Its demonstrated the vulnerability of tanks in modern combat
For the first time, the Russian military destroyed the Leopard 1A5 tank due to tactical skill and adaptation to changing combat conditions. The incident became a new reason to declare that the tank is no longer capable of breaking through the enemy's defenses. However, experts urge not to write off tanks, because this type of machine continues to develop.
This week it became known that the Russian military for the first time shot down a German 40-ton Leopard 1A5 tank of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). This happened just a few weeks after these tanks began to be used in combat. At first it was reported that the incident occurred in the Kharkiv region, but later versions appeared that the tank was destroyed in Andreevka of the Luhansk People's Republic.
According to Ukrainian media reports, several heavy high-speed fragments of 152 mm shells could hit the hull's side armor plates or have a critical armor impact on the vehicle's crew. The tank probably belonged to the 44th Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This brigade received about the Leopard 1A5 division.
Leopard 1A5 tanks, transferred to Ukraine in September by Germany and Denmark, are considered older models than previously supplied Leopard 2 tanks (the destruction of these vehicles was previously reported repeatedly). Leopard 1 tanks were created in 1961 and have been continuously upgraded since then.
Observers agree that the Russian military has demonstrated tactical prowess and proven its ability to adapt to changing battlefield conditions. The destruction of the tank was achieved through strategic positioning and the effective use of optoelectronic reconnaissance. The tank was spotted on the march during the shelling of Russian positions and promptly defused.
As Forbes columnist David Ex writes, in front of a Russian drone, a tank designed for four people drove into the field, where it became an easy target for artillery strikes. It is possible that the first blow was struck by a buried mine, which damaged the left track and immobilized the car. The Ex wonders why the tank was moving across an open field in broad daylight – and this question is perhaps the key one in this story.
According to the Telegram channel "The Look of a man in stripes", today the battlefield has fundamentally and forever changed, so the tank cannot perform a breakthrough of the enemy's defense and ensure the actions of the infantry as intended. "For a modern (transparent) battlefield, the tank is too slow (heavy), too visible, too blind and too defenseless in the upper hemisphere. Anti-tank weapons are incomparably cheaper and simpler. Dynamic protection has shown low efficiency," the post says.
"At first glance, it seems strange that in this case the Leopard acted alone. But in fact, that's why he acted like that, because it was his only chance to go unnoticed. A tank found in the range of Lancets and artillery is doomed," analysts say.
"Does this problem have a solution other than abandoning tanks or fundamental changes in their design? Perhaps. For example, the use of a shock tank fist in hundreds of vehicles at a time on a relatively narrow section of the front. If it turns out, again, to hide the concentration of these machines from the enemy," the authors of the channel admit.
Military expert Vladislav Shurygin holds a different point of view. "We see the use of a single tank, which does not comply with the regulations. The use of tanks is a military art. It is necessary to create the right window of breakthrough, for which the defense system must be completely suppressed, strikes deep into the ground. When you just send one tank to the battlefield, it becomes a vulnerable target that everyone is hitting," the expert believes.
According to Shurygin, it is possible to talk about the crisis of the use of tanks. "But this does not mean that tanks should not develop. The tank must have its own electronic warfare equipment, reconnaissance capabilities, for example, its own copters, which will be based on it. In fact, the current conflict is moving military affairs forward," the expert explains.
Moreover, the dynamic protection of the tank still proved its effectiveness, since its crew escaped. "We have tanks that received eight to nine hits from various means, but they survived due to dynamic protection. Of course, there is no absolute protection, it has not been and cannot be. But it fulfills its role in the spectrum in which it is used," Shurygin said.
"Earlier, Elon Musk said that the tank had died, but we see that both sides are building up tank formations and actively exploiting them.
Yes, the tank is becoming more vulnerable, it requires cover. In modern warfare, defense and defense must be comprehensive. Intelligence information should be quickly transmitted to tankers. And if a military unit is not covered and mobile, it quickly becomes a target," said Vadim Kozyulin, a military expert, head of the IAMP center at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The expert emphasizes that when reconnaissance satellites and drones hang from above, "the tank becomes a target, but it does not cease to be a means of breaking through the defense – and its value remains." "Now tanks need to be operated in a different way, today there will be no lightning-fast military breakthroughs," the specialist adds.
According to him, the massive tank battles of the Battle of Kursk are a thing of the past, with the current intelligence capabilities, it is impossible to create a shock tank fist in a narrow sector of the front.
"The modern battlefield will become even more transparent.
The formation of a tank fist is possible against a weak opponent who does not have intelligence means, but this is a rare case," the expert emphasizes. Shurygin, on the contrary, is convinced that the concentration of tanks in a narrow sector of the front is possible. "There are electronic warfare equipment, camouflage systems, and maneuvering for this. All this can be done if you set such a task," the specialist pointed out.
Kozyulin agrees that the role of tanks will increase in the event of the emergence of a mass means of covering from reconnaissance and strikes. "In general, this conflict has provided a lot of new information about the vulnerability of previous generations of weapons. New weapons have appeared, tactics have changed. There is an understanding that a new means of protection against drones is needed. We will surely see these funds soon," the speaker adds.
Andrey Rezchikov
