As mentioned CNNThe unnamed officials said they had not observed “a large increase in the amount of equipment” and that “the equipment used by the Russians is of an older generation.”
“They started with T-80s and T-90s, then moved on to T-72s, and we actually saw the first T-55s put into combat after the upgrade. The same goes for artillery,” sources told CNN.
read more: Why is the famous T-72 still in service with the Russian Army after 50 years of service?
Several battlefield watchdogs have reported downed T-55 tanks, which the Soviet Union began producing in 1948 after the end of World War II. These observations were corroborated by the Washington-based think tank for Strategic and International Studies, which indicated that higher casualties on the battlefield “are likely to diminish the quality of the Russian military in terms of advanced equipment, at least in the near term.” It also said the sanctions blocked Russian access to technologies such as optical systems that Russia had previously imported from France. As CNN explained, the new tanks are equipped with older, less advanced systems that can cause a loss of firing range of about 2 km. However, the think tank said that while Russia is struggling to produce new weapons, it may have enough old weapons and could use that amount to make up for the lack of advanced technology.
According to an analysis by Oryx, a Dutch white intelligence blog, Russia loses about 150 tanks a month to Ukraine. This means it will lose 1,779 tanks between February 2022 and February 2023. As a result, Russia relies on old equipment, with at least one elite Russian unit fighting 60-year-old T-62 tanks. Russia is having trouble rapidly producing tanks because of Western sanctions designed to deprive it of materials needed to manufacture advanced equipment.
A Western official told The Economist in February that Russia’s demand for new tanks was ten times its production capacity.
Translation: Mateusz Albin
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