Estonia’s top military commander said fresh intelligence on Russia’s ability to produce ammunition and recruit troops has prompted a re-evaluation among NATO allies and a spate of warnings to prepare for a long-term conflict.

Estonia’s top military commander said fresh intelligence on Russia’s ability to produce ammunition and recruit troops has prompted a re-evaluation among NATO allies and a spate of warnings to prepare for a long-term conflict.

Martin Herem, the commander of the Estonian Defense Forces, said predictions that Russian forces would reach the limits of their resources haven’t come true. President Vladimir Putin’s military has the capacity to produce several million artillery shells a year, far outstripping European efforts, and can recruit hundreds of thousands of new troops, he said.

The general from Estonia, which shares a nearly 300-kilometer (186-mile) border with Russia, joins a growing number of North Atlantic Treaty Organization military chiefs who have warned over the past month that the alliance should prepare for a war footing with the Kremlin. Herem referenced an earlier estimate that Russia could produce a million artillery shells a year.

“A lot of people thought they couldn’t go beyond that — today, the facts tell us otherwise,” Herem said in an interview in Tallinn. “They can produce even more — many times more — ammunition.”

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  • BangelaQuirkel@lemmy.worldEnglish
    171·
    10 months ago

    Keep in mind that the Nazis back in the day had sophisticated weaponry and a lot of high quality stuff, but they were beaten by cheap, mass produced, easy to use weapons and armor. Among other things - but the point still stands.

      • BangelaQuirkel@lemmy.worldEnglish
        82·
        10 months ago

        You’re not wrong. This is one of the ‘other things’ I mentioned. A shortage of natural resources is another. Winter, too.

        But it is not a myth that Germany had many high quality, but incompatible weapons systems from different manufacturers (handguns and rifles) and that e.g. the tiger was impressive but unreliable.

        The best example might be the Wunderwaffen they shot London with. Useless in the grand scheme of things, yet technologically impressive.

        My point is that technological supremacy isn’t automatically going to secure the victory.

    • gregorum@lemm.eeEnglish
      52·
      10 months ago

      The Ukrainians are not Nazis, nor are they invading Russia.

      • BangelaQuirkel@lemmy.worldEnglish
        52·
        10 months ago

        This true but also irrelevant to the point that technological supremacy doesn’t equal a guaranteed win.

    • Wanderer@lemm.eeEnglish
      31·
      10 months ago

      The Germans were artisans.

      They could build beautiful tanks in a beautiful way the west could only dream of. They kept skilled workers doing a craft that was the envy of workers around the world.

      An American tank was fixed with replaceable parts punched out on a factory line by a women with 2 hours of experience. Germans tanks were unique and were taken back and repaired in a factory that had been bombed 3 times.