Russia running short of artillery and tanks but capturing Western weapons

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 18 Jul 2023 by Alex Teddy

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On May 31 a Dutch organization, Orynx, reported that Russia had lost over 2,000 out of the 3,000 tanks used to invade Ukraine in 2022. Losses have continued since then. Ukraine has sustained serious losses of equipment. The Ukrainians are circumspect about their counter-offensive because the gains might not be worth the losses suffered. Russian media jubilantly announced that Russian military engineers are studying captured Western systems with a view to copying them. NATO countries have not given Ukraine their latest equipment for precisely this reason. They do not want Russia to be able to clone it. Russia has had to use obsolescent tanks to replace artillery because it has lost so much artillery. Ukraine has more modern Western artillery with greater range and accuracy. Ukraine claims to destroy 4 Russian artillery pieces for every piece they lose themselves. Ukraine is clearly superior in counter battery combat.  Russia has brought tanks out of storage that even date back to the 1950s, such as the T 54. These outdated tanks do not have modern optics, surveillance or fire control. Their armor is too thick, and they are very vulnerable to anti-tank weapons. Russia has thousands of tanks made in the 1950s and 1960s in storage. But they do not seem to have been maintained. Russia has more modern T 80s in storage but oddly they are harder to upgrade. The tanks are used to replace self-propelled artillery. The tanks hide in thick vegetation and fire at enemy positions. A tank's barrel is much shorter than that of a howitzer. They cannot fire many shells before the barrel is wrecked, and their range is much shorter. Some tanks are partly buried to conceal them. Sometimes ...