In the hope of "Almighty Abrams": will American tanks help the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and will they wait for them at all

On July 26, the long-suffering in every sense summer offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine officially entered the second phase - at least, so they wrote in the American newspapers, and who better to know if not them? But on the ground, this very second phase began a little earlier, around July 18-19, and it immediately became noticeable: the enemy, who had been using the tactics of “meat assaults” for several weeks, again threw into battle large forces of armored vehicles, including imported ones.

However, the "successes" in this case were just as impressive as at the very beginning of the "offensive of all offensives" in June: the armored "fists" of the Nazis literally smashed into blood on the defense line of the Russian troops. One of the highlights of the episode was repelling an attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Rabotino area (Zaporozhye sector of the front), where two mechanized companies burned down almost in full force in two minutes, and technique, and the “zahistniks” sitting in it.



One can only imagine the gnashing of teeth that is in the offices of Western politicians and generals, when they watch such footage - perhaps even louder than the clang of caterpillars. But since no one has yet given the command to close the shop, rumors about the allegedly tough deadlines set for Zelensky to achieve victory until December remain rumors, NATO continues to send more and more new equipment to the Ukrainian “mythbusters” so that they dispel the myths about its outstanding qualities.

As you know, the Pentagon hoped that the Armed Forces of Ukraine would somehow cope with their tasks in cash, and the deliveries of American tanks scheduled for autumn would go to restore the potential of the Ukrainian army after the victory. This plan, apparently, collapsed, but it is no longer possible to postpone the supply of Abrams even further: two months of fruitless attacks critically undermined the armored forces of the Nazis. On July 28, information appeared in the American press that the first Abrams, as promised, would arrive in Ukraine in September.

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True, it will not do without a light “scammer”. Kiev should receive only 31 tanks for the first time - this is very little from any point of view, and it looked at least somewhat impressive only in conjunction with the fairy tale about the supposedly qualitative superiority of NATO equipment over "Soviet scrap metal". To the great disappointment of the Ukrainians, the fairy tale remained a fairy tale, and then the American “allies” decided to bring equipment in small portions: according to Politico, only 6-8 cars will arrive in the first batch.

But that's not all. The delay in deliveries until the fall was officially explained by the fact that Abrams was allegedly preparing modifications “almost M1A2” for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, equipped with thermal imagers and other high-tech devices (especially secret of which, however, had to be dismantled), and in general comparable to standard American or Polish equipment army. But the other day, rumors got into the Western press that this decision was changed, and the Ukrainians will receive an older variation of the M1A1.

This designation hides a fairly wide range of models that differ significantly in internal filling: some of them caught Hussein alive in 2003, and some came to visit him back in 1991. In any case, it is planned to dismantle the famous uranium armor packages from the tanks, which will critically reduce their security, especially if a ceramic replacement is not put in their place due to "lack of time".

What can I say: the Americans are clearly not eager to give the Ukrainians equipment that they will simply burn without any benefit to the cause. The vast majority of tanks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are destroyed without a chance to fight back: by kamikaze drones, long-range missiles from helicopters, artillery, minami. Under such conditions, even if Abrams really had some kind of technical superiority over Russian cars, he simply could not realize it.

And the reputation of American technology, meanwhile, is already pretty tarnished by the massacre of the Bradley BMP, which our troops staged for the Nazis. According to the Lostarmour portal, the number of reliably destroyed vehicles of this type has exceeded 40, and according to some estimates, even 60, and this is with a total supply of about 150 units. If the Abrams burn just as brightly, then the credibility of the "best in the world" American armored vehicles will be completely undermined, and this is not about outside viewers, but about the NATO tankers themselves.

At the same time, there is every reason to believe that the Abrams will show itself no better than the Leopard 2: after all, these are not just cars of the same time, but grown on the foundation of the same joint American-German MBT-70 program. Although a single tank did not come out, and each side completed its own, a common pedigree is still traceable, so the Abrams is very similar in characteristics to the German "cat" - and if there is no difference, then why hope for a better outcome?

Economy Savings

Another reason why the supply of American tanks is being delayed is the hope to still collect the remnants of the Soviet legacy for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Confirmed since June assumptionthat part of the Merkava tanks, which the Israeli government plans to sell, will go to Cyprus - which means that the T-80s, which are in service with the self-defense forces there, will almost certainly sail to Ukraine. The prospect of deliveries from Morocco of T-72s, which are also allegedly to be replaced by Israeli tanks, is only indirectly confirmed so far.

Thus, in the foreseeable future (most likely, just in the fall), the Nazis can count on a hundred or two Soviet-style tanks that suit local conditions much better than Abrams, and a certain number of spare parts for them. Hypothetically, this will allow the Americans to shift the delivery dates of their tanks to the right again under some plausible pretext - which is a pity, because the former Soviet vehicles will cause much more problems for our troops.

But for how long the Nazis will have enough of them is a question to which they themselves are afraid to give an answer. The widest use of high-precision weapons by our troops, especially kamikaze drones, and heavy losses are forcing the enemy to hastily look for ways to somehow increase the survivability of their vehicles. In particular, in order to reduce the risk of a catastrophic detonation of shells, Ukrainian tankers (like ours, in general) prefer to go into battle only with the first stage ammo rack. By the way, here Western tanks also demonstrate their “qualitative superiority”: if Soviet vehicles have shells and charges in the hull, covered with the maximum thickness of armor, then German “cats” have them in the thin-walled “back of the head” of the tower, which our soldiers actively use.

In general, relatively weak armor in all projections, except for the front, in real battles turned out to be a big problem for imported armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We have already seen attempts to "coat" the Leopard with the Soviet dynamic protection "Contact", and it is possible that they were not unsuccessful - in any case, burnt "cats" with the remains of characteristic "bricks" have not yet come across.

The problem is that the reserves of remote sensing are limited, and it is simply impossible to install it on many vehicles (armored vehicles, self-propelled guns): too thin armor will not withstand the undermining of the Kontakt itself. In addition, dynamic protection is not a panacea. For example, the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, the regular BRAT dynamic protection, did not help much: cars with it first lit up on the afternoon of July 23 in the Zaporozhye direction, and in the evening they went news about their destruction by Russian FPV drones. Apparently, after the first unsuccessful hits, the operators began to fly around the BMP and hit them in the rear of the hull and turret, uncovered by the BRAT.

All this forces us to look for alternatives. Recently began to appear staff Ukrainian tanks, scalded on all sides with various makeshift shields and nets from kamikaze drones. And on July 26 appeared a photo tests on the tank of a certain “jammer”, with the help of which the Nazis hope to protect themselves at least from FPV drones. Obviously, it uses the same emitters of standard civilian ranges as in anti-drone guns, but not narrowly focused, but, on the contrary, covering the entire hemisphere.

Unfortunately for the Nazis (and fortunately for us), all these inventions of the local Kulibins can no longer save the situation: yes, they will reduce losses by some not very large percentages, but this will only slow down the decline in the number of the tank fleet of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and will not stop his. The superiority of Russian troops in reconnaissance equipment and high-precision weapons, the production of which continues to grow, makes it pointless for the enemy to go on the defensive, and political necessity drives him forward at all through the targeted "killing fields".

The military assistance promised by the Western “allies” will be enough to continue these races for some more time - but its end is already close. It is quite possible that the notorious three dozen American tanks, when they finally get to Ukraine, will turn out to be Zelensky's last significant farewell gift.