By Sergey Adamov
[REGNUM] On June 14, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg officially confirmed the loss of Western military equipment by the Ukrainian army. The day before, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that not only wrecked NATO vehicles, but also completely intact German Leopard 2 tanks and American Bradley infantry fighting vehicles abandoned during an unsuccessful offensive, were at the disposal of our military. The Russian Defense Ministry has published footage of the military inspecting captured Western equipment.
The video immediately spread across the web and caused a reaction in the Western media. The Berlin publication Bild criticized the Ukrainian military for the loss of expensive German-made armored vehicles. The authors of the material note that the Ukrainian crew abandoned the tank without attempting to destroy or damage it. Thus, the Leopard 2 tank in one of the most modern modifications, the A6, which is in service with the Bundeswehr, could fall into the hands of the Russian military.
If the Bradley infantry fighting vehicles delivered to Ukraine are for the most part rather outdated, then the Leopards of the 2A6 modification have been at the disposal of the Bundeswehr since the zero years.
Tanks may be evacuated from the battlefield and brought to Russian territory for study, Bild sources believe. According to the publication, fire control systems, chassis and transmission of German tanks may be of particular interest to the Russian military-industrial complex. In the future, these technologies can be studied and adapted to Russian armored vehicles.
In total, Germany, we recall, transferred to Ukraine 14 Leopard 2 tanks in the A6 modification. At least one of these vehicles was abandoned by Ukrainian crews during the battle near the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka.
According to the latest data, abandoned NATO-made armored vehicles were not removed from the battlefield by either side.
Therefore, the fears of German journalists can still be considered premature. But the trouble is the beginning.
WHAT IS PRIMARILY INTERESTING IN TROPHIES
If one of the abandoned "Leopards" is delivered to the rear, in the future the studied technologies can really be used in the development of new Russian weapons, and in particular armored vehicles, military expert Alexander Dolbysh noted in a commentary to IA Regnum .
“If we are talking about Leopard 2 A6 tanks, then here, first of all, the electronics are of interest, without which the tank is just a piece of iron. These are guidance systems in the first place, night thermal imaging sights, sights with a laser rangefinder and the like. Frankly speaking, in electronics, our tank developers often lagged behind, so there is a good opportunity to catch up , ”said the military expert.
When upgrading the Leopards-2 to the A6 level, the base model received a number of new products from modifying the fire control system (FCS) to improving the tank barrel, Dolbysh also pointed out. Tanks, in particular, are equipped with panoramic sights, and the image from the rear view cameras is displayed on the tank commander's display. However, designers will primarily be interested in various non-obvious solutions and technological subtleties.
COPY - BUT ONLY THE BEST
A number of countries are actively using "reverse technologies" for the production of their own military equipment, Dolbysh recalled. An example is Iran, which has developed the production of drones using captured intact examples of drones made by the United States and Israel. As a result, Iran has become one of the leading manufacturers of drones that are used around the world. Therefore, it is definitely not worth underestimating the opportunities that the “reverse” gives.
“Copying is always easier when you have a finished sample, not drawings,” the expert noted. - Many countries are engaged in industrial espionage, stealing development plans.
But it is the captured whole sample of equipment that makes it possible not only to study technical solutions “in practice”, but also to see how this or that equipment works in general, how it behaves in various conditions .
As already noted, not all Western armored vehicles are of interest to the Russian defense industry. For example, the French AMX-10 wheeled tanks, which are used by the Marine Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, performed extremely poorly in combined arms combat. According to The Washington Post , citing the Ukrainian military, French-made tanks easily break through, which leads to heavy losses among the personnel. And it is unlikely that such design solutions should be used in Russian industry.
The capture of entire samples of Western armored vehicles makes it possible to use them not only for study, but for the purpose of training crews at training grounds. For example, the Pentagon buys Soviet-made armored vehicles to train its troops. Separate formations of the US Army are conducting exercises with countries that have Soviet military equipment. Even units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine acted as "Russian troops" during the exercises.
SUPPLIERS TRIED TO PLAY IT SAFE - BUT NOT IN THE CASE OF "LEOPARDS"
It is noteworthy that the US military anticipated the possibility of falling into the unreliable hands of the Armed Forces of Ukraine of modern armored vehicles. That is why all modern equipment will be removed from the Abrams M1A2 tanks, which are planned to be transferred to the Ukrainian army, as RIA Novosti noted . This, apparently, is the reason for the delay in the supply of American tanks to Ukraine, which is expected no earlier than the end of summer.
But modern equipment was not removed from the Leopards.
“Hypothetically, you can take the same Leopard 2A6, replace all the equipment in it with less modern ones. That is, "roll back" it to earlier models. But this is very difficult and requires a long time, which they did not have, since the preparation of vehicles for delivery and the training of crews took place in the shortest possible time, ” notes Alexander Dolbysh. It is unlikely that such work has been carried out, the expert believes.
Moreover, the removal of all modern electronics from the car, in fact, turns it into the same piece of iron. “The very delivery of modern tanks simply loses its meaning in this case. It's easier to put outdated armored vehicles. Therefore, on those tanks that the Armed Forces of Ukraine now have, there is standard equipment, ” adds the expert.
WHEN WILL REVERSE TECHNOLOGIES PAY OFF?
At the same time, the specialist admits that the study of foreign technologies and their adaptation at the enterprises of the Russian defense industry can take a long time. However, this task does not seem unsolvable.
“Here it is important to understand one point. The same Iranian drones that are made using Israeli or American technology differ from their prototypes. But there is a saying: "Everything that China copies is bad, but what they do themselves is even worse." Here you can apply the same principle,” says Dolbysh.
Relatively speaking, Zeiss optics will not be reproduced one-on-one in our country, but they can produce their own using foreign technologies, the interlocutor explains. “Of course, it takes time to study and implement new technologies. The equipment necessary for production will still need to be found, tested, understood whether we need it or not, then develop a plan for the introduction of foreign technologies at the domestic level, having studied the very possibility of producing and introducing technologies in the domestic military-industrial complex, ”the expert said.
Only after that can we talk about the introduction of "reverse" technologies on new models of military equipment. But at the end you can get a very worthy result, Alexander Dolbysh emphasized.
By the way, of the armaments supplied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine manufactured by NATO countries, the Bradley BMP may also be of some interest - if we are talking about modern modifications, the expert added. It would also be "desirable" to capture the French-made Caesar self-propelled artillery mounts and the German PzH 2000, since they are equipped with advanced guidance and fire control systems.