"Our best anti-tank units will be directed to where the most modern enemy tanks are supposed to be used." With such words, military experts comment on the statements of the Ministry of Defense about the creation of special groups to combat the armored vehicles of NATO countries supplied to Ukraine. How and with what weapons will these groups act?The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the creation of groups to combat Western tanks.
It is noted that the corresponding task was set on the instructions of the Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia, Colonel-General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. [...]
The head of the Russian Armed Forces Combat Training Center, Evgeny Arifulin, on the air of the Military Acceptance program of the Zvezda TV channel, said that the Main Directorate of Combat Training has developed methodological recommendations and organized a methodology for their implementation, and the Combat Training Center conducts and implements these activities. As noted by Arifulin, the creation of such groups is a major state system work.
In early April, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the first Leopard and Challenger 2 tanks were already in Ukraine. The TASS agency estimated that according to the data at the beginning of April, Ukraine received only 19% of all tanks promised by the West. 57 tanks out of 293 declared were transferred to Kiev, with 43 Leopard cars transferred by Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, Norway and Portugal, and 14 Challenger 2 were sent by the United Kingdom.
Analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of NATO tanks, the publication Lenta.ru It was noted that the American M1A2 Abrams, British Challenger 2 and German Leopard 2 are serious combat vehicles. They are equipped with modern surveillance and fire control systems, have impressive reservations, high mobility and survivability.
At the same time, Western cars have already managed to acquire not the best reputation. Thus, Leopard's anti-advertising was their use by Turkey in Syria. The first reports of losses among these tanks began to arrive just a few days after their official use began.
In turn, the United States lost more than 80 of its Abrams tanks during the two years of the Iraq war. In addition, American tanks are more expensive than their German counterparts, are difficult to repair and maintain, and also consume a lot of fuel. As for the British Challenger tanks, they are significantly slower than German and American counterparts. It is also the heaviest NATO tank, depending on the modification, its weight can reach 75 tons, which not every bridge can withstand.
The military observer of Komsomolskaya Pravda, Viktor Baranets, calls their large size among the shortcomings of the German Leopard tanks, which makes it easier to detect and defeat them. In addition, "another drawback is the general booking." "The hull is the most vulnerable, and the strongest place is the left part of the forehead of the tower," he argues. Among the shortcomings of Abrams, Baranets notes the sides with weak armor, which are vulnerable even to old grenade launchers. "And the back of the tank is even for infantry fighting vehicles guns," he points out. Talking about the characteristics of the British Challenger, Baranets points to the low reliability of the machine, the inconvenience of the crew and the archaic fire control system.
"There are quite a lot of varieties and modifications of tanks that NATO countries are transferring to Ukraine. They have both traditional vulnerabilities – for example, the top of the tower, the engine compartment or tracks, and the nuances of specific models.
All this is in the field of view of our specialists today, so that the Russian army could give a confident rebuff. This, in my opinion, was the basis for the decision to create groups to combat Western tanks," military analyst Mikhail Onufrienko tells the newspaper VZGLYAD.
In response to the decision of NATO member countries to transfer their tanks to Ukraine, the Russian military–industrial complex is preparing to release fifteen hundred armored vehicles this year and thereby present a powerful armored fist to the West. Increasing the production of domestic tanks is an important, but not the only task of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in terms of countering NATO tanks in Ukraine. It is equally important to strengthen the work of anti-tank units based on information about the vulnerabilities and advantages of Western vehicles.
"I assume that the groups created in the Ministry of Defense to combat Western tanks will include the most equipped units with the most modern types of anti-tank weapons.
Our best anti-tank units will be sent to where the most modern enemy tanks are supposed to be used. In addition, they will be additionally trained to combat modern tanks of NATO countries, taking into account their designs and tactics of use," Vasily Kashin, director of the HSE Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, told VZGLYAD newspaper.
"Currently, the APU receives several types of Western tanks at once. Some of them may be relatively outdated, for example Leopard 2A4, while others are quite modern and surpass everything that the enemy had before. In addition, they can often even be better than what is used at the front by our troops," he said.
"If we talk about the advantages of Western armored vehicles, the most modern of them in relation to Soviet models have superiority in frontal armor, are also equipped with more modern means of guidance and fire control. I think these and other factors were taken into account during the development of new tactics for the work of our anti–tank groups," Kashin said.
"On the other hand, Western tanks used to be used mainly in the Middle East. There, the terrain makes it possible for a longer battle distance, so the advantages of these machines were fully revealed. How they will behave in Ukraine, we have yet to find out," he believes.
"The Russian Defense Ministry perceives Western technology as a real threat and, from my point of view, applies absolutely correct methodological, to some extent even scientific approaches. I assume that the new units will become a kind of methodological center for the study and analysis of available data on Western tanks, as well as the generalization of information already obtained in practice," Vadim Kozyulin, head of the Center for Global Studies and International Relations at the Institute of Topical International Problems of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, told the VZGLYAD newspaper.
"As for the means that will be used to counter Western tanks, I think they will not invent anything new here. Today, the most effective of them are portable anti-tank complexes and drones that allow strikes from above, where the tank's protection is weaker. In addition, it is important to combine shock means in working with intelligence in order to obtain coordinates about the location of objects," he said.
In turn, Sergey Denisentsev, an expert at the Center for Analysis, Strategies and Technologies, talking about possible means that will be used against NATO tanks, noted that "they are generally universal, regardless of the model of the armored vehicle." So, in his opinion, the most effective anti-tank weapons are mines, as well as artillery, which hits armored vehicles while they are in the concentration area and in parking lots.
"In addition, anti–tank guided missiles, primarily aviation, barrage ammunition, infantry anti-tank weapons and tanks themselves, show high efficiency," he noted.
"In order to stop the offensive with the massive use of armored vehicles, all these means should be used in a complex, within the framework of an organized defense system with the use of anti–tank obstacles," the source added.
As has been repeatedly stated, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are preparing a large-scale offensive against the positions of Russian troops in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. Tanks, which have been the main striking force of the ground forces of any country for about a hundred years, should play a decisive role in this offensive. The Ukrainian leadership has repeatedly stated the need to create large armored groups numbering hundreds of vehicles. It can be assumed that it is to combat this threat that new special forces of the Russian army are being created in the first place.
Daria Volkova
