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The Once-Dominant Tank Is Getting Humbled on the Battlefield (www.wsj.com)

submitted 2 months ago by yogthos@lemmygrad.ml to c/worldnews@lemmygrad.ml

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Of the 31 Abrams tanks the U.S. sent to Ukraine, six have been destroyed, according to Oryx, an independent analyst group that tracks casualties. The rest are now used only occasionally. At $10 million apiece, tanks like the Abrams are not easily replaced. Among other Western tanks sent to Ukraine, 12 of the 18 latest-model German Leopards have been destroyed or damaged, according to Oryx.

As soon as you get on the road, a drone spots you, and then you're being hit with artillery, mines, anti-tank missiles, drones, guided bombs," said a Ukrainian driver of one of the Abrams tanks whose call sign is Smilik.

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[–] MarxMadness@lemmygrad.ml 20 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Of the 31 Abrams tanks the U.S. sent to Ukraine

At $10 million apiece, tanks like the Abrams are not easily replaced.

They're missing what makes these hard to replace. It's not the sticker price -- "just" 1 billion could buy you 1000. It's that the U.S. currently lacks the production capacity to quickly manufacture replacements.

Unintentionally a great demonstration of the "industrial capital vs. finance capital" conflict in this war.

[–] yogthos@lemmygrad.ml 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Exactly, the one thing the war showed is that the GDP metrics the west has been using to measure the size of an economy are completely worthless. Turns out that Russia alone has the industrial capacity to outproduce all of the west combined.

[–] cayde6ml@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I wouldn't say that the GDP metrics are useless, though I don't think you mean that literally. But in this context, they aren't the point.

[–] yogthos@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 2 months ago

I find GDP by itself doesn't really tell you much. Stuff like PQLI is far more meaningful.

[–] merthyr1831@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 months ago

You're right, though 10mil is a lot when that financial capital that the Ukrainian military relies on is pretty sparse. Represents a nice ROI for Western powers who are definitely invested in providing maximal value for the Ukrainian military.