DAN RICE
Aug 2, 2024
Ukraine starts to receive Navy and Air Force capabilities from NATO.
Yesterday Ukraine received some long awaited F-16 fighters from the Netherlands plus an anti-submarine ship from Turkey.
Similar to World War II, the west is starting to significantly increase the flow of arms into Ukraine.
The F-16s will also be armed with our longest range air-to-air missiles, the AMRAAM with a range of 300km/165 miles. Once the F-16s are in the air defending Ukraine they pose a serious threat to the Russian fighter bombers dropping 100 glide bombs, some as large as 3,000 lbs. Pushing the bombers back past stand off range will take tremendous pressure off of the Ukrainian front line troops.
The F-16s will also have air-to-ground capabilities. One of the primary targets will be the Kerch Bridge. There are only a handful of F-16s arriving but 69 are pledged. President Zelenskyy believes Ukraine needs 128.
Momentum of the flow of arms is favoring Ukraine. Russian casualties this summer May-Sep will exceed 150,000 dead and wounded. A massive casualty rate and number. But the lack of replacement troops is challenging on the Ukraine front line.
Ukraine will soon deny Russia both dominance on the Black Sea and dominance in the air. Russia started the war expecting to have air superiority and with the Russia Black Sea fleet controlling the Black Sea. Both of the assumptions are now wrong.
BIO
Dan is the President American University Kyiv and Co-President Thayer Leadership and a 1988 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He served his commitment as an Airborne-Ranger qualified Field Artillery officer. In 2004, he voluntarily re-commissioned in the Infantry to serve in Iraq for 13 months. He has been awarded the Purple Heart, Ranger Tab, Airborne Badge and cited for ‘courage on the field of battle” by his Brigade Commander.
SCHOLARLY WORK/PUBLICATIONS/AWARDS
Dan has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Small Wars Journal, and Chief Executive magazine. In 2013, he published and co-authored his first book, West Point Leadership: Profiles of Courage, which features 200 of West Point graduates who have helped shape our nation, including the authorized biographies of over 100 living graduates.. The book received 3 literary awards from the Independent Book Publishers Association plus an award from the Military Society Writers of America (MSWA). Dan has appeared frequently on various news networks including CNN, FOX News, FOX & Friends, Bloomberg TV, NBC, MSNBC, and The Today Show.
……..
“The F-16s will also be armed with our longest range air-to-air missiles, the AMRAAM with a range of 300km/165 miles.”
That’s the first I heard of this. The Ukrainians have been crying out for long range AAM’s for 18 months. Now at last they have them, they can hurt the putinaZi motherfuckers.
Why they weren’t adapted earlier for Ukraine’s current fleet of old warplanes? My understanding was this is perfectly feasible?
Off topic but relevant to Ukraine:
Two successive days of massive losses on US and western allies financial markets is going to put the Biden administration under pressure, because trump for sure will exploit it.
Action needed now to stop the sell-off.
I’m not worried The markets are still ahead of the markets when Biden was elected. More importantly interest rates took a dive yesterday and today and are approaching a flat yield curve which portends normalization and decline in interest rates but more significantly the markets are telling us that inflation will be coming down. IMHO