. Ukraine's most critical need right now in terms of material is IMO F-16s to rebuild the Air Force. Obviously artillery and small arms ammunition is most critical immediate need, but these are "expendables".

I really do wish Ukraine had started their major mobilization months, or years ago.  I get the political balance, but from what I hear from the people who know things, they can't believe it didn't happen a long time ago.

The approach Ukraine uses for their draft is indeed very different than the one the the US used in the past. IMO the Ukrainian approach, originally drafting people in the  27-60(!) years old, isn't "logical". The 18-21 range is generally less disruptive to the individual and delivers people who are easier to "train". Russia has a draft age (for "mobilization", aka fighting ) of 18-30. The "normal" age for Russian UMT is the low end of the range, i.e. 18 unless you somehow get out of it. Why Ukraine has such high age limits seems strange in a full scale existential war that is disrupting everybody's life.

FWIW, this Quora link shows a big demographic "hole" in the 18-25 age range. This is one reason lowering the draft age doesn't bring the much larger pool that one might expect.
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-lowering-th...-is-at-all

---

https://www.yahoo.com/news/100-mile-us-g...41583.html

Not a surprise. A new weapons system having problems is pretty normal. The reference to "mud" as a problem is too cryptic to know what it actually means. I suspect the real problem is that GPS jamming makes these weapons relatively useless. Calling intentional interference "EMI", while not semantically incorrect, is unusual. This term is normally used  for unintentional interference created by normal operation of other systems. This article may be overstated, but IMO is substantially correct.

I find it amazingly "brain dead" that neither NATO, Ukraine, or the US military has deployed weapons to destroy GPS jammers. These things are sitting there continuously screaming "hit me".  That wish should be honored. These jammers are rendering many weapons either totally ineffective or less effective than they should be. One can easily design from scratch a drone-based anti-radiation weapon that flies to the largest signal on 1575.42 MHz and/or 1227.6 MHz and blows it up. Granted, it may be only the antenna that gets hit, but that does take down the jammer until it is replaced. This situation is very strange to me.