Russia’s tanks are inferior to the M1 Abrams that the US is sending to Ukraine

Russia’s tanks may face ‘disadvantageous conditions’ in a battle with US-made Abrams tanks, Russian expert says

Russia’s tanks are inferior to the M1 Abrams that the US is sending to Ukraine, according to a top Russian defense expert.

In addition, Russia is short of modern anti-tank missiles and armor-piercing shells for tank cannons that are needed to defeat the Abrams and other Western tanks.

“Even in export versions, the Abrams M1A2 SEP v.2 variant significantly outperforms any Russian production tank,” Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, a Russian think tank, told the Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, told insider.com.

“Now Russian tanks use old Soviet shells in their ammunition,” Pukhov said, according to a translation of the article. “Their capabilities are sufficient to defeat tanks such as the T-64, T-72, and T-80 at relatively short distances during tank battles. But the emergence of Western tanks with powerful guns, modern armor-piercing shells, and fire control systems can lead to a sharp increase in the distances during tank battles.

“In such a duel, we may find ourselves in unfavorable conditions,” Pukhov added.

Pukhov also warned that Russia lacks modern third-generation anti-tank missiles similar to the US-made Javelins that Ukrainian troops used to devastate Russian armor. Russia does have powerful Kornet laser-guided missiles that proved effective against Israeli Merkava tanks during the 2006 Lebanon War.

However, Russia only has a few Kornets. The bulk of its anti-tank missile arsenal is composed of Fagot and Konkur models that were first deployed in 1970.

On the other hand, Pukhov is careful to note that the M1A2 SEP v2 is superior to Russian tanks in production — which doesn’t include the next-generation T-14 Armata.

Despite the scare that the Armata caused a few years ago, when Western experts feared that it outmatched NATO tanks, the vehicle has not appeared in Ukraine. This has led to speculation that the Armata is so flawed that Russian commanders are afraid to commit it to battle.

Pukhov also echoes an argument made by Ukrainian and Western observers: A small number of foreign-made tanks — no matter how advanced — will only have a limited effect.

So far, the US has pledged 31 M1A2 Abrams (which will arrive without some advanced armor protection and other features), while Britain is sending 14 Challenger 2s.

Germany and Poland will send 14 Leopard 2 tanks, along with several European nations that have promised small numbers of Leopard 2s and some Russian-designed and locally modified T-72 tanks.

Ukraine says it has been promised a total of 321 tanks as of late January, though it may be years before some are delivered — if they are delivered in good mechanical shape or at all.

In any event, “an armored group of 30 to 50 Abrams tanks is unlikely to affect the situation in the operational sense,” Pukhov said. “But if there are already 200 or 300 tanks, then they, if used correctly, can become a significant operational factor.”

Nonetheless, even without Western tanks, Ukraine has managed to shred Russian armor. Russia has lost at least 1,700 main battle tanks so far, according to Oryx, which tracks Russian losses through open-source means. Attrition has become so acute that Moscow is taking 60-year-old T-62 tanks out of mothballs and sending them into battle.

Many of those Russian tanks were destroyed by Ukrainian artillery as well as infantry armed with anti-tank missiles, rather than by Ukrainian tanks, which highlights a vital point: the M1 Abrams isn’t effective solely because of its cannon, armor, and sensors. It is designed to fight as part of a combined-arms team of tanks, infantry, artillery, and aircraft that are linked by a solid communications network.

When export models of the M1 were employed by poorly trained Iraqi and Saudi troops in Iraq and Yemen, even the Abrams took heavy losses at the hands of lightly armed insurgents. (The US began combined-arms training for Ukrainian troops in Germany in January.)

Perhaps Russia should focus less on the technical characteristics of American tanks and more on how to use Russian tanks better.

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds a master’s in political science.