Ukraine is doing god’s work fighting off an invasion right now, they need all the support and military equipment we can give them.
Hopefully the French will send their ‘tanks’ otherwise we’ll have to defend the cliffs from French invasion.
Either send our tanks today or send our boys tomorrow.
The tanks that are being sent are those that aren’t going to be upgraded to Challenger 3. The depressingly small number of tanks that are going to receive the upgrade should be the general’s main concern.
As it is we can’t send many because it would create a logistical nightmare for the Ukrainians in supplying the unique ammunition the Challenger 2 uses.
Challenger 3 will use the same 120mm smooth bore gun that other European NATO member’s tanks, such as Leopard 2, uses. This will greatly simplify supply.
Cynically, in the long term, the lessons learned if the Ukrainian Challengers end up fighting Russian tanks, will benefit the UK.
> British troops were told by Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, the chief of general staff, in an internal email that “Ukraine needs our tanks and guns now” and that he was confident the country would put the British kit “to good use”.
> But the head of the army acknowledged that giving away “battle-winning capabilities” would “leave us temporarily weaker as an army, there is no denying it” – and emphasised that replacements for the AS90 gun would be brought in quicker than expected, in 2027.
I think all he’s really saying is they’ll be short N tanks – if he didn’t say that, it would amount to stating that these systems were surplus to requirements in the first place.
Also:
> Britain says it has never lost a Challenger 2 tank in combat, although the last time they were deployed was in Iraq. Previously they were used on military operations in Bosnia and Kosovo towards the end of the decade before.
reminds me of Blackadder:
> Well, you see, George, I did like it, back in the old days when the
prerequisite of a British campaign was that the enemy should under
no circumstances carry guns — even spears made us think twice. The
kind of people we liked to fight were two feet tall and armed with
dry grass.
Only sane person in the Army’s top brass. Good on him. This isn’t UKs problem, hasn’t 200+ years of imperialism taught uK anything?
Guess not
We’re sending 12 of them and Ukraine is asking for 300 of them.
If our army can’t cope with losing 12 tanks we’re truly fucked anyway.
Oh come on, it’s like 12? We could probably knock that out in a month or two.
[deleted]
if sending a dozen tanks weakens our ability to defend ourselves, then the tories should be investigated for the dereliction of duty to protect the nation that is the first duty of any government.
Our army is extremely unprofessional, the officers should not be routinely commenting on politics. That nonsense with a general talking about launching a coup against Corbyn was beyond the pale.
“If we send tanks to Ukraine we’ll have fewer tanks here”
You can see why this guy gets paid a lot, totally earned it.
We probably dont need many tanks at all if we can fuck russia via a proxy war. Giving them to ukraine is the best idea
12 comments
Our forces are already weak lmao.
Ukraine is doing god’s work fighting off an invasion right now, they need all the support and military equipment we can give them.
Hopefully the French will send their ‘tanks’ otherwise we’ll have to defend the cliffs from French invasion.
Either send our tanks today or send our boys tomorrow.
The tanks that are being sent are those that aren’t going to be upgraded to Challenger 3. The depressingly small number of tanks that are going to receive the upgrade should be the general’s main concern.
As it is we can’t send many because it would create a logistical nightmare for the Ukrainians in supplying the unique ammunition the Challenger 2 uses.
Challenger 3 will use the same 120mm smooth bore gun that other European NATO member’s tanks, such as Leopard 2, uses. This will greatly simplify supply.
Cynically, in the long term, the lessons learned if the Ukrainian Challengers end up fighting Russian tanks, will benefit the UK.
> British troops were told by Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, the chief of general staff, in an internal email that “Ukraine needs our tanks and guns now” and that he was confident the country would put the British kit “to good use”.
> But the head of the army acknowledged that giving away “battle-winning capabilities” would “leave us temporarily weaker as an army, there is no denying it” – and emphasised that replacements for the AS90 gun would be brought in quicker than expected, in 2027.
I think all he’s really saying is they’ll be short N tanks – if he didn’t say that, it would amount to stating that these systems were surplus to requirements in the first place.
Also:
> Britain says it has never lost a Challenger 2 tank in combat, although the last time they were deployed was in Iraq. Previously they were used on military operations in Bosnia and Kosovo towards the end of the decade before.
reminds me of Blackadder:
> Well, you see, George, I did like it, back in the old days when the
prerequisite of a British campaign was that the enemy should under
no circumstances carry guns — even spears made us think twice. The
kind of people we liked to fight were two feet tall and armed with
dry grass.
Only sane person in the Army’s top brass. Good on him. This isn’t UKs problem, hasn’t 200+ years of imperialism taught uK anything?
Guess not
We’re sending 12 of them and Ukraine is asking for 300 of them.
If our army can’t cope with losing 12 tanks we’re truly fucked anyway.
Oh come on, it’s like 12? We could probably knock that out in a month or two.
[deleted]
if sending a dozen tanks weakens our ability to defend ourselves, then the tories should be investigated for the dereliction of duty to protect the nation that is the first duty of any government.
Our army is extremely unprofessional, the officers should not be routinely commenting on politics. That nonsense with a general talking about launching a coup against Corbyn was beyond the pale.
“If we send tanks to Ukraine we’ll have fewer tanks here”
You can see why this guy gets paid a lot, totally earned it.
We probably dont need many tanks at all if we can fuck russia via a proxy war. Giving them to ukraine is the best idea