The Russian army does not use adequate explosive reactive armor (ERA) in its tanks, which reduces the effectiveness of incoming missiles, the British Ministry of Defense announced on Thursday. According to the Ministry of Defense, for this reason the Russian army suffered “heavy losses” in the war with Ukraine. The shortcomings are to result, among other things, in frequent cases of the turret detachment.
According to information released on Thursday by the UK Ministry of Defense, the Russian army is losing many MBTs due to the inappropriate use of explosive reactive armor (ERA) in vehicles. The use of such equipment would reduce the effectiveness of the Ukrainian missiles.
Errors dating back to the Chechen war
According to the British Ministry of Defense, a properly used ERA (explosive reactive armor) lowers the effectiveness of incoming missiles, even before they hit the tank’s proper armor. The ministry emphasizes that the Russian army made the same mistake during the first Chechen war in 1994. “This suggests that the Russian forces have not improved the culture of poor use of the ERA,” reads the daily intelligence update.
Also read: American analysts: six groups of Russian troops and pro-Russian separatists are fighting in Ukraine
“It is highly probable that many Russian tank crews are not trained in ERA handling, leading to the explosives being mismatched or omitted altogether,” the British said in a press release.
Detachment of turrets in Russian tanks
The British Ministry of Defense points out that it is probably due to the lack of special armor that the turret is torn off so often in Russian tanks. This is a common sight in the recordings of warfare published by soldiers and witnesses war in Ukraine.
“During the war, Russian commanders repeatedly neglected the enforcement of low-level combat discipline, such as the use of the ERA. The cumulative effect of these omissions is probably a significant factor behind the poor performance of Russian forces,” emphasizes the British Ministry of Defense.
Losses of the Russian army
As the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces announced on Saturday Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny, the Russian army has already lost 20 percent of its sub-units participating in the war in Ukraine. The staff said that so far 43,000 Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine. At the same time, according to military information from Kiev, by the end of July the Russians lost over 1,700 tanks, almost 4,000 armored vehicles, over 200 aircraft, at least 190 helicopters, around 900 artillery systems, and thousands of vehicles constituting the occupant’s technical base.
According to Pentagon were killed and wounded in the invasion 70-80 thousand soldiers of the invader.
Main photo source: Drop of Light / Shutterstock