During a military exercise, the US military used a tank prototype from Ukraine so that it could destroy a similar Russian tank in an emergency.
Lansing – During the Northern Strike 24 military exercise in Michigan in August, the United States used an old Ukrainian tank to train for an emergency scenario that will see the country under President Joe Biden could intervene directly in the war between Ukraine and Russia.
The US military reportedly used a Ukrainian T-72AG tank to simulate Soviet T-72 tanks, according to photos released by the US Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, reports the Kyiv-Post.
Readiness check: 6,000 US soldiers train for war with Putin
The pictures were taken between August 3 and 17. The military training in Michigan was an exercise to test operational readiness. Around 6,000 people took part.
The Ukrainian news channel focus According to the images posted on the platform X (formerly Twitter) depicted a tank that is a further development of the Soviet T-72M. However, the weapon is said to be missing certain components compared to other improved models such as the T-72AMG. One attentive X-user noticed that the radiation detection indicator, floodlights and turret modulation systems are missing.
Not the first time: US military also uses weapons from Russia for war exercises
The tank was said to have been developed by the Kharkiv Morozov Machine-Building Design Bureau (KMDB) and first presented at an arms exhibition in Abu Dhabi in 1997. It was originally designed as a low-cost option for export, but no international orders were received.
The DoD further stated that the tank was ultimately integrated into the Ukrainian army and had been in service since 2014, when Russia Vladimir Putin launched its first invasion of Ukraine. However, it is unclear how the US military got the tank.
It is not the first time that the US has used modified equipment during training to simulate equipment used by US adversaries. In December 2022, Militarythat the United States had received modified vehicles that visually resembled Russian armored personnel carriers.
Capture of enemy weapons: Moscow also captures tanks from Ukraine
However, there have been cases where the United States actually acquired USSR-made equipment from former communist countries, such as the Soviet Mi-24 attack helicopters seen in an exercise in November 2019, which are believed to have originated in Bulgaria.
In 2021, National Interestthat US contractors had purchased Soviet MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter aircraft – the latter presumably from Ukraine – to assist the US Air Force in training against potential opponents.
In February 2022, during the Russian attack on the Hostomel airfield near Kyiv, a T-72AG was reportedly captured by Russian airborne troops, transported to Russia and exhibited in May 2024 at the so-called exhibition of trophies of special military operations in Victory Park in Moscow. (bg)
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