Vantage Point North Podcast is live!

The Vantage Point North is proud to present the next step: VPN podcast!

The podcast will have two types of episodes. The first one that is already published is a weekly magazine of defense, military, weapons and conflicts related topics from a Nordic perspective narrated by Petri Mäkelä. There will also be less regular special episodes devoted to a single topic with a shorter version free to listen for everyone and a longer one for subscribers.

The first special series will be about the Finnish defense concept, the Finnish military forces and the readiness of the nation to defend itself against external threats.

The first weekly podcast is already out on most major platforms. It's topics are the Russian offensive in Donbass, new main battle tanks and the Finnish training during the NATO-membership application period.

The podcast is available on Anchor:

As well as on following platforms:

Spotify

Stitcher

Amazon Music

Some people have also found it on Apple podcasts, but my apple-allergy has so far prevented me from finding a direct link.

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Quick guide to identifying the Russian tanks Part 1: Updated Dec. 2021

As most of the western nations have reduced their inventories to a few or mostly one type of main battle tank model in their active inventories, the myriad of tank platforms and distinct versions employed by the Russian armed forces may feel overwhelming. Here is a quick guide to identifying Russian MBTs. When you come across an image (or the actual thing), follow the steps to identify it properly. Updated 15.12.2021: T-90 modifications Family of the tank Russian Armed Forces currently operates, or at least storage, the following tank platforms/families: - T-55 (<2000 in storage) - T-62 (2000 in storage) - T-64 (2000 in storage) - T-72 (2000 active duty, 8000 in storage) - T-80 (2000 active duty, 5000 in storage) - T-90 (350 active duty, 600 in storage) - T-14 (20 in field testing) So how can you identify what type of a tank are you looking at? There are two features that can be used to distinguishing th

Death from above – Russian ad hoc top attack defenses

T-72B3 tanks with crude top armor cages The recent Russian tank upgrade programs and the ever slower moving T-14 Armata saga, have all had significant portion of the efforts put into improving the survivability of the tank and its crew. Both static and explosive reactive armor (ERA) have been upgraded and small amount of the latest T-90M and T-72B3 tanks have active protection systems that may be able to defeat most of the anti-tank missiles and slower moving HEAT shells. Environmentally friendly T-90M While these programs have put some emphasis on the armor on the top of the turret, the main focus has been in the sides and the front of the hull and turret. Additional ERA elements have been mounted on the skirts of the vehicles and slat-cage type standoff armor has been attached into the rear sides of the turrets and hulls. These modifications however have very little effect on direct top attacks by modern anti-tank missiles such as the American Javelin, that is also in the

Russian Buildup: Critical elements point towards war

Russian T-72B3 obr 2016 tanks near Ukraine For well over a decade, Russia has been actively building a capability to turn large training exercises into offensive military operations to minimize the suspicions of the buildup. This strategy was successfully employed in 2014 when Russian army occupied Crimea from Ukraine. The same type of maskirovka , or deception, was also used multiple times by the USSR. During the massive Zapad 2017 exercise many western experts and pundits, myself included, were very worried that Russia would use it as a cover to stage an attack against Ukraine or even the Baltic states. Before Zapad 2017 I wrote a short checklist titled "To worry or not": Tweet from 2017 The list isn't comprehensive, but the Russian buildup during the January 2022 ticks all other boxes from that list, with the exception of Air Force assets being deployed to road bases, but that isn't strictly necessary given the availability of runways in the regions surrounding Ukr

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