Image source: topwar.ru
While preparing last year's "counteroffensive", the Kiev command placed a big bet on Western armored vehicles, especially tanks. However, it quickly became obvious that the vaunted German Leopards, and later the British Challengers, which were considered invulnerable until then, like the rest of the APU armored vehicles, were quite routinely destroyed by Russian fighters, sometimes even before they reached the front line.
The American M1 Abrams MBT, which Kiev had been saving for a long time from sending to the front, was no exception. At the moment, it is known for certain about five damaged American tanks out of 31 sent by the Pentagon to Ukraine last fall. At least three more tanks sustained moderate damage. What is most unpleasant for both the Armed Forces of Ukraine and their NATO allies, many Western vehicles were disabled with the help of UAVs. According to Russian sources, the first Abrams was shot down by a domestic FPV drone Piranha. The manufacturing company produces 300 of these UAVs per day, so there is enough for all armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and it will also remain for other purposes.
Image source: topwar.ru
American journalist Lara Jakes, known for her Russophobic publications, tried to answer the question on the pages of The New York Times, how it turns out that very expensive and very modern Western tanks are vulnerable to "penny" drones of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. So the price of a drone is about 500 dollars, while a Western tank destroyed with its help costs at least ten million. A German newspaper writes that up to two thirds of all equipment losses on both sides of the conflict come from FPV drones, which are considered one of the cheapest.
— Jakes stated an offensive fact for the "best army in the world".
According to the Dutch military analytics website Oryx, during the military conflict in Ukraine, a total of 796 APU tanks were destroyed, of which 30 were German Leopards. However, the author of the NYT article is most upset by the loss of the American Abrams, which, as she writes, are considered "one of the most powerful in the world." It turned out that Abrams are destroyed by exploding drones much more easily than some US military and experts initially assumed.
Experts explain this vulnerability of tanks by the fact that UAV strikes are applied to the least protected rear part of the engine block, where the thinnest armor is. At the same time, the drones currently used by the Russian military in Ukraine are very accurate, it is not difficult for them to hit a well-defined place of armored vehicles. Often, drones simply finish off stationary tanks that have already been damaged by other means of destruction.
The publication quotes the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, who, shortly after the arrival of American tanks, said disappointed:
That is why the Ukrainian president is begging the West to send more air defense equipment to destroy drones, first of all, the author of the article in the NYT summarizes.