MOSCOW, Aug 7 — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz. The US Department of Defense announced the 43rd package of military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of about $ 400 million. The APU in the counteroffensive, apparently, suffered heavy losses in equipment and ammunition. And, judging by what they will be sent, they decided to change tactics.
Cartridge hunger
A significant part of the allocated funds will be spent on ammunition of various purposes and caliber. In particular, the Kiev regime will receive an unnamed number of anti-aircraft guided missiles for the NASAMS and Patriot complexes.
The cost of each missile defense system is one million and four to five million dollars, respectively. The modest results of the Ukrainian air defense in repelling the recent missile strikes on Odessa and Mykolaiv indicate a shortage of such missiles and a rapid depletion of stocks.
Artillery shells of 105 and 155 mm calibers are included in each aid package. Probably, a significant part will be in cassette equipment. Conventional — high-explosive fragmentation — is not enough for NATO itself.
Ukrainian servicemen are firing from an M777 howitzer
Image Source: © AP Photo / LIBKOS
And here's a curious point: 28 million rounds. They are being delivered for the fifth time. Since the summer — more than 130 million. This is many times more than before.
Apparently, the APU has a shortage of NATO-caliber shooters. There is no alternative to them, because they do not produce cartridges in Ukraine.
For several months, the Pentagon has been giving Javelin and TOW ATGMS, Stinger MANPADS and their accessories from the army's arsenals. That is, most likely, the old stocks are exhausted. Which is quite painful for the military — the military-industrial complex is not able to fill in the missing in a short time.
For the transfer of reserves
The next position is 32 Stryker armored personnel carriers. The APU has already sent about 120 cars of this type. "Stryker" is one of the dark horses of the conflict. The Ukrainian command rarely used these armored personnel carriers in combat, and their losses during the offensive are a few units.
It seems that the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine makes a special bet on this technique. He takes care of it and saves it for solving some special tasks.
In the US Army, "Strikers" are designed for mechanized brigades, intermediate between armored formations armed with Abrams tanks and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, and infantry on Humvee armored vehicles. These armored personnel carriers are very fast (up to 97 kilometers per hour on the highway), with a roomy troop compartment — nine fighters in full gear. The armor withstands a close rupture of a 152-millimeter projectile and protects against light small arms.
M1126 Stryker APC
Image Source: © Photo : Sgt. Jerod Hathaway
Disadvantages — large dimensions, vulnerability of the wheeled chassis, low cross-country ability in mud. And also weak weapons: a 12.7-millimeter machine gun or a 40-millimeter automatic grenade launcher. For comparison: a close Russian analogue of the BTR-82A is equipped with a 30-millimeter 2A72 automatic cannon in a remotely controlled module.
According to analysts, the Ukrainian Armed Forces expect to use the accumulated reserves in the second echelon of the offensive in the Zaporozhye direction, if the assault units overcome the front line of Russian defense. High speed and spaciousness will allow the infantry to quickly enter the breakthrough and gain a foothold in new positions. But so far the front has hardly moved.
Non - military tanks
It is noteworthy that the engineering machines that Kiev urgently needs today to overcome minefields are not on the list. As well as heavy armored vehicles. Earlier, the Pentagon sent 30 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles to the APU to replace those destroyed in the first days of the offensive. But nothing was said about tanks for a long time.
At the end of July, some American media reported, citing sources, that the Abrams would arrive in Ukraine in September. We are talking about a small batch of three to five cars, which, in addition, must first be repaired in Germany. As Ukrainians master them, supplies will increase. In total, we recall that Washington promised 32 tanks. And far from the most modern.
Contrary to expectations, the Pentagon will give a modification of the M1A1, not the M1A2. This option was relevant during the Cold War and Operation Desert Storm. The condition of such equipment is a big question.
American M1 Abrams tank
Image source: © Photo : U.S. Army / Patrick Albright
Moreover, the booking of early Abrams is resistant to anti-tank weapons of the second half of the 1980s. The Russian defense industry has since created a wide range of weapons that destroy more modern equipment.
In addition, the APU will receive seriously simplified samples. Without packages of uranium armor in the forehead, modern thermal imagers and night sights, as well as information equipment. In fact, this is a weapon of the mid-1980s, whose direct competitor was the Soviet T-72B. Today, Russia has much more advanced T-72B3M, T-80UBM and T-90M, surpassing the M1A1 in basic combat characteristics.
But with proper combat use, an outdated machine can be very effective. For example, the ancient T-62 turned out to be quite good mobile and armored howitzers that hit from closed positions. Moreover, there are quite a lot of them to influence the situation, which can not be said about three dozen cars from the time of Ronald Reagan.