Putin and his acolytes would have us believe that NATO has just been lying in wait for the chance to bring Ukraine into NATO so NATO can invade Russia or something. Instead, in something of a geopolitical “own goal,” the invasion of Ukraine has created a de facto expansion of NATO to include Ukraine, and a de jure expansion of NATO to include Finland and Sweden is only months away.
...While a lot of attention was paid to Ukraine receiving armored vehicles (T-62s and BMPs from Czechia and an S-300 surface-to-air missile system from Slovakia), the big news, in my view, was Ukraine buying 16 ZUZANA 2 self-propelled 155mm howitzers.
Why is the sale of 16 artillery pieces a big deal? Three silly millimeters. Russian artillery uses a 152mm projectile. The NATO standard is 155mm. By the way, Georgia is also looking at buying this artillery. Like Ukraine, they also use 152mm artillery, making them NATO compliant.Western anti-tank weapons systems have already pushed the once-ubiquitous RPG-7 into near extinction. This proliferation of advanced, man-portable anti-tank weapons from US Javelin and British NLAW to German Panzerfaust 3 has achieved something of NATO standardization. On the anti-aircraft side of the ledger, the US Stinger and British Starstreak are pushing the Russian Igla the way of the dodo.
Also lacking notice is Australia’s providing combat-proven Bushmaster vehicles to aid mobility. The Bushmaster is similar to the US MRAP and provides a great deal of crew protection and survivability. Britain has also committed to sending 120 of their MRAP-equivalent, the Mastiff, to Ukraine.
Again more standardization.https://redstate.com/streiff/2022/04/09/ukraine-has-joined-nato-whether-russia-likes-it-or-not-and-more-are-yet-to-follow-n547867
