The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the capture of German Leopard tanks and American Bradley infantry fighting vehicles
Military personnel of the Vostok group seized German-made Leopard 2 tanks and US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) in the Zaporozhye direction. This is reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The department noted that several of the captured cars had engines running.
This indicates the transience of the battle and the flight of the crews of the combat vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from combat-ready equipment.
How many Leopard tanks were destroyed?
On June 11, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Russian military destroyed 11 tanks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), including three Leopards, in the Yuzhno-Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Donetsk directions in a day. The enemy also lost 16 armored combat vehicles, 17 infantry fighting vehicles, an M777 howitzer, a Stormer air defense complex combat vehicle and four vehicles. Later, the representative of the German Ministry of Defense Mitko Muller noted that Germany could not say anything about the number of Leopard tanks shot down in Ukraine.
The MoD video shows a Leopard 2A6. The first vehicles of this type were delivered to the Bundeswehr in 2001. The main difference between the 2A6 and previous versions was the Rh-120 L / 55 gun with an increased barrel length. The mass of the tank increased to 62 tons. In January, it became known that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz would allow Ukraine to send at least a Leopard 2A6 company of ten tanks.
In the same month, the former head of the Main Armored Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Colonel General Sergei Maev, spoke about the weak points of the tank.
The Leopard 2A6’s most vulnerable spots are the weak protection of the sides and the upper hemisphere
Military expert Alexei Leonkov said that the Russian Armed Forces have in their arsenal ground-based and air-based anti-tank missile systems (ATGMs), as well as anti-tank mines and armor-piercing shells that can be used to destroy Leopard tanks. According to him, the Russian armor-piercing feathered sub-caliber projectile “Mango-2” can penetrate the Leopard in any projection.
In turn, Bild journalists expressed the opinion that modern anti-tank systems, which were specially designed to combat the Leopard 2, pose the greatest danger to German-made tanks.
According to Konstantin Sivkov, Deputy President of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences, Western-made tanks will not be able to realize their advantages without the support of aviation and artillery.
Of course, the Leopard and Abrams tanks are very powerful vehicles. But if they are not protected by jet aircraft, if they do not have a strong defense system and if they are not supported by artillery, these tanks are rubbish.
Development of the Leopard 2 began in 1968. The basic version of the machine, which weighed more than 55 tons, received a 120 mm Rh-120 smoothbore gun and two machine guns. The security of the machine is provided by combined armor. It is believed that a well-protected machine in the frontal projection is characterized by insufficient stern protection. The most common modification of the tank remains the Leopard 2A4, which received a digital fire control system. However, it retained the weaknesses of previous versions – the side armor of the 2A4 is thinner than that of the early versions of the Soviet T-72 tanks.
How many Bradley BMPs will be handed over to Kyiv?
Also on the record you can see several M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. In January, the Pentagon announced that 59 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles were included in the new military aid package for Kyiv. It is believed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine handed over the vehicles of the M2A2 ODS modification (Operation Desert Strom – an improved version based on the experience of Operation Desert Storm – approx. “Tapes.ru”).
An expert in the field of armored vehicles, candidate of military sciences Sergey Suvorov suggested that the Bradley infantry fighting vehicles are poorly adapted to the black soil of Ukraine. According to him, American vehicles have a mass similar to that of the T-55 tank.
How it will behave on the soils of Ukraine, on the black soil – this, in general, is another question.
The mass of the BMP M2A2 Bradley is 33 tons. This version received reinforced armor, providing protection of the frontal projection from the fire of 30 mm cannons. The BMP’s arsenal includes a 25 mm automatic cannon and anti-tank missiles.
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