Western anti-tank personal weapons gather in Ukraine… Can the Russian invasion be stopped?

Ukrainian soldiers conduct military training using an American anti-tank missile called the Javelin.
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Ukraine is also gathering various anti-tank defense weapons supported by the West at the border, as Russia moves large numbers of troops to the border with Ukraine and analyzes that an invasion of Ukraine is imminent.

Meanwhile, the British Economist reported on the 21st (local time) that anti-tank defense weapons may hinder the advance of Russian tank units, but in the end it will be difficult to stop them.

According to reports, the UK has delivered a new generation of lightweight anti-tank weapons (NLAW) to Ukraine via C-17 transport aircraft. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said: “We have decided to supply NLAW to Ukraine,” he said.

The U.S. has been supporting Ukraine’s anti-tank missile ‘Javelin’ since 2018, and in December, it approved the support of a $200 million (regarding 240 billion won) weapon package, including the Javelin.

The US embassy in Kiev posted on Twitter a photo of a large green container being unloaded at the airport on the same day, saying, “Items weighing 291 tons have arrived, including ammunition for the Ukrainian front-line garrison.”

The three Baltic countries in Europe – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – also agreed to provide U.S. anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine.

As such, the core of Ukraine’s weapons are anti-tank defense weapons.

The main means of stopping tanks in World War II was the anti-tank gun, which fired relatively small-caliber rounds and shells from a long barrel at very high rates.

However, tanks were increasingly heavily armored, and new weapons were needed to stop them.

At first, like the M1 ‘bazooka’, it had to be carried on the shoulder and directly aimed at the tank and fired. However, it was later changed to a method in which a rocket might be fired and then controlled.

Anti-tank missile system believed to have been provided by Britain to Ukraine
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In the early days, the missile and the remote controller were wired together to control the missile and hit the tank.

Such wireline anti-tank missiles proved their worth in the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and the Arab coalition forces. Egyptian soldiers used Soviet wire-guided missiles to inflict heavy damage on Israeli tanks.

Behind it was a missile that controlled the missile with a wireless signal rather than a wired signal to hit the tank. This weapon also had to be controlled by a person, so it might only attack targets within line-of-sight.

However, modern anti-tank missiles are not controlled by humans, and they use automatic guidance devices such as thermal imaging cameras to find and attack tanks on their own.

The core of these anti-tank missiles is that they use the ‘top attack’ method, which attacks the top of the tank, where the tank’s armor is the thinnest, so that the attack efficiency is high.

When Javelin fires a missile towards the sky, it flies in a large curve and falls directly to the top of the tank. NLAW, on the other hand, is a method in which the warhead is pointed downwards and then flies almost in a straight line and explodes regarding 1m above the top of the tank.

Russian T-72B3 tank unit
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However, experts predict that even with these weapons it will be difficult to stop Russian tanks in the end.

First of all, NLAW is possible only when the target is within 800m, and the Javelin also has a range of only 2 miles (regarding 3.2km). For this reason, it is advantageous to fight in a mountain or city where you can get close to the tank without being detected.

Modernized tanks are capable of spewing hot white phosphorus fumes to neutralize the heat-sensing device on the missile.

There are also tanks equipped with Active Defense Systems (APS). It is a defense measure that detects incoming bullets using radar and blocks them with missiles.

In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army installed an APS called a ‘trophy’ on a tank to block missiles and grenades.

Ben Barry, a researcher at the Institute for International Strategic Studies (IISS), a private security think tank, believes that some of the Russian tanks are equipped with APS, and that Russia will lead the attack with these tanks.

Amael Kotlaski, editor of the weapons magazine ‘Janes Infantry Weapons’, analyzed Russia’s tactics to see that the effectiveness of anti-tank personal weapons was limited.

“Russian warfare is to destroy the enemy with concentrated artillery fire and then use infantry and armored vehicles to clear the survivors,” Kotlassky said. will,” he said.

A Russian tank unit is moving to Crimea by highway on the 18th (local time).
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