Cracking open the Abrams: What Russia can learn by studying knocked out M1

Russia's Defense Ministry has released footage of special forces scouts inspecting a knocked out Ukrainian Abrams abandoned in no man’s land in the settlement of Berdychi, about 3 km northeast of Avdeyevka. Sputnik asked veteran military observer Alexey Leonkov what Russia could get out inspecting the vaunted American main battle tank more closely:

🟥 "We can study its hull, the turret, all these systems," Leonkov said.

🟥 "We can identify its vulnerabilities. We will be able to understand how the fire control system and gun ensure firing. That is, we can figure out all these mechanical [details]. And of course, having identified its vulnerabilities, we will make the necessary adjustments so that the tank can be destroyed using all types of anti-tank weapons."

🟥 These and other parameters will be recorded, a virtual, ‘digital twin’ of the MBT can be created, "so that later this information can, for example, be entered into our reconnaissance systems” and used to detect the MBTs on the battlefield automatically, Leonkov explained.

🟥 "Any tank, any trophy is always studied. I think that sooner or later it will be dragged to a testing ground, where testing of new guns for our main battle tanks as well as anti-tank guns will take place. It will make a good target, because it will no longer be suitable for anything else," the observer said.

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🇷🇴⚔️🇷🇺 Romania: NATO’s indispensable outpost against Russia

Fighters from the Romanian mercenary group ‘Getica’ claim to have taken part in a series of hit-and-run raids in Russia’s border regions, posting videos of their operations on social media. But mercs aside, Romania has long played an important role in NATO’s proxy conflict against Russia.

🔶 Joining NATO in 2004, Romania became a key garrison in the bloc’s effort to ring Russia from the Baltic to the Black seas.

🔶 When the Donbass crisis escalated in 2022, 1,000 US troops were immediately sent to Romania, with NATO troop numbers reaching 4,700 soldiers by the end of the year.

🔶 Romania is building NATO’s largest European military base, with the $2.7 billion project set to expand the 57th Air Base near the Black Sea port city of Constanta. When ready, the facility will cover nearly 30 square km, and be able to host 10,000 NATO troops.

🔶 The Deveselu Military Base in southern Romania hosts the US Navy’s Aegis Ashore Ballistic Missile Defense System. Russian officials have warned that the facility’s MK-41 vertical launch systems could easily be calibrated to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles into Russia.

🔶 Romania has sent an array of arms to Ukraine, from TAB-71 APCs and M1981 artillery to a domestic variant of Grad rocket artillery and small arms.

🔶 Bucharest will “support Ukraine” for “as long as needed,” President Klaus Iohannis vowed to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier last May.

🔶 Romania hasn’t always been such a pliant client state. From 1965-1989, Romania was the enfant terrible of the Warsaw Pact, defying Soviet proposals to increase arms spending, and working to establish closer ties with the US.

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Paper Tigers: How fast could NATO mobilize in a crisis? (PART I)

NATO’s militaries are experiencing a serious ‘brawn drain’, with the steady outflow of men and women in uniform reportedly serious enough for some European to consider the reintroduction of connoscription. As things stand today, just how fast could NATO mobilize, and what’s holding it back?

🟥 Military leaders from major European NATO powers including Germany, Italy and the UK have issued a series of dire warnings that stocks of weapons stocks are so miniscule they would be enough to last just 24-72 hours in the event of a major crisis. Mobilizing troops would be useless if the army would have to resort to “throwing stones after just a few hours” of fighting, as former Belgian deputy chief of defense Marc Thys recently put it.

🟥 NATO has sent over $115 billion in arms and ammo to Ukraine, with armies left without equipment ranging from tanks and artillery systems to troop transports and small arms.

🟥 A vast majority of NATO’s mobilization potential comes in the form of reserve forces, not battle-ready units. The alliance rarely stages major drills involving large numbers of troops (for example, while NATO has at least 3.5 million personnel total in its ranks, the ongoing Steadfast Defender exercises – the biggest since 1988, involve just 90,000 personnel).

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