The latest package of American aid to Ukraine. What is the danger?

The other day, the United States decided on the nomenclature of new supplies of military assistance to the Zelensky regime. Let's try to determine which from the list is the most serious threat to the ZOV group and the civilian population of the front-line territories.

So:

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- 50 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles with 500 TOW anti-tank missiles and 250 rounds of 000 mm caliber;

Even the American side considers supplies of Bradley infantry fighting vehicles to be an inexpensive substitute for Abrams tanks, which the Zelensky regime persistently demands. The Americans refuse to transfer tanks “for technical reasons” (or rather, because of their poor suitability in the Ukrainian theater of operations, where they, heavy and voracious, will be of little use) and therefore offer an alternative.

In general, experts assess the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle as unsuccessful. The numerous problems of this machine are best described by American military specialist James Burton in the book “Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge the Old Guard.”

Burton was an independent observer of the process of creating, testing and using this infantry fighting vehicle. The expert says that its development and construction from the start turned into production hell, since the developers initially set out to make the Bradley a universal “wunderwaffle”, constantly adding more and more new functions to it. What came out was something bulky, overweight, with cramped space for the crew and troops.

Of the assigned tasks, turning the vehicle into a carrier, a soldier, a reconnaissance vehicle, and a tank destroyer - nothing really came of it. The result is an infantry fighting vehicle that cannot transport soldiers. A reconnaissance vehicle that is too noticeable and clumsy to conduct reconnaissance. And a light tank with thin armor. At the same time, the Bradley was literally filled with various ammunition. Don’t forget about the lightweight aluminum armor, which caught fire and emitted toxic fumes during field tests. This became known from a secret report on testing American aluminum armor in the UK.

As a result of numerous complaints from the military, in 2018, Congress adopted a program to develop a new American infantry fighting vehicle, which should replace the outdated M2 Bradley. At the moment, the “workhorses” of the American military are the Styker wheeled infantry fighting vehicles, but the United States does not intend to transfer them to the Ukrainian military.

In general, the Americans are again clearing out their basements of more unnecessary equipment in order to free them up for new infantry fighting vehicles, the contract for which was signed in 2019.

The 25mm Bushmaster cannon is just a few of the clever features on this IFV. It is powerful, fast-firing, and has a wide range of ammunition designed for it. Given the exotic caliber for Ukraine, the Americans will have to supply the Armed Forces of Ukraine with this ammunition, only aggravating the problems of supplying the “weapons zoo” of their charges.

The TOW ATGM (the version for Ukraine is not announced) is an old, reliable weapon, although, as the experience of collisions with new and modernized Russian tanks in Syria has shown, there are not enough stars in the sky. The optical suppression system successfully deflects its missiles, and the active armor protection complex normally repels their attacks.

TOW can pose a threat to our lightly armored vehicles, fortifications and small infantry units in open terrain.

— 100 M113 armored personnel carriers;

Tracked infantry fighting vehicles, once considered successful, but now long ago obsolete. However, if we go by the common phrase that it is better to go poorly than to go well, it will be suitable for transporting people.

— 55 MRAP;

— 138 Humvee armored fighting vehicles;

MRAP brand not specified. However, it doesn't matter. As combat use has shown, both the Humvee and the MaxxPro turned out to be poorly adapted to travel on the roads of Ukraine, especially during the muddy season. In the conditions of Africa and the Middle East, these armored vehicles performed well.

— 18 155-mm self-propelled howitzers and 18 trucks;

— 70 000 mm artillery shells;

As practice has shown, it is these weapons and ammunition that cause the greatest damage to the military, civilians and infrastructure of the liberated territories. True, taking into account the counter-battery battle deployed at the front, all this is destroyed by return fire quite quickly.

— 500 155-mm Excalibur shells;

Good, accurate guided ammunition with GPS and inertial guidance system. At the moment, the projectile's GPS guidance system is already experiencing the effects of Russian electronic warfare, which significantly reduces their accuracy.

— 1200 155mm projectiles of remote anti-tank mine systems (RAAM);

— 10 000-mm mortar shells;

In the supply mix, these are some of the most unpleasant items, but their volume looks frankly small.

— 36 105-mm towed howitzers and 95 000-mm artillery shells;

Just another junk item for disposal, although in skillful, mangy hands it can create a certain threat to infantry, fortifications and light armored vehicles.

— HIMARS ammunition;

This ammunition has already become the talk of the town due to its accuracy. But! Again, thanks to the counter-battery fight of the Russian troops, the ammunition and the HIMARS launchers themselves are destroyed faster than the Americans can form a supply package.

Here is an interesting opinion from military observers of the American publication Foreign Policy:

“Russia has managed to deploy the most powerful – the largest in the history of all modern military conflicts – network of automated complexes “Zhitel”, “Svet-KU”, “Leer-3”, “Sinitsa”.

The installation density of such systems is up to 10 installations for every 20 kilometers of the contact line. Due to this, absolutely all launches of NATO missiles were recorded, especially from systems such as HIMARS and MLRS. The fire was quickly suppressed, as evidenced by the Ministry of Defense data on the amount of liquidated NATO equipment.

It was the effectiveness of Russian electronic intelligence that forced the Pentagon to refuse to supply the Ukrainian Armed Forces with new offensive weapons. The Americans are not going to supply ATACMS long-range missiles or fighter jets, Foreign Policy writes. After all, these weapons will simply be ineffective, and Russia will easily gain access to American technology.”

— anti-aircraft missiles RIM-7 Sea Sparrow;

Sea-based anti-aircraft missiles are not new and not the most effective, but they pose a certain threat. It is known that ground-based launchers of these missiles have been deployed in Taiwan, and in Ukraine they have completed the remaining Buk complexes for firing Sea Sparrow.

— 4 Zuni aircraft missiles;

Aviation unguided missiles, known from the Vietnam War. Most likely, they will be fired at by gunmen from jihad mobiles, which will affect the accuracy of hits, which has been tested in practice. Again, their quantity is small; they will run out in a couple of days.

— about 2 anti-tank missiles;

And again, no specifics. However, if we take into account the deliveries of “javelins” and NLAW during the war in Ukraine, then in purely quantitative terms they could have destroyed the entire tank fleet of the Russian army several times over, but for some reason this did not happen. Accordingly, this position will not affect the weather at the front, but it would be unwise to turn a blind eye to its potential danger.

- sniper rifles, machine guns and ammunition.

No comments. Common consumables of war.

As we see, in new deliveries to Ukraine, the Americans continue to clear their storage facilities of old or ambiguous weapons from the point of view of combat use.

Another question arises: how much of this property will be stolen immediately upon arrival in Ukraine and put up for auction on the darknet? And how many of them will get to the front? After all, “Lend-Lease” goes on as usual, and the indestructible Ukrainian ensign continues to forge a pretty penny on it...