OT: Putin's War in Ukraine

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Originally Posted by swaghauler

Why this theory? Multiple sources inside Russia as well as open source video intel suggest that up to 1,000 T72s have been pulled from mothballs and are being "reconditioned" by Russia at her tank factories. T90 production has stopped (probably because of sanctions). If sources are correct, Russia has lost HALF of its tank force in Ukraine to everything from casualties to simple breakdowns. Heavy logistical supply is pretty suspect according to POWs who have been interviewed and many tanks are deploying with less than HALF of a combat load of ammo. Could Russia rebuild its force structure? I don't see why not. There are something like 3k "deadlined" T72s and another 3k that are basically scrap at this point. Using the scrap to relife the deadlined units seems like a no-brainer to me.

I don't doubt Russia will try refurbishing their deadlines T-72s but it will be very interesting to see how well they actually perform. Between sanctions and thirty years of grift I'd bet those warehoused T-72s are going to lack optics, radios, and basically anything resembling modern kit. Combined with their piss poor combined arms it seems like they'll just be fodder for St. Javelin.

Russia has lost thousands of tanks that were supposedly mission capable and used by supposedly capable units. More tanks aren't going to do much good if they're used as poorly as all the ones they've already lost. We're however many months into their three day special operation and Russia still hasn't figured out pallets, fork lifts, or combined arms.

I hope Ukraine's booster club keeps up with the ATGMs, they've done a great job blunting Russia's tank advantage thus far.