A Ukrainian tank commander shared how a crew survived direct Russian drone strikes in an American-made Abrams tank

[ad_1] A Ukrainian tank crew survived a number of Russian drone strikes on their Abrams tank.

Abrams tanks have higher crew safety than Soviet-style tanks.

However Ukrainian forces are additionally enhancing Abrams with further armor to counter rising threats.

A Ukrainian tank crew survived round half a dozen direct Russian drone strikes on their Abrams tank, a feat a tank commander advised researchers would not have been potential in a Soviet-style tank like a T-72.

As footage of the engagement circulated on Russian Telegram channels, battle analysts Rob Lee and Michael Kofman, consultants on the Overseas Coverage Analysis Institute and Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace, linked with the Ukrainian tank commander from the forty seventh Mechanized Brigade who shared how that unhealthy state of affairs in Russia's Kursk area in the end performed out.

"That is our tank," he advised them. "There have been 4-6 direct hits. The crew survived, and even with out accidents. God bless America."

The American-made tank was disabled and taking repeated hits from fiber-optic first-person-view, or FPV, drones, which aren't as susceptible to digital warfare countermeasures as different methods in use in Ukraine as a result of the connection comes from a cable linking the drone and the operator.

"The Abrams is a good tank," the Ukrainian commander mentioned in a string of remarks Lee shared on X. "Because of the truth that the ammo is totally separated from the crew, the crew has an opportunity to outlive." The Russians have been unable to penetrate the hull or the turret whereas the crew was inside. Ukrainian forces have repeatedly celebrated Western tanks for his or her survivability.

In contrast to the T-series tanks, the place ammunition is saved on racks within the turret, the Abrams is supplied with blast doorways and vents that defend the crew within the occasion the ammunition is ignited. On Soviet-style tanks, which weren't constructed with crew survivability as a prime precedence, if the ammunition within the turret is ignited, it may trigger a significant explosion contained in the tank. The intense overpressure kills the crew and launches the turret into the air.

The tank commander advised Lee and Kofman that the crew probably would not have survived the combat in the event that they'd relied on the Abrams armor alone, although.

A US-provided M1A1 Abrams tank at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. forty seventh Mechanized Brigade through Telegram

The American-made M1 Abrams tank is highly effective, with higher vary, firepower, and armor than the Russian T-series tanks, which have been constructed for mobility and massed armored assaults, however the M1s that the Ukrainians acquired are older export variants that lack the highest armor upgrades of US Military tanks, corresponding to depleted-uranium armor.

The commander mentioned that "with out the extra ERA and 'cope netting' on prime of the turret," the crew "would have been smashed and certainly useless by now with none likelihood. The tank's armor is weak, and it's susceptible (as every other tank) to FPV drones."

Ukrainian troops have been analyzing Abrams losses and equipping tanks with explosive reactive armor made to explosively repel projectiles, and cages and netting designed to catch incoming drones earlier than they'll strike the tank, particularly across the susceptible turret. The Ukrainians generally add two to a few tons of further Kontakt-1 ERA.

The tank commander mentioned that the Abrams armor mixed with the add-ons, in addition to the tank options particularly constructed for crew survivability, "saves human lives, even in DIRE situations."

The crew was capable of get out of the tank and fall again to pleasant traces. The Russians struck the tank a number of extra occasions after they deserted it. The commander mentioned it'd nonetheless be salvageable. With higher crew survivability, skilled tankers dwell to combat one other day, however a key problem for Ukraine is that it solely has a restricted variety of Abrams. The US solely despatched 31 tanks. It did, nevertheless, present a whole bunch of armored Bradley infantry combating automobiles.

The US Military skilled members of the Ukrainian armed forces on the American M1A1 Abrams tank in Grafenwoehr. Matthias Merz/image alliance through Getty Photographs

The Ukrainian tank commander who spoke to Lee and Kofman expressed issues about American preparation for future wars. For example, he referred to as consideration to the coaching he acquired. He mentioned that the US instructors "have been utterly unaware of the trendy battlefield threats."

"They don't perceive in any respect the risk posed by the FPVs," the commander mentioned.

There is a rising consciousness within the US army that these methods are threats, however having not skilled these challenges the way in which the Ukrainians have in a battle that's being dominated by lethal uncrewed methods, growing adequate coaching packages and crucial techniques, strategies, and procedures stays a piece in progress.

However necessary to notice is that the US army fights with extra capabilities than Ukraine as a mixed pressure that gives it higher lethality. Nonetheless, there are classes to be realized from this battle and the way in which the Ukrainians are combating it.

"American tankers ought to act promptly," the commander mentioned. "Shield your tanks urgently to keep away from losses in potential near-future conflicts, taking into consideration our expertise."

The US Military is monitoring developments in Ukraine carefully and dealing to use classes from the battle. The Pentagon, likewise, is more and more recognizing the risk that drones can play, from the high-end methods to a budget, off-the-shelf capabilities, and just lately launched its counter-drone technique to organize the joint pressure for future battlefields the place drones are prone to pose a big problem.