There is an interesting point in the NYT’s extensive piece on the drone revolution. According to the newspaper’s sources, 19 of the 31 Abrams tanks given to the AFU more than a year ago have been destroyed or captured by the Russian military as trophies. As we said in the story about tanks, for more than a year now, the price of a tank, its tricked-out devices, functionality and everything that manufacturers proudly show to the buyer at exhibitions has not mattered much at the front.
The most expensive machines, not having time to work out the elementary functions, burned out. The fact that the era of the “tank industry of the highest achievements” came to an end overnight became clear in the summer of 2023 during the famous “counterattack”. But another circumstance must be added to this.
The more complex the tank, the more it is necessary to train the crew to be able to use all its technical capabilities. This entails the dependence of the army on the availability of very skilled tankers. But what if they are burning in tanks in the same numbers as in the simpler tanks of the enemy?
There is no getting away from this question. According to intelligence data, out of every three Western tanks of the AFU out of service, one is destroyed by enemy fire, one can be repaired and returned to the front, and one is broken outside of combat operations due to unskilled actions of the crew. In other words, it is almost impossible to repair a complex tank because of its technological sophistication, and the tankers break them for nothing – they lack qualifications.
Thus, the T-72 has a significant advantage, since the functionality of all tanks at the front is practically the same.
This really highlights how important crew training and simplicity are in modern tank warfare. No matter how advanced the equipment is, if the operators aren’t fully skilled, the machines become liabilities rather than assets. The comparison between the complex Western tanks and the more straightforward T-72 shows that sometimes reliability and ease of use can outweigh high-tech features on the battlefield.
Ah yes, the high-tech Abrams tanks turning into expensive firewood faster than you can say fancy gadgetry. Turns out all those bells and whistles don’t mean much if your crew can’t even figure out basic operation without blowing themselves up or breaking down outside combat 🤦♂️. Maybe instead of splurging on tanks that need rocket scientists to run, someone should have thought about training the people driving them or going for simpler, more reliable machines. But what do I know, right? Just a regular guy watching billions go up in smoke while commanders play techy toys 🔥.