Problems of Russian tanks in Ukraine: Part-2

How are Russian tanks and armored vehicles shot down?

The whole world watched with images published on the internet that Russian tanks and armored vehicles were hit first in Syria and then in Karabakh by SİHAs, attack helicopters, new generation anti-tank weapons, mines, IEDs and artillery weapons. Since it is known that the armored units achieved significant successes with rapid blows in Georgia in 2008 and in the Crimea in 2014, reminding of the Second World War, the situation in which tanks and armored vehicles fell in these two regions surprised everyone.

Then, after 2008 and 2014, countries that tried to increase the number of tanks and armored vehicles in their armies, especially those who felt the Russian threat, had to reconsider their armament policies. Since these countries saw that the weapon that caused the greatest damage to tanks and armored vehicles on the battlefields was SİHAs, they decided to supply their armies with SİHAs that proved to be effective in Syria and Karabakh. Since these SİHAs are Turkish made, many countries have purchased SİHAs from Turkey.

These countries were aware that the effectiveness of SİHAs was not sufficient, and that they had to reorganize their defense tactics and strategies against the armored unit-dominated Russian army. Thus, while procuring SİHA and new generation anti-tank weapons, they also reorganized, trained and equipped their armies in line with the Hybrid Warfare, which has recently been spoken in military gatherings all over the world. With the concept of maneuver, they started to prepare for the war against the Russian army, which achieved its goal by carrying out decisive operations in a short time, by preparing the built-up areas as a resistance point and by deploying the other units according to a war of attrition to be executed by spreading them all over the area without being bound to certain lines.

The country that made the greatest effort in these preparations was Ukraine. Because Ukraine lost the Crimea occupied by Russia in 2014 and had to leave some of its lands to the ethnic Russians, who declared their independence in the Donbas region with the support of the Russian army in the same process. Ukraine, which has been fighting against separatists since then, also knew that this struggle could turn into a hot war with Russia at any moment.

As a matter of fact, after the developments in Belarus, Russia started to send troops to Belarus and the borders of Ukraine, and after completing its build-up, it attacked Ukraine from a wide front on February 24, 2022. Russia was acting according to a plan based on classical Soviet doctrine and the concept of maneuver. Seeing this, military experts in different countries began to make comments that this would not take long and that Ukraine would be defeated in a short time.

We, too, had evaluated the possible scenarios before the warmer conflicts started and concluded that with the help of British and American military experts, Ukraine was prepared for a prolonged war of attrition and was armed in a way that would allow it to be successful. Indeed, when the dust and smoke of the war began to dissipate and the information about what happened in the clashes began to be reflected to the world public opinion, we saw that the current developments took place in line with our predictions.

However, there were also developments that surprised and astonished us, as they did everyone else. The most important of these was to see that the Russian armored units, which were expected to advance rapidly, could not advance as expected, although they moved on the main roads, and began to be destroyed in large quantities by the Ukrainian armed forces, who survived the first shock.

In the face of this situation, some military experts commented that the technical characteristics of Russian tanks were problematic, and therefore the turret part of most Russian tanks was destroyed. Some commentators claimed that this was due to the effectiveness of UAVs and new generation anti-tank weapons that hit the target from the top. Of course, there was some truth in these comments, but as the videos and images about the destroyed tanks and armored vehicles came, it was seen that not only tanks but also BMP (armored combat vehicles) and BTR (armored personnel carriers) shared the same fate with tanks.

On the other hand, not all destroyed tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed by new generation anti-tank weapons. Many weapons, from old-generation classical anti-tank weapons to mines, IEDs and even Molotov cocktails, were used effectively to destroy tanks and armored vehicles. This shows that the success of the Ukrainian army is not only due to technological developments, but also to the tactics and techniques applied. In this article, we will try to explain the weapons used by the Ukrainian armed forces against Russian tanks and armored vehicles and the tactics and techniques applied while using these weapons, respectively.

How are Fighter Planes and Attack Helicopters used?

Aircraft used against tanks and armored units; warplanes, SİHAs that can carry more than one ammunition, kamikaze SİHAs (single-use SİHAs that have explosives and dive and hit the target and neutralize the target with this explosive), drones and attack helicopters.

Warplanes:

When the videos published on the internet and the news in the media are examined, it is seen that the warplanes, which had deadly consequences for the armored convoys in the Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo operations and the Gulf operations, could not be used by Ukraine against Russian convoys in the same effectiveness. In fact, there is no information that the planes had a serious impact on the Russian armored units.

The main reason for this is that the Ukrainian air force is too weak to compare with the Russian air force. Also, from the very first day of the war, most of the few Ukrainian warplanes could not get out of the hangars as the Russians destroyed the runways by hitting them. For this reason, Russian planes were able to engage in destroying strategic targets such as command centers, logistics facilities, ammunition depots.

Ukraine, on the other hand, tried to intercept Russian planes with the planes used by a few pilots, who became legendary with names such as the ghost of Kiev, but could not succeed in this despite the extraordinary efforts of these pilots. After a while, these pilots lost their lives when their planes were shot down during the battles they entered with Russian planes. Thus, the Ukrainian air force could not fight the Russian air force, and could not even gain positional air superiority anywhere. As a result, air dominance passed into the hands of Russia.

The deadly consequences of this must have put Ukraine in such a difficult situation that the head of state asked all countries that support Ukraine to urgently provide plane aid. However, since this support did not come due to Russian threats, Russia's air dominance continued. Ukraine tried to fight Russian aircraft and armed helicopters only with air defense weapons fired from the shoulder or from a platform. While this proved to be quite successful and a large number of Russian aircraft were shot down, Russian air superiority continued and the Ukrainian air force was never capable of supporting ground troops and attacking armored convoys.

Attack helicopters:

It is possible to say that Ukrainian attack helicopters do very important work compared to warplanes in supporting the ground operation and destroying the Russian armored units. As a matter of fact, according to the images published on the internet and in the press organs, it is seen that the helicopters attacking the armored units advancing in convoys on the main roads destroyed many Russian tanks and armored vehicles. Attack helicopters even managed to hit Russian fuel depots and logistics facilities by crossing the Russian border.

It is understood that the helicopters apply the tactical raid (infiltration and raid) tactics and techniques used in these attacks, irregular wars and commando/special forces operations. Helicopters carry out their operations at night and under limited visibility conditions in order to be protected from the eyes of the enemy. In order not to be seen by the radar and to be protected from air defense weapons, they go to the target area from places that provide cover and concealment by taking advantage of land faults. In addition, they advance from very low, almost by rubbing against the ground, and return in the same way after destroying the target.

It is a great advantage for attack helicopters to have the technical features to fly in this way. On the other hand, unlike SİHAs, they also have the opportunity to carry a large number of anti-tank missiles and machine guns. In other words, they can hit a large number of tanks and armored vehicles in one sortie. On the other hand, they can shoot at tanks from such a distance that they cannot respond with the weapons on them.

(To be continued)