The SAAF Forum

Activists daubed a giant Ukrainian flag on the road outside the Russian embassy in London on Thursday 23 Feb, to mark the anniversary of the Russian invasion.
Short 25sec video on link below:-

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/video/uk ... 78760ac842

Human ingenuity in driving home a powerful message of resistance.

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/tallyho2015/albums

I despair that Britain, once the nation that stood alone against the Nazis, has now become the most fervent supporter of Nazis.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/hundreds-of-ukrainian-nationalists-march-in-in-honor-of-nazi-collaborator/

Russia has vowed to denazify Ukraine and I trust they will do it! слава России

there is no point to argue with (him)... even the link of the protest was a good camera angle and 40 odd people

leave it be.. we have better things to do with our time

Following on from the video posted earlier, showing a very well organised ‘event’ outside the Russian embassy in London, here is another very high-profile stunt, opposite the Russian embassy in Berlin.

In short:-
A battle damaged and abandoned Russian T-72B tank was transported from Bucha, near Kyiv, to Berlin via Poland, on a low-loader. The wreck was dumped right opposite the Russian embassy, on the main Berlin thoroughfare, the Unter-den-Linden. For those that have not been to Berlin, the Unter-den-Linden is a major promenade in central Berlin, surrounded by embassies, hotels, high-end retailers, restaurants, shops, eateries … a major tourist area.

A coup, as in London, seen by hundreds of millions on main and social media across the world. The humiliation is truly global!


Opposite the Russian embassy, central Berlin.


Lit up in the colours of the Ukrainian flag

Picture credits unknown

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/tallyho2015/albums

It looks like another stunt backfired spectacularly.
https://oopstop.com/the-germans-strewed-flowers-on-a-wrecked-russian-tank-installed-in-berlin-video/
The anti NATO's war movement is growing.

https://theatlasnews.co/conflict/2023/03/14/u-s-mq-9-drone-struck-and-brought-down-by-russian-su-27-aircraft/

I was wondering when Russia would start interfering with the US intelligence gathering over the black sea. I think the message has now been sent. I also think something big is about to happen and American spy planes are going to be kept out.

Update. The Russians report that it was flying without transponders active, in violation of international navigation rules.

Much like Russian vessels sailing with AIS off?

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How come every time my ship comes in, I'm at the airport?

Well it is a war zone, after all, so no transponder is a giveaway that you're participating in the war. IMHO that makes one fair game.

Further reading and discussion I've had leads me to believe that the Russian fighter, or fighters brought the drone down in the same way as the RAF brought down the V1's in the 2nd world war. They probably flew close ahead of the drone and let the wake vortices topple the drone from which it's autopilot cannot recover. (Sidenote: no they did not tip them with the wingtips. Using the wake vortex is safer and more elegant)

There's something else. The USAF flew a B52 in close proximity to St Petersburg recently in a dummy bomb run exercise. This may be a response to that provocation.

PS from a telegram channel I follow , t.me/DonbassDevushka : (

That is interesting as the Global Hawk Typically flies at 50 000 to 55 000 ft altitude. The Su-27 family is quite capable of intercepting there.

The alternative possibility is that the RQ-4 might just have been evacuated from its patrol after the reported MQ-9 went down, but who knows what really happened.

I always thought that a 12 nautical mile limit off a coastline was the internationally agreed sovereign territory?

There are also international rules pertaining to a war zone. Russia has a right to declare an exclusion zone during military operations and the US has chosen to ignore that and now line in the sand is drawn. It appears from the recently released video that the Russian coast was in sight so I'd say they were too close. I've noted that for the time being the US is not flying any drones, nor the Global Hawk that regularly patrols over the central Black Sea over the past few days. We shall see if the US wants to provoke or be sane. I think the next provocation, if there is one, will be shot down.

On March 14, 2023, the US released a statement that an MQ-9 "Reaper" was hit by a Russian SU-27 fighter.

Russia claimed it did not came into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle.

Who is lying?


https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1636 ... 18241.html

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How come every time my ship comes in, I'm at the airport?

No mention in the article about wake vortices. This is always a factor when aircraft are close behind each other which few people outside of pilots and aerodynamicists know about. To me the clue is "as a result of violent manoeuvres" the aircraft lost control. If the drone flew into the wake vortex of the Su-27 it will be thrown about very violently and possibly lose control. The autopilot may not be able to recover from extreme attitudes or a spin. They're not programmed for aerobatics. the Su27 would be about 25 tonnes and the MQ 9 is about 5 tonnes. so the wake vortex of the SU 27 is a major hazard for the MQ 9.

What cause the propeller damage is not clear. A collision would have also damaged the drone's tailplane but that is out of view.

During the 2nd world war the intercepting fighters used to topple V1's from their flight by just this method. (No they did not tip them by tipping them by contact of the wingtip. That is a myth.) All they needed to do was fly ahead and slightly to one side and let the wingtip vortex do the work. The V1's didn't have ailerons so had no means of recovery.

Location as per the US:


Guess we have to wait for the sat image to see where the Russian ships are congregating.

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How come every time my ship comes in, I'm at the airport?

Who are they trying to fool. The article you posted earlier gives a much more plausible location particlularly since the video is in site of the Russian coast.



I've been thinking more about the purpose of spraying fuel and here's what I've come up with. The MQ-9 has a turboprop engine. Extra fuel in the inlet will cause the engine to possibly overspeed, certainly overheat, and perhaps cause a turbine disc failure or other failures. The broken propeller blade is a possible collateral damage from that. Yes it's a stretch and it doesn't rule out the possibility that a collision did occur, but I do think the fuel spraying will cause damage to the engine. That, at least is consistent with the Russians wanting to recover the drone relatively intact rather than shooting it down with gunfire or a missile. Plus it's cheaper than the wasteful efforts the US has made shooting weather and hobby balloons.