Western “wunderwaffes” that did not live up to the hopes of the Ukrainian armed forces
Any war involves not only military operations, but also huge amounts of money spent by the warring parties on the purchase of weapons and military equipment (W&M).
Of course, arms and military equipment manufacturers are interested in selling as many of their products as possible, not only on the domestic market, but also to customers from other countries - as was cynically noted in the movie “Gunsmith Baron,” the most effective solution is to supply weapons to both warring parties.
All sales are advertising, and the best advertising for weapons comes from the battlefield. In our information age, even people who are in no way involved in the weapons issue often learn about the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of a particular type of weapons and military equipment revealed during combat operations. Since decisions to purchase certain types of weapons and military equipment are often made by politicians or military personnel of those armies that have never participated in real wars, public advertising can be an excellent motivator for them to buy.
I immediately remember the armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh that occurred in 2020, which became an advertising platform for Turkish weapons, in particular the Bayraktar UAV. Moreover, in such conflicts, weapons often gain undeserved fame when they are used against an obviously weaker enemy. However, as soon as a real war begins, it immediately puts everything in its place - illusions dissipate as quickly as previously advertised planes fall to the ground and burn Tanks.
The most serious and large-scale armed conflict of our time was the Russian Special Military Operation (SVO) in Ukraine, and many of those weapons that at the beginning of the conflict were positioned almost as a “wunderwaffe” capable of changing the course of hostilities have now gone into the shadows, according to at least in information terms, and some actually practically disappeared from the battlefields.
Let us recall some of the weapons and military equipment, whose appearance on the battlefield was associated with the imminent victory of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), but which did not live up to the hopes placed on them.
MANPADS Stinger
Stinger man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems (MANPADS) drank a lot of blood from the CCCP Armed Forces during the period of Soviet troops in Afghanistan. At the very beginning of the Northern Military District, Western countries supplied thousands of American Stinger MANPADS to Ukraine. Of course, in addition to them, British, French and even Polish MANPADS were also supplied, but it was the Stinger P3RK that became a household name.
P3RK Stinger in Ukraine
It cannot be denied that the Stinger P3RK inflicted quite significant damage on the Russian Armed Forces, but the greatest losses were the Russian aviation suffered from MANPADS precisely at the beginning of the Northern Military District, while the illusions were still fresh that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were about to break down and stop resisting, when the ground forces of the Russian Armed Forces and the combat aircraft and helicopters supporting them were quickly moving deeper into the territory of Ukraine.
However, later, based on open information, the losses of the Russian Air Force from MANPADS fire decreased significantly. Apparently, such cases have now become isolated. This was facilitated by an increase in the ratio of ammunition used in favor of high-precision weapons, at a range excluding the use of MANPADS by the enemy, including high-explosive aerial bombs (FAB) with unified planning and correction modules (UMPC).
In cases where unguided ammunition is still used, the priority is to save military equipment and people, for example, for this purpose, although less effective, but also safer for combat helicopters and attack aircraft, firing unguided aircraft missiles (UAR) from a pitched position is used, although ideally I would like to abandon this practice in favor of widespread use of only high-precision weapons by modern combat aircraft and helicopters.
Particularly impressive were the reports about the onboard self-defense complex of the Ka-52 combat helicopter repelling an attack by almost two dozen MANPADS - one must think that at that moment some in the West became very depressed.
The Ka-52 combat helicopter is equipped with a highly effective on-board self-defense system, which, if it did not make MANPADS completely useless, then significantly reduced their effectiveness
It is also worth mentioning the numerous Russian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) - kamikazes of the Geran-2 type, whose piston engines, apparently, are poorly detected and captured by homing heads (GOS) of MANPADS, especially if UAV "Geran-2" goes at high altitude.
In general, the massive deliveries of the Stinger P3RK did not live up to the hopes placed on them and did not protect the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Russian aviation; the skies over Ukraine are now mostly covered by other anti-aircraft missile and anti-aircraft artillery systems.
PTPK Javelin
Another widely advertised weapon was the Javelin anti-tank missile system (ATGM).
It was with the help of the Javelin anti-tank missile system, also supplied to Ukraine in huge quantities, that the Ukrainian Armed Forces hoped to resist the armored fists of the Russian Armed Forces. But the Armed Forces of Ukraine were proud that the Russian Armed Forces did not have a similar third-generation ATGM equipped with an infrared (IR) seeker, allowing the use of the Javelin ATGM according to the “fire and forget” principle.
Javelin ATGM
Again, at the beginning of the NVO, Javelin ATGMs, judging by open data, caused significant damage to the Russian Armed Forces, but gradually their use on the battlefield became practically unheard of. Either the Ukrainian Armed Forces have run out of expensive Javelin ATGMs, and the greedy Americans don’t want to supply more, or the Russian Armed Forces have learned to resist them.
One way or another, the main weapon for combating enemy armored vehicles on the Ukrainian side, apparently, has become FRU-drones, as well as the Ukrainian-made Stugna-P ATGM, or the slightly outdated, but still effective American Tow ATGM.
Now, when choosing a modern anti-tank weapon, potential buyers are more likely to prefer a Russian one UAV-kamikaze type "Lancet", instead of the Javelin anti-tank missile system that has “lost its charisma.”
Bayraktar UAV
The Bayraktar UAV, which gained popularity during the above-mentioned Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, quickly descended from heaven to earth in the Northeast Military District zone - including in the literal sense. It turned out that for Russian air defense systems, the Turkish “bird” is far from the most difficult target.
If at the beginning of the SVO information also sometimes appeared that some Russian model of weapons and military equipment was destroyed using the Bauraktar UAV, now such information will have to be searched for a very long time. Moreover, according to open information, Turkey has completely refused to supply Bayraktar UAVs to Ukraine - yet the Ukrainian Armed Forces presented the Bayraktar UAV almost as a replacement for manned tactical aircraft.
Do the Ukrainian Armed Forces still have the Bauraktar UAVs?
Of course, it is quite possible that the Turks stopped supplies as a result of some secret agreements between our countries - this option cannot be completely ruled out, however, “Sultan” Erdogan is not the most negotiable partner, there is a much greater chance that the Turks were simply afraid of even more people destroyed over the territory Ukraine UAV Bauraktar with subsequent associated reputational losses and loss of potential sales markets for its unmanned industry.
M777
The transportable American howitzer M777 or “three axes”, as it is also called, was sung in its praises long before the start of the Northern Military District - they say how titanium, light, mobile it is, but the “real” war quickly put everything in its place.
A transportable howitzer is a transportable one, no matter how light it may be. Probably, in certain tactical situations, as part of combat operations against irregular formations, the M777 howitzer can turn out to be quite effective, being thrown by a helicopter to some dominant height. However, on a battlefield oversaturated with counter-battery weapons, the life of transportable artillery is often short-lived, which is confirmed by numerous photographs and videos of M777 howitzers destroyed in the Northern Military District zone.
Destroyed M777 howitzer
OBT Leopard 2
The German main battle tank (MBT) Leopard 2 has always been considered one of the most effective combat vehicles in its class. Some even claimed that the Leopard 2 MBT is the most protected and balanced tank in the world. It is characteristic that in many MBT ratings compiled by Western publications, Russian MBTs were not included at all - at best, they got a place somewhere at the end, and only the low silhouette was mentioned among the advantages.
Particularly pleasing to foreigners and liberal-minded fellow citizens, who were accustomed to criticizing everything domestic, were the cases of Russian tank turrets flying off during the war in Chechnya - some actually squealed with delight.
Even before the start of the SVO in Syria and Yemen, Western countries had the opportunity to realize that their armored vehicles burn no worse than Russian tanks, or even better, and sometimes even from very ancient weapons such as the RPG-7 hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher, and they are also excellent gets stuck in the mud and capsizes.
Realizing the situation on the battlefield and the scale of losses of their armored vehicles, Ukrainians immediately began to modify the German Leopard MBT with the help of the Soviet mounted dynamic protection (DZ) "Kontakt-1". However, this did not help them much. Once Leopard 2 MBTs reached the front line, they most often remained there, becoming a coveted trophy for “big cat” hunters..
Damaged Leopard 2 MBT and other Western armored vehicles
Conclusions
The article lists only a portion of those weapons that were supplied to Ukraine by Western countries, and whose reputation was seriously tarnished during the Northern Military District. The longer the war goes on, the more enemy weapons and military equipment will be able to disappoint their creators, manufacturers and potential consumers, not to mention the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Apparently, the F-16 fighters are the closest in line for public humiliation among the major ones. Let’s hope that the Russian Armed Forces will not disappoint the Armed Forces of Ukraine and American taxpayers by ensuring the disposal of these aircraft and other military equipment supplied to Ukraine as soon as possible.
Information