Los tanques gringos no sirvieron pa' un carajo...
Ukraine has quietly withdrawn its American Abrams tanks from the front line to avoid the growing threat from Russian drones.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/ ... e-attacks/
The proliferation of drones among both Ukrainian and Russian forces had made it difficult for large armoured vehicles to move around the battlefield without being spotted, US officials said.
But Ukraine’s 47th mechanised brigade, which operates the vehicles, last night denied the claims and instead demanded more tanks to help its troops halt the Russian advance in the east of the country.
Over the last two months, at least five of the 31 Abrams tanks donated by Washington have been taken out by Russian forces. At least three more have been damaged since being sent to the front line earlier this year.
Ukraine has had to reimagine how it uses its Western main battle tanks, with the front lines largely static and the muddy ground hindering manoeuvrability. Dense minefields have also prevented the tanks from moving forward and rendered them sitting ducks for Russian drones and artillery.
Experts say the Abrams, along with the British Challenger 2 and German-made Leopard 2 tanks – some of which have also been destroyed or damaged – have been reduced to being used as mobile pillboxes to support troops on the front line. But this makes the 60-ton fighting machines susceptible to drone attacks.
“There isn’t open ground that you can just drive across without fear of detection,” a senior US defence official told reporters.
Admiral Chris Grady, a vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed in an interview with the Associated Press that Ukraine had pulled back its remaining Abrams from the front line.
“When you think about the way the fight has evolved, massed armour in an environment where unmanned aerial systems are ubiquitous can be at risk,” he said.
“Now, there is a way to do it,” he added. “We’ll work with our Ukrainian partners, and other partners on the ground, to help them think through how they might use that, in that kind of changed environment now, where everything is seen immediately.”
The Abrams tanks were sent to Ukraine amid major fanfare after torturous negotiations between allies.
Kyiv had hoped the introduction of Nato-standard machines would enable its forces to breach Russian defences, but they have ultimately failed to deliver the desired result.
The American-trained and equipped 47th Brigade – which was formed to spearhead Kyiv’s southern counter-offensive – is the only formation known to operate the Abrams.
It first took the $10 million (£8 million) tank to the front lines earlier this year. Abrams have since seen action in the brigade’s last-ditch attempt to stabilise the battle of Avdiivka, the Donetsk region town that fell to Russia in February.
Western main battle tanks are best when they are rapidly advancing in shock-and-awe raids, said Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British military tank commander.
“Tanks are all about shock action, which is using its mobility and firepower to move around the battlefield very quickly and strike where needed,” he said.
“The Abrams and Challenger 2 are much better protected than Russian tanks but when they are static, that becomes a problem, and they’re highly prized assets.”
Most of the drones deployed over the battlefield are modified to drop rocket-propelled grenades on enemy targets. These are not usually strong enough to defeat a Western tank’s armour, but they are capable of finding weak spots at the top of the machines.
Weapons failure
The row over tanks came as senior Pentagon officials admitted its much-vaunted glide bombs given to Ukraine “didn’t work”.
The long-range weapons, which were not officially named but have been identified online as Boeing’s Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs, were intended to help Ukraine’s forces hit targets at twice the distance reachable by their other rockets.
William LaPlante, the Pentagon’s weapon’s acquisition chief, said they had failed owing to a combination of mud and Russian signal jammers.
“We sent it to the Ukrainians. It didn’t work. It didn’t work for multiple reasons including EMI [electromagnetic interference] environment, just really, dirt, and doing it on ground,” he told an event at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
“When you send something to people in the fight of their lives that doesn’t work, they’ll try it three times and then just throw it aside,” he added.
