Monyk015 t1_jd9rnf8 wrote on March 22, 2023 at 9:10 PM

Reply to comment by Dreadedvegas in U.S. will speed transfer of Abrams tanks to Ukraine, Pentagon says by Just_A_Dogsbody

I agree with your point, but 30 tanks do make a difference. And they're not fresh conscripts, they're highly experienced professional troops that have seen combat beyong anything any American soldier had experienced in the last 60 years. They're being trained on new vehicles. But yes, we need more of them, this is true.

Dreadedvegas t1_jd9tw9v wrote on March 22, 2023 at 9:25 PM

They aren't. They're conscripts. The new brigades are being made up of replacements and reserve officers.

They are mobilized non contract soldiers otherwise known as ... conscripts.

And again 30 tanks is just 30 tanks. It won't make a difference at a strategic level. Its a conventional war. You need sheer numbers. Its not some magic bullet that the media acts when it comes to 'western weapons'.

Monyk015 t1_jd9vmzi wrote on March 22, 2023 at 9:37 PM

"The new brigades" being trained in Europe are, indeed, new brigades. The ones that are being trained on new equipment aren't. It wouldn't make sense to train conscripts on the best and most expensive pieces of equipment your army is gonna have, would it? Yeah, again, I agree. It's more like 110-120 modern Western tanks in total, which makes a huge difference. IFVs, attillery, everything, also counts. These are the numbers Valeriy Zalushnuy asked for and to quote "Give me this amount and I will retake Melitopol". But yes, in the grand scheme we'll need more, this is absolutely true. Not really sure why it's going so slow, it seems politically it has been decided to make russia suffer a decisive defeat. Putin is a wanted man, so negotiations are off the table. Is it possible there are actual logistical bottlenecks?

Dreadedvegas t1_jdajl65 wrote on March 23, 2023 at 12:24 AM

Its political willpower

The US alone could hand over enough equipment to transition the entire UAF into a NATO standardized army.

To fully equip these slotted bridges with what would normally be a US ABCT the US has more than enough equipment to not seriously diminish its own fighting capacity.

It just comes down to handing over the equipment without removing the DU armor, delaying allied armor sales, cannabilize national guard units [30th Armored BCT (NC), 1st Armored BCT (MN), 155th Armored BCT (MS), 278th Armored Cav (TN), 81st Stryker BCT (WA), equipment (it already is doing that for the Bradley's)

Its theorized the reason ATACMS or cluster munitions hasn't been sent to the UAF is because the army never ordered new ones post Iraq War so the inventory is 'low' in the eyes of the army. ~1000 missiles is what it theorized to be. The other theory is they want to dangle it so the Russians don't get Iranian SRBMs. Either way, its political willpower on why they haven't been provided with it.

There are other arms that could be transferred that would severely assist the UAF in the coming offense like breaching equipment and lots of it. But the army doesn't want to part ways with it to again diminish its own warfighting capacity.

If Biden wanted to hand over enough equipment to the Ukrainians to fill out 5 bridges worth of equipment, the US military could realistically do it in less than 6 months if ordered. The only realistic hurdle would be having to have Congress authorize the transfer due to the valued amount of equipment and waive the DU armor being removed.