Youtube Recommendations

[The Brain]

Wow. I used to think I had broad tastes in music.

[Eddie Teach]

Fwiend?

Uwu?

[grumbler]

Ran across this video from the "I can't believe that they got to grab this title" World War Two and thought some here might find it interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z6HNH4-6_I&t=659s.  It is basically an explanation of how ill-conceived Japanese economic plans for their "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere" really were.

[Maladict]

Ran across this video from the "I can't believe that they got to grab this title" World War Two and thought some here might find it interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z6HNH4-6_I&t=659s.  It is basically an explanation of how ill-conceived Japanese economic plans for their "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere" really were.

Thanks, very interesting. If this is representative of his current stuff he has certainly improved over the years.

[Berkut]

This is cool. Simulated 1985 attack on a US CVBG group by 100 T-22Ms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCPmRnUZb3I

[grumbler]

This is cool. Simulated 1985 attack on a US CVBG group by 100 T-22Ms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCPmRnUZb3I

It's fun to see this stuff because it is right in my wheelhouse, but they should have talked to me first. 

The fact that they are calling this "realistic" is funny, given the canned scenario, weird OOB decisions, lack of knowledge about things like the Navy Tactical Data System (NTDS), and the lack of knowledge about how the US planned to defend the battle groups in this scenario.

First, the scenario is set in 1985, which means that there are only 3 Ticos commissioned, and this CVBG has two of them.  It has none of the roughly 30 other cruisers in the USN, no DDGs, and no Spruance class destroyers.  It has an over-abundance of OHP frigates.

The Nimitz had an air wing of 36 Tomcats and 30 Intruders for only a short time, and no USN carrier in the history of ever had 36 operational Tomcats available.  When the Nimitz operated 36 Tomcats it probably had 26 or so that could fly on a given day.  The F-14A was notoriously difficult to keep in service.  It would be far more realistic if they had a carrier with 24 Tomcats, with, say, 17 available.

It isn't unrealistic to think that a CVBG that was somehow caught in the Black Sea would be overwhelmed.  At short ranges like that, the Tu-22M could, indeed, carry 3 Kh-22 and, while they couldn't get 100 Tu-22Ms aloft, they could certainly get a regiment or two (probably about 30-60 operational aircraft) of them, with another maybe 2 or 3 regiments of other anti-ship bombers like the Badger to keep things lively.  There wouldn't likely be enough launch warning time to get the whole carrier fighter force in the air.  But the chances that the US would leave a CVBG in the Black Sea with tensions high is nil.

The US knew when the Soviet launched significant numbers of Backfires.  The heat signature was visible to the early warning satellites that were designed to detect ICBM launches.  Knowing the launch time and thus the time to target, the USN planned to have every fighter in the wing waiting for the Backfire beyond the Kh-22 launch range.  There would be no DLI; if it could fly, it was already airborne.  This was known as "the outer air battle."  The F-14s would not be carrying 6 Phoenix missiles, though (that was theoretically possible, but that loadout left no stations for fuel, and so was unsuitable for the OAB).  Also, the F-14 couldn't land with six Phoenix, so such a loadout would have to ditch two Phoenix if the raid turned back or targeted something else.  There weren't enough Phoenix missiles to allow that.

Missile engagements were not as the creators of this video suggest; no radio calls about "you take the guys on the left and I will take the guys on the right."  Every bandit would be digitally tagged with a track number, and the each fighter would be directed to engage specific track numbers.  The RIO in each plane could see what tracks had been engaged and which ones hadn't, if the situation got hectic enough to overwhelm the controllers.  When an F-14 locked on a track, the other F-14s knew it.

So, in something of a realistic scenario with realistic forces, this engagement wouldn't look much at all like the one depicted here.  There would be far fewer leakers, but also a weaker SAM screen.  IIRC, the USN generally believed that each Tomcat would splash three bombers (two with Phoenix, one with Sparrows).

There's no electronic warfare on either side in this scenario, which also misses a big part of the doctrine of both sides.  The EA-6 was designed to suppress air defenses, but would be up jamming the shit out of those Down Beat radars, the the Kh-22 has to get a radar lock from the launch plane before launching.  That's going to cut down launch range by A LOT.  That means more splashed Backfires before they get to launch.  The Tomcat radar was harder to jam, but the Soviets could certainly deny the 90+ mile launches the game predicts in this video.  Sixty miles is more reasonable, but that wouldn't matter so much because they Tomcats are not as time-limited as in the video simulation.

The presenters also are rather comically misinformed about computer modelling capabilities in the 1980s.  Even in the late 1970s, I participated in training simulations that modelled this in real time (though obviously without the graphics).  In the early 1980s, working for a Beltway bandit, I helped model the shit out of these kinds of scenarios to help the USN decide on future weapons programs.

[Darth Wagtaros]

This is cool. Simulated 1985 attack on a US CVBG group by 100 T-22Ms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCPmRnUZb3I

This was cool.

[mongers]

This is cool. Simulated 1985 attack on a US CVBG group by 100 T-22Ms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCPmRnUZb3I

It's fun to see this stuff because it is right in my wheelhouse, but they should have talked to me first. 
....
snip
....
The presenters also are rather comically misinformed about computer modelling capabilities in the 1980s.  Even in the late 1970s, I participated in training simulations that modelled this in real time (though obviously without the graphics).  In the early 1980s, working for a Beltway bandit, I helped model the shit out of these kinds of scenarios to help the USN decide on future weapons programs.

Thanks grumbler, that was a very interesting read.

[Berkut]

When I posted that video I was mentally thinking "....and I can't wait to get grumblers take on it..."

It's a fun little scenario to watch play out, but of course is pretty clearly completely amateur, and limited to the abilities of the sim they are using, which is rather general purpose. I sure as hell hope the USN (and the Russians for that matter) have and had MUCH better capabilities to simulate this stuff.

[Darth Wagtaros]

When I posted that video I was mentally thinking "....and I can't wait to get grumblers take on it..."

It's a fun little scenario to watch play out, but of course is pretty clearly completely amateur, and limited to the abilities of the sim they are using, which is rather general purpose. I sure as hell hope the USN (and the Russians for that matter) have and had MUCH better capabilities to simulate this stuff.

SOme of the comments claim that they did have some sophisticated simulations available back in the day, although their computers may have taken a few days to crunch all the numbers. No graphics though.

[Berkut]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6CKltZfToY

[Razgovory]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6CKltZfToY

Okay, that's really cool.

[grumbler]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6CKltZfToY

Engineering can be fascinating, as this vid shows.

[grumbler]

LegalEagle is practically chortling as he describes Alex Jones's disastrously legal strategy of ignoring judges in the lawsuits against him results in a series of summary judgements against him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSm7sRx-0hA

The trials will only determine how much Jones is liable for.  Jones can get away with not participating in that trial.

[Darth Wagtaros]

LegalEagle is practically chortling as he describes Alex Jones's disastrously legal strategy of ignoring judges in the lawsuits against him results in a series of summary judgements against him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSm7sRx-0hA

The trials will only determine how much Jones is liable for.  Jones can get away with not participating in that trial.

Well he can never fully pay the damages, and so he'll play up his roll as the martyr, fighting for the truth against corrupt leftist activist judges.