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Over the past year, Ukrainian troops have had to quickly adapt to handling the Western Allies’ modern military equipment. But between missile systems and tanks that were on hand, distinguishing friendly from enemy weapons can be a challenge. In an apparent attempt to help the conflict, the US military created an unusual tool: a deck of cards.
There are 52 cards depicting weapons from different NATO countries, including tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and other weapon systems, reports the New York Times. Each card contains a photo of the weapon and nomenclature, as well as the name of the country where it was made, export destinations and equipment characteristics.
The strategy is not new. It actually dates from WWII and It served to help US forces distinguish between enemy and Allied aircraft.. In previous issues, the Pentagon has already prepared letters to familiarize its armed forces with equipment made in Russia, China and Iran.
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One of the latest decks was made in 2003 to help soldiers identify and apprehend some of the US government’s most wanted Iraqi fugitives. Among them was Saddam Hussein as the “Ace of Spades”.
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In a statement quoted by the New York Times, the spokesman for the US Army’s Training and Doctrine Command said the purpose of the new deck is to enable soldiers to do this “Identify enemy equipment and distinguish it from friendly forces equipment”.
Major Harshbarger Harshbarger was not sure if the aim is to help the Ukrainians fight the Russian invasion, merely stating that it is “NATO equipment distributed by countries outside NATO”. . However, sources heard by The New York Times suggested that the deck is made available to the troops of the US, Ukraine and NATO member states.
Most of the weapons pictured were sent to Ukraine in the last year or are being used to train Ukrainian troops, while some pieces of equipment are still the subject of discussion among NATO allies. Others, still under consideration for shipment, may have been spotted by their presence on deck, namely the North American UH60 Black Hawk helicopter owned by Ukrainian military intelligence or the French Leclercs main battle tanks. which France did not want to deliver.
The new deck mainly represents North American systems, such as the Bradley combat vehicles (“Queen of Hearts”), the Abrams M1 tanks (“King of Clubs”), the M113 armored vehicles (“Ace of Spades”) or the M142 Himars systems . But devices from other countries also appear, such as the French Caesar howitzer (“Herzzwei”) or the Stinger rocket launchers (Joker), which are not only produced by the USA, but also by Germany and Turkey.
The letters will be printed over the next month and should be particularly useful for Ukrainians who have received a number of new modern systems over the past year.