Like every other arm chair general leading the war from the comforts of his own home my tactical and strategic mind never rests. One thing that I pondered upon is why Russian LPR/DPR armored forces were not just all smoking hulks with the amount of NATO man portable Anti-Tank weapons dumped in the Ukraine and touted as the game changer at the beginning. Then I happened to stumble upon this picture and it starts to make sense.
Lets put aside battery, design, short shots, duds, and lack of training for the moment. All those are big factors that effect the use of the weapon and limit their intended effectiveness. Still, even when they are fresh, functioning, and deployed in experienced hands they are not as effective as the WEST thought they would be.
Do you see any buildings on the side of the road? No, but you know they are there. Now think about if you have 10-20x magnification Thermal optic sights. I have seen that view a hundred of times in a tank and can tell you its all about angles and weight.
First, using optics a tank gunner can see far more clearly through those trees then a soldier looking back through an open sight. More importantly the weight and force of the main gun round can punch right through most branches even at distance and strike its target without pre-detonating. A man portable ATM can't do these things.
To be able to compensate the ATM crews either have to get closer or wait till the tank comes to them. Now that team is exposing itself to more danger simply because their ATMs cannot be used effectively from the distances they were meant to be used from. No matter what they choose their are always forward forces clearing ahead of what the tank is supporting. The fact is that ATM units are usually in contact and defending against infantry attack well before they get into needed range to kill the tank, and that is if it kills it first shot.
I am not saying that ATMs are not getting kills on armor or that they are useless but what I am saying is that Armored Russian Forces are using the advantages they have to limit the effectiveness of ATMs to well below what I expected. A lot has to do with how they learned to use armor and infantry together in Syria from fighting Urban Combat. You see the same tactics they developed there being used in the Ukraine.
I am going to write about that next.
(Teaser- What is usually close to or in the corners of multi level buildings?}
That is how this all looks from The Meddyverse.
#Ukraine #Tank #Russia #Weapon Systems #Tactics
We need to wake up, and quickly.
In 1982 Judas Priest released "Screaming for Vengeance" and within one of Judas Priest's best albums the song "Electric Eye" was released. Here are the lyrics written by Rob Halford, Heavy Metal Prophet.
Up here in space
I'm looking down on you
My lasers trace
Everything you do
You think you've private lives
Think nothing of the kind
There is no true escape
I'm watching all the time
I'm made of metal
My circuits gleam
I am perpetual
I keep the country clean
I'm elected electric spy
I'm protected electric eye
Always in focus
You can't feel my stare
I zoom into you
You don't know I'm there
I take a pride in probing all your secret moves
My tearless retina takes pictures that can prove
I'm made of metal
My circuits gleam
I am perpetual
I keep the country clean
Electric eye, in the sky
Feel my stare, always there
There's nothing you can do about it
Develop and expose
I feed upon your every thought
And so my power grows
*I'm made of metal
My circuits gleam
...
There is almost no problem a TOS-1A "Flame Thrower" can't solve.
Your man Meddy has talked about the TOS-1A before but not really giving it its due. I thought it just a high tech Grad system on tracks with new munitions that deliver a big punch.
Nope!
BIG NOPE!
Here is a video I recently found that shows the massive amount of punch the Flame Thrower actually has by just observing the concussion as it radiates outward from the blast zone.
Anything one of these missiles hits is dead. Full stop.
Tanks included.
Think what it would be like when one of those TOS-1A missiles just blows the shit out of your tank, or it just blows it over to make it a very silly looking turtle on its back with you still in it. SHUDDER
And that my friends is the under considered TOS-1A effect that many miss.
The SHUDDER factor.
Imagine being a Ukrainian soldier in a mutual supporting defensive network and you watch a TOS-1A roll up to, and go absolutely apeshit on, the defensive positions in front of ...
This recent article by Forbes only touches on part of the problem facing the Ukraine and it Armor Units.
I am a former Heavy CAV M60A3 Tank Commander from the Cold War days. I trained to kill Soviet Armor in Europe. I do not claim to know it all but it does give me insight into these matters others do not have about these issues.
The real problem is addressed at the end of the article:
"Of course, it’s likely many tanks have sustained damage and await repair. Even so, Ukraine in theory has more tanks now than it did before the war.
But a tank without a trained crew is just a lump of metal and rubber. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of Ukraine’s best soldiers have been killed or wounded since Russia attacked in late February. Their skills and experience aren’t easy to replace."
The major problem the Ukrainians are facing when it come to tanks is lack of EXPERIENCED CREWS.
People in the WEST think ...
