“They did it!” – so the journalist-military manufacture commented on the prevention of Ukrainian armormasters. What is it? erstwhile the first western tanks hit the East, locals began equipping them with reactive armor. So far, Leopardy 2, Challengery and Abramsa have undergone specified transformations. A fewer days ago, photographs showed that the “boned” were besides the oldest of the tanks supplied to Ukrainians – Leopardy 1. The russian Contact-1 strategy was utilized to strengthen the armor and thus the cold-war technology of the West and the East "met" in 1 place.
In this peculiar case, the aim was, by agreement, cooperation. In principle, however, the time rightly passed. Weapons in Ukraine are utilized according to their first purpose, while the western 1 is to destruct the east 1 and vice versa. The conflict in the East so gives us any thought of what the hot phase of the Cold War might have been like utilizing the “emerical” weapons available years ago. Suffice to compose that Leopardy 1 entered service in the Bundeswehr in 1965, and Contact-1 found himself in the russian Army's armament 18 years later.
After all, the war in Ukraine, at least from the Russian side, was to be a “conflict of the 21st century”. That's the kind of announcement that was served by the creamy propaganda. We, as the West, were very afraid of this, too. Meanwhile, the first hours of fighting proved otherwise. We have a saying in Polish: "Fucked as in a Russian tank". It originally referred to the experiences of russian crews of machines from the time of planet War II, whose endurance oscillated within the border of 3 days. erstwhile the war began in the East, it turned out that the old arcurse was one more time doing a large occupation of service under armor.
This was due to the hand-guns that the West sent to Ukraine just before Russian aggression. Siane by their operators the havoc documented many videos. Most of these materials looked akin – we saw a gunshot, a bullet hit the tank, followed by a secondary detonation of ammunition collected in the vehicle. A powerful tower flew into the air, landing respective decades away. There was fire and smoke coming out of the hull. If anyone came out of this hell alive, they could talk about large happiness. Tanks T-72 in B3/B3M versions were to be an example of a solidly upgraded weapon from the 1970s. Machines sent to Ukraine in the first pitch usually counted after a twelve to 20 years, and inactive turned out to be “carpet coffins”.
Tanks of a worse kind were besides thrown on the front. Without modern French optoelectronics, no Russian solutions from the 1990s and later, i.e. fresh engines, reactive armor varieties or fire control systems. Thus 30-40-year-old machines presenting age-appropriate standards and wear. In the records, they were marked as vehicles thoroughly renovated, filled with fresh components.
Importantly, this besides active another types of weapons – from rifles to jets. extended high-intensity warfare rapidly illustrated the problem of false reporting. The scale of fictitious upgrades and renovations was someway hidden during the conflict with the insignificant Georgia or muslim fundamentalists in Syria, but not in the face of a clash with a large European army. There is no time and no place to consider where Russia comes from as 1 of the most corrupt countries. For the purposes of this text, it is adequate to say that this phenomenon translated into a reduced military combat value. Generals and mill directors were stealing. To a lesser extent, but more so, they robbed an army of inferior military and industrial workers. Above all, the oligarchs stole. erstwhile the Russians fled Kiev in late March 2022, I was asked to indicate the father of this Ukrainian “success”. I said, indescribably, that 1 of my strong candidates for specified a name is General Greed. It was he who made the superyachts and superlimuses of the “new Russians” present the excruciating standards of the 21st century, while the ships and tanks of the “second planet army” remained in the darkness of the Cold War. Where they're stuck until today.
On the another side is no different. Treated with equally powerful corruption, in addition to overdoing imperial sentiments Ukraine besides had an army mostly paper, with the difference, that no 1 had any illusions. Over the years, it has been said to Dnieprem that it is easier to find a Ukrainian tank "on the run" somewhere in Africa, where it came under obscure circumstances, exported by God knows what kind of business-military sieve, than in Ukrainian fields or barracks. This is far from Europe – it was expected – was to live a cold war arsenal. The Russian threat forced the Ukrainians to deal seriously with defence matters, but with the financial miseries of the state inactive remained the base of the russian equipment with which the country entered the full-scale war. And which continues to be an crucial part of the equipment of the Ukrainian army supported by Western equipment. But at the same time, although islandly these are very modern systems, yet in the overwhelming majority we are talking about weapons if not physically, it is at least conceptually cold war. Fortunately, for Ukrainians much better made and designed and, as so far, operated in a higher-than-east method culture.
One can live that the West does not share the best, but let us not forget that the latest besides means the most expensive. And costs aren't everything. There are besides political issues. present it is clear that the powers supporting Ukraine do not depend on the definitive defeat of Russia, as this would entail the hazard of confusion in the largest country in the planet with the largest number of atomic warheads. Kiev is not to lose, Ukraine is to last – military aid is constructed for specified purposes. besides limited by the hazard of leaking method secrets in case any systems fall into the hands of the Russians. A separate issue is the Ukrainian capacity to absorb Western military technologies. We found out about what it was like to train soldiers in Zaporozh in the late spring of last year erstwhile the Ukrainian army utilized Leopards 2 in a russian way. In conclusion, the westernization of the Ukrainian army is simply a necessity to supplement its losses and give a qualitative advantage. But Westernization based on the latest weapon systems is simply a song of the future. For now, the Ukrainians must be satisfied with cold war barrels.