War causes huge casualties, destroys inhabited areas, burns vehicles at infernal speeds and forces opponents to find solutions. Relying on used goods – how sure we don’t know – on the art of progress, on innovations.
The @Cit Twitter account reported numerous T54/T55 tanks aboard railroad cars, a convoy departing from the Arsenyev Depot at Primorsky Kray in the Russian Far East, the base of the 1295th Reserve Center. Will we see them in Ukraine? For now it’s a simple hypothesis, not confirmation. Maybe they brought her out for a reenactment. Or they really need it. The news has become a debate among pundits, with skepticism and pragmatism. We are talking about wagons designed in the first half of the 40’s, they are real vestiges. Many observers believe that they have little chance, their armor is “fragile” compared to the current ones, technical problems can arise and their “state of efficiency” must be understood, with consequent logistical problems.
A small niche of analysts, however, makes a practical argument, insisting on the concept often found in conflict: quantity has quality. Every vehicle on the battlefield needs to be stopped, and this requires the consumption of ammo. We know that the Ukrainians do not have sufficient supplies. T55s could also be placed in less critical areas, allowing newer tanks to be moved around for difficult missions. The assessments relate to Moscow’s earlier use of “older” tanks in the second ranks, but also to the Ukrainians’ use of certainly not modern equipment, such as e.g. B. the Maxim machine guns. At the moment these are theoretical discourses with a propagandistic component. Maybe it’s enough to wait a few weeks to get an answer.
Solutions must also be found on the NATO side, and that is a big bazaar. The Washington Post has reopened the issue of delivery times for war aid, but also the need for defenders to have armored vehicles capable of transporting troops (a weak sector for Kiev). Washington will supply Zelensky with Abrams tanks in 8-9 months, not earlier. And instead of the latest version (which it should produce) rather fall back on a “mothball” model.
The US has offered Slovakia a dozen AH-1Z attack helicopters to compensate for the ally’s cession of its MiG fighter jets to the Resistance. Only today Bratislava announced the delivery of the first 4 aircraft. The full contract calls for a $1 billion spending that includes 500 Hellfire missiles. The Slovaks are to pay out 340 million, and the Americans will pay the rest. Finland has announced the forthcoming delivery of another 3 Leopards for mine clearance, while the hunter appears to be moving away. To follow the movements of Paris. About thirty Ukrainian pilots – writes Le Figaro – are in France at the Nancy and Mont Marsan bases, they could soon start training on the Mirage 2000. The Elysée fine-tuned the plan following Zelensky’s visit to the capital, but has not yet decided whether to move on to the next phase with deliveries of now-decommissioned planes. A pact rejected by Ukraine.
Along with the past is the new. Air and sea drones were used in the attack of the Ukrainians on the port of Sevastopol. In the first case, anti-aircraft defense would have managed to shoot down three of them, and the merit, according to the official version, was two female sailors, honored by order of Minister of Defense Shoigu. It’s always foggy on the drone or the barge: for the expert HI Sutton, it could have been the baptism of fire for a prototype developed thanks to the grant offer, a weapon different from the one used by the attackers in October 2022. Confidentiality goes without saying. Both defenders and attackers need to protect their tactics.