Dekonstruktion des Mythos, dass Russland keine Rüstung mehr hat
https://fronts.co/article/deconstructing-the-myth-that-russia-is-running-out-of-armour/
Dekonstruktion des Mythos, dass Russland keine Rüstung mehr hat
https://fronts.co/article/deconstructing-the-myth-that-russia-is-running-out-of-armour/
20 Kommentare
If you’ve ever watched one of Covert Cabal’s videos, you’ll know who Jompy is. He’s been the one counting tanks and other armored vehicles at Russian storage yards for the last few years as they empty out. This article is by him.
Okay, but they would still need crews to man them… how many pre war crews are actually left?
so they have more active armoured vehicles, but much worse quality because it’s old soviet era shit and the newer stuff is almost gone. plus they barely produce new models
When was the last time someone saw a t90 or even a 72?
The article literally says they’ve halved prewar storage….
TLDR: Russia is not TOTALLY out of tanks, and they can probably keep up replenishment a bit longer. But the QUALITY of the tanks has declined dramatically, and one way or another, this will be the last war fought with Soviet armour. The main question is if Russia can find a solution to the staggering threat drones pose to tanks on the front; if they can, they might be able to try one last big armoured push.
Excellent read. We need more sober analysis of Russian military production and armoured reserves.
Wasn’t a large part of their military power projection based on soviet stockpiles that they are drastically depleting?
„They are not running out of armour“
They just:
1. lost half their stockpiles
2. Stopped using armour
3. Are using equipment from 1945.
„If the war started with 7,216 stored tanks in total (313 T-54/55s, 1,822 T-62s, 594 T-64s, 1,218 T-72As, 1,478 T-72Bs, 1,486 T-80B/BVs, 193 T-80U/UDs and 112 T-90s), by late 2024 there were only 3,345 left, with no T-90s left and only a few hundred T-80B/BVs and T-72Bs, the rest being T-54/55s, T-62s and T-64s.“
How is Russia protecting the rest of their vast borders? Don’t they need vast amounts of backups for defense in other areas besides Ukraine ?
Russia still has plenty of armor, but they just look like quads and golf carts
You’d have to be crazy to use tanks at the front these days. At best they should stand in the back and be used for firing missiles. Too expensive to lose them when they have already lost so many.
Good article. I remember reading somewhere that ruzzia initially claimed that they had around 12,300 tanks. I always went off the idea that at the start of the war, maybe 3-3500 were actively crewed and ready to go. Of the remainder (8000 or less), I heard a figure that about 40% were fit for scrap.
We see the Ukrainian tally (as of this week – 11,997) and I know that isn’t destroyed tanks, but most likely a tick was made anytime they got at least a mobility kill. Most likely, some of those tanks counted might have been damaged, recovered, repaired, sent back out and damaged again multiple times, especially since Jompy seems to indicate they had a lot less than that 12,300 number I earlier mentioned.
Ultimately, the vehicles aren’t the issue – it’s the crews. As it stands now, ruzzia’s army, if I had to guess, has less than 10% of its original invaders still fighting. Maybe. The rest are all contract or convicts.
From what I’ve seen, Ukraine is being very smart with their modern tanks. They’ve lost a decent number of them but they’re using them smarter now.
I agree, ruzzia isn’t running out of armour, but what they have is not great and coupled with very largely undertrained tank crews, we won’t be seeing any columns of tanks rolling anywhere (except back to ruzzia, hopefully).
> New domestic production and refurbishment have likely made Russia’s current tank fleet larger than its prewar force, but overall vehicle quality has dropped sharply.
Well, well, Russia seems to be asking Ukraine to pay a visit to Uralvagonzavod. What do you think: when exactly will the Russian armor industry saga end?
I read almost the entire poorly written article. I’m not sure I get the point they are trying to make. They point out the massive losses of armor, or stockpiles being halved, infographics showing the losses by vehicle type, all of it leading to the conclusion that yes, Russia is running out of armor. Then this line “Or, to put it simply: Russia *hadn’t run out* of tanks, but some sectors of its frontline were *running out* of tanks.”
The entire point of the article seems to be that Russia has old, nearly impossible to refurbish, armor still in storage and there’s still lots of armor in storage in ex-Soviet block states. That article was a very long distinction without a difference. If Poland, Turkmenistan or other ex-USSR states have 25,000 T-whatevers in storage, it doesn’t matter, they are unavailable to Russia and do not count at Russian armored vehicles.
What a strange article. Russia has loads of obsolete armor but the old refurbished t-60’s can be destroyed as easily as the modern tanks made last year which have already been proved obsolete.
Brilliant! Ukranian’s had to think outside the box, Putin still thinks tanks mean something.
Multi million t-14’s have a higher scrap value than the old tanks.
Russia lost this war a while ago. Ukranian’s stood up.
Tanks no longer matter anyways. They could have thousands and it wouldn’t matter.
Sure, gotcha.
I don’t pretend to be an expert on military storage, I do have a lifetime of experience in overbuilt equipment in cold wet environments for decades. A few years is nothing, but paint chips and metal spalls take out chunks of metal. Rust settles in a all those moving parts corrode solidly. Not just the turret, but all those wheels around the track, and if they aren’t all turning, one side slows and forces the tank to slow down or move in circles.
They got the ones that were salvageable years ago and cannibalized the rest. Those turning parts need bearings and they have to be high quality or the break down quickly and seize up. Not only do the tanks use them, the train wheels all need them. So if bearings haven’t been cannibalized for military, they have been for their trains.
So say they do have tank hulls, and they do have unlimited high quality bearings, the engine seals were not lubricated properly. Seals and gaskets don’t hold for 70 years without some maintenance, they just don’t.
Considering all that, sure they can still count some old hulls that are rusted up seized and everything of value is stripped away it would cost a huge amount to drag them to a depot where they can get running again, just to last a matter of minutes before being taken out.
Tanks were a symbol of the Russia/Soviet Union for a century. For 3 years they quit being used as a mobile command center and frontline spear head and instead have been the first explosion sponge for a meat wave.
It’s been nearly 40 years since there was a structured education on tank tactic and by the time the engineers, sailors, and cooks have been sent in on assaults, the last people capable of teaching 101 level tank strategies have long since died.
I guess if an article wants to be contrary and pedantic, while also proving in the article that Russia is without a remaining tank force, they can for the headline. The statement that Russia is running out of tanks still stands and to say otherwise is just an exercise.
What a myth it is! They rolled into Ukraine with t90, t80,t72’s Tigr armored personal carriers, btr’s . A bit later it where t55 with turtle armor en scooby do vans…
They will never be out of armour because as the number gets lower they’ll use them less and less.
They are however out of armour in a realistic practical way. They can’t use them in attacks anymore, they can’t produce them at the rate they need them. When they do concentrate them in enough numbers, ukraine has become adept at making it hurt