Russia’s tank force is significantly bigger than Ukraine’s, but has failed to impress. Newsweek’s Ellie Cook spoke to HCSS analysts Paul van Hooft and Frederik Mertens: “a tank’s strength depends partly on the technology, but most importantly on the training.”
Even being “just a little bit better” than the enemy force can inflict “impressive losses,” Frederik Mertens, a strategic analyst at the Hague Center for Strategic Studies (HCSS) told Newsweek. The tank is “the key piece of armored battle,” Mertens said, but its strength “depends partly on the technology, but most importantly on the training.”
Combined arms operations are a Russian weakness, according to Paul van Hooft, another HCSS analyst. “If the Ukrainians are significantly better at that, there’s a lot there to be exploited,” he told Newsweek. With a limited set of systems, more universal parts and established supply chains, Russia does not face the same challenges of integrating multiple new platforms into its force, van Hooft noted. “But then it depends on how well they have organised themselves to use that theoretical advantage,” he said.
Ukraine has a real challenge on its hands, launching successful combined assault operations against well-dug-in Russian defenses, experts say. And there is plenty of evidence to show that Russia has committed to its static defenses, such as in southern Ukraine and annexed Crimea. The emerging footage of Russian dragon’s teeth and anti-tank ditches could “allow mediocre troops a lot of defensive potential,” Mertens said, although he added that they could also leave Moscow’s forces “quickly surrounded.”
Read the full article on Newsweek.
Source: Newsweek, 27 May 2023
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