Andrey Kots
The next meeting of NATO defense ministers at the German Ramstein air base promised to be a milestone. The allies discussed increasing military support for Kyiv. How-ever, it was not possible to agree on everything. About what Ukraine will receive – in the material of RIA Novosti.
Berlin doubts
The main intrigue of the summit was the question: will the Americans and their closest allies convince Germany to give Kyiv Leopard 2 tanks and allow other countries to re-export.
It looks like they weren’t convinced. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stated that nothing had been decided on this score. And he stressed that all the pros and cons need to be carefully weighed again.
Germany’s go-ahead for the supply of heavy armored vehicles is expected in Poland, Finland, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Earlier, the Germans said they would not approve of this until the United States decided to take a similar step. The Americans once again explained the failure in the Abrams by the complexity of operation.
“What attracts attention is that they want to drag Germany into a conflict with Russia with all their might. Probably, the German chancellor feels the worst of all today,” says political scientist Nikolai Starikov. “He traditionally tries to do something “between trickles”. means the final deterioration of relations with the Kremlin.
But the allies are not appeased. Dutch Defense Minister Kaisa Ollongren even promised to pay for the delivery if Berlin changed its position. By the way, he showed special generosity at the summit. Among other things, he promised to think about F-16 fighters. If Kyiv asks.
For new cases
So far, Ukrainians will receive 12 British Challen-ger 2s from heavy armored vehicles. However, even without tanks, the promised will be enough for a lot.
There has never been such a large-scale assistance. Speaking at the opening of the summit, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin bluntly stated that support for NATO would last as long as needed. The conflict is at a turning point, he said.
The West is doing everything possible to provide the APU with an advantage. The United States will transfer 60 M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, 90 Stryker armored personnel carriers, eight Avenger air defense systems, about 400 armored SUVs, hundreds of thousands of shells of various calibers, and small arms ammunition. Great Britain, in addition to tanks, – 600 Brimstone missiles, 30 155-mm AS-90 self-propelled guns, as well as 200 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers.
France – 40 AMX-10RC wheeled tanks, Bastion armored vehicles and Caesar self-propelled guns. In addition, Leclerc main battle tanks are going to be provided to Kyiv in Paris.
Sweden, which has not yet joined the alliance, promised 50 CV-90 infantry fighting vehicles and 12 155mm Archer wheeled self-propelled guns. The Czech Republic will also help with artillery – 30 Dana-M2 self-propelled guns.
This is enough for three NATO-style motorized infantry brigades. Most likely, they will become part of the new army corps, which are now being formed in western Ukraine. The lion’s share of the personnel was trained in the West. With the support of NATO intelligence, these corps are a formidable force.
What hasn’t been reported before
So far, however, it is not clear how the rear services of the Armed Forces of Ukraine intend to serve all this motley “zoo” of equipment from different countries. Moreover, the range of weapons is expanding every month.
For example, the next American assistance package includes Stryker armored fighting vehicles, which, depending on the modification, perform the functions of an infantry fighting vehicle, an armored personnel carrier, a self-propelled mortar, a light tank, or an ATGM complex. These are the mechanized brigades of the US Army, which occupy an intermediate position between heavy armored formations with Abrams tanks and M2 infantry fighting vehicles and light ones on Humvee armored vehicles and MRAP class vehicles.
Avenger air defense systems are mentioned for the first time. These are simple short-range air defense systems – eight FIM-92 Stinger MANPADS launchers based on the Humvee SUV. In the United States, they were removed from service about ten years ago. However, after studying the hostilities in Ukraine, the decommissioned equipment was returned from long-term storage bases and modernized.
The Swedish CV-90 infantry fighting vehicles will now appear in the war zone. These are quite serious vehicles with strong armor, good driving characteristics, a troop compartment for eight troopers and a 40mm Bofors L/70 rapid-fire autocannon. The gun – in fact, an improved anti-aircraft gun from the Second World War – turned out to be extremely successful and is used in various modifications in many armies. The caliber of the gun, as well as the power of its armor-piercing and sub-caliber shells, is quite enough to effectively deal with Russian armored vehicles up to tanks.
The Swedes will send artillery to the Kyiv regime – 30 Archer self-propelled guns. These are fully automated guns of 155 mm caliber, capable of opening fire on the move, as early as 30 seconds after receiving the target coordinates. The position changes just as quickly. The machine is designed to move through difficult terrain and has a speed of up to 70 kilometers per hour.
Also, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will receive the British AS-90 tracked self-propelled guns, which were previously used only in Iraq. In terms of tactical and technical characteristics, they are close to the American M109. All standard 155 mm NATO ammunition is suitable for them, including those with a corrected trajectory.
Further more
Western tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and artillery are designed to fill the critical shortage of “iron” in the formations and units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, political scientist Andrey Suzdaltsev believes.
“From the end of February to June last year, we completely defeated the old Ukrainian army with Soviet equipment,” the expert says. “Then the armed forces were “reassembled” – we encountered this version in August, September, October. The equipment is broken, requires repair or is completely destroyed, stocks of shells are depleted.”
NATO equipment will continue to be steadily “chewed” at the front. The aggregate assistance of the NATO countries is not yet able to block Russia’s advantage in heavy “armor” and the capabilities of the military-industrial complex.
However, this flywheel will spin up more and more. Almost three and a half thousand Abrams tanks are idle at American storage bases. Perhaps the taboo on their supply will soon be lifted.
