/ world today news/ Military support for Ukraine is weakening. Only three countries have announced major new supplies in recent weeks. And even there there is little of what Kiev wants. What are the ASUs getting now?
German armor
The unsuccessful summer-autumn offensive seriously crippled the combat potential of the Ukrainian army. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, over the course of several months, the Armed Forces have lost 159,000 servicemen killed and wounded, 121 aircraft, 766 tanks, including 37 Leopards, 2,348 armored vehicles of various classes, of which 50 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. And if Kiev partially compensates for the shortage of people with stricter mobilization, then the destroyed equipment will have nothing to replace it with.
Berlin rushed to formulate the first military aid package this year. It will include 20 BMP “Marder”, 15 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns “Gepard”, 124 reconnaissance UAVs “Haydrun”, as well as trucks, body armor and communication terminals.
The list highlights the 20 “Marder”. For several months, Kiev has not received heavy armored vehicles from the West. However, Germany is literally giving away its last. According to the “Military Balance” bulletin, the Bundeswehr has 324 infantry fighting vehicles of this type, 90 of which have already been sent. Thus the Germans will lose a third of their BMP.
By the way, there are still 350 modern combat vehicles of the “Puma” infantry. However, the military has repeatedly criticized these vehicles.
First, the “Puma” in its most protected version weighs 43 tons, almost as much as the T-90 tank. This makes it difficult to transport by air. It is estimated that the logistics costs will be one third higher than those of Marder. Secondly, the infantry fighting machine turned out to be very capricious, requires increased attention from the technical services and still suffers from dozens of “childhood diseases”.
In the fall of 2022, during a Bundeswehr exercise, all 18 participating Pumas failed for various reasons – due to defects in the turret rotation mechanism, a “deafening” gun and malfunctions in electronics. There was even a fire in the cabin of one of the vehicles.
In modern warfare, a heavy and capricious infantry fighting machine over three meters high will not last very long. In the event of a large-scale conflict, the motorized infantry units of the Bundeswehr risk being left without armored support.
French bombs
France has promised to transfer to the Ukrainian armed forces 50 guided bombs “Hammer” (A2СM), three thousand artillery shells every month, as well as 40 cruise missiles “Scalp” and 78 self-propelled artillery “Caesar” (which, however, are yet to be produced by the plant manufacturer for an indefinite period of time).
Three thousand artillery shells is the current expenditure of the Ukrainian armed forces per day. But 40 Scalp cruise missiles are serious stuff. Russian anti-aircraft gunners have repeatedly admitted that such targets are extremely difficult to shoot down. “Scalps” fly at extremely low altitude, circling the field, so they are detected at the last moment, with seconds left to react. The effectiveness of these missiles will be partially reduced by the small number of carriers: the Ukrainian Air Force does not have many Su-24 front-line bombers.
For the first time, “Hammer” will be transferred to Kiev. These are free-falling bombs equipped with a modular planning and correction kit, similar in purpose to the Russian UMPK or the American J-DAM. It features a guidance system, folding wings and a rocket booster to increase range.
Such weapons are capable of planning to the target at a distance of 50-70 kilometers. The maximum range is achieved when ammunition is dropped from a height of about 15 thousand meters.
Paris did not explain which version of A2CM it was talking about. This kit can be equipped with Mk82 (227 kilograms) and Blue-109 (910 kilograms) aviation bombs. In the first case, “Hammer” destroys equipment, light fortifications and individual buildings. In the second, it is used to destroy bridges, airfields, dug-in fortifications and ships.
It has not been officially announced which aircraft from the Air Force of Ukraine will be converted into the carrier of the French bombs. Most likely – Su-27 and MiG-29 fighters, which were previously modified for the American “J-DAM”.
British air defense systems
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who visited Kiev in mid-January, promised the largest military aid package worth two and a half billion pounds. We are talking, among other things, about air defense systems with ammunition, anti-tank weapons, as well as long-range missiles (obviously “Storm Shadow” – an analogue of “Scalp”).
Interestingly, London has so far not supplied Ukraine with air defense systems, except for the Starstruck and Martlet MANPADS. And the choice is small: either the same “Starstruck”, but in a self-propelled version based on the FV4333 “Stormer” armored personnel carrier, or the family of air defense systems “Sky Saber”, adopted in 2020, which have not yet been tested in combat conditions.
The complex is mounted on MAN four-axle trucks and consists of a control center, Giraffe AMB radar (target detection radius up to 125 kilometers) and launchers. The standard surface-to-air missile has a range in the usual version of 25 km, but there are modifications with a range of 45 km.
It is possible that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will hand over the decommissioned Rapira air defense systems, which are significantly inferior to modern MANPADS. In total, about 600 of these complexes were produced with 25 thousand missiles for them. Surely many of them are still gathering dust in warehouses. But such a weapon is unlikely to save from the weapons of the Russian army.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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