Loss of Bradley Armored Personnel Carriers in Ukraine War Raises Concerns

2023-07-19 13:26:00
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Created: 07/19/2023 15:26

By: Franziska Schwarz

Numerous Bradley armored personnel carriers (symbolic picture) have already been destroyed in the Ukraine war. © Imago

The Bradley armored personnel carriers Russia wanted to secure as “trophies” in the Ukraine war. The attackers have now apparently succeeded.

New figures are circulating on the counter-offensive in the Ukraine war. The Russian defenses are making slow progress. And if what several Western media are reporting is true, Ukraine has now lost almost a third of its Bradley armored personnel carriers.

For example, the reported New York Times, that Ukraine’s western-trained 47th Mechanized Brigade lost 30 percent of its Bradleys in just two weeks. The US had supplied the tanks. Russia had spread fake news regarding the Bradleys in light of the announcement before they even arrived in Ukraine. According to the European Security & Technology magazine in January, Ukraine was to receive 59 Bradley tanks.

“Tank killer” Bradley and German Leopard in the Ukraine war

Pentagon sources had touted the Bradleys as “tank killers,” wrote this now Military Watch Magazine. Other observers also found the Bradley more interesting than the leopard. But at the beginning of June, the first pictures of Bradleys destroyed in the Ukraine war appeared.

View photo gallery

The new reports are doing “major damage” to the reputation of many important Western weapons systems, it says Military Watch Magazine, and stated that the Ukrainians had also repeatedly withdrawn German Leopard 2 tanks from the front. The British Challenger 2 tank has not been “demonstrably” used in combat at all. If the Russians capture tanks, they can gather information regarding armor and weak points.

It must be said that this Military Watch Magazine as a source is disputed. The portal is also often quoted in the Russian media.

Russia boasts of anti-tank missiles in Ukraine war

Meanwhile, Russian sources are praising the performance of the new Vikhr-1 anti-tank missile, used by Ka-52 attack helicopters and featured in footage of Bradleys being destroyed, it said. On July 16, the Russian government released a video of a Vikhr-1 setting a Ukrainian vehicle on fire within seconds.

US arms exports and Bradley losses in the Ukraine war

US arms exports, on the other hand, will not suffer from Bradley’s losses in the Ukraine war, Das estimates Military Watch Magazine. The US has hundreds of these vehicles in their inventory. They have not been produced once more for almost 30 years, as they were recently criticized for being insufficiently protected for “high-intensity conflicts”. For these two reasons, the age of the Bradleys and their halt in production, “their destruction, even in large numbers, does not materially undermine American interests,” the weapons experts wrote.

The US government with President Joe Biden had, according to the Military Watch Magazine has repeatedly made it clear that it intends to make further arms deliveries dependent on Ukraine’s military success at the front. From an overview from June one can roughly calculate how many tanks Ukraine still has for its counter-offensive. (frs)

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