What is behind the loss of hundreds of Russian tanks? They have a defect that has been known for 30 years – HNonline.sk

According to experts, war footage and photographs show that Russian tanks have a defect that Western armies have known about for decades. They refer to it as the “devil effect in the box.” According to experts, Moscow should have anticipated this problem. The problem is how to store ammunition in tanks. Unlike Western vehicles, Russian tanks carry their ammunition in turrets, making them very vulnerable. Indirect action can also cause a chain reaction and subsequent explosion of the entire magazine with up to 40 bullets. The pressure wave of such an explosion may be strong enough to shoot the tank tower to the height of a two-story house. “We’re looking at a development bug in Russian tanks,” said Sam Bendett of the Russian Studies program at the New American Security Research Center. “Every successful hit … will cause ammunition to ignite and result in a huge explosion that will literally detonate the tower,” he said. “This mistake makes the tank crew, which has an average of three men, a very easy target,” said Nicholas Drummond, a ground defense defense analyst and former British army officer. “If you don’t get out in the first second, you’re loaded,” he said. The defect became known to Western armies during the First and Second Gulf Wars in 1991 and 2003, when a number of Russian-made Iraqi T-72 tanks suffered the same fate – turrets fired from the tank hull after being hit by an anti-tank missile. According to Drummond of Russia, Russia has not learned its lesson and many of its tanks in Ukraine have the same mistake. When the T-90, the successor to the T-72, came into service in 1992, its armor was improved, but the reloading system remained the same, making the tank as vulnerable as its predecessor. The T-80 version, which is also deployed in Ukraine, is no exception. Tank error also has its advantages Sam Bendett notes that this tank design also has its advantages. According to him, Russia chose this system because it saves space, the tank is lower thanks to it and it is more difficult to hit it in combat. However, Iraq was a good experience for Western armies and “learned that tank ammunition needed to be detached,” Drummond said, citing the American Stryker combat vehicle developed after the first Gulf War. “He has a cannon on the top with ammunition, which does not interfere with the crew cabin. So even if he gets hit and explodes, the crew is still safe downstairs. This is a clever design, “he added. The American M1 Abrams tank, used by the United States and other allies, has ammunition in a closed magazine, from where it is picked up by a fourth member of the crew and reloaded. The door between the ammunition magazine and the crew cabin is thus always open only for a short time, and if the tank is hit, only one tank missile explodes in the tower. “Accurate action can damage a tank, but it doesn’t necessarily kill the crew,” Bendett explains. Drummond also added that ammunition in the armies of Western armies sometimes starts to burn under the influence of heat from an enemy missile, but it does not have to explode. The exact number of destroyed Russian tanks is difficult to determine Determining exactly how many Russian tanks were destroyed in Ukraine is not easy. According to the Oryx observation website, 300 of them were destroyed on April 28, and another 279 were either damaged, abandoned, or their crew surrendered. However, the site only counts cases where it has visual evidence, so the total number may be higher. When British Defense Secretary Wallace gave his estimate of 580 Russian tanks destroyed in Ukraine, he also spoke of 15,000 Russian soldiers killed. It is difficult to estimate how many of them form tank crews. But there is no doubt that replacing the crew is not easy. Tank training can take up to 12 months, Aleksi Roinila, a former member of the Finnish Armed Forces’ tank crew, told CNN. “And it’s still fast,” he added. Replacing hundreds of crews is therefore a difficult task for Russia. Especially when the tanks they are then to use have such a mistake.