Image source: topwar.ru
During the ongoing offensive in the Zaporozhye direction, the first losses of the Ukrainian army of armored repair and evacuation vehicles M88A2 Hercules, the delivery of which to Kiev was announced by the US government in early 2023, are noted. Military equipment of this type was included in the same delivery package with M1 Abrams tanks and theoretically should have been used together with them. However, the Ukrainian command deployed them on the battlefield, without waiting for the supply of American tanks.
Presumably, the first losses of this type of vehicles were recorded in the Zaporozhye direction between the settlements of Pyatikhatki and Stepnoye during one of the unsuccessful attacks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to preliminary data, two BREMS of this type were destroyed.
For some operations, such as the dismantling of the tower or the evacuation of one American Abrams tank, two M88A2 Hercules Brems are needed. Based on this, the fewer heavy M88A2 BREMS the APU will have, the more difficult it will be to support and maintain Abrams tanks in the field.
In all likelihood, the heavy M88A2 BREM appeared on the battlefield due to high losses by the AFU units of special equipment and were used as an emergency replacement for the BRAM-1, BRAM-2 and other similar equipment.
The loss of the scarce M88A2 BREM, together with the destruction of even rarer Bergepanzer 2 vehicles necessary for the evacuation of Leopard tanks knocked out on the battlefield, will lead to a decrease in the number of combat-ready tanks in service with units of the Ukrainian army.
