by Sergey Adamov
[REGNUM] Joe Biden has officially confirmed that the first batch of heavy American Abrams tanks will go to Ukraine. They are accompanied by specialized armored vehicles for repair and evacuation. And this is no accident: it seems that those "Abrams" that are handed over to Kyiv are very heavy, clumsy and quite vulnerable. The qualities of these machines, which the Saudis had previously inherited, can be judged from the experience of the campaign in Yemen - and it was not brilliant.
The White House officially approved the delivery of the first batch of American-made heavy armored vehicles to Ukraine. This was announced during an official video message by US President Joe Biden . He announced the transfer to Kyiv of 31 Abrams tanks and eight armored recovery vehicles (BREM) M88A2 - they are designed for maintenance of tanks and evacuation of damaged vehicles.
Biden's statement was made after several European countries agreed to send batches of German-made Leopard 2 tanks and British Challenger tanks to Ukraine.
The US President stressed that the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, recommended supplying tanks to Kiev, who believes that these combat vehicles will increase "Ukraine's ability to defend its territory and achieve strategic goals."
Officials of NATO and the US administration do not hide the fact that the transfer of new equipment to Kiev is intended to prepare a new offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Biden explicitly pointed out that Crimea should be the target for the advancement of Ukrainian troops. “We want to make sure that they (Ukrainian authorities) have the right capacity not only to defend against Russia, but also the ability to take back sovereign territory. Crimea is Ukraine , ” RIA Novosti quoted Biden as saying .
But much makes one doubt that the supply of Western equipment will have a serious impact on the course of hostilities in the NVO zone.
According to the CNBC TV channel, tanks in the M1A1 variant will be handed over to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. A specific modification is not called, but it is possible that we are talking about M1A1 FEP vehicles, which were previously in service with tank formations of the US Marine Corps (MCC). Until recently, the warehouses of the KMP had more than 450 tanks of this model, as well as 80 M88A1 recovery vehicles. In July 2020, the US Army underwent a reform, after which these vehicles were decommissioned.
Experts believe that these stocks will be used for deliveries to Ukraine, since the US Army no longer needs this equipment. The M1A1 FEP modification is seriously inferior not only to the vehicles in service with the American army, but also to those models that are exported to Saudi Arabia and other countries that can pay for the supplies. But even they showed themselves in the course of real hostilities from far from the best side.
During the hostilities in Yemen, the Houthi rebel forces destroyed at least 20 M1A2S Abrams tanks. By the way, several dozens of M88A1 BREMs were also shot down there - the same ones that had already been promised by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Hussites used outdated Soviet-made anti-tank systems to destroy tanks. The high level of losses of armored vehicles forced the United States to demand that the Saudis withdraw tanks from the front so as not to cast a shadow on the products of the American military-industrial complex.
It is most likely that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will receive outdated modifications of the Abrams tanks, which by themselves will not change the situation at the front, a military expert, an officer of the tank forces of the reserve Alexander Mikhailovsky, also believes.
"The only effective means of protecting armored vehicles with anti-tank systems are active protection systems - KAZ. A couple of years ago, the Israeli KAZ Trophy was tested on Abrams tanks in the US Army. The tests just started after a mass of Saudi tanks were knocked out with the help of Fagot, Konkurs anti-tank missiles, and so on," said a military expert in an interview with REGNUM.
"But these complexes are installed only on tanks for the US Army of the M1A2 SEPv2 modification," Mikhailovsky explained.
"In the case of the modification of the M1A1, which are transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there is no need to talk about anything like that. Simply because the States will never want their advanced developments to fall into the wrong hands. So Kyiv will not receive anything fundamentally new."
"The main "weak point" of these machines is the lack of protection against manual anti-tank weapons, with which the Ukrainian theater of operations is simply oversaturated," the expert noted.
The main weak point is going to be the crew, I would argue.
Perhaps it is the unwillingness to put their products under attack due to the fact that the US Army is in no hurry to make deliveries in practice. According to President Biden, the training and coordination of the crews should take many months before the machines are ready to be sent to the front.
Another problem that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will inevitably face when operating vehicles delivered from the United States is logistical difficulties. An informed source of the REGNUM news agency in the ranks of the defenders of the DPR drew attention to this .
"They will still have problems with logistics and maintenance, and the tank, although formidable, is a very delicate machine. Dozens of people have to work before the crew gets into the Abrams and fires even one shot. And we will look at all this - through the sight of the gun. And then two or three ATGMs will fly away in that direction, and this Abrams or Leopard will burn for a sweet soul," the source notes.
Among the problems of American tanks, experts also name severity: more than 60 tons versus 45 tons for tanks of the Soviet and Russian "schools". It is this fact that may have become the reason why the United States is providing Ukraine with recovery vehicles.
The Abrams comes in at 70 tons. The T-72B3 et seq are 48 tons soaking wet.
| We’ve seen some videos of soaking wet tanks — it doesn’t look like a good thing... |
"American armored vehicles, such as the M113 infantry fighting vehicle, react very poorly to muddy roads, as experience shows," says Mikhailovsky.
"And if in warm weather dirt interferes, then with a cold snap, clods of earth that clogged into the tracks simply immobilize the car. How a sixty-ton machine will behave in these conditions, and even with a crew and ammunition on board, is a big question. By the way, it was the M88A1 BREM in the same Yemen and Iraq that often became prey for ATGM operators, because it is practically not protected, and a lot of them are required to service American equipment.
Experts agree that NATO-made equipment is ill-suited for use in the Ukrainian conflict. However, it seems that the West is forced to go even to reputational losses in order to provide assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The reason why the United States and its allies decided to supply their equipment is the high losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Soviet-made tanks. According to the service Lostarmour, which analyzes photos and videos taken in the war zone, since February 24, 2022, Ukrainian troops have lost at least 265 tanks.
By the way, as a REGNUM source in our troops, who is familiar with the mood of the Russian military, notes, the fact of deliveries of NATO armored vehicles not only does not upset them, but even causes restrained optimism.
"Now we are even glad that Western tanks are being supplied," the interlocutor emphasized.
"This means that during the time of the NMD we knocked out all the delivered tanks. And this means that now they simply do not have the opportunity to supply Soviet tanks. That's what we rejoice in. So effective was our work to destroy the tank units of Ukraine. We've run out of stock. They have nothing to send, and now they are talking about picking up at least something for Ukraine."