Two years after Western-supplied most important battle tanks started to see frontline fight use within the Ukrainian theatre, CEO of Russian defence and expertise large Rostec, Sergey Chemezov, has supplied perception into Russian evaluations of the three trendy Western-designed tank courses operated by the Ukrainian Army. His analysis intently follows affirmation that the U.S.-supplied M1A1 Abrams tank, which was extensively thought-about probably the most succesful within the Western world, had seen 87 % of the fleet donated to Ukraine both neutralised or captured, simply 16 months after the category started for use in fight in February 2024. The seize of great numbers of Abrams and German-supplied Leopard 2 tanks, which have usually been filmed being towed away from the frontlines by Russian models, has allowed Russian specialists to review the automobiles intimately. Footage launched in October 2024 confirmed that not less than one captured Leopard 2A6 had been despatched to Russia’s most important tank manufacturing facility, Uralvagonzavod, so as “to evaluate the precise military-technical degree of assorted techniques and the captured car itself.” It was subsequently reported by a number of Russian sources in December 2024 that not less than one Abrams tank would even be studied at Uralvagonzavod.
With Russian specialists having gained appreciable data on Western most important battle tanks each by learning their performances throughout frontline operations, and by assessing captured models, Chemezov’s assertion might have mirrored a brand new consensus on the automobiles. “The Leopard tank is effectively made: trendy parts, fireplace management system, highly effective engine, though with unusual temperature limitations. However we didn’t see any breakthrough design options—there’s nothing we might take from the Leopard and apply to our personal platforms,” he said. He famous concerning the Abrams: “Our specialists additionally examined the Abrams—it’s usually an attention-grabbing car, however once more, there’s nothing to take.” Evaluating Western tanks to Russia’s personal main tank class the T-90M, Chemezov said: “Should you evaluate their tanks with ours, the benefit of the T-90M ‘Proryv’ [‘Breakthrough’] lies in its firepower, armor, and mobility. It has an extended attain due to a guided munition and all-angle dynamic safety,.”“There have been instances the place dozens of Ukrainian drones hit the car, and it remained operational,” he added. Regardless of its superior capabilities, the T-90M was purchased into service very slowly from early 2020, and is relied on closely primarily because of delays operationalising the extra superior T-14 tank. Many features of its mobility are additionally missing relative to the T-80 tanks in Russian service.
Chemezov singled out a 3rd class of Western-supplied most important battle tank, the British Challenger 2, for criticism. “We’d like to look at it, largely out of curiosity. It’s apparent upfront that it’s a ‘pot,’ not very appropriate for actual warfare,” he said. Solely 14 Challenger 2 tanks have been delivered to the Ukrainian Army, with the category having seen a really small manufacturing run lower than one tenth as massive as these of the opposite two tank courses. Though many features of the Challenger 2’s armour safety have been assessed to be superior to these of the M1A1 and the Leopard 2A6, its fireplace controls are thought-about far old-fashioned, whereas its mobility is restricted and its rifled most important gun lacks the firepower of different tanks’ smoothbore weapons. It stays unsure to what extent Chemezov’s statements might have been influenced by Russia’s notably hostile relations with the UK relative to different Western powers. A considerably decrease proportion of the Challenger 2 fleet has been misplaced in fight, largely because of its lack of frontline deployments relative to different tanks within the Ukrainian fleet. The tanks class nonetheless began to take losses in a short time after its first frontline deployment started in September 2023. In contrast, just like the Abrams, the overwhelming majority of Leopard 2 tanks equipped to Ukraine have been neutralised or captured, with a lot of the fleet having been taken out as early as December 2023.
