Britain plans to send tanks to Poland in deal to help Ukraine

[highplainsdem]

Source: Times (UK)

Britain is planning to send tanks to Poland in a significant escalation of its military support so that Ukraine can then be supplied by the Polish government with Soviet-era T-72 tanks.

Boris Johnson revealed during a press conference in India that the UK was considering “backfilling” its Polish ally so that Warsaw can send some of its own tanks across the border to the Ukrainian army.

The Times has been told that the UK is planning to send Challenger 2 tanks, the main battle tank of the British Army.

-snip-

The Challenger 2 has been in service since the 1990s and costs around £4.2 million. It weighs 64 tonnes and is armed with a 120mm rifled gun as well as a 7.62mm chain gun. It has been deployed in Iraq and Bosnia, and the British Army has never lost one in active service.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-to-reopen-kyiv-embassy-as-ukrainians-are-trained-on-british-soil-0frjhjdlj

[Grins]

1. We have PLENTY of excess Abrams tanks.

Send them! Now. There are in storage in Calif. and can be made field ready really fast.

[Kaleva]

2. It'd take awhile to train on how to operate and maintain them

The Ukrainians know how to operate, repair and maintain T72s.

I could see in the future that the US supply UKR with excess Abram's tanks.

[Sherman A1]

3. Precisely

The M1 is much more complex and the last thing you need in combat is to deal with more new stuff.

[Grins]

5. Precisely not.

Its complexity is what makes the Abrams simple. Remember, they were designed to be manned by those with just a high school diploma (or less). If Ukraine soldiers can figure out how to use Stingers, Javelins, Russian tanks, counter-battery mortars and our top 155MM long range artillery, they will figure it out. Because they have to.

They have no time!

[Sherman A1]

6. Yeah, sure

better to give them something unfamiliar in the middle of a fight for their lives rather than something they can jump into and drive into combat with full knowledge of the system.......

Whatever you say...............

[Grins]

8. You don't know what the f you're talking about.

I served in armored battalions for 4 years and I know how quickly you can lean all the positions in the main battle tank.

In Germany, where the threat of Russia attacking was a real possibility, the army ran surprise “Alerts.”
Alert called. (Usu. 2AM or worse.)
Alert roster calls made.
Every one in barracks up, to the motor pool, into tanks.
With only a driver and commander - move out!
Drive down the street and see someone who looks like a soldier - “You! Get in! We’re on alert!”
“But I’m a clerk/cook/infantry…!”
Don’t give a fuck. “GET IN!”
You were now a tank crewman.
And heading to a pre-planned fighting position.
And getting some OJT when you got there.

We PRACTICED this!

It’s not that hard. And with a hostile force coming at you, you don’t care.

(The reverse was also true. Get your tank shot out from under you - welcome to the infantry!)

[Sherman A1]

9. And it's even easier for both training and supply

Of parts and ammunition if all the vehicle types are the same. Sure they can learn new systems, but seems more than silly to complicate an already complex situation.

[Grins]

11. That's true!

And beside the point.

Worry about that AFTER you stop the Russians who are killing you by the tens of thousands right now. When you have the luxury of time to make decisions for future decades.

[Grins]

4. No. It doesn't!

I served in an armor unit and it's not that hard. Give me a determined crew and they would be ready in a week.

Maintenance? That's another problem. But who cares? Go get another one. Ukraine is running out of time.

[Kaleva]

7. Russia is running out of time. Not UKR.

RU is replacing losses with stock drawn from it's reserves of Soviet era legacy weapons.

The course to become a tanker is 22 weeks long. I don't know if one can condense that to just 1 week if you are training men who are already experienced with another tank such as a T72. Isn't everything in the Abram's tank labeled in English? Plus, doesn't the Abram's use her fuel and not diesel fuel. One would have to set up a supply chain for that.

[Sherman A1]

10. Precisely

[speak easy]

12. win-win

but the T-72 is a death trap