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Lightning fast and also at home in rivers: Ukraine puts a lot of trust in a Polish infantry fighting vehicle – which it chose itself.
Kharkiv – “Accordingly, the Kiev regime should not place great hopes on such equipment,” say Russian propagandists. Their military magazine Topwar tried to downplay the “glutton” of Ukraine at the beginning of August. But the journalistic shot across the bow may have bounced back. The magazine is currently reporting Army recognition that the defenders in the Ukraine war around Kharkiv have apparently managed to switch back to forward movement against Vladimir Putin’s troops – thanks to the Polish infantry fighting vehicle, which Ukraine did not receive as a donation, but selected and purchased itself.
“During the recent fighting in the Kharkiv region, a brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces deployed several Rosomak infantry fighting vehicles. Despite numerous attempts by the Russian Armed Forces to neutralize these vehicles using Lancet drones, all attempts were thwarted, which shows the robust defense and mobility of the Rosomak,” writes Army ReconstructionThe “Kołowy Transporter Opancerzony Rosomak” means “Wolverine” in translation and is an eight-wheeled light infantry fighting vehicle, of which Ukraine has sent 200 units to the front.
“The Eastern Command of Ukraine is exchanging old Soviet vehicles for new Polish ones – and is thus becoming significantly more powerful.”
Topwar disqualifies the vehicle because of its structural similarity to other Western armored personnel carriers – which is in fact true – and predicts “problems of a quantitative and tactical nature” for this reason alone – which may also contain a grain of truth. After all, Ukrainian tank drivers and armored infantrymen maneuver into battle with a hodgepodge of vehicles. Since they already have too little of any material, the logistical challenges pile up – for example, the procurement of spare parts or the interoperability of differently equipped units – for example with regard to the different communication equipment.
Weapons aid: Ukraine benefits from resourceful Finnish engineers
Russian tank crews simply disembark from a destroyed vehicle and occupy the next one. Ukrainian crews may have to get used to new equipment again and again. Basically, the “Wielgluts” is a licensed production of the identical Finnish transporter Patria AMV. The German army could also be using vehicles from the Scandinavian armaments manufacturer in the future.
Since April 2023, Germany has been part of the CAVS (Common Armoured Vehicle System) programme, originally founded by Finland and Latvia. CAVS stands for a development programme for the cheapest possible 6×6 vehicle – in terms of procurement and maintenance costs – for Eastern Europe; or even beyond. Finland, Latvia and Estonia have been participating in the programme since 2019, Sweden since 2021. Patria produces the 6×6 armoured personnel carrier, which is considered the favourite to succeed the approximately 900 German Fuchs armoured personnel carriers. Competitors were the Fuchs 1A9 armoured personnel carrier from Rheinmetall and the Pandur Evolution from General Dynamics European Land System (GDELS), as the magazine European Security&Technology reported. However, nothing has been decided yet.
Bestseller: Poland’s licensed production as a global player in peace missions
The Patria AMV, however, is a bestseller, several armies use the vehicle, and the European Union has also used the vehicle for missions in Chad, for example. At the end of September, the magazine Forbes published another hymn of praise for the “glutton”: “The Eastern Command of Ukraine is exchanging old Soviet vehicles for new Polish ones – and is thus becoming significantly more powerful.”
ForbesAccording to author David Ax, the eight-wheeled infantry fighting vehicles are, alongside the 200 M-2 Bradley and the 200 Stryker wheeled infantry fighting vehicles from the USA, the most common Western-designed combat vehicles in the Ukrainian inventory, as he said with reference to a post by Militaryland on X (formerly TwitterBy replacing its BMP and BTR infantry fighting vehicles, Ukraine has become more mobile and resilient – and this may now be evident in Kharkiv.
Indestructible: Poland’s “glutton” is hardly intimidated by Putin’s drones
Ax claims to have observed that, based on equipment alone, an outdated part of the former Warsaw Pact was transformed into a modern army similar to NATO troops: in terms of firepower, weapon precision, mobility and armor, they quickly made a difference in combat.
Army recognition highlights the modular armor protection of the “Wielfraß”. Due to its ability to cross shallow waters, the armor is correspondingly light and can be reinforced to suit the task at hand. Building on the basic protection against fire from small arms and artillery shells, modules for protection against booby traps and anti-tank mines should also be retrofittable, such as Army recognition writes.
Topwar wants to know that the crew will survive if a six-kilogram explosive device explodes under the wheel or the floor and that the front is armored against fire with up to 30-millimeter projectiles. This armor is Armyregocnition also worth reading his latest report: Despite numerous attempts by Russian units to use Lancet drones against these vehicles, the Rosomaks are said to have held out – Lancet drones are rod-shaped mines that can loiter in the air due to their wing design and suddenly fall from the sky to unleash their explosive effect.
Financial injection: European Union is working on a special fund for Ukraine
For Ukraine, the “Wolverine” is a purchase rather than a donated military aid, as the magazine Soldier & Technology reported. According to the former Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, the European Union paid part of the costs directly, while Ukraine paid another part with funds it had previously received from the USA.
The European funds come from the European Peace Facility, an aid fund for projects that primarily stabilize democratic structures in various countries. According to the magazine Euractiv By the middle of last year, 5.6 million euros had been made available from this generalist fund for Ukraine alone – for example, as compensation for the commitment of individual partner countries to supplied military equipment.
In mid-March, Euractiv further that the EU has now agreed to set up a five billion euro fund specifically for Ukraine. This could be increased to up to 17 billion euros by 2027. A draft decision is awaiting signatures. The fund will then also be used to procure ammunition and military equipment – for example new armored personnel carriers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj also urgently needs these. Due to the new mobilization law, he is expecting around 100,000 fresh troops for his army, as the Southgerman newspaper extrapolated.
Counteroffensive: Lightning-fast Polish tank drives Ukraine to the offensive
There are currently no vehicles for a counter-offensive, for example at Kharkiv. “In order for the Ukrainian troops to break the deadlock in the trenches and push the Russian troops back from their fortifications, they need all the prerequisites for a real mechanized offensive with combined arms: tanks, infantry in armored vehicles that can keep up with the tanks, self-propelled artillery, combat engineers and bridge-building equipment, and also supply vehicles,” wrote expert Michael Peck last year in Business Insider – without vehicles there is no momentum, without momentum there is no further counter-offensive – no end to the war.
The Rosomak was consistently designed for high mobility – it can reach speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour, and ten in water; however, when the Poles took over the Finnish winner of their tender, they insisted on licensed production in their own country in order to give their domestic economy more weight with the light tank – it quickly proved its practical suitability in various peace missions, such as in Afghanistan; now it is once again the means of choice for enforcing peace. At any rate, the former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was certain of the quality of his domestic product when the contract was signed, as he said according to the Authority mirror had predicted: “Rosomaks are top-class armored personnel carriers.”
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