A report by the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, titled “The operational environment 2024-2034. Large-scale combat operations”reveals that the Ukrainian armed forces use with “great results” the “anti-tank guided missiles” (Javelin and NLAWS)among others) and the “UAS combined with fire” (armed drones) provided by Western governments to attack enemy Russian main battle tanks.
The investigation provides accurate, never-before-seen official calculations of the actual number of Russian battle tanks destroyed by kyiv. “The Armed Forces of Ukraine have used large numbers of man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS)), anti-tank guided missiles and FPV UAS, combined with fire, with great effectiveness,” the report said. MANPADS are short-range portable air defense systems, which They use surface-to-air guided missiles with infrared tracking technologywith which they detect and attack targets. They represent a major threat, in part, due to their high effectiveness at an altitude of between 3,000 and 4,800 meters.
According to the cited document, until July 2024, Russia had lost 3,197 main battle tanks”. This figure represents more than its entire active-duty inventory at the start of the conflict – in February 2022 – and 6,160 armored combat vehicles, “which has forced Russia to take increasingly obsolete systems out of storage,” the document states. Various analysts argue that Moscow is losing almost 100 tanks every month, prompting the Army to dust off Cold War tanks scattered in warehouses across the country, such as the T-55, the T-62 and T-80 of most recent
The military impact has been “nothing short of monumental, with the entire active Russian tank force destroyed,” the US Army document added. The Oryx website, which documents losses of Russian tanks and armored vehicles, estimated months ago that The invading country’s tank losses amounted to 2,000, However, it should be noted that this calculation is based solely on documented photos of disabled or destroyed vehicles.
Many of the operations were conducted using on-foot ambushes and anti-armor hit-and-run attacks from concealed or strategically advantageous positions using terrain or buildings to conceal attack locations. Airborne attacks on tanks “have proven to be a useful tactic, as Russian tanks have proven to be quite vulnerable to attacks from above,” the investigation explains.
The weak flank of Russian tanks
This is because The protection on the top of the vehicle is much lighterthe authors of the report add. “Consequently, Ukrainian forces have used elevated attack positions to exploit this vulnerability, destroying thousands of tanks. Ukrainian forces also used urban structures such as narrow-shaped corridors, bridges and other urban structures to optimize surprise attacks against advancing Russian armored vehicles“.
This Army intelligence report cites Weapons and tactics of war that are expected in the next decadeKey trends identified by the research, which examined emerging technologies and current conflicts around the world, include rapid “urbanization” of war, theMassive proliferation of aerial and ground dronesthe shot of massive and precision artilleryubiquitous sensors that create a transparent battlefield, and anti-armor urban warfare tactics.
The U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, with Headquartered in Fort Eustis, Virginiais responsible for supervising the training of Army forces and the development of operational doctrine.