Russian special operation in Ukraine is in its second year now. This is the longest war after WW2 and the only time when the Russian Federation is fighting a full-blown war against a regular army. After WW2 Russians haven’t participated in any war. Their war in Afghanistan was not against a regular army but against terrorists and armed militia. The same militia defeated the world’s top-ranked and de-facto deputy superpowers.
During the whole operation the point of conversation among the military specialists has been the vulnerability of Russian tanks to the Ukraine army which is operating the same platform or say comparatively inferior versions of T-Tanks. But only a couple of encounters has been such where the Russian tanks are destroyed by Ukrainians using the tanks as a countermeasure. Most Russian tanks has been eliminated by other Anti-Tank weapons like Javelin. This is a fierce anti-tank system that can destroy any tank in the world at the time including the Abrams of the US Army.
First-generation ATGMs were developed in the early 1950s to late 1960s by both Western armies and Soviets. But the first time this system made any visible impact was during the Yom Kippur War. Soviet-designed 9M14 Malyutka ATGMs knocked out more than 800 Israeli tanks during the war. Since the Malyutka system was wire guides, therefore, the operator was vulnerable because he had to steer the missile continuously to the target.
The development of anti-tank missile systems seems to have reduced the role of tanks to pre WW2 era. Opposed to the French and British think tanks in WW2 Germans used the tanks not as infantry support weapons but as infantry itself. But the Ukraine-Russian war has limited the use of tanks as the infantry support system. So far the war looks like a duplication of WW1 style of battles where armies used to dig trenches, sit there, and shoot until everyone is dead.
The battle of Bakhmut can be compared to the Battle of muse river. No one seems to be advancing but learning from experiences Russian army has found a new role for tanks. Instead of going guns blazing with tanks as spearhead, RA stations their tanks at a safer distance away from AFU countermeasures and shells the buildings and AFU troops hidings from far away. They have even fitted their older tanks such as T-54s and T-62s with the anti-tanks guns. What was obsolete and useless has now become absolutely useful.
The Ukrainian army seems to be banking too much on Abrams and Leopards but it seems that these tanks as well will be too much vulnerable to loitering ammunition, precise Russian artillery, and the newest addition to the Russian arsenal ‘The Kinzhal’.
Although the AFU can learn from Russians and just limit the role of tanks to infantry support weapons. The Abram tanks are very sophisticated systems. It requires a great deal of logistics management to support these tanks in a battle. It will be worth watching closely how these tanks play out against the tanks Americans designed these for, “The Russian Grizzly Bear”.
