France is sending armored vehicles to Ukraine, the US is sending its military’s most powerful air defense system, and perhaps battle tanks as well.
Ukraine is finally getting what it wants: more powerful air defense weapons and armored vehicles.
Battle armor has not yet been given to Ukraine, but expert Major General (evp) Pekka Toveri believes that Ukraine will still get them too.
– Yes. The Yankees are trendsetters. Little by little we give up. They have changed their minds that it is okay for Ukraine to attack Russia.
US Bradleys would be one step in the direction of battle tanks, as they are assault tanks intended for infantry support. President Joe Biden on Thursday confirmed speculation that the US was considering supplying them to the Ukrainian military.
An official of the Ministry of Defense, who remains anonymous, tells CNN that the United States could deliver assault armor already in the next batch of aid.
President of Ukraine to Volodymyr Zelensky During the US visit, it was already agreed on the delivery of the Patriot anti-aircraft battery to help Ukraine. It is about a system worth well over a billion dollars, which a US weapons expert considers to be critically important even for the US itself.
The special expert of the ground forces who wrote the basis of the congressional debate on the delivery of the Patriot system, Andrew Feickert reveals on the Congress website that The United States has (you switch to another service) 15 Patriot battalions with four missile system batteries each. In addition, the United States has one battery that needs to be modernized.
According to Tover, one battery can basically protect an area of several thousand square kilometers.
– Russia also uses various airplanes, the price of which is around 20,000 dollars per piece. Patriot’s missiles should not be wasted on such. Patriot can, for example, protect Kyiv so that certain types of missiles can be countered in an area of a few tens of square kilometers, Toveri estimates.
One battery can launch from four to sixteen missiles
According to estimates, the system can destroy ballistic missiles within a radius of 15-20 kilometers up to a height of 20 kilometers
The system requires a force of 90 soldiers, in a combat situation three soldiers as operators
In addition to the United States, it is used in 16 other countries, for example Sweden
The price of the system has not been disclosed. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says that the system costs 1.1 billion dollars, of which the missiles account for about 690 million dollars.
Source: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12297
France said on Wednesday that it will assist Ukraine with AMX 10 RCR armored vehicles intended for reconnaissance and fire support. France has had around 250 of them in use since the 1970s. They have six wheels, a 105 mm cannon, two machine guns and a crew of four. French vehicles will by no means replace Ukraine’s need for tanks, says Pekka Toveri.
– It’s a pretty old concept. Has been used especially in North Africa. It works well there when there is no snow or mud. But wheeled vehicles, for example, in Ukraine, are very weak at this time of year. Another question is how many of them are delivered, ten won’t build the lord’s room.
French six-wheeled armored vehicle – designed for reconnaissance
Weighs 20 tons and is equipped with a 105 mm cannon and two 7.62 mm machine guns
Crew of four. Operating radius 800 km and top speed on the road 60 km/h
The first version of the AMX10 RC was completed in the early 1970s
Modernized over the decades, but since 2020 started to be replaced by a newer Jaguar
Source: Website of the French Ministry of Defense (you are going to another service)
Western countries have provided more and more powerful weapons to help the Ukrainians, but why not tanks?
– Good question. One factor is that there aren’t that many of them. At the time of the Warsaw Pact, Germany still had 2,500 battle tanks, now a tenth of this.
The comrade also believes that the Germans have mental locks: they don’t want to give offensive weapons. In addition, the images of German tanks attacking the Russians in Kursk are perhaps too strong.
With this, Toveri refers to the events of the Second World War, when German and Russian tanks fought in the steppes of Ukraine.
Sources: Reuters
Corrected 6.1. at 9:30 an image of the story that showed an Abrams main battle tank instead of a Bradley assault tank.