Is This Weapon Helping The Ukranians?
In The Times today, there is an article, which gives a list of what weapons have been supplied to the Ukrainians.
Included are.
- Javelins from the US and Estonia
- Stingers from Germany and the Netherlands
- Panzerfaust 3 from the Netherlands.
But there is no mention of the MBT LAW. This is the introduction to the Wikipedia entry for the weapon.
The Main Battle Tank and Light Anti-tank Weapon (MBT LAW), also known as the NLAW, is a joint British and Swedish short-range fire-and-forget anti-tank missile system. Designed for use by infantry, the MBT LAW is shoulder fired and disposable, firing once before being disposed of. It is currently in use with the military forces of the United Kingdom, Finland, Luxembourg, Ukraine, and Sweden, among others.
There is a lot of interesting information in the Wikipedia entry.
- It is fired once and the launcher is thrown away.
- It has a soft-launch, which allows it to be fired from an enclosed space.
- It is designed to be fired at moving targets.
I also think, that it could be a weapon, where a dummy version could be built that would be a superb training simulator.
- The trainee would sit on the range with his dummy weapon and go through the process of identifying a target and pulling the trigger.
- The dummy could even simulate the forces of launching a real missile.
- The simulator would calculate the trajectory of the missile and tell the trainee and his instructor, if they had hit the target.
The missile would not be fired and there would be no damage to the target.
This is said about deliveries to Ukraine.
At least 2,000 NLAW units are known to be supplied to Ukraine by the United Kingdom by 19 January 2022 and more shipments, including by other supporters, can be assumed amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Times says this about the training of Ukrainian forces and British Army tactics.
Since 2015 about 22,000 Ukrainian troops have been trained by the British Army as part of Operation Orbital.
Price said anti-armour ambushes of the sort deployed by Ukrainian forces were pretty much the bread and butter of the British infantry, adding: “If you have a classic column of 10 to 20 tanks and you’ve got a wide field of fire then you can knock two or three of them out and then the rest are sitting ducks and they can’t reverse out. Then you finish them off,” he said.
Note that Price is Kevin Price a former British Army major.
It sounds like a few well-trained soldiers sitting in a protected bunker armed with this missile could play havoc with a tank formation.
Eurovision: Russia Banned From Competing At 2022 Song Contest
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Russia will no longer be allowed to participate in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, the European Broadcasting Union has said.
The EBU, which produces the event, said Russia’s inclusion could bring the competition into disrepute “in light of the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine”.
It’s going from Vlad to verse.
Winning the Eurovision Song Contest is not easy for Russia, as although they can rig the votes, doping doesn’t help singers and musicians to perform better.
Putin Loses A Decisive Poll!
The Times is asking if Russia should be banned from international sport on its web site.
This is a screen capture.
It appears that Putin can’t win them all!
Ukraine Conflict: Champions League Final Moved from Russia To Paris
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
UEFA has done the right thing!
How will Putin get his own back on UEFA?
He could stage the Anti-Nazi World Cup by inviting Belarus, Brazil, China, Cuba, Iran, Kazakstan, Myanmar, Syria, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Russian Grand Prix Cancelled Following Invasion Of Ukraine
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
Formula One has done the right thing!
How will Putin get his own back on Formula One?
He could ban Formula One for ever from Russia, but then somewhere else like Ukraine, Poland or one of the Baltic States would happily stage a Grand Prix.
Where Are The Warthogs?
It must have been over twenty years ago, when I ended up in the Clopton Crown public house, spending an evening’s drinking with two USAF pilots, who lived locally.
They flew A10 Thunderbolt IIs out of RAF Bentwaters.
These aircraft are effectively a flying-gun, which are affectionately known as Warthogs, were designed with one purpose in mind and that was to stop Russian tanks marching through Europe.
When I told the pilots, that I had several hundred hours flying light aircraft. they told me, how easy the Warthogs were to fly.
Perhaps the Americans should have brought a few out of store and given them to the Ukrainians with a training package?
Was Storm Franklin Named By An Old Minchendenian?
This press release from the Met Office is entitled Storm Franklin Named.
When I first heard yesterday, that the storm was to be named, I must admit, that I allowed myself a small smile.
I went to Minchenden Grammar School in Southgate, leaving in 1965.
One teacher, that we looked upon with a degree of affection was our German teacher, who was Frank J Stabler, who some pupils referred to as Franklin J Stabler. I don’t know whether that was his real name or whether it was fellow pupils making it up.
But he did have one story, that he used to liven up one of the lessons, where he taught me enough German to get by in the country.
Apparently, he was returning from France to the UK on the night of Saturday, the 31st of January in 1953, using the ferry from Dieppe in France to Newhaven in Sussex.
That ferry route used to have a reputation for being rough and on one bad crossing around 1975, my five-year-old son fell and cut himself just above his eye. He was skillfully cleaned up and plastered by one of the chefs. Luckily the chef had been a soldier, who had been well-trained in first aid.
Back in 1953, Mr. Stabler could have chosen a better night for his trip, as that day was the night of devastating East Coast Floods, which killed over five hundred people in the UK.
The captain of the ferry decided to sit the storm out and crew and passengers spent twenty-four hours being tossed about like a cork in the English Channel, which was a tale Mr. Stabler told with great drama.
He finished the tale, by saying that in the end, he prayed for the boat to go down to put everybody out of their misery.
Conclusion
I have to ask if someone on the committee that decides storm names, either directly or indirectly, has heard this tale and decided that Franklin would be an appropriate name for a storm beginning with F.
Tideway – Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore – 13th February 2022
I took these pictures of the Tideway’s Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore site from the top of a 63 bus on Blackfriars Bridge.
Compare the pictures with those I took on the 4th September 2021.
Tony Radakin And Ben Wallace In Russia
The Times today has published a picture with this caption.
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, his counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, chief of the defence staff, and Valery Gerasimov, chief of general staff
Ever since, Tony Radakin was made Chief of the Defence Staff, I’ve been curious about his name.
So tonight, I typed “radakin surname” into Google and got this answer.
Radakin (Russian: Радакин) is carried by more people in Russia than any other country or territory. It can also be rendered as a variant
Interesting! But surely, something that will enable the three military men and the former Scots guardsman to get on a bit better!
Macron Refused To Take Russian Covid Test
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
These are the first four paragraphs.
French President Emmanuel Macron refused a Russian Covid test ahead of his meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin has confirmed.
The test required a health protocol that was unacceptable and did not fit with the French leader’s schedule, a French source told the BBC.
It follows reports that Mr Macron refused the PCR test over fears the Russians would get hold of his DNA.
The leaders subsequently held a socially-distanced meeting on Monday.
The article is accompanied by an hilarious picture of the two leaders at each end of a long marble table, which is crying out for a caption like Who Isn’t Using Lifebuoy?
Seriously though, if the Russians wanted Macron’s DNA, there are ways.
- Send his water glass or coffee cup to a lab.
- Make sure Macron uses a special toilet that collects his pee, poo and toilet paper.
- It might even be possible to collect it off the marble table.
I suspect that the Russians have collected Macron’s fingerprints from the table for some nefarious purposes.
