Destroyed Russian military tank with an exploded tower, pictured on April 21, 2022 in Dmitrovka, Ukraine. Alexey Furman / Getty Images
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Russian tanks have a design flaw that makes them susceptible to beheading in Ukrainian attacks, CNN reported.
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Unlike Western tanks, the Russians carry many shells of ammunition in their towers.
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The defect means that Russian tank crews are sitting ducks, experts told CNN.
Images of destroyed Russian tanks with exploded towers have become common since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine.
Experts say Russian tanks have a design flaw that makes them vulnerable to beheading from Ukrainian attacks, called the “box effect”, CNN reported.
The problem lies in the fact that Russian tanks carry up to 40 shells in their towers, which means that even an indirect strike can explode an entire ammunition depot.
“What we’re seeing with Russian tanks is a design flaw,” Sam Bendet, an adviser with the CNA’s Russian Research Program, told CNN.
“Every successful hit quickly ignites the ammunition, causing a massive explosion and the tower literally explodes.”
A video posted on Twitter appears to show a Russian tank tower perched on the fifth floor of a residential building in Mariupol following an attack.
A similar video from Chernigov shows a tower placed on the second floor of a house.
The problem is particularly prevalent in Russian T-72 and T-80 tanks, as they have automatic loading mechanisms that typically store about 20 rounds when fully loaded, Stephen Zaloga, an expert on Russian and Soviet armor, told the military publication Task & Purpose.
He added that the internal volume of Russian tanks is much smaller than Western ones.
“If you get inside the tank, there’s a good chance you’ll hit something,” Bet said at the exit.
this is not a new problem – many Russian T-72 tanks used by Iraq during the Gulf Wars in 1991 and 2003 were beheaded in a similar way.
Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst and former British military officer, told CNN that Russia has not learned its lessons from Iraq, which is why many of its tanks in Ukraine have similar design flaws.
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The defect means that Russian tank crews are sitting ducks, Drummond told the publication.
“If you don’t come out within the first second, you’re toasted,” he said.
Although the newer Russian T-80 and T-90 tanks have improved armor, they suffer from similar problems with ammunition loading systems, making them vulnerable to the same fate.
The problem also affects other Russian vehicles stationed in Ukraine, such as the BMD-4 infantry fighting vehicle, driven by a three-member crew and capable of transporting five more soldiers.
Drummond told CNN that the vehicle was a “mobile coffin” that was “simply obliterated” by a rocket strike.
The Russian BMD-4M, a new generation amphibious infantry fighting vehicle, seen at a fair in the city of Kubinka in Moscow, Russia on June 25, 2019. Sefa Karacan / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)
The open source intelligence monitoring website Oryx has documented at least 300 Russian tanks destroyed in Ukraine and more than 280 that were damaged, abandoned or captured as of April 29.
The site only includes destroyed tanks for which there are photos or video evidence, so the true figure is likely to be much higher.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace estimated on Monday that Russia had lost up to 580 tanks in Ukraine.
The latest statistics released by the Ukrainian ground forces show that 873 Russian tanks and 2,238 armored vehicles were destroyed.
Read the original article in Business Insider
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