Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Usually when someone mentions the wests 4th gen jets vs Russias someone usually starts bringing up but they thrust vectoring and the cobra manoeuvre ,they will hit the breaks and the Americans or others will just fly by ,

All great in slow and steady preforming in an airshow but not so great when your flying against multiple ship formations with wingmen who cover their leads if you get close enough for an actual dog fight but as you pointed out there's been a shift to bvr engagements when it comes to air combat, where advanced radar and target acquisition is king

Interesting to read the views of posters on here regarding the respective Irish and Russian embassies.

I've no wish to become embroiled in the discussion on whether the Irish Embassy in Moscow should be pulled but I will say that Irish people throughout the world have a choice, as do we all. Personally I'd rather lose everything and be somewhere safe than live in Russia permanently in fear of tit-for-tat reprisals. Putin wont respect whether you're married to a Russian or however long you've lived in their country when he next chooses to vent his anger on anyone or anything Western.

The Russian Embassy at Orwell Road is nothing but a huge spies nest. As others have said, exactly what reason could Russia have that warrants the huge staffing numbers at Orwell Road? And more to the point why does the Irish Government allow this?

Whilst most foreign embassies go about their normal day to day work they are intended to do, I've absolutely no doubt in my mind that all Russian embassies are nothing but excellent cover for extensive espionage and hubs for plotting future assassinations against Russian dissidents worldwide and other perceived enemies of the Russian state. As we've now clearly seen with our own eyes what a totally depraved nation Russia has become, I think all Russian embassy staff should be immediately kicked out, not only in Ireland but worldwide. They are now a complete pariah.

Incidentally, the Russian Embassy at Kensington Palace Gardens, London, is another hornets nest located in prime real estate and able to conduct their illicit operations right in the heart of the capital. Their website is nothing but Putin's mouthpiece, full of denial and propaganda. Why we allow them this freedom of speech when they've terminated all of their own free press is disgraceful.

And apparently, it's a job for life....how long that life might be is a different matter though!

I think you have to earn freedom of speech. If you're not willing to give it to others, then yours likewise should be restricted.

I'm fully aware of that. I wasn't born yesterday. My point was that only Russian embassies would be complicit it assassination plots, poisoning, and actively seeking to undermine Western nations in everything they do.

That's the answer.

That, genocide, the UK poisonings and a hundred and one other reasons for expelling them.

Putin may be totally wrong on most everything, but his view of the West as being weak is pretty much spot on. The more rope we continue to give him, the greater the damage that will ultimately unfold.

Russia is not the only source of these, it just happens to be the most convenient. Stuff expediency if it means enabling that monstrous pit of Orc sh​its. Cover a small patch of the Sahara with solar panels and use the energy to electrolyze water on the coast to make hydrogen, and turn that into ammonium and it's nitrate, and voila, fertiliser from the sun.

"Amazingly considering the odds against them, Ukraine’s airmen have more flyable fighters today than they did in early April, according to U.S. Defense Department spokesman John Kirby.

Kyiv’s air force has “more operable fighter aircraft than they had two weeks ago,” Kirby told reporters Tuesday.

Donations of airplanes, and airplane parts, made it possible. “I would just say, without getting into what other nations are providing, that they have received additional platforms and parts to be able to increase their fleet size,” Kirby said."

We aren't party to all that is going on, and that's a good thing.

But that statement was countered quickly by the US and Ukrainians who said they got no aircraft ,only parts and spares for what they already have

Again we could be dealing with the fog of war here as well. A lot of what is going on is not for public consumption yet. It's possible they don't want to give away strategic information that could change the Russians plans.

I reckon there is a strategy at play here from the Ukrainians and their allies to get the Russians exactly where they need and expect them to be. They know the Russians are desperate for success and that there is a hard time limit of the 9th of may in place.

I do think planes have been supplied. We may not see in action yet until the bulk of the Russian forces are committed & engaged. I think the Ukrainians will have a plan to win this and with the help of their intel allies inflict massive damage on the committed Russian units.

I'm slowly beginning to realise what may be happening here

The sluggish, just short of proportional, response may be designed to bring Putin's pot slowly up to temperature without triggering a "reach for the nukes" moment.

Perhaps there is an arrangement that if a Ukrainian airframe becomes unusable, a pilot can catch a quick ride to the Czech Rep. and fly back with a replacement. That would satisfy a statement that Ukraine has not received any planes while also having more available.

MaaS - Mig As A Service!!!