Pentagon prints playing cards ‘to train Ukrainians’ – NYT – RT World News
Map set shows NATO-made weapon systems, including those shipped to kyiv to fight Russia, the newspaper says
The US military is to print a deck of playing cards featuring NATO weapons systems and will send them to states outside the US-led bloc, including Ukraine, the New York reported on Tuesday. Times. Maps supposedly will help Ukrainian troops “to distinguish friend from foe.”
The training tool was developed by the Army Training and Doctrine Command and will allow soldiers to quickly “identifying enemy equipment and distinguishing equipment from friendly forces”, according to his spokesman, Major Andrew Harshbarger. It contains information about “NATO equipment that has proliferated in non-NATO countries.”
According to draft examples published by The Times, each card features a photo of a weapon system and lists its country of origin, manufacturer, munitions used and operators. For example, the American-made M-270 MLRS artillery rocket launcher would be sold to Bahrain, Egypt, Finland, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine. Kyiv received some of the systems from the UK last year.
The newspaper said most, but not all, of the face cards feature US systems. Christopher Skaluba, a former senior Pentagon official who currently holds a position with the pro-NATO think tank Atlantic Council, told The Times it was the first Pentagon bridge he knew of that only included weapons of NATO.
The US Army has printed playing cards that have also served as training aids since World War II, but they are generally intended to teach soldiers to distinguish friendly from enemy forces in the field. Russia and Ukraine have common Soviet-designed weapons in their arsenals, but Russian troops do not use NATO equipment.
During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon also produced a set of photos of senior government officials, including Saddam Hussein, portrayed as the ace of spades.
The newspaper reported that a total of 52 systems were included in the bridge. But he also said the shoulder-fired Stinger missile was one of the wild cards and could be used to play poker, which presumably means he has 54 cards.
The United States and its allies showered Ukraine with military assistance, saying it would help the country defeat Russia. Moscow sees the conflict as part of a Western proxy war launched by Washington. Western arms producers took advantage of a windfall as NATO members rushed to replace depleted stocks with aid to Ukraine.
RT
