Indian Defence Review

Heinz Guderian’s quote “If the tanks succeed, then victory follows” seems to have changed irreversibly if the current Russian offensive into Ukraine which has entered the seventh week is any example to go by.

Considering the fact that when Russia attacked Ukraine on 24 February 2022, it had complete superiority over Ukraine in terms of army, air and naval power, however it has not given a swift victory to Russia as was envisaged at the outbreak of the war.

There are two main reasons to this prolonged war between the two warring nations.

One is the timing of the offensive in Ukraine and the other is the armoured warfare of Russia not succeeding swiftly.

Russia launched the offensive on Ukraine on 24 February 2022 when winters were ebbing in Eastern Europe. Thus, with snow covering the entire ground in Ukrainewas heavy with water content resulting in the ground being boggy. The Russians had no option but to restrict the movement of their troops and tanks on the metalled roads.

In armoured warfare emphasis is on dispersed movement of tanks on large frontages cross country so as to maximise their effect and efficacy. However, this was not possible due to the ground conditions, hence these tanks became easy targets for the Ukrainian soldiers who are equipped with the latest US made Javelin, the British made NLAW (Next-generation Light Anti-Tank Weapon) anti-tank missiles and the Turkish TB2 Bayraktar armed drones.

At the start of the war US supplied Ukraine with 2000 Javelin Anti-Tank missiles and subsequently have supplied 2000 more of these missiles. Javelin and NLAW are top attack missiles thus targeting the tank’s most soft and vulnerable areas.

These two reasons put the Russia at a disadvantage in Ukraine, who at the beginning of the war had 12,240 tanks (2700 opposite Ukarine) as compared to 2596 tanks that Ukraine had, and 30,000 armoured vehicles which the Russians had as compared to the 12,000 armoured vehicles in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s armed forces claim to have destroyed 680 tanks. However, Oryx – an independent intelligence and military blog – puts the figure at more than 460 and 2000 other armoured vehicles.

The main stay of the Russian armoured offensive in Ukraine are the T-72, T-80 and the T-90 tanks.

The secondary armament in the T-72 and the T-80 tanks are the 7.62 mm PKT coaxial machine gun for anti-personnel role and the 12.7 mm NSVT for the anti-craft role.

Since the Russian tanks were moving on the metalled roads, so the Ukrainians had a clear idea of the movement of mechanised forces and hence their unencumbered anti-tank teams and anti-tank mine measures proved effective in destroying quite a few Russian tanks. There were no WW2 type classic tank versus tank battles but foot bound tank-hunting teams which targeted these Russian tanks. The Bayraktar drones in search and destroy mode too have contributed substantially. By assisting the tank-hunting teams’ home on to the targets and using its laser-guided bombs to physically destroy tanks.

The fact that Russia did not use fighter aircrafts or attack helicopters along with their armoured columns, too contributed to the destruction of the Russian tanks by Ukraine. It is definitely a planning failure by Russia as fighter aircrafts and attack helicopters have traditionally given cover to the armoured columns on the move.

At the outbreak of the war Russia had 1511 fighter aircrafts and 544 attack helicopters and Ukraine had 98 fighter aircrafts and 34 attack helicopters. With a complete air superiority in air over Ukraine, the Russia’s failure to effectively deploy its air resources had had the war getting prolonged apart from the destruction of its tanks.

It was but natural that the Russian theatre commander in Ukraine was changed on 10 April 2022 and General Alexander Dvornikov took over as the new theatre commander.

Tanks too have their weak and vulnerable spots. Besides the top of a tank, its sides and the rear have very less armour protection and hence are the most vulnerable. Hence adequate measures have to be adopted to prevent the loss of a tank.

To overcome the losses of their tanks in Ukraine, the Russians have fitted an additional 12.7 mm NSVT on its T-72 and the T-80 tanks as this additional secondary armament weapon would give more protection to the tank in event of a tank coming under attack by the drones.

With this additional 12.7 mm NSVT that has been fitted on each of the T-72 and the T-80 tank deployed in Ukraine, the Russians have been able to thwart the Ukrainian anti-tank strategy to a certain extent.

War is a dynamic process and innovations play an important role and hence such measures are adopted by the warring nations to minimise damages and inflict more devastation.

Omar N. Bradley’s quote “In war there is no second prize for the runner-up” makes every warring nation leave no stone unturned in winning the war they are embroiled in.