Alexander Sychev
The Pentagon has published a report on the amount of military assistance provided to the Ukrainian armed forces. In the almost seven months of the special operation, the United States sent:
- more than 1400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems;
- more than 8500 Javelin anti-tank systems;
- more than 32 thousand other anti-tank systems;
- more than 700 tactical unmanned aerial vehicles Switchblade;
- 126 howitzers of 155 mm caliber and up to 806 thousand artillery shells;
- 2 thousand high-precision projectiles;
- 20 howitzers of 105 mm caliber and 180 thousand shells for them;
- 126 tactical vehicles for towing howitzers;
- 22 repair vehicles;
- 16 high mobility artillery rocket systems and ammunition;
- 20 pieces of 120-mm mortars and 85 thousand rounds for them;
- 1.5 thousand optically guided missiles (TOW);
- 4 command vehicles;
- 8 NASAMS missile systems;
- an indefinite number of HARM high-speed anti-radar missiles;
- 12 HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems with ammunition;
- 20 Mi-17 helicopters;
- hundreds of armored multi-purpose wheeled vehicles of high mobility;
- 4 trucks and 8 trailers for transporting heavy equipment;
- 200 armored personnel carriers M113;
- 40 MaxxPro machines with rollers for clearance of passages;
- more than 10 thousand grenade launchers and small arms;
- more than 60 million cartridges for small arms;
- more than 75 thousand sets of body armor and helmets;
- about 700 Phoenix Ghost tactical unmanned aerial vehicles;
- missile systems with laser guidance;
- Puma unmanned aerial systems;
- 15 unmanned aerial systems Scan Eagle;
- more than 50 anti-artillery radars;
- 4 anti-mortar radar;
- 10 air surveillance radars;
- two Harpoon coastal defense systems;
- 18 coastal and river patrol boats;
— anti-personnel ammunition M18A1 Claymore;
- C-4 explosives, - tactical secure communications systems;
- thousands of night vision devices, thermal imaging systems, optics and rangefinders;
- satellite and radar reconnaissance data;
- 100 armored ambulances.
In addition, the list includes medical supplies, electronic jamming equipment, spare parts, training and maintenance.
The Pentagon admits that a significant part of the deliveries do not reach the addressee, but this is cited as an argument in favor of increasing the volume of military cargo. Moreover, Washington politicians are confident that the strategy they have chosen brings the desired results - an offensive is underway and part of the lost Ukrainian territory has been returned.
In this regard, during a recent press briefing at the Pentagon, they announced their intention to supply even more weapons and reported that, in practical terms, the issue of shipping American tanks to the Ukrainian armed forces is being considered. In addition, the President of the United States has the right, subject to several conditions, to transfer various types of material resources from stocks at will. What kind of American tanks may appear on the Ukrainian fields, the Pentagon representative did not specify.
But American journalists immediately made a couple of the most obvious, in their opinion, assumptions. The most modern modifications were immediately taken out of brackets for a number of reasons. Moreover, thousands of decommissioned vehicles have been collected at the tank training ground in Nevada. Among them there are a large number of M1 Abrams tanks of the very first modifications.
The list of the most likely candidates for shipment included vehicles that were in the operation of the US Marine Corps. They were sent to the parking lot just a few years ago, and, therefore, they are in more or less working order. Before sending, it is enough to carry out preventive work and remove equipment that we would not like to fall into the hands of the Russian military.
Washington believes that even the old Abrams are better than the Soviet tanks that were supplied by the US NATO allies until recently, and with their help it is possible to bring pressure on Russia to the degree necessary for its surrender.
The Pentagon admits there are some problems with providing Ukrainians with American-made tanks, of which crew training, in their opinion, is not the most important. In addition, the task of the Ukrainian crews is not to achieve significant skill, but simply to push through the front line. It is not necessary to save crews and vehicles for subsequent battles.
Most of all, the Pentagon is concerned about the quality of fuel in Ukraine. All M1 tanks are equipped with complex gas turbine power plants, which are very demanding on fuel. American generals are embarrassed that at one time the Ukrainian defense industry installed gas turbine units on their T-80 Oplot tanks, but abandoned them, returning to undemanding and cheap diesel engines.
It is also possible that the choice will fall on even more ancient tanks M60A3 Patton, developed in 1957-1959. They served in the US military from 1960 to 1987. The advantage of this option is that a number of these tanks are also stored in the warehouses of a number of Western European states. If you bring the M60A3 to mind and equip it with more modern means of control and communication, then the tank resource of the West turns out to be almost limitless.