Jakarta –
Tank M1A1 Abrams made in the United States has arrived in Ukraine. This tank is intended, among other things, to destroy other tanks, but this ability may not be very useful on the battlefield against Russia. Why is that?
Ukrainian officials told The Wall Street Journal that less than 5% of tanks damaged since Russia’s full-scale invasion were destroyed by other tanks.
As quoted detikINET from Insider, apparently the majority of tanks were damaged by land mines, drones, anti-tank missiles and artillery. Battles between one tank and another tank rarely occur.
Tank battles certainly still exist, as recent battlefield footage shows, but they are quite rare. Land warfare experts at the Royal United Services Institute noted earlier this year in a report that “tank-on-tank combat is becoming relatively rare.”
So in that situation, the Abrams tank may have less opportunity to show its best ability, namely destroying the opponent’s tank.
So it remains to be seen how Abrams will perform in support of Kyiv forces in Ukraine. A former US Army officer told Insider that the M1A1 is still far superior to Russian tanks and can keep its crew safe from gunfire while causing massive damage. But the tank requires hefty logistics and significant maintenance.
The main goal in the initial planning of the Abrams tank was to dominate and defeat major threats, with a focus on Soviet armored forces. In the Gulf War, the Abrams demonstrated exactly what it was capable of, destroying Soviet-made Iraqi T-72s without suffering any losses to enemy action. Sometimes enemy shots even bounce off the tank.
But in Ukraine, it’s possible that the tanks that performed so well during the Gulf War didn’t stand much of a fighting chance against Russian tanks.
Both Ukraine and Russia have revolutionized the use of cheap, domestically produced drones to destroy more expensive tanks, flying at them and exploding or dropping explosives onto the tanks.
Another threat to armored vehicles in this war is army-borne anti-tank missiles such as the Javelin and NLAWS, as well as missiles fired from attack helicopters. Therefore, battles between tanks are difficult.
Watch the Video “The Terrifying Moment of Russian Drone Attacks Raining on Cities in Ukraine”
(fyk/fyk)
2023-10-03 03:32:02
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