If the post-collapse Taliban supplemented with the regular Afghan army deserters measures 300,000.
And if an infantry battalion of 500 soldiers runs through $150,000 worth of batteries a year which works out to $300 of batteries per set of boots-on-the-ground.
Then the Taliban will have to find $90,000,000 a year to keep their new toys in batteries.
With gropey joe in charge i don't think that will be a problem.
ReplyDeleteOne way or another, I bet they spend a lot less than that.
ReplyDeleteI am hearing that the US left the Afghan (Taliban) army over 200 aircraft, 70,000 vehicles including MRAPS, and 600,000 infantry weapons such as M-16's, M-4's, M-240's, machine guns, and mortars. The only thing I can think of needing batteries are the ACOG and red dot optics on the rifles so equipped, and possibly the 12-volt vehicle batteries every few years.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we left them large numbers of NOD's as well? Other than that and the aforementioned Trijicons, I can not imagine how a battalion of infantry would need $150K of batteries a year. But it has been almost 40 years since I was in, so maybe I have just been away from it for too long to know what's what.
"In a typical 72-hour mission in Afghanistan, a U.S. Soldier carries 70 individual batteries. Army scientists are researching ways to unburden the Warfighter by lightening the load.
DeleteBatteries make up 20 percent of the weight a Soldier carries in theater. "
https://www.army.mil/article/53283/army_unburdens_soldiers_through_battery_innovations
Holy crap, ERJ. I had no idea. As I mentioned, I have been away from it for four decades.
DeleteIf our soldiers and Marines truly do carry 70 batteries apiece, comprising 20 percent of the weight they are carrying, then with all humility and acknowledgment of my ignorance, I wonder if this might be a net hindrance to combat effectiveness.
In my day the only batteries we carried were the two D-cell batteries in our flashlights.
ACOGs don't need batteries... And they will use them until they die and throw them away...
ReplyDeleteLeaving this amount of equipment and arms for the Taliban was a blatant act of treason, not stupidity.
ReplyDeleteIran will supply.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletethey are too ignorant to use them anyway. the danger lies in china/iran getting that last bit of design intel they have been unable to put in their own gear.
ReplyDelete