Six advantages. What will Leopard 2, Abrams, and Challenger 2 change for Ukraine?
Leopard 2 (Photo:REUTERS/Radovan Stoklasa)
NATO tanks are weapons of qualitative superiority. With quality management and application, quality tanks will dominate on the battlefield
1. Availability of large ammunition up to 120 mm guns in warehouses of NATO countries. The 120 mm tank gun is widely distributed in the world, and there are many reserves in the world, enough for a long time even with intensive use. This is the key to why we need these tanks.
2. We are given a company of the most modern Leopard-2A6 tanks with a modern automated fire control system, cooled thermal imaging sights, jam-protected communications, and an automated control system that allows us to obtain maximum information about the enemy and our units. The use of sensors is ensured by a reliable auxiliary power plant. Such tanks are among the best in the world in their class at the moment. Russia does not have tanks of this class: the Leopard-2A6 has significant advantages over the best Russian T-90M Proryv in all the main indicators. Other Leopards are not such modern machines, but can be modernized.
3. Changing the tactics of using tanks. NATO tanks are not designed for high-speed "bursts" into offensives: they are much heavier, from 60 to 70 tons compared to the 45 tons of the Soviet T-64, T-72, T-80, and T-90 tanks. And an attempt to use them in some kind of quick blitzkrieg in the same way as Soviet-type tanks — all forward under the support of artillery, on the Donbas chernozem — will be doomed to defeat because, without detailed reconnaissance of the terrain and movement routes, the tanks will simply get stuck. NATO tanks are optimized for modern tactics of finding and destroying the enemy – its crew works as a "hunter-killer". That is, for identifying and observing targets and hitting them with a high-precision gun. Tanks are optimized to destroy the enemy in the most dangerous areas of the front. In NATO tanks, the crew can fight for a long time, their conditions are much more comfortable, and provide maximum protection to the crew.
NATO tanks are demanding professionals
4. Changing the operation and repair system. This is the weak point of our army. NATO tanks are demanding professionals, and they cannot be trusted with poorly trained tank drivers. If you violate the operating conditions, have not prepared qualified crews and repair units, and lack spare parts, waste fuel, and lubricants, the tanks will quickly fail and be stuck, with all their 70 tons. And it will be extremely difficult to evacuate such a machine, since we do not have a lot of equipment that could pull such a tank out.
5. NATO tanks are best optimized for combat in the conditions of modern network-centric warfare, for which the Russian army is not ready. Application in a complex with effective tactical reconnaissance, drones, high-quality control, and interaction will allow tankers on Leopards to quickly find and hit any targets on the battlefield at the range of direct targeting. These tanks can become real protected information hubs, for this, it is necessary to provide the crews with the necessary level of situational awareness.
6. There is no absolute weapon. If NATO tanks are not used to their specifications, they will be lost just like any other tank. The combat effectiveness and losses of NATO tanks depend primarily on the quality of management at all levels. These are not Soviet and Russian weapons that were designed to be massive. NATO tanks are weapons of qualitative superiority. With quality management and application, quality tanks will dominate the battlefield.
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