‘Upgraded’ T-72B3 destroyed the M1 Abrams with its first shot

Bulgarianmilitary.com ^ | 3/6/24 | Boyco Nikolov

[M Kehoe]

Imho, ALL main battle tanks can be killed if not supported by arty, infantry and air superiority.

5.56mm

[Karl Spooner]

It certainly looks like a drone hit it, but the T72 may have hit it first. The Abrams was 3.72 miles away! Anyways, they gave the Russian soldier the Hero of Russia award for it already.

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https://youtu.be/4-h_7cf0EaY?si=1wJgNiASMfIDpdH6

[lepton]

My understanding is that two main changes have occurred:

Recruits are more used to video games, including complex sequences.

The technology has improved its interfaces so that its presentation is clearer and simplified.

Plus decades of experience now.

[lepton]

Once again it comes down to giving the Ukrainians the weapons to win, not just degrade Russian forces

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And that has been a consistent pattern, that if the Biden administration was actually supporting the Ukrainians in driving off the Russians, they wouldn’t have been constantly 6+ months behind in supplying them suitable weapons.

[lepton]

This war became inevitable when the Obama folks were elected back to power, especially in the person of Biden.

I don’t mean Democrats generally, I mean these folks in particular. They’d already carried out a coup in the Ukraine once, and enriched themselves through personal corruption which continued through the Trump years. There was no way they were going to stop once Biden was President.

Between that, the ineptness, and the war on domestic US oil buoying oil prices, a window for action was created.

Doesn’t mean Russia wasn’t still wrong for taking it, but the incentives were very strong.

[lepton]

Imho, ALL main battle tanks can be killed if not supported by arty, infantry and air superiority.

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And this has been known for a century. It’s amazing how well they do *still* survive at times.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***The US has no business getting involved in any war in Europe,***

Agreed! Let the British and French handle it as they did in the 1850s.

[M Kehoe]

Good to see your moniker.

5.56mm

[Paal Gulli]

Nothing to see here; move along:

It had broken a track. Broken tracks are routine but more common when maintenance is slipshod.

And the turret had been turned sideways -- which indicates they still had power -- so the driver could un-ass the AO.

An Abrams with a broken track is a 70-ton pillbox. Which lends the possibility the crew had abandoned it before the tank received the coup de grâce.

[Brilliant]

The likely problem is that it was outnumbered. When you’re being shot at from all directions, there is not much hope.

[Paal Gulli]

Half of everything being reported from the Ukraine is a lie, regardless which side it’s coming from.

The other half is misinformative. Some premeditatedly so, and the rest for incorrect interpretation, lack of context, of lack of institutional knowledge.

[Justa]

Right.

It’s immobilized and abandoned. No pen cuz the ammo doors are still shut. Plenty of M1s were immobilized in Iraq. Most were recovered before hadji got there with his gas can. Even then they’d be recovered. DU armor is expensive.

[rustyboots]

Really is no need to rebuild anything. Take a look at satellite photos of Sierra Army Depot in Herlong, CA. More M1 tanks parked there that are on active service worldwide. Estimates are that 10,300 M1 tanks have been built. Probably seven thousand parked here, if not more.
If these tanks were destroyed in combat, their true value might be in seeing just how they were destroyed, and crew survivability studies done on the destroyed chassis’.

[rlmorel]

True...that kind of goes without saying, but it isn’t. Some folks don’t get that.

I try not to get all bent one way or the other when I read about US weapon systems doing this or that, but as you say, much of it is context dependent.

Primarily, weapons systems. Our poor batting average in weapons systems in the last few decades has been a concern (wasted money) but our military has a history of getting military hardware that is problematic into a state it can be used effectively in actual combat.

Sometimes, it just takes time. I’m old enough to remember when the Abrams was in development, and the screeching that it was a boondoggle, would never work, would be ineffective in combat, couldn’t operate in the desert, etc.

It turned out to be an excellent platform. Some say the best all around main battle tank in the world, and there is evidence for that.

[Pontiac]

If these tanks were destroyed in combat, their true value might be in seeing just how they were destroyed, and crew survivability studies done on the destroyed chassis’.

The value of do an analysis of the damage would be limited because the most up to date armor was removed before they were shipped.

But you can see the damage inflicted on obsolete armor by the Russian tech.

I still think it is worthwhile to ship the damaged tank back for salvage.