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Formerly @John_A_Ridge | Physics | Weapons Systems | Security Assistance | Lockheed Liberal | Raytheon Radical | 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇹🇼
United States
Joined November 2023
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Given it has been nearly two weeks and I have not been able to regain access to my account, I think it is probably time to call it quits.
RIP.
John Ridge retweeted
The next one will be the mother in law of all bombs
In response to recent reports that the US 🇺🇸 is considering using the GBU-43 (known as "mother of all bombs") to target Iranian 🇮🇷 energy infrastructure and nuclear sites, IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebi says the IRGC is preparing to unveil the "father of all bombs."
Mohammed Reza Naqdi, Supreme Advisor to IRGC Commander in Chief Ahmad Vahidi, also recently stated that the IRGC has prepared the "father of all missiles" and threatened to use it if "the enemy makes a mistake."
I'm not looking forward to the next round of this war. Substantial escalation is likely to result in Iran attacking and severely damaging upstream refining and loading capacity in the Gulf.
All of our efforts to open Hormuz and stabilize energy markets will be for naught.
And you'll do this at the *checks notes* regulatory agency responsible for the oil and natural gas industry
lol lmao
John Ridge retweeted
Cody shot up a federal building on January 6
These are Dort’s friends
This is who Dort is: a failed officer, never trusted to lead Soldiers, so instead he “leads” and inspires conspiracy theorists on social media
Reminder that Starshield is the SpaceX business unit for government/defense customers. The Starlink-based constellation owned by the DoD is the Space Data Network (SDN).
Most terminals in Ukraine are not connected via the SDN. They are commercial terminals on Starshield plans paid via various contracts with the U.S., Germany, and others.
I have real reservations about this claim. Starshield is bound by mountains of terms of service between the Pentagon on SpaceX. The idea that Musk just pulled and Office Space in Starlink HQ and told the watch worker to put up a speed gate on terminals around Ukraine sounds like a massive problem for the Pentagon as well as Ukraine. So yeah, I have real questions here.
For those who missed it, our latest weekly talk is available on all our platforms.
We were delighted to welcome Rob Lee (@RALee85), Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and former Marine infantry officer, to discuss the 🇷🇺Russian perspective on the K#ll Zone.
The conversation also featured Erlend (@edrotning), Joseph (@JThomason88), Stanimir (@delfoo) and Sirdo (@sirdo_)
🔗Listen here:
YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=31GLq0pG…
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5Lk…
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/no/podcas…
John Ridge retweeted
Last week the HUR said Russia is developing a version of the Kinzhal missile that swaps out the penetrating HE warhead for an HE frag warhead, likely because the latter requires less accuracy. According to HUR, Russia had suspended Kinzhal production at least partly due to accuracy issues and shifted resources to 9M723 Iskander production (see below).
pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/…
Replying to @JohnH105
HUR deputy head Vadym Skibitskyi says Russia is currently exceeding its monthly production targets for key missiles.
- Monthly target for 9M723 Iskander is 60, but produced 65 in July.
- July and August production targets for Kh-101 = 72 missiles per month, but produced 87 in July.
- July and August production targets for Kalibr = 26 missiles per month, but produced 29 in July.
- Reached annual target for Tsirkon (33 missiles) and Oniks (60 missiles) in seven months. Oniks was upgraded to accuracy against ground targets and to increase range and warhead.
- Fulfilled July target for Kh-35 by 200%
- August production target for RM-48U is ~40 missiles. Estimated stockpile of 400 missiles. Mach 6 velocity.
Russia achieved this increase in production partly by simplifying quality-control requirements and by “suspending” [or just reducing?] production of Kh-32 and Kinzhal since April. For more details on decrease in Kinzhal production: xitter.cf/JohnH105/status/206259…). “They had been working to improve the accuracy of the Kh-32. However, the results of several combat tests showed that they were unable to do so, so the Russians sent the missiles back for further development and suspended their serial production. They have similar issues with Kinzhal missiles. We can hardly recall a case when this missile hit its target accurately. For an effective missile, the deviation from the target should not exceed 5-7 meters, while theirs is 30 meters or more.”
The Russians "are not really drawing down their stockpiles. Almost everything being used now is coming straight off the production line. The only exception is the Kalibr missiles - most of them are currently being allocated to other Russian fleets, since all new Russian warships and submarines are equipped with these systems. In effect, those missiles are going into reserve stockpiles... According to military intelligence, as of August 5, the stockpile allocated to the Russian military grouping stood at around 130 9M723 missiles."
Russia launched 61 ballistic missiles in April, 107 in May, 134 in June, and 198 in July. For cruise missiles, July ranked second in 2026 (with 153) behind February (157). Russia began using more Banderol and Dan-T this year.
Russian barrages are currently focused on 1) Ukraine’s defense industry (particularly ballistic missile and UAS production) and 2) logistics (railways, port infrastructure, shipping, Rozetka/Nova Poshta, etc). Moscow also seeks to destabilize Kyiv politically, coupling strikes with information operations saying Ukrainian authorities cannot defend the country.
newsukraine.rbc.ua/interview…
As US Secretary of the Treasury @SecScottBessent clearly has absolutely no idea what he is talking about and asks “Where is Germany?” when it comes to the supply of Patriot fire units and missiles to Ukraine, I thought this might be a good time for an educational tweet.
Let's first talk about the supply of fire units and afterwards about the supply of missiles. Germany, Mr. Secretary, has in fact supplied more MIM-104 Patriot fire units to Ukraine than the US has, despite owning and operating only a fraction of what the US owns and operates. About half of Ukraine's MIM-104 Patriot fire units came from Bundeswehr stocks.
A total of five fully equipped MIM-104 Patriot fire units were supplied from Bundeswehr stocks between 2023 and 2025 alongside a few extra launchers and most likely a spare radar unit. Germany began donating Patriot related equipment to Ukraine at the same time the US has and still does it until this day while the US has long stopped donating this to Ukraine.
Let's now talk about missiles. Together with every fire unit, Germany also donated a missile package. Known donations included for example 100 missiles and 64 missiles. That's substantial, but of course, this only guaranteed the immediate operational readiness of said fire units, nothing else. We didn’t have our own production facilities and our stocks weren’t even remotely as well-stocked as those in the US. The US (led by Biden) actually kept those fire units alive.
In February 2025, before the delivery of the last two MIM-104 Patriot fire units took place, before various donations via PURL and JUMPSTART took place and before Germany made several smaller missile deliveries from its own stocks, the German MoD confirmed to have delivered 328 Patriot missiles of various versions. By now the number of Patriot missiles already financed and delivered should exceed 500 easily.
But what about what's happening now? Germany has shown multiple times since President Trump took office that it is leading in the organisation, funding and delivery of new ammunition for Ukraine's MIM-104 Patriot fire units.
The German government has multiple times organized or tried to organize new deliveries for Ukraine. For example, in February 2026, Germany was in talks with multiple nations to find a total of 35 PAC-3 missiles for Ukraine. After weeks-long negotiations, 30+ were actually donated as a result of the German initiative. Germany was also — on the highest levels — in talks with Spain and Greece for the delivery of additional missiles.
But of course, we are doing things beyond. A lot of things. As already mentioned, Germany is actively funding Patriot missiles from the US both via JUMPSTART and via PURL. You shouldn't forget @SecScottBessent, that we are paying you for this. As recently as June 2026, Germany spent a total of $200 million on PAC-3 missiles via JUMPSTART and another $200 million on various missiles via PURL. Total donations already exceed $1 billion.
And now to the final and biggest part: In April 2026, Germany announced an enormous missile package for Ukraine. Over the following years, Germany will spend €3.2 billion to finance 600 PAC-2 GEM-T missiles for Ukraine's MIM-104 Patriot fire units — made in Germany by the way.
So please don't ask what Germany is doing for Ukraine. We do more for Ukraine then anybody else, including the US. All you do now is getting paid billions for the bare minimum.
PS: For full transparency it must be noted that multiple nations like Denmark, Lithuania and Norway above all have supported Germany financially in the delivery or re-procurement of MIM-104 Patriot fire units and missiles.
John Ridge retweeted
Lockheed Martin giving a F-16 Block 70/72 model in Ukrainian livery to Zelensky.
Zelensky says he met Lockheed Martin representatives in Kyiv to discuss expanding supplies for Ukraine. He said Patriot systems and F-16s play a key role against Russian ballistic missiles and jet-powered Shaheds, while both areas remain difficult. Lockheed Martin is increasing production of ballistic-missile interceptors, and Ukraine hopes to purchase part of that output. Kyiv is also working to have F-16 maintenance and repairs carried out in Ukraine. #Ukraine
Russia murdered multiple Ukrainian children today, including a toddler
Trump: "Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven't been doing much."
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Same day a Russian drone killed six civilians, including children, in a Kharkiv region park. Overnight strikes cut power to 550,000 households. Ukrainian civilian casualties up 85% y/y in September.
usnews.com/news/world/art…
abcnews.com/International/…
mb.com.ph/article/109408…
John Ridge retweeted
idk how widespread this is, but back when I was hiring for a pretty basic data analytics/engineering role that really just required some fluency with Python and SQL, HR would tell me all the time with a straight face they just couldn't find any marginally qualified resumes for me to even look at. And when I got frustrated and asked to see some resumes they thought "weren't qualified" it became clear there was a huge disconnect
John Ridge retweeted
Starlink: a SpaceX satellite constellation for providing broadband internet service to consumers.
Starshield: a SpaceX business unit focused on leveraging Starlink technologies for military use.
Starshield, in its colloquial uses: using Starlink for military purposes. Or, a misnomer for...
Space Data Network (formerly MILNET): A US Space Force Space Systems Command/National Reconnaissance Office jointly acquired system to provide a data network infrastructure in space.
Glad we could clear this up. God, we collectively suck at naming things.
Sharing space with this very impressive feat, is a grimmer account of the soldier’s survival before his rescue
A wounded soldier from Ukraine’s 30th Mechanized Brigade was evacuated by an heavy lift UAS from Gurzuf Defense with help from the 92nd Assault Brigade, 14th Mechanized Brigade, and 10th Corps.
instagram.com/reel/Deq4v9qTT…
John Ridge retweeted
UPDATE: Cosmos 2612 appears to have maneuvered following a close approach with the ICEYE satellite.
The latest TLEs show 2612 in a larger orbit that will drift away with no further maneuvers.
In this animation, I fit an impulsive burn to bridge 2612’s previous TLE to its most recent one.
I used OEL with Codex to do all of the modeling.
Cosmos 2612 has been maneuvering closer to an ICEYE SAR satellite. Using OEL, I created these visualizations to help understand what’s going on.
The animation shows a 3D RIC frame animation of the recent motion
The second figure shows how individual parameters evolved over time. You can see that 2612 matched the orbital plane of the SAR satellite and closed the in-track separation.
The third figure shows that between gaps in TLEs the motion of 2612 changes in an unnatural manner. This indicates that a maneuver occurred.
The last figure shows 2D cuts of the 3D animation.
What do you think it’s up to?
John Ridge retweeted
1\5
America went much further than that with its recent Starshield/Starlink restrictions on Ukraine. Let me explain the effects.
Starlink is a technology that provides critical communication service to government and civilian sector, I repeat the service is critical.
So what happened, and why it matters?
Someone wanted a 2 cent lower diesel prices before the midterms, or was promised something by putin in exchange for this, maybe he just had a bad mood.
Many say Ukraine is not an ally, so the USA can just do whatever it wants, however the service that was crippled by American political leadership or at their silent approval is sold to Germany and Poland, which are part of NATO and are in critical interests of these countries to keep Ukrainian operations running, you may argue, but it's official position by the elected political leadership of these states.
Many say it's a blow to the starlink, others that it's a blow to American military industries.
I think it's much wider, it's a significant in blow to the American tech and industrial sector which has been driving Americans economy for the past decades.
I am a cloud infrastructure engineer developing on premise, hybrid and sovereign solutions. This cloud infrastructure hosts data services used in production facilities, telecom, AI, mining industries and energy sector. Essentially all critical services to a functioning state.
Right now everything is run via remote control planes. Here are more concrete 3 example in the thread below:








































