According to open source information, more than 3 Russian and Ukrainian combat tanks have been lost on both sides since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, more than were engaged at the start of the conflict. .
Such losses have significant consequences, particularly on the course of combat and the stagnation of the line of engagement. They even led both camps to move away from the classic doctrines of use of the battle tank, inherited from the Second World War, making the latter the pillars of rupture and decision.
We can, in this context, question the future of the battle tank, in an environment saturated with drones, mines, and missiles, depriving it of its maneuvering capabilities, and therefore, of a large part of his interest in combat. These would, however, certainly be far too hasty conclusions...
In this section:
Terrifying losses for Russian and Ukrainian tank units
If we are to believe Oryx website, the Russian armies have lost, in Ukraine, around 2 combat tanks, since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, of which almost 900 are identified as destroyed, 2 captured, and the rest abandoned or damaged.
At the start of the Russian offensive in February 2022, analysts estimated that Moscow had massed around 1 to 200 tanks on the borders of Ukraine, while the entire fleet of tanks in service, at within the Russian armies, was estimated at 1 to 400 armored vehicles.
Ukrainian side, the situation is not much better. Of the 1 tanks in service among active Ukrainian units as of February 300, 2022 were reported lost, including 800 identified as destroyed, 550 captured and the remainder abandoned or damaged.
The precision of these figures must, obviously, be taken with certain reservations. On the one hand, here we are only talking about armored vehicles that were carried and then released in open sources. If the exercise could prove effective when the lines were moving quickly at the start of the conflict, this is much less the case today, as the lines are relatively fixed, even if the drones provide certain information in this area.
On the other hand, the analysis method applied by the Oryx site lends itself more to an analysis of a limited conflict, with losses of a few dozen, perhaps a few hundred armored vehicles, rather than for a conflict of this magnitude. magnitude. Finally, we do not know the number of tanks and armored vehicles identified, destroyed, abandoned or damaged, recovered by the forces, and transported to rehabilitation centers.
Despite these reservations, there is no doubt that tank fleets, both Russian and Ukrainian, have experienced quite considerable attrition rates. As such, the analysis of the attritions identified in recent months shows that the Russian armies are indeed no longer fielding the models that they had initially deployed around Ukraine, suggesting that indeed, most of this fleet was eradicated.
Western tanks as vulnerable as Soviet or Russian models in the Ukrainian conflict
If Russian or Soviet designed tanks, such as the Russian T-72, T-80 and T-90, or the Ukrainian T-64, paid the high price in these battles, they were not the only ones to record catastrophic attrition rates.
So, out of the 130+ Leopard 2, all versions combined, delivered to Ukraine to date, the oryx site has identified 37 lost armored vehicles, including 16 destroyed, and 21 damaged, captured or abandoned, while these tanks were only delivered gradually, from from February 2023.
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There remains the subjects of mines, which ruin everyone's lives and artillery for which systems like the trophy do not bring any real added value.
Breaching systems, ok. For artillery… there is nothing
very good article which perfectly describes the situation and the pitfalls to avoid regarding the developments in this conflict.
With the key acronym defining the solution: GTIA
Just one remark: the attrition rate of Western tanks including those of the Leopards 2 is certainly high but the survival rate of the crews has nothing to do with that of tanks of Soviet and even Russian origin up to and including the T90.