WW3

[Larse]

Have you noticed that the media is pushing more news about nuclear war since the use of ATACM is Bryansk region (which is not Kursk region)? Or maybe my news AI is playing with me

Must be your news AI - you're doing too many Google searches about it.

The only one on my feed is something about Putin fearing a coup attempt.

 

[old dog new tricks]

I am not looking online watching sky and bbc broadcasts

 

[Larse]

I have my doubts about an ICBM the costs are huge and only fitting a conventional war head is waste of the most complex delivery system out there.

If Russia have started firing their ICBMs that would perhaps indicate they are trying another strategy or just have so many of them they will not miss a few?

Just to clarify ICBMs are just the delivery system the war head is the scary bit

I don't know what ICBM was used, but most ICBMs are very high speed, so it could have been used to defeat AD systems. Very expensive way of doing it, but if you've got a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

 

[old dog new tricks]

I don't know what ICBM was used, but most ICBMs are very high speed, so it could have been used to defeat AD systems. Very expensive way of doing it, but if you've got a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

I am well aware of ICBMs in a past life I was an inspector for such systems is about all i can say

 

[Larse]

I am well aware of ICBMs in a past life I was an inspector for such systems is about all i can say

Interesting. You did ask a question though. So I answered it with a possible reason. The lack of information from Ukraine on the target may indicate it was important infrastructure that may have been well covered by AD but not good enough to intercept a very high speed missile.

 

[JockyBrewer]

I have my doubts about an ICBM the costs are huge and only fitting a conventional war head is waste of the most complex delivery system out there.

If Russia have started firing their ICBMs that would perhaps indicate they are trying another strategy or just have so many of them they will not miss a few?

Just to clarify ICBMs are just the delivery system the war head is the scary bit

You think that the Russian military system makes rational decisions?

My impression in this war has repeatedly been that Putin gives an order and that order cascades down to whoever can fulfil it without any context or strategy planning, meaning they'll use whatever means necessary to fulfil that order.

Lawnmower drones not getting though? Run out of cruise missiles? Chuck an ICBM at it, we've got lots more!

As for what they're actually hitting - it's almost like they're looking for significant structures on google maps and then firing at those rather than having any actual intelligence.

 

[Laner]

Just to clarify ICBMs are just the delivery system the war head is the scary bit

Further clarification…. The war head is only scary with an ICBM

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I have my doubts about an ICBM the costs are huge and only fitting a conventional war head is waste of the most complex delivery system out there.

If Russia have started firing their ICBMs that would perhaps indicate they are trying another strategy or just have so many of them they will not miss a few?

Reports out of Ukraine suggest it was a RS-26 Rubezh (SS-X-31 Sickle D), which is essentially an intermediate-range missile that can just about scrape over the arbitrary limit for an ICBM (5,500km/3,400 miles) when empty or with a minimal payload, but really it's a replacement for the old SS-20 that prompted the US deployments at Greenham Common etc in the 1980s. It only had to travel 500 miles in this case.

But it's in the interests of both Russia and Ukraine to hype it up as a scary ICBM for propaganda purposes.

Missiles have to be tested regularly, and they also have a best-before date, after which they have to be (expensively) disposed of, so if you're at war it can be the cheap option to fire it rather than manage the lifecycle. But obviously there's an attempt to scare the West here, even if Putin is never going to fire an actual nuke until he gets Trump to sign a surrender deal.