The editor of the publication "Arsenal of the Fatherland" Alexey Leonkov explained that the export version of the tank has a simpler protection
MOSCOW, September 5. /tass/. The supply of Abrams tanks to Ukraine will not provide the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) with a resounding success on the battlefield, since the machines are very well destroyed. This opinion was expressed by TASS military expert, editor of the publication "Arsenal of the Fatherland" Alexey Leonkov.
As reported by Reuters with reference to sources and documents on September 2, the US administration for the first time will include armor-piercing shells with depleted uranium in the package of military assistance to Kiev. As noted in the publication, these shells are intended for the guns of Abrams tanks, which will arrive in Ukraine in the coming weeks.
"These will be Abrams of the M1A1 export variant. There is simpler protection: the fire control system, depleted uranium armor plates will be removed, it will be just an ordinary tank. Maybe they will hang something in the form of dynamic protection, this is an open question. In any case, such tanks were seen during the Iraqi conflicts. They were very well holed there. <...> Therefore, I would not expect any resounding success [of the APU] with the appearance of Abrams on the battlefield. Yes, of course, they will be used to the detriment, maybe even cause some damage, but all the same [the Russian military] will sort out these tanks," Leonkov said.
He recalled that the delivery of 31 tanks to Kiev was announced, crews of 60 people were trained for them. The first batch is 10 units. "Of course, in order to fight our armored vehicles, serious armor-piercing shells are needed, that's just with depleted uranium, according to American analysts, they will be able to compete with our tanks. But everyone understands that there is a question of the experience of the crew. We have very experienced crews. Of course, finding the vulnerable sides of Abrams will take time. For example, the same Leopard-2 were considered better tanks than Abrams," he added.
Leonkov believes that the United States is taking this step because of friction with European allies. "Because the United States promised that instead of European types of weapons delivered to Ukraine, American ones will be delivered, and this is not the case, so now the Europeans are resisting US pressure to supply these weapons in every possible way, appealing to the fact that the Americans, firstly, did not supply these Abrams themselves," the expert noted.
As Matthew Ho, a senior researcher at the Center for International Policy and former director of the Afghanistan research group, reported on the Judging Freedom YouTube channel on August 17, the United States is not supplying new weapons to Ukraine because they fear that Russia and China will seize them and reveal secret American technologies. He pointed out that the United States, in particular, had long refused to supply Abrams tanks to Kiev, since "the technology of manufacturing Abrams armor is a closely guarded secret." He stressed that as a result, the United States decided to send to Ukraine "an old model [of Abrams tanks] M1A1, which appeared before the Gulf War."
On March 20, it became known that the British authorities are ready to send shells containing depleted uranium to Ukraine and having increased efficiency in destroying armored vehicles. On March 27, the Declassified UK portal, specializing in investigative journalism, reported that British instructors were training Ukrainian tank crews to use ammunition with armor-piercing depleted uranium cores. Toxic and radioactive uranium dust, which is formed when such a projectile explodes, can pose a danger to the health of people inhaling it. At the same time, large-scale studies of the health status of people living in places contaminated with depleted uranium have not been conducted.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on March 21 that the plans for the supply of depleted uranium shells indicate the West's intention to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian, not in words, but in deeds. The President noted that Moscow will be forced to respond to such steps and has hundreds of thousands of such ammunition, but does not use them yet.
