Colonel Khodarenok: the use of shells with uranium by the APU will lead to the loss of tanks
The United States will transfer depleted uranium shells to Ukraine as part of a new $175 million military aid package. The Kremlin has already called these deliveries "very bad news." What kind of shells are these, whether they will be able to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine and what Ukraine risks when using such ammunition, the military observer of the Newspaper understood.En" Mikhail Khodarenok.
The next package of military assistance to Ukraine from the United States also included anti-aircraft guided missiles, ammunition for MLRS M142 and M270 HIMARS, 155-mm and 105-mm rounds with high-explosive shells (as well as other types), as well as 81-mm mortars and shots to them.
In addition, TOW, Javelin and AT-4 anti-tank complexes, over three million cartridges for small arms, aviation navigation equipment, tactical communication systems, explosives for overcoming engineering barriers, spare parts for previously transferred equipment and materials for its maintenance will be transferred to Ukraine.
The armor-piercing sub-caliber shells supplied to Ukraine for the 120 mm guns of M1 Abrams tanks contain a depleted uranium core. Usually, the core of armor-piercing sub-caliber shells is made of tungsten carbide, but the use of depleted uranium in this capacity makes the ammunition significantly cheaper, and the armor penetration of BPS in this case is even higher.
Abrams M1 is the main battle tank of the United States of America. It was put into mass production in 1980. The crew of the tank consists of four people, the driver's compartment is located in front, the rest (commander, gunner and loader) are in the turret. The maximum effective firing range of the Abrams tank is 3500 m . The tank is armed with a 120-millimeter M-256 gun, stabilized in two planes. In addition to the cannon, Abrams is equipped with a Browning machine gun and two M240 machine guns
There is every reason to believe that there will not be so many armor-piercing shells for M1 Abrams tanks, since these American armored fighting vehicles are not yet equipped with armored forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
There are some other nuances. In order to use an armor-piercing projectile, the tank must at least reach the distance of a direct shot, but just with this in its zone there are big problems due to the saturation of troops (and on both sides) with anti-tank weapons (PTS).
Large-scale tank battles and battles in the course of hostilities in Ukraine are currently not observed, tanks are mainly used as mobile firing points and fire, as a rule, from closed firing positions.
Such a fate, in particular, recently befell the main British Challenger 2 battle tank, which never reached the line of transition to the attack.
In short, the temptation of Ukrainian tankers to test these shells in battle will inevitably lead to significant losses in imported armored vehicles, that is, the same M1 Abrams. Nevertheless, the above does not negate the high tactical and technical characteristics of the depleted uranium BPS, and there will certainly be troubles from them during the fighting for Russian armored vehicles.
The Kremlin has already commented on the US decision to transfer depleted uranium shells. Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov called the deliveries "very bad news."
"This is bad. It was already in the new history of Europe. These shells were actively used in Yugoslavia. The use of such shells resulted in a galloping growth of cancer sufferers," Peskov said.
Germany also spoke out against the supply of depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine. The representative of the German Left Party, Sarah Wagenknecht, said that the situation in Ukraine does not require the supply of military equipment, but a compromise solution.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for the newspaper.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy Commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia (1998).
Columnist of "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Military-Industrial Courier" (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
