Ukraine Needs More Tanks to Support Counteroffensive … Will Pentagon Send Abrams?

Kris Osborn – President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington D.C.) There has been much discussion of the strategic success with which Ukraine employed anti-armor weapons, dispersed hit-and-run-attacks and disaggregated formations to cripple a larger, invading mechanized force.

The success with which Ukrainian tactics and attacks have thwarted Russian advances continues to influence military thinkers around the world and even played a role in the Marine Corps’ Force Design 2030 text. The Corps vision for future war specifically mentioned Ukraine as evidence of how a lighter weight more dispersed and disaggregated force armed with anti-armor weapons can achieve great battlefield success against a heavier force.

Video Above: Lieutenant General, Thomas Todd – Chief Innovation Officer of Army Futures Command sits down for an exclusive interview with Kris Osborn.

Ukraine’s somewhat unexpected success has also lead their defensive forces to shift momentum in the war and actually reclaim territory as part of a counteroffensive, particularly in areas near Kharkiv. This operational shift may indicate that Ukraine now needs some heavy armor with which to enter, occupy and “hold” territory. Pentagon leaders explain that indeed Ukrainian forces are effectively using tanks.

Tanks

‘We know the Ukrainians have been operating Soviet style tanks. We know they’ve been employing them to pretty good effect,” a Senior Pentagon official told reporters, according to a Pentagon transcript. Ukrainians have also reclaimed abandoned tanks left by Russian soldiers during invasion attempts due to Ukrainian resistance, difficult terrain or efforts by Russian soldiers to simply abandon their vehicles and refuse to fight.

“They’re using a number of tanks that they were able to secure from the Russians. Most recently in Kharkiv, but also before that at the beginning of the fight back in the March and April timeframe when the Russians were abandoning equipment,” the Senior official said.