The disposal of the Soviet has been completed, we are moving on to testing the new
Almost every day we read reports about the supply of Western-style weapons to Ukraine. The countries of the West seem to be competing with each other in who will quickly supply Kyiv with weapons and equipment, which is either in long-term storage or in service with their own armies. In fact, every day, here and there, new guns, new small arms weapon, new air defense systems and so on.
Naturally, we must somehow react to these deliveries, but... There is no such sharp reaction as many readers expect. Yes, there is a statement of fact, there are captured samples, but this is just a consequence of the good work of our units on the front line.
Meanwhile, these deliveries, until recently, when there was a threat of the supply of American MLRS and their analogues produced by other European countries, calmly went through the Ukrainian border. Without any problems, they were located in storage places and only then were mostly destroyed.
Therefore, the voices of those who call for a strike on Polish bases, from where the path of Western weapons to Ukraine begins, are heard more and more often. It seems that such a solution is obvious. One hit - and the maximum effect, and then ... Such "decisive" people do not bother with this issue.
I think today it is worth talking about Western supplies to Ukraine. What is supplied and why? Can this weapon somehow change the course of the operation? Well, as usual, the prospects for the future.
Weapons that take up space
To understand our reaction and, in fact, the decisions of the West on supplies, it is necessary to consider the situation in development, with the binding of events to the time of their occurrence. Then everything falls into place well.
Do you remember how supplies to Ukraine began? And they began with the fact that rumors began to spread in the media about the huge advantage of the Russian army in these components. Allegedly, there are several Russian cars for one car of Ukrainians. And the arsenals of the Armed Forces of Ukraine after the blows of the Russians turned into dust.
It is clear that all this was accompanied by a massive dumping of photos and videos about these strikes. Destroyed warehouses. Burnt technology. And the tearful requests of Zelensky and his entourage for supplies. Photo of Ukrainian soldiers at the broken tanks and BMP.
At the same time, special attention in the media was paid to such a topic as the impossibility of supplying modern Western weapons to Ukrainians due to its (weapons) manufacturability and poor preparation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to work with such weapons. Roughly speaking, at that time the main idea was that a stupid villager from Ukraine, even if he is dressed in a military uniform, simply will not be able to quickly master modern weapons.
And then a brilliant solution was “found”. We will supply Soviet weapons, which are enough in warehouses in the countries of the former Warsaw Pact. The armament of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is practically the same, but a Ukrainian will be able to master some new sight in a BPM or an armored personnel carrier. And rushed. NATO countries began to empty their own storage facilities.
This is the visible part of the iceberg. Now about the underwater part. The Soviet weaponry that remains in the countries of the former Warsaw Pact, which are today members of NATO, is a huge problem for the bloc. The fact is that these are not just outdated samples, but have long been in storage. In fact, such weapons cannot be used without repair.
But that's not the point. The main thing is that these weapons are the main excuse for the governments of these countries, allowing them to evade the requirements of the alliance for the unification of weapons in NATO. Simply put, countries do not buy expensive American systems, citing the presence of similar Soviet ones. Business, nothing personal.
Agree, the scheme was invented really ingeniously. Old, often faulty weapons are sold, rather than spending money on their disposal. Thus, two problems are solved at once. They free up arsenals for new weapons and receive funds for their purchase.
Hence so much abandoned equipment in the initial period of the operation. This is not due to the rapid movement of units, as was the case in the Russian army. These are the fruits of repairing old Soviet weapons in Western repair shops before transferring equipment and weapons to Ukrainians.
We sell modern non-modern
Even before the end of the epic with the supply of old Soviet weapons in Ukraine, another PR campaign was launched. I would call this campaign the creation of a new religion of Ukrainians. Faith in Saint Bayraktar and Saint Javelin. Many people remember how quite recently any citizen of the “square” could tell you about what will happen to Russian armored vehicles if the Americans still supply the FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank systems to Ukraine.
Exactly the same attitude was with the Turkish drones. But the war in Karabakh largely made advertising for the Turk. There, indeed, in the absence of normal air defense, the Bayraktar TB2 showed good performance. But ukroSMI did not spread about air defense. The main thing was to show how these UAVs destroy tanks.
It must be admitted here that the campaign to create a new religion went perfectly. I remember the joy of social media users when these very “gods” appeared in the Ukrainian army. Alas, the happiness was short-lived. It turned out that the effectiveness of American anti-tank systems is even lower than the Soviet systems modernized by Ukrainians. And the tankers are more afraid of the old RPG-7s than these same Javelins.
The tragedy of Ukrainians is that today many illusions about the West have been destroyed. Including the illusion of the power of Western weapons. The combat effectiveness of all these Stingers, Javelins, Bayraktars and other similar systems turned out to be not only low, it turned out to be simply shameful.
There is a video of defeats by several missiles of Russian equipment at once on the Web, after which the tanks continued their combat work. Russian helicopters leave MANPADS calmly, and being hit by such a missile is the exception rather than the rule.
But the main thing for which the campaign began has been achieved. Ukraine has already bought many billions of dollars worth of old, ineffective Western weapons. Deliveries continue. A paradoxical situation has arisen. During the retreat, the Ukrainians simply abandon Western weapons. At the same time, they are trying to take away the old Soviet one.
According to some sources, more than 2018 Javelin anti-tank systems have already been delivered to Ukraine since 5! At the same time, there are just over 000 such systems in the US Army itself. And this is taking into account the fact that the Javelins have been in service since 7. Let me remind you the cost of the complex. For their allies, the United States sells anti-tank systems for $000, for everyone else - for $1996 million!
I already wrote that after mastering the trophies, the People's Militia of the Republics of Donbass became, probably, the most modern army in Europe. What kind of systems from different countries you will not see there today.
We are supplied with something that is not yet in sufficient quantity even in the armies of NATO (from the Ukrainian media)
Among Russian readers, one can often come across arguments that our army was not as strong as we were told. Probably, many people remember questions like “where are the Armats, where are the other systems that you, journalists and experts, have told us many times”? Sometimes the talk comes back that our army is still fighting with Soviet weapons.
When you ask such critics about why the same T-14s are needed in Ukraine, you usually get an answer in the style of "because". At the same time, no one denies that during the special operation the Russian army uses a lot of new (sometimes not even put into series and not adopted for service) weapons systems. There is no better testing ground than real combat.
And now about the third stage of deliveries to Ukraine. Have you ever paid attention to the amount of weapons supplied? You read the media and are amazed at the enumeration of the range of supplies, on the one hand, and the complete disregard for quantitative indicators, on the other hand. There is a lot by name, but little by piece. So little that even the concentration of this system on any one sector of the front will not give advantages to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
What is the reason for this and is there something similar in our army? There is! Similar actions were carried out in the Russian army. Remember the very recent appearance of the Terminator BMPT. Why did piece goods appear in Ukraine? It is clear that for testing in a combat environment. Not in an artificially created environment, but in a real battle.
Americans and Europeans are doing exactly the same thing today. Those small deliveries that are being made today are exactly the samples for testing. And in order to somehow confuse public opinion in the country, they make just strange “gifts” to Ukraine. For example, the famous howitzer, known to us as an analogue of the Soviet port wine "for the people" - three axes, 155-mm M777 howitzer.
The gun, by the standards of artillerymen, is new, in service since 2005. For different types of shells and therefore different firing range: from 24 to 40 km. If you do not know the background of the supplies, then it really seems that Kyiv is one of Washington's closest friends. There are not so many owners of the M777 in the world. Actually, the USA, Britain, Australia and... Ukraine.
Everything seems to be fine, if not for one nuance. On Ukrainian howitzers, one box is completely missing, which is on American, British or Australian guns. To the left of the trunk it can be seen in the photo. This is a high-precision Towed Artillery Digitization computer fire control system.
It is this system that provides, using GPS and data received from drones, accurate guidance of the M712 (laser guidance) and M982 Excalibur (GPS guidance) projectiles. Without Towed Artillery Digitization, the M777 is an ordinary, unremarkable howitzer.
Today, they talk and write a lot about the American long-range M142 HIMARS multiple launch rocket system. So much water has been poured, especially in the Ukrainian press, about the power of this MLRS. Indeed, the range up to 480–500 km is impressive. And practically negates all the Pentagon's excuses that Kyiv will not shoot at the territory of Russia.
Why do Americans need it? Despite the fact that the HIMARS MLRS has combat experience in Afghanistan and Syria, they did not have to meet with serious missile defense systems. Ukraine is ideally suited for such tests, since it is the Russian army that today has the most advanced missile defense systems in the world.
Following the Americans, the Germans, Swedes and other arms manufacturers will start testing their systems. There is evidence that Germany will soon supply Ukraine with a new IRIS air defense system. This is despite the fact that the tests of this complex ended ... just a few months ago, in 2022! Naturally, there are no such systems in the Bundeswehr yet.
Sweden does the same. Again, from some sources it became known about the upcoming delivery to Odessa of the Swedish RBS-17 coastal missile systems. This is a light complex, a tripod with a rocket suspended on a guide.
A Swedish version of the American AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank guided missile, adapted for firing at naval targets. Range up to 10 km. It is clear that such missiles will not cause any harm to the Russian the fleet. Is that some boat accidentally washed ashore due to some kind of malfunction.
So, in my opinion, the third stage of arms deliveries is a test of those systems that have not yet participated in hostilities against a serious adversary. And for those who really want to know some “fried facts” about the tests, I’ll tell you one little history.
On March 19, a Russian hypersonic missile "Dagger" destroyed one of the most important objects on the territory of Ukraine - in the village of Delyatyn, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Western Ukraine. This is one of the 4 Soviet Central Nuclear Weapons Storage Bases.
Immediately after the destruction of the object, officers of the American army were sent to the place where the missile fell. A large group of American specialists literally sifted the soil through a sieve at the site of the missile's fall. How carefully this was done is evidenced by the fact that the weight of the cargo sent by this group to the United States was more than one and a half tons!
The war (trials) must go on
Alas, hopes for an early end to the war should be discarded. The conflict in Ukraine is beneficial to the West. It is beneficial from the point of view of simple economics. It is no secret that the military-industrial lobby in many countries holds governments by the throat. And this lobby is extremely interested in a small proxy war with a modern army.
The production of weapons is one of the most profitable types of business. Already because there is no such weapon against which another weapon would not be created. A vicious circle, when the number of weapons is constantly growing, and in order to somehow utilize this surplus, they provoke various conflicts, wars, coups, and the like.
Alas, few people are interested in the fate of Ukrainians today. Moreover, for many peoples of Europe, after the massive invasion of Ukrainian refugees, Ukraine today looks no better than some Somalia. And the attitude of the population of the EU countries is appropriate.
Hence a simple and clear conclusion. We and only we can "treat" this country from the infection that has struck it. No West, no US will lift a finger for the sake of the lives of the Ukrainian people. He, this very people, simply does not exist for the West. As there are no people of Libya, Somalia, Syria and many other states...
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