Deliveries of foreign tanks to Ukraine and their prospects

Ukrainian Tanks "Stronghold" These machines were probably destroyed long ago. Photo of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

Since last year, foreign partners and patrons have been supplying the Kyiv regime with various armored vehicles, and the process of transferring tanks has attracted special attention. MBTs of various Soviet and NATO models are being sent to Ukraine, incl. cars of the latest modifications. However, such assistance is already facing noticeable problems. The ability of foreign armies to ship tanks is gradually being reduced, and additional risks are emerging.

Delivered and lost

Deliveries of foreign tanks to the Kyiv regime began in the spring and summer of 2022. Then a number of Eastern European states began shipping Soviet-style armored vehicles. T-72s of various modifications came to Ukraine, including those developed by foreign organizations. Over time, it came to the latest versions of the long-outdated T-55 medium tank.

At the turn of 2022-23. NATO countries, after lengthy disputes, nevertheless decided to transfer their current MBT models to the Kyiv regime. European countries played a major role in further processes. So, Germany, Sweden, etc. removed from their units and sent to Ukraine more than 120 Leopard 2 tanks of several modifications, as well as unified engineering equipment. The transfer of almost 180 older Leopard 1 MBTs and engineering vehicles based on it has been announced.

A batch of equipment from the Czech Republic for the Kyiv regime, April 2022. T-72M tanks are located on distant platforms. Photo Telegram / Dambiev

Great Britain limited itself to supplying only 14 Challenger 2 tanks. The United States, in turn, is only promising such assistance. They announced the transfer of 31 M1A1 Abrams MBTs. Deliveries could begin this fall.

All tanks received from abroad have already been used in battles - and predictably suffered losses. According to available data, to date, the Russian army in different sectors of the front has destroyed most of the foreign T-72s, and has also disabled a significant proportion of the enemy’s Leopards. Challenger 2 has not yet been actively used, but one such MBT has already been destroyed, along with slogans about the invulnerability of such vehicles.

Thus, foreign states have shown their readiness to help Ukraine by supplying the most important armored vehicles on the battlefield and are fulfilling such promises. However, the volume of supplies does not correspond to the level of losses and the needs of Ukrainian forces. In addition, vehicles transferred from abroad are also destroyed, and the problem of replenishing the fleet not only persists, but is also getting worse.

Broken Ukrainian equipment in the Zaporozhye direction. Photo by the Russian Ministry of Defense

Transfer from stock

For well-known reasons, tanks are transferred to Kyiv only from existing ones - they are taken from combat units or from storage areas. This factor largely determines the nomenclature and volumes of possible supplies, and also allows one to make certain forecasts for the future. Thus, it can be assumed that NATO countries will continue to support the Kyiv regime at the cost of disarmament of their own armies. At the same time, they face characteristic problems or will face them in the future.

Germany and other Alliance countries can continue to supply Leopard 2 tanks. The armies of Europe and NATO have more than 2 thousand of these MBTs of different versions and modifications. However, the number of fleets in individual countries rarely exceeds several dozen vehicles. It is unlikely that they will enthusiastically write off their Leopards to help Ukraine and create problems for their own defense capabilities.

The situation with the British Challenger 2 looks very interesting. Until recently, 227 vehicles of this type were officially in service. At the same time, the UK Ministry of Defense recently admitted that only 150 MBTs are “available” (ready for use or can be restored in a short time). Of these, 14 were sent to Ukraine. There will probably be new deliveries, but each of them will spoil the already difficult situation in the British army.

Destroyed engineering equipment based on Leopard 2. Photo Telegram / "Special Purpose Channel"

The United States is doing best in this regard. Their combat units have about 2,5 thousand M1 MBTs of various modifications. There are still approx. listed on the storage bases. 3,7 thousand cars. The Pentagon has the theoretical ability to supply the Kiev regime with tanks for quite a long time and in significant quantities. However, it is unclear whether this opportunity is being used and to what extent. It is unlikely that Ukraine should count on all 3,7 thousand Abrams from storage.

Deprecated Help

It is characteristic that Ukraine receives not only modern main tanks from abroad. So, Slovenia shipped it M-55 products - its own modernized version of the old T-55. Several countries are now assembling a batch of German Leopard 1s. The reasons for this are quite simple. Foreign partners want to help the Kyiv regime, but they cannot or do not want to give away newer equipment - and old and outdated products are used.

It cannot be ruled out that such an idea will be developed and will form the basis for future deliveries of armored vehicles. In this case, NATO countries will collect the remaining tanks from almost the middle of the last century in parts and storage bases, try to restore them and send them to Ukraine. At the same time, they face specific problems of various kinds.

The first burned-out Challenger 2. Photo Telegram / "Front-line bird"

There are no more than 700-750 Leopard-1 tanks left in NATO armies, and their owners, unable to replace such equipment with newer ones, are unlikely to agree to give them away. At the same time, hundreds of MBTs are at the disposal of commercial organizations that buy back decommissioned equipment. The first shipments of Leopard 1 were received from them, and they can provide further assistance to Ukraine.

At one time, the British Army received 420 Challenger 1 MBTs. They were in service until the early 2s, when they were replaced by newer Challenger XNUMXs. A significant portion of older model tanks may remain in storage. Theoretically, these vehicles could be restored and transferred to the Kyiv regime. However, the specifics of operation in the past cast doubt on the possibility of restoring and supplying a large number of such equipment.

In this context, we can recall the old American M60 tanks. Previously, they were in service with a number of NATO countries, but later almost all operators replaced them with new equipment. The released vehicles were sent for storage or sold abroad. At the same time, in Turkey, modernized M60s of several versions are still one of the foundations of the tank fleet.

Swedish MBT Strv 122 in Ukraine. Photo Telegram / BMPD

General demilitarization

The processes currently observed show that the demilitarization of the Kyiv regime is successfully continuing and moving forward. In this process, special attention is paid to the destruction of the main striking force of the enemy ground forces in the form of tanks. As follows from open data, to date, Ukrainian formations have lost the vast majority of MBTs they had at the beginning of 2022.

Since last year, foreign patrons and partners have been trying to help Kyiv with supplies of equipment from their army fleet. Several hundred MBTs of various models and modifications have already been delivered, and a significant part of them have now been destroyed. This causes damage to enemy troops, and also destroys the reputation of foreign equipment that does not perform well on the battlefield.

Foreign countries are already preparing new deliveries of MBT, and again we are talking about a limited amount of equipment that is not the newest models. The prospects for such “help” are quite clear and predictable - once in Ukraine, these tanks will become targets for the Russian weapons and will be destroyed.

How supplier countries will react to this and what measures they will take is still unknown. They will probably continue to provide some form of assistance. However, such actions are associated with the gradual depletion of their own arsenals and parks. Whether the United States and its allies are ready to demilitarize their armies is a big question.

Comments

[Uncle lee]

Whether the United States and its allies are ready to demilitarize their armies is a big question.

Disposal of old stuff is underway... And there’s no desire to give away anything newer. Yes, not so much, something new!

[Romario_Argo]

I think that from drones, ATGMs and UAS they will put built-in remote sensing on the roof of tank turrets and start with the T-80BVM
this topic was studied on the T-80BV in the 90s in Leningrad with the installation of a 152-mm smoothbore gun

[chingachguc]

As I understand it, there will be no new tanks. Perhaps some scrapes. Maybe America will dump about thirty Abrams. And so - goodbye

[Ross xnumx]

Great Britain limited itself to supplying only 14 Challenger 2 tanks. The United States, in turn, is only promising such assistance.

There is no need to reassure yourself with thoughts that the decrepit West cannot, is not capable...
It's time to call a spade a spade. No one will supply something new and advanced to someone in whom they have found a source of cannon fodder.
And the price of victory (denazification and demilitarization) at such a pace and such a “white glove strategy” may turn out to be immeasurably high.
* * *
It is possible that recycling is underway there, but Russian resources also show their limitations and “red lines”... And there is no hypothetical end to the SVO in sight...

[Nesvoy]

Quote: ROSS 42

Great Britain limited itself to supplying only 14 Challenger 2 tanks. The United States, in turn, is only promising such assistance.

There is no need to reassure yourself with thoughts that the decrepit West cannot, is not capable...
It's time to call a spade a spade. No one will supply something new and advanced to someone in whom they have found a source of cannon fodder.
And the price of victory (denazification and demilitarization) at such a pace and such a “white glove strategy” may turn out to be immeasurably high.
* * *
It is possible that recycling is underway there, but Russian resources also show their limitations and “red lines”... And there is no hypothetical end to the SVO in sight...

Call the press! It seems that someone began to suspect something.

[Mikhail Drabkin]

thoughts that the decrepit West

With all due respect, this inevitability has been proven by the classics, but the West turned out to be more flexible, and preferable even in the USSR...

The West has the experience and ability to adapt both towards totalitarianism and towards liberalism, and to digest alternative development models. And with leadership in technological progress and biological monstrosity, discussions about its self-destruction are Manilovism.

There are many parties interested in preserving and adapting the West, and they are objectively not weakening. Considering the decrepit Biden a metaphor for the West is an unacceptable self-deception.

The SVO, starting from March 2023, required 5-6 billion $$. This amount is the same level as the pumping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and military equipment, and is only growing... and the treasury is not rubber.

[AAK]

I agree, the article is somewhat untimely optimistic, and it’s strange to make fun of the supply of “a limited amount of equipment of not the newest models” to Bandera, when our command is sending trains of T-62s and even T-55s to the front, but if you take into account that for a year and a half we have still been trampling in the Maryinsky and Avdeevka vegetable gardens near Donetsk and have not returned under our control even a fifth of the territories of the former Ukrainian SSR “liberated during the redeployments”, until the final “DE...” and “DE...” more ...three days in the field, two days in the forest, and on Saturday to the left..."

[karabas-barabas]

Quote: AAK

The article is somehow untimely optimistic, and it’s strange to make fun of the supply of “a limited amount of equipment of not the newest models” to Bandera

After the words that it turns out that a significant part of the delivered Leo2s were disabled, and all kinds of T-72s, including about 500!!! captured Russian T-72, 80, 90, which were left behind during the retreat from the Sumy, Kiev, Kharkov and Kherson regions, which the author decided not to even mention, were completely destroyed, it makes no sense to continue reading another sheet about what small pearls the Ukrainians have. When supplying weapons, the West is trying to maintain a balance between sufficient supplies of armored personnel carriers to maintain the combat capability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the budget and maintaining its combat capability without touching active and reserve equipment. In other words, NATO has not even begun to seriously help; just look at the BBT storage warehouses not only in the United States, which even tomorrow can ship 500 Abrams and 1000 Bradleys to Ukraine from storage bases. The Armed Forces of Ukraine, of course, have been suffering losses since the beginning of summer, as they are trying to break through the powerful defense lines of the Russian Armed Forces, but not as some people constantly like to describe, creating a false picture of reality at the front. For some reason, almost all the articles are about the “problems” of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but for some reason they prefer to remain silent about the most important things on the Russian side. For example, in my opinion, problem no. 1 in the RF Armed Forces at the front is large losses among the 300s, or rather the 300s, even the light ones, they die several times more often than the Armed Forces, while the Armed Forces often pull out even the heavy ones. This problem is due to the lack of modern first aid kits, gags, bandages and tourniquets mainly, the lack and partially the inability to use high-quality military turnstiles, the lack of at least some kind of transport for evacuating the 300x. Of course, this varies from part to part, but in general the situation is difficult. In my opinion, this problem could be solved within a couple of days for the entire front, a couple of thousand suitable cars, tractors, or even tractors could be found that could reach 50 km/h and provide all the fighting units with the ability to evacuate the wounded. There are, of course, a lot of other problems, all of them are also related to the lack of something, long-range artillery for example, or analogues of Himars, for an effective counter-battery, which is gradually nullifying the once superiority in barrels and ammo artillery on the side of the RF Armed Forces. Well, the 3rd most important problem, in my opinion, is the lack of a modern air force, with modern AWACS, aircraft with AFAR, which can operate equally on the ground, above the ground and in the air, and high-precision glide bombs and missile launchers with a small EPR such as the same Storm Shadows, because Why, it seems, the numerous Russian Aerospace Forces cannot help the front as required. Of course, the Air Force and long-range and accurate artillery will not appear tomorrow, this is, as it were, a matter of the future, but the problem with losses due to the lack of basic things like first aid kits and transport is a scandal in my opinion.

[tank64rus]

Tell the source about the captured 500 tanks and the problems with the evacuation of Russian wounded. My students have been fighting there since the first days, and if earlier there were a lot of problems with the beginning of the SVO, now I would like to solve them faster, but in war it’s like in war. Well, as for the evacuation of Ukrainian wounded, what about the facts when it is clear from UAVs that they are often abandoned by their own people.

[rotmistr60]

Thus, it can be assumed that NATO countries will continue to support the Kyiv regime at the cost of disarmament of their own armies

So the NATO representative, Norwegian Admiral Rob Bauer, directly said that “Kyiv’s requests for the supply of weapons and ammunition exceed NATO’s capabilities” and the own security of NATO member countries is at stake. But despite this, deliveries continue and naturally will continue.

[Vadim S]

But we cannot accept help and invite mercenaries, or the leadership does not want to.

[bear cub]

Double attack by Ryabov. NATO warehouses are already empty and we will receive hundreds of MLRS from North Korea. As I see it, dear author, it is better that the West does not notice that the warehouses are empty, because the idea may come to mind that it is necessary to launch mass production of equipment. They will probably have a hard time at first and it will take some time, but as they speed up, these warehouses may start to fill up. Everyone writes that they have nothing to pay for, they have no one to produce and where to produce, they just decided that nothing threatens them.
Double attack by Ryabov. NATO warehouses are already empty and we will receive hundreds of MLRS from North Korea. As I see it, dear author, it is better that the West does not notice that the warehouses are empty, because the idea may come to mind that it is necessary to launch mass production of equipment. They will probably have a hard time at first and it will take some time, but as they speed up, these warehouses may start to fill up. Everyone writes that they have nothing to pay for, they have no one to produce and where to produce, they just decided that nothing threatens them.

[Wildcat]

Hmm, the topic is interesting, but here you need to count numbers, but this takes a long time and this is not in the article.
Donavi49 was doing this on this forum, but for some reason he hasn’t been seen since the summer.

Regarding tanks “in general”: first they will give away the T72 and Sov. tanks in general, this number is difficult to predict.
All sorts of Algerians and Morocco will catch up unnoticed (the number is small, + - hundreds). And if India gets involved (which is unlikely), then the Armed Forces of Ukraine will not run out of T72s in 10 years.

From the real: T80, Pakistan, Cyprus, South Korea. Most likely, Pakistan will be raked out (and China will happily replace it). So 200-300 pcs. The T80 will be given to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Leopard 1 - “living” 500 (for example, Greece), “non-living” - at least a thousand, but storage conditions are different, from “under the sky” to “hangar with maintenance”; but it is very repairable, so we are waiting for an unspecified date. So far the plan for this year is 178 units.
Türkiye can still give away its Leo1, another 300-400 units.

Leopard 2 - it’s not clear, but IMHO, they will give more “piece by piece” (Spain, Poland).

PT91 Tvardy - everyone will be in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, IMHO. Another + - two hundred.

Challengers 1 - unclear.

Challengers 2 will be broadcast again, IMHO.

Abrams - so far 31 units before the New Year, then there will be more, both from the USA “from storage” and from Poland.

Good condition, in storage: M60 (Cents, crazy Swedes, etc.) - not even discussed. Merkavas 2 and 3 will go “to a European country and a non-European country” (Cyprus, IMHO and where else?), and not to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Brief conclusion - they will provide tanks for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the number will be from hundreds to thousands, if they exert themselves. In the next couple of years, the NATO project “tanks for the Armed Forces” will not run out; there is a supply “from stock” and “from storage”, “it’s not a pity.”

[Semen3Semenov]

T-80U-shki Cyprus, South Korea can immediately be excluded from supplies due to the exhaustion of the life of the engines and engine-transmission parts, which Ukraine has nothing to replace. I also see Pakistani tanks as unlikely to be delivered to Ukraine. Pakistan is clearly within the sphere of influence of China, which has no interest in continuing this conflict. In addition, the repair base in Kharkov for the repair of UD-sheks does not seem to be operational after the arrivals of the Russian Aerospace Forces, and given that Ukraine itself supplied engines to Pakistan before the SVO, it does not have its own base for the production of spare parts and Ukraine can service these tanks without the Kharkov plant unable.

[max702]

From hundreds to a thousand is nothing, if they give five thousand at a time, then even will come out, but in fact, in order to organize all this machinery into something worthwhile, you need to be not Ukraine.. And let the trickle of technology flow, just slowly we will grind everything down.
rs: As of September 18.09.2023, XNUMX, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, tanks and other armored vehicles of the enemy were destroyed 11931sht

[UrraletZ]

Quote from Nesvoy

Quote: ROSS 42

Great Britain limited itself to supplying only 14 Challenger 2 tanks. The United States, in turn, is only promising such assistance.

There is no need to reassure yourself with thoughts that the decrepit West cannot, is not capable...
It's time to call a spade a spade. No one will supply something new and advanced to someone in whom they have found a source of cannon fodder.
And the price of victory (denazification and demilitarization) at such a pace and such a “white glove strategy” may turn out to be immeasurably high.
* * *
It is possible that recycling is underway there, but Russian resources also show their limitations and “red lines”... And there is no hypothetical end to the SVO in sight...

Call the press! It seems that someone began to suspect something.

From the first day of ukromaydan we know what was going on, unlike you, the similar pan-headed rabble of hypocritical liars - “non-twins” for whom the war “began” on February 24, 2022.

[runway-1]

Foreign countries are already preparing new deliveries of MBT, and again we are talking about a limited amount of equipment, not the newest models. The prospects for such “help” are quite clear and predictable - once in Ukraine, these tanks will become targets for Russian weapons and will be destroyed.

How supplier countries will react to this and what measures they will take is still unknown. They will probably continue to provide some form of assistance. However, such actions are associated with the gradual depletion of their own arsenals and parks. Whether the United States and its allies are ready to demilitarize their armies is a big question.

Yeah, the prospects are clear and predictable: we will get new problems. Our happiness lies in the dosage of various supplies, but unfortunately, instead of demilitarization, in the not too distant future we will receive a serious re-equipment of Western countries with the latest weapons.
And yes, new deliveries of tanks to Ukraine mean an increase in our losses and a prolongation of the conflict...

[Altmann]

During the Warsaw Pact, we were ordered to stand on the banks of the Rhine on the seventh day. The Soviet Army was already on the territory of Czechoslovakia. I admit, I was worried that this was an impossible task. But we and the Soviet troops were very well trained. Today I am ashamed, because with the training and equipment of NATO units at that time, I firmly believe that we would have crossed the Rhine on the seventh day. Unfortunately, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved after Mr. Gorbachev's agreement. We would win the way the Russian army wins today.

[shtaier]

Who and in what quantity is pushing their “slack” to the Kyiv junta is clear. The question is: who, and most importantly with what, will ultimately pay for all this abundance?

[buv59]

How can military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reliably operate such diverse equipment. The Finns captured a lot of our equipment in the 39-40s and managed to use it for a long time. Ukrainians are not Finns. Due to illiterate operation, it will be rendered unusable in the shortest possible time.