Vantage Point North

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Born from necessity: A new Russian self propelled howitzer

The Russian army introduced a new self propelled artillery system to the Ukrainian battlefields. Mystery SPG (Photo: mil.in.ua) Ukrainian journal Mil.in.ua speculates that it is based on the Uraltranshmash 2S43 Malva wheeled SPG, that is basically a rear mounted 152mm A64 gun from the MSTA-S out in the open. 2S43 Malva The new system has an independently rotating turret, but still an open turret. The layout is much closer to the Titan-Barrikady A-222 Bereg 130mm coastal artillery SPG, which has also seen combat in the Ukrainian southern front. A-222 Bereg isn’t a viable candidate for further production, as its non-standard caliber limits the available ammunition stocks and isn’t currently being produced in Russia. A-222 Bereg Russia is also suffering extremely hard attrition on all of its artillery systems, both from the Ukrainian counter battery fires and simply by barrels wearing out. There is a limited amount of machinery in Russia that is capable of producing a decent ...

Quick guide into North Korean tanks

Chonma 2 tanks The Korean People's Army Ground Force, also known as the North Korean Army, has always been a slightly mysterious force, with very limited information on its daily activities and exact structure. It was recently pushed more into the limelight as the North Korean dictator Lil’Ki.. Rocketma… Kim Jong Un, sent tens of thousands of its troops to support the Russian invasion of Ukraine, by trying to recapture the Russian territory. Before this the DPRK had only sent ammunition and missiles to Russia. So far only North Korean infantry has seen any direct combat. Some KPAGF artillery pieces have been spotted in Russia, but haven’t been fielded by either Russian or Korean crews as of 9.12.2024. Could the DPRK provide Russia with other weapons in addition to artillery and meat? The KPAGF has roughly 3500 main battle tanks and 5-600 light tanks. With the Russian Army suffering catastrophic MBT losses in Ukraine, far out pacing the Russian industry’s capability to build new t...

Russian special purpose boat in Finnish Waters

On Friday 26.7.2024 the Finnish Ministry of Defense reported that a Russian vessel had violated the Finnish territorial waters on the eastern Gulf of Finland. The fact that this was reported by the MOD, instead of the Border Guard, that is under the command of the Ministry of Interior, indicated that the vessel in question had been a Russian state one. Mikhail Kazansky Later on the same day it was confirmed that the vessel had been the Mikhail Kazansky , officially labelled as a hydrographic vessel in the Russian Baltic Fleet. Even a regular such boat has the sensors that can provide valuable intel for a navy that is planning hostile operations. Project 23370G rendering The Mikhail Kazansky is a Russian Navy Project 23370G class multipurpose boat, it has the capability to transport teams into unprepared shores as well as deploy variety of buoys, officially navigation ones, but the same deployment system can be used for listening devices etc. The hull also off...

From Medellin to Kharkiv

Ternopil 18th of May 2024 in Kharkiv, the mood in the city was schizophrenic. Some people did their best to grit on with their normal way of life. Young women eating in a fancy restaurant and elderly tending for their small gardens. Despite the occasional Russian bombing and Ukrainian ATACMS overflight. On the other hand many of the residents were heading west by any means necessary and the Ukrainian armed forces digging fortifications on the outskirts of the city. Many of the defenders coming from the north to rest, pickup supplies or build fortifications had the all too familiar 1000 yard stare or the compulsive humour to keep their mind intact. Kharkiv Comparing Kharkiv to Lviv in the west a few days earlier, Lviv was like a ray of sunshine. A casual observer could not have told that the country was in the middle of the bloodiest war in Europe since fall of Berlin. After travelling to the southern city of Ternopil, you still couldn't immediately tell that a war was goin...

T-55 Returns to the Russian frontlines

The Russian army has suffered tremendous tank losses during its invasion of Ukraine. To replace the losses it has been forced to field older, obsolete, tank models like T-72B, T-72A and T-62M(V). Some of these have been slightly upgraded with ERA and new thermal sights and most have at least seen limited refurbishment by the Russian tank depots. T-55 in a Russian frontline unit in Ukraine. Now Russia has sen at least a battalions worth of ancient T-55 tanks straight from their long term storage dumps to the Zaporozhye front in Ukraine. These are essentially 1940's technology medium tanks that should have no place in the modern battlefield. Seems that the Russian high command is seriously worried about the coming Ukrainian spring offensive and is using all means available to reinforce the units that are lacking main battle tanks. Here is my video about the T-55: Identification of the T-55: The older and smaller T-55 and T-62 have five roadwheels in their suspensions, the later mode...

Russian response to Finnish NATO-membership

Turkish parliament ratified the Finnish NATO-membership yesterday. Before the process began, many pundits, myself included, expected Russia to try to interfere with the process. This article is also available add-free in my Patreon . The wide scale destruction of the Russian army in Ukraine is an obvious reason that military force hasn't been used to tie down Finland into a frozen conflict to prevent its ascension to the alliance. In the current situation an attack against Finland would severely risk Finland seizing a buffer zone from Russia as Russia is unable to mass the required forces to overmatch the 300 000 men Finnish war time army. But the Russian commitment in to Ukraine doesn't explain the silence in the political and unconventional fields. Russia still has its intelligence services and illegal operatives. It seems that the Russian assessment of Finland is quite realistic at the moment. The sentiment within Finland is strongly against Russia and the Finnish public vo...