Commentary in italics by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] Let's say right away: for a number of completely objective reasons, it is impossible to accurately assess either the cost of a tank or the cost of training crews. The most important of them is that the accounting of the modern army is incredibly complex. In 2021, the average American soldier cost the US $136,000 a year, a small cost by the standards of the country.
How much the equipment removed from storage costs is a rather philosophical question, and the answer to it depends on the point of view. A similar story is with staff training - we doubt that insurance and a relative support program will be included in this amount. In the case of training Ukrainian tank crews, it is even difficult to predict the program: for an American tank crew member, it takes 22 weeks (about six months), for a repairman - about 13 weeks (3 months), and equipment for various combat vehicle systems - from 22 to 34 weeks. The commander needs more time, but there are huge doubts that the Ukrainians will be trained for so long.
According to rough estimates, a two-month course for one Ukrainian tanker will cost $50,000-200,000, including live firing and work with equipment and simulators. The training of 100 crews will cost $100 million. But maybe more - we don't know how many combat firing and operating hours are included, and one real shot from a cannon costs from $1 to $10 thousand, depending on the projectile. So even $100 million can easily turn into a billion, especially considering the retraining of technical staff.
The supply of modern combat vehicles, at least from storage, is a serious expense. Even for fantastically wealthy America, an extra couple of billion in aid is not as easy as it sounds. And we are not talking about aviation - that's where every plane really becomes golden.
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PS. Regarding the question raised of the cost of training Ukrainian cannon fodder to drive American tanks. Here it is worth understanding the following things.
1. Training is carried out at the expense of already allocated funds.
2. The money goes to Pentagon defense contractors, it doesn't go to Ukraine.
3. Any corruption component remains an internal affair of the American public-private defense partnership.
4. From the point of view of the total costs of the war in Ukraine, the cost of training cannon fodder is insignificant.