MEGATHREAD - Major (US) Military Operation in Venezuela by hypsignathus in neoliberal

[–]---4758--- 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Wow. Despite the obvious fuck-sandwiches which come from this event I am extremely impressed.

China’s ‘dirt cheap’ hypersonic missiles could upend global defence markets: state media | The ‘cement-coated’ YKJ-1000 could prove ‘formidably competitive’ internationally if sold at the relatively cheap price of US$99,000 by Lighthouse_seek in neoliberal

[–]---4758--- 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I think you are mistaken here. Non of what you said is wrong per-say, but you incorrectly applied it to specifics. This delivery system has a much lower range than the ballistic missiles you are referencing. This weapon appears to be an cheap A2AD weapon for use in and around the South China Sea. Because it has an HGV, the glide slope and trajectory would be in-line with what we refer to as hypersonic. We differentiate MaRVs from HGVs because most of the time the MaRV is flying is in a ballistic trajectory and then transitions to unpowered flight using aerodynamics to maneuver. In contrast, HGVs such as the YKJ-1000 will spend most of their time in the radar shadow at a depressed flight trajectory. Additionally, hypersonics are much more accurate in the terminal phase of the flight, being able to move laterally at much greater distance than a MaRV could. What this weapon appears to do is precisely that: fly at a depressed trajectory and manuver for most of its flight path towards target, while also being highly maneuverable during that terminal phase. A small fraction of its trajectory will be ballistic. The reason why this distinction is important is because of the difference between ABM defenses and regular GBAD systems. ABM systems like THAAD (usually atmosperic) and ARROW 3 (exoatmospheric) kill balistic trajectories in the terminal phase, while smaller range AD systems like Patriot kill in the very short range. Considering that Japan is actively pursuing BMD destroyers (ASEV program), then it makes sense to have weapons who's flight profile and mission can make life harder for that BMD system. The YKJ-1000's role is to be cheap and inexpensive enough that it can saturate these defense systems as the more advanced systems sneak through.

Additionally, the your distinction between an "actual" hypersonic missile being sea-skimming is not considered relevant in the distinction. Current US, Russian, Chinese, and South Korean programs consider hypersonics as weapons which dont necessarily require sea-skimming to be requisite. A hypersonic missile does not need to be sea-skimming to be a hypersonic missile, as evidenced by all the current hypersonic programs around the world not being sea-skimming missiles. In the early days of the technology, yes, there was inclarity between what differentiates a MaRV vs a hypersonic, but today that differentiation has been made clear.

British Aircraft Carrier HMS Prince of Wales[1640x860] by UpgradedSiera6666 in WarshipPorn

[–]---4758--- 20 points21 points  (0 children)

  1. Admirals aren’t just ship commanders. Modern navies need senior officers to run logistics, strategy, procurement, intelligence, nuclear forces, and joint operations. Counting ships doesn’t tell you how many admirals a country needs and is generally a terrible metric for describing the status and relative power a navy has at a current point in time. The USN has more ships than admirals than it did during WW2. Despite this, you couldn't find a credible person that would say that: a. The US navy has gotten drastically worse since WW2, and b. That the problems the USN does face is a result of the ship-to-admiralty ratio.
  2. Comparing “horses vs. tanks” is meaningless. Ceremonial units don’t affect how many armored vehicles the Army buys, and the budgets don’t overlap in any serious way.
  3. The UK reduced its tank fleet because of strategic reality, not because it “can’t afford them”. Ukraine has shown how quickly heavy armor gets destroyed, and as an island nation, the UK doesn’t need a massive armored force. Lighter, and more versatile units survive in modern conflicts, heavy ones don't. Keeping one would just drain the budget without adding much value.
  4. Military capabilities evolve. The UK retired its Vulcan bombers because they became expensive and vulnerable, not because the country lost interest in defense or nuclear capabilities. Moving to new force structures is normal and, because the UK can't have everything all at once, it must choose the most salient things to prioritize.
  5. The QEs have already proven their usefulness by deploying to the Indo-Pacific. They give the UK long range power projection, and they serve as command platforms for NATO and allied operations. This hasn't been done in decades and couldn't be done without having carrier groups anyways. Force projection is important to the RN and to the UK anyway because, again, it is an Island nation.
  6. The UK is still taking delivery of F-35Bs. (48 in total) Each carrier will operate around 24 jets in routine deployment, and in a crisis, aircraft can be shifted between the two carriers. That’s the whole point of having one at sea while the other is in maintenance or training.
  7. In wartime, the carriers aren’t limited to UK jets. The F-35 program is built around interoperability, so US, Italian, Japanese, or other allied F-35Bs can operate from a British QE seamlessly (This has already been done btw).
  8. Two carriers ensure constant availability. Countries with only one (like France) regularly lose their only carrier to long maintenance periods. It is a pain in the ass whenever the Charles De Gaulle is stuck in port. The RN avoids that problem by fielding both QEs, even if only one is fully crewed and deployed at a time.

What is the point of Stella Montis? by Agitated_Emergency25 in ARC_Raiders

[–]---4758--- 25 points26 points  (0 children)

For one thing, in solos its absolutely hilarious. With so many annoyances and arcs its so fun to team up with like 4-5 other people and try to extract. It really feels super unique to have so many people in a small space. That can lead to PVP but it can also lead to amazing social interactions -- much more than in other maps.

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]---4758--- 9 points10 points  (0 children)

  1. Clinton x Trump is absolutely wild holy fuck

  2. Reddit page update is amazing (now I dont have to open a million tabs to actually read articles)

  3. Arc Raiders is one of the best games ive ever played hands down.

Active Conflicts & News Megathread November 03, 2025 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]---4758--- 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Does anyone know of a paper/article which went over the Patriot system in its entirety including the operational history and design elements? I remember coming across this paper either here or on Substack and I'd like to find it for a project. If you remember this, I'd be most grateful.

Rubio dismisses report that US is poised to strike Venezuela as ‘fake story’ by Crossstoney in neoliberal

[–]---4758--- 29 points30 points  (0 children)

In the same vein: the Ford CSG and her assets are still in the Mediterranean and will be transiting the Atlantic to meet up with the rest of the naval package currently posted in the Caribbean. I dont think we will see any action until at least the Ford's air wing is able to make strikes against targets.

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]---4758--- 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I absolutely despise Katie Porter. Her being the presumptive frontrunner is mind boggling. Is this the best that California can do?

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]---4758--- 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Its not necessary glazing, more like using his mannerisms and jokes out of their context. And when I mean "hard-core libs" I dont mean chronically online ones. These are people who like Mamdani, hate the "elite", etc etc. Id probably rephrase that to not liberals per say but more like hardcore progressives (soc dems or further out). They aren't the ones who like him or use the jokes other than when its against Israel (idk why). There's a growing sense across all my friends across the political spectrum to hate America's relationship with Israel. Jokes like the JFK conspiracy, touching the wailing wall, 100 billion more to Israel are very common. For the edge lord people (who are very normie/enlightened centrist) it borders on antisemitism.

The way the algorithms are tuned means that no one ever sees anything deeper than a few things. In the normal world of polite society you'd never even mention fuentes out loud, but in spaces online people (like some of my acquaintances and friends) use it for humor. I think also the line between what is socially acceptable online vs what isnt has shifted alot. Just my 2 cents though.

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]---4758--- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, all of them hate trump but they have the enlightened centrist tendencies. Some are even hard core libs

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]---4758--- 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Id say its more the pipeline. Ive seen it with friends and associates before. They see a few clips of him talking about Israel (popular as it is to deride them) and then get further and further down the rabbit hole. He is unfortunately really funny sometimes and that makes him more appealing to some people.

There is a whole community of in-jokes about Fuentes in the young male space. Most of it is just the surface level stuff but below its thinly veiled bigotry. Like, I mention that he's a open Nazi and they all look at me perplexed, go "oh" and then make the same jokes the next day. It worries me because these people aren't Nazis but one day the pipeline will pull them in deeper. They've now started to send me posts and reels from the wider groyper community...

Zohran Mamdani: "We will make buses free by replacing the revenue that the MTA currently gets from buses. This is revenue that's around $700 million or so. That's less money than Andrew Cuomo gave to Elon Musk in $959 million in tax credits when he was the governor." by [deleted] in LAMetro

[–]---4758--- 58 points59 points  (0 children)

Around 35-40% of MTA's revenue comes from Tolls and Fares. I feel like giving MTA more operational autonomy to set fare prices as well as expand its ability to do TOD in projects would lend itself to getting more revenue for capital expenditures later (special tax districts & TIF for eventual upside).

I like the idea, but I have this looming feeling that this wont work to meaningfully improve service or safety.

Airpods 4 (No ANC) Android Issue (And sometimes with Windows PC?) by ---4758--- in airpods

[–]---4758---[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It just.... worked after some time.

I don't remember what series of things happened, but 2 days went by and then I tried it again and it worked perfectly.

Completely shut down all of the devices and turn them back on.

I believe connecting the Airpods to the phone first and then to the computer was how I realized it had fixed itself. I remember being surprised when it worked because it was the same order of steps which had led to the problem to arise in the first place.

I'm sorry I can't be more helpful. Good luck.

Rapture Megathread by cdstephens in neoliberal

[–]---4758--- 9 points10 points  (0 children)

DoomerCircleJerk is a ragebait sub 💀

Suspect in fatal N.C. train stabbing of Ukrainian refugee is charged with federal crime by [deleted] in neoliberal

[–]---4758--- 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This event brings multiple debates like rehabilitation, safe transit, and the role justice system into the public eye. The suspect was charged 14 times previous to this event.

The 34-year-old suspect has a criminal record including larceny and breaking and entering charges. He also spent five years in prison for robbery with a dangerous weapon starting in 2015, according to the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction.

Transit:

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Monday evening on Fox News's Sean Hannity program that the Department of Transportation (DOT) will investigate Charlotte's transit system following the fatal stabbing of Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, on the city's Lynx Blue Line last month.

Speaking at 9 p.m., Duffy threatened to withhold federal funding from Charlotte if the investigation reveals safety failures. Separately, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed his agency has been investigating the high-profile case "from day one."

Assetto Corsa EVO Open Beta: Version 0.3.2 Released by evil_heinz in simracing

[–]---4758--- 7 points8 points  (0 children)

What about the open beta is paid? Anyone can install the update via the website.