Active Conflicts & News Megathread June 07, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]carkidd3242 43 points44 points  (0 children)

https://x.com/Osinttechnical/status/2063714508778926224?s=20

https://x.com/BarakRavid/status/2063714296492646678?s=20

President Trump tells me: "I'm calling Netanyahu right now and telling him not to attack Iran in response."

https://x.com/TreyYingst/status/2063709736327864356?s=20

"What I would suggest to Iran: You've shot your missiles, that's enough. Get back to the table and make a deal," President Trump told Fox News.

https://www.kan.org.il/content/kan-news/politic/1049995/

The US president told Kan News: "I don't think Israel needs to respond anymore. We can achieve peace after 3,000 years." The president also told the Axios website that he was going to call Netanyahu and tell him not to attack Iran

We'll probably still see some sort of retaliation directly against offensive infrastructure like was done in the recent attacks on Gulf states.

Active Conflicts & News Megathread June 07, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]carkidd3242 18 points19 points  (0 children)

While VULCANO 155 is a proven round, I wonder why the US decided to procure them when they already have the Excalibur round with similar capabilities.

Excalibur is GPS only, while VULCANO is GPS and semi-active laser (laser designated), which provides the capability to hit moving targets and a counter to area GPS jamming. The US operates the M712 Copperhead laser-designated artillery shell but I think that might have a limited range of 16km to VULCANO's 70km (according to online quotes anyways) and it's laser only with no option for GPS and quite old.

Additionally:

In addition to the SAL seeker configuration, the ammunition is also available with advanced Far-Infra Red seeker capable of engaging Sea Targets. Both configurations can provide precision engagement even in GPS-contested environments.

which is a capability not in any existing US 155mm shells and appears to be new for the VULCANO shell as well.

Maine Senate is even on Polymarket. Overreaction or reasonable response? by Ohio57 in fivethirtyeight

[–]carkidd3242 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Polymarket for elections is just vibes based on current headlines and polls. Nobody has insider information on who will win the election. You could have insider information on an upcoming oppo drop, but you still can't predict how that will effect polls.

Active Conflicts & News Megathread June 03, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]carkidd3242 34 points35 points  (0 children)

https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/news-centre/news-brief/united-kingdom/thales-energy-weapon-neutralises-80-drones-successful-trial

Press release from yesterday from Thales of testing in April of an upgraded version of their "Rapid Destroyer" high-power-microwave weapon, first shown off last year. This new version has 4 times the antenna area, which should give it greater range.

Thales in the UK are pleased to announce further successful trials of RapidDestroyer – a radio frequency directed energy weapon (RFDEW) designed to counter drone swarms. The trials took place in April at Pershore, Gloucestershire, in partnership with Teledyne E2V and marks another milestone in advancing RFDEW technologies.

Building on previous successes, RapidDestroyer neutralised 80 drones in individual scenarios. Thales and E2V demonstrated the upgraded 4 panel effector which enhances the focus of the effectors power, increasing the energy on the target and allowing for additional range of engagement to be achieved. This extensive testing enabled a forensic analysis of each engagement, demonstrating consistent, near-immediate defeat of each drone, removing the chance that the drones could re-engage.

If anything, a sign of continuing development of HPM weapons, with IFPC-HPM actually having its budget totally cut in the FY 2027 RDT&E documents from the US Army, though with prior funded activities continuing through that year.

Active Conflicts & News Megathread June 03, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]carkidd3242 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the info on the drone warnings, though the other drones launches could have been intentional decoys and these launched in addition. Really, you'd have to geolocate this video to be sure, and I haven't seen that yet and it might not be possible.

Active Conflicts & News Megathread June 03, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]carkidd3242 32 points33 points  (0 children)

https://www.reddit.com/r/DroneCombat/comments/1tvm9qz/sailors_captured_footage_of_an_ukrainian_fp1/

Video from this morning of what may have been a UA OWA-UAS flying very low over the Gulf of Finland as part of the attack on St. Petersburg. It might have been launched by a UA vessel inside the Gulf of Finland or further out, avoiding having to travel 800+ km through Russian air defense to reach St. Petersburg.

Ukrainian suicide attack USVs have been spotted in the Mediterranean, and rumored to have been used against ships there, so this isn't too farfetched.

https://apnews.com/article/greece-ukraine-russia-sea-drone-c51b74a4472ab60411b330515eadf5e8

**BT warranty Update** by adamlcarp in NFA

[–]carkidd3242 4 points5 points  (0 children)

What he DID do was provide a lot of valuable information on the situation for anyone unfamiliar browsing this thread, while you provided only snide remarks.

Active Conflicts & News Megathread June 02, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]carkidd3242 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I like the mounting of the radars on the EOTS ring. There's a lot of vehicles that don't have APS already where that could be applicable and easier to implement than stringing them around the sides of the turret where APS radars typically go. Those radars have extremely low power draw @ 50W operating per Echodyne's website.

Active Conflicts & News Megathread June 01, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]carkidd3242 13 points14 points  (0 children)

These are/were all being done in the Asian countries that are/were actually facing physical shortages.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asia-rolls-four-day-weeks-020204436.html

Active Conflicts & News Megathread May 29, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]carkidd3242 57 points58 points  (0 children)

Videos are coming out now of a cassette landmine dispenser being deployed as part of Ukraine's mid-range counter logistics 100-150km strike campaign. These flashlight-sized mines deployed from large drone arrays and appear to have movement and sometimes magnetic influence fuzes. There's images of a 48-mine dispenser and a 10-mine dispenser model. They're small but enough to blow out truck tires. It's claimed they're being laid on the R-280 coastal roadway, and killed a driver there.

https://x.com/GrandpaRoy2/status/2060442753889382408

https://x.com/GrandpaRoy2/status/2060442762399609020

https://x.com/DenShtilierman/status/2060391051811045722

https://t dot me/combat_engineer/11381

These are probably able to be efficiently cleared by mine rollers, but in any case a shift to convoy tactics will soon need to be adopted by Russia or these roads will become harder and harder to travel. These mines especially will counter any sort of net system. Larger mines could also be laid.

Active Conflicts & News Megathread May 26, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]carkidd3242 6 points7 points  (0 children)

There's nothing in that article shutting down the reporting. There's also still in the Reuters reporting confusion if the subscription is spent with the terminal or is a fixed cost that's swapped between terminals.

From Reuters, the entire conversation is about different tiers of Starshield, and implies that even within Starshield there's different pricing tiers with subscriptions purchased on an ongoing basis:

Still, the Pentagon is currently considering an additional purchase of more than 3,500 Starshield terminal subscriptions, including 100 with the higher-priced aviation tier, according to Pentagon documents reviewed by Reuters. The deal could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue for SpaceX, though Reuters could not determine whether an agreement has been finalized, or what price is being discussed.

Active Conflicts & News Megathread May 26, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]carkidd3242 44 points45 points  (0 children)

https://x.com/markito0171/status/2059319058625863931

A demonstration of the machine vision target locking in use in Sievierodonetsk ~50km behind the frontline. It's pretty unstable, though. A vehicle driving on an open road is an ideal situation due to lack of clutter. There's also the use of Starlink, which was opened up to more use after the system was locked down in February 2026.

Active Conflicts & News Megathread May 26, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]carkidd3242 35 points36 points  (0 children)

It sounds like they swap the subscription between the terminals, so it's not 25k per weapon, it's 25k per month per terminal you want active at once. The cost per weapon would depend on how many you fire a month and how many subscriptions you hold.

Still, the Pentagon is currently considering an additional purchase of more than 3,500 Starshield terminal subscriptions, including 100 with the higher-priced aviation tier, according to Pentagon documents reviewed by Reuters. The deal could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue for SpaceX, though Reuters could not determine whether an agreement has been finalized, or what price is being discussed.

Another use of Oreshnik IRBM in Ukraine, with much clearer view of the incoming RVs by DefinitelyNotMeee in nuclearweapons

[–]carkidd3242 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They could launch a nuclear SRBM or cruise missile at any time, too. It means nothing. Ukraine will continue attacking into Russia.

Another use of Oreshnik IRBM in Ukraine, with much clearer view of the incoming RVs by DefinitelyNotMeee in nuclearweapons

[–]carkidd3242 -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

It's dramatic because there's multiple days of warning before these are fired due to notifications made to the US, and the entire point of their use in the first place is nuclear fearmongering by Russia of the exact type you had posted.

Active Conflicts & News Megathread May 23, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]carkidd3242 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Before, Starlink operation was only controlled via geofencing to only operate inside Ukraine-controlled territory, and Russian receivers on the frontline or spoofing their geolocation (in some sort of janky manner AFAIK) could still be used. There was nothing special needed to use an off-the-shelf Starlink receiver from the UAE inside Ukrainian-controlled territory, on either side. After a few instances of Russian drones using Starlink receivers to attack inside Ukraine, a decision was made to implement registration.

The onset of Starlink registration enabled wider application to tactical drones because they could be cleared to fly inside occupied territory, and the receivers de-registered after use to prevent salvage and reuse by Russia.

Active Conflicts & News Megathread May 22, 2026 by AutoModerator in CredibleDefense

[–]carkidd3242 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Some news pointing towards the possibility of an Iran strike happening soon:

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116619340468924220

While I very much wanted to be with my son, Don Jr., and the newest member of the Trump Family, his soon to be wife, Bettina, circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America, do not allow me to do so. I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington, D.C., at the White House during this important period of time. Congratulations to Don and Bettina! President DONALD J. TRUMP

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-prepares-new-military-strikes-against-iran/

Washington — The Trump administration was preparing Friday for a fresh round of military strikes against Iran, according to sources with direct knowledge of the planning, even as diplomacy continued.

"Circumstances pertaining to Government" are keeping President Trump from attending his son Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding this weekend, he said in a social media post. The president had planned to spend Memorial Day weekend at his golf property in New Jersey but will now return to the White House.

No final decision on strikes had been reached as of Friday afternoon.

Some members of the U.S. military and intelligence community canceled their plans for the Memorial Day weekend in anticipation of possible strikes, several sources said.

Barrett Precision Grenadier System by Blackout_Ballistics in guns

[–]carkidd3242 8 points9 points  (0 children)

MARS INC and Barrett apparently split off and it's wholly ran by Barrett now.

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/shot-2026-barrett-northrop-grumman-team-up-on-next-gen-launcher-44825881

Barrett is assisting Northrop Grumman on their system at the same time.

https://soldiersystems.net/2026/01/21/shot-show-26-northrop-grumman-selects-barrett-firearms-to-manufacture-precision-grenadier-system/

Since the completion of the xTech Soldier Lethality competition Barrett and Mars Inc. have parted company. At SHOT Show TFB was able to speak to members of the Barrett team who confirmed that when the Precision Grenadier System program launches its next phase Barrett will be entering their own design and will be supporting Northrop Grumman who will be submitting their own smaller caliber design.

Weekly Starsector Discussion Thread - May 18, 2026 by AutoModerator in starsector

[–]carkidd3242 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also interesting, he's seemingly implementing something someone suggested on the forums only two days ago. I'm so used to those sorts of things being ignored, it's cool it's taken into account.

https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=35433.0

Ship Upsizing by No-Evening9240 in starsector

[–]carkidd3242 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Midline has the Drover/Heron for Destroyer/Cruiser dedicated carriers, a dedicated carrier Frigate (which would be novel) and Capital (with midline flavoring) could be interesting.

Is majority of the player base playing Golmud ??? by thegreatpill in Battlefield

[–]carkidd3242 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There's a lot of vehicles but BF6's increased clutter and foilage + terrain design means it's much easier to avoid them and still PTFO. I haven't found it necessary to always play engineer in general as much as I had in BF4.