Mobile coffins? The design error that is “killing” Russian tanks

A design flaw is turning Russian tanks into veritable mobile coffins that have been strewn in pieces on Ukrainian soil.

According to the British Defense Secretary, ben wallacesince the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraineon February 24, at least 530 Russian tanks have been destroyed or captured. The Ukrainian army speaks of up to 970 Russian tanks destroyed.

LOOK: Ukraine claims to have identified the “first suspect” in the Bucha massacre

It’s about the call “box effect”a bug related to the way many Russian tanks, including the T-72one of the most widely used in the current war in Ukrainestore and load the ammunition.

Unlike the tanks of Western countries, the Russians store up to 40 rounds in a carousel at the base of the turret. That turns vehicles into a ticking time bomb.

Experts warn that even a direct hit can trigger a chain reaction, causing the explosion of all the ammunition at once, “decapitating” the tanks.

A Ukrainian soldier walks near destroyed Russian tanks outside kyiv, on April 1, 2022, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP).

“For a Russian crew, if the ammunition storage compartment is hit, everyone is dead”Robert E. Hamilton, a professor at the US Army War College, told The Washington Post. He added that the strength of lThe explosion can “instantly vaporize” the crew. “All of those cartridges — about 40, depending on whether they’re fully loaded or not — are going to be cooked and they’re all going to be dead.”

LOOK: Fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, Mariupol evacuation delayed

Two crew members and a driver are normally inside the tanks, and are “easy targets” for catastrophic explosions, Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst and former British Army officer, was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail. “If you don’t come out in the first second, you’re fried,” he said.

The Russian tank T-72.

This is not a new defect. It has attracted attention since the Gulf wars of 1991 and 2003, when the T-72 tanks Russian-made ones from Iraq were similarly exposed.

The design has certain advantages, such as allowing extra space inside and giving tanks a lower profile, making them more difficult to attack.

But despite having detected the fault, Later models, such as the T-90 and T-80, had the same vulnerability due to the missile loading system.

A Ukrainian serviceman stands near a destroyed Russian tank in the northeastern city of Trostyanets, Ukraine, on March 29, 2022. (FADEL SENNA / AFP)

The Daily Mail recalls that in the wars in Chechnya, the Russians reduced their tank losses by carrying fewer cartridges, which meant ammunition and propellant could be stored in the autoloaders.

But now, the Kremlin forces are filling their tanks with as much ammunition as possible and that makes them more vulnerable.

In the case of Western vehicles, some, such as the Stryker from the United States, they have turrets that are separate from the crew compartment, so even if the turret blows up, the crew below stays safe.

Other tanks have no carousel, while the M1 Abrams it has a fourth crew member to retrieve shells from a compartment before manually transferring them to the cannon. In this way, yesf the tank takes a hit, there will be at most one shell in the turret.

The Ukrainians are aware of this flaw. “What we are witnessing now is the Ukrainians taking advantage of the failure of the tanks,” Samuel Bendett, an adviser to the Center for Naval Analysis, a nonprofit research institute funded by the federal government, told the Post. And Ukraine’s Western allies are supplying Ukrainian soldiers with a large volume of anti-tank weapons.

Ukrainian servicemen look at a destroyed Russian tank on a road in the village of Rusaniv, in the kyiv region, on April 16, 2022. (Genya SAVILOV / AFP)

Ukraine has also been using Russian-made T-72 variants, which face the same problem. But the Russian invasion has been based on the large-scale deployment of tanks, and Ukraine has been able to defend itself better than expected.

Power, the Russian priority

According to Hamilton, the reason why the Russians have not eliminated this flaw in the tanks is because with their current design, they have mechanical autoloaders, which allows them to be manned by a team of three people.

Also, the priority is rate of fire, firepower, low profile, speed, and maneuverability versus overall survivability. Russian tanks, he explained to the Post, tend to be lighter and simpler, and have thinner and less advanced armor than Western ones. The design vulnerability was probably “cheaper and lighter,” he added.

Source: Elcomercio