NATO’s war problem: weak armor

Asia Times ^ | 6 Jan 23 | Stephen Bryan

[2CAVTrooper]

Oh no! That’s it we must surrender because we will never stand a chance against the Nakidza blankets. LOL.

Back in late 2022, the Ukrainians captured an intact T-90M Proryv-3 complete with these thermal blankets and other gear.

The tank has been thoroughly researched by numerous countries. The Nakidza camo, the Kontact 5 ERA, and the Afghanit protection systems have already been tested and there is no massive rush between us or NATO to play catch up because there is no need. The Russians wasted a ton of money on fantasy stealth cloaks that don’t work when they could have issued their tank crews Snuggies to achieve the same sense of security.

[CatHerd]

First of all, I never championed Nakidza blankets, etc. Nor did I say anything about rushes to play catch up. You are deflecting. I guess you embarrassed yourself by ROFLing and snarking at me about the cages when you didn’t even know enough to know they are primarily for drones, not against top line ATGMs.

What you say may be true, but you offer no proof, no links, as I have done. I’m not inclined to take your word for anything after you showing your ignorance re the cages while acting like Mr. Know-it-all.

Again, here’s what I wrote in my #11:

“Actually, the Russians have innovated. They started putting cages on their tanks early on. Some of the first ones were kinda funky looking, but hey, they more or less worked. Now they’ve got more sophisticated.”

Which is factual. Here’s another link proving this, and that the Russians have made improvements as time went on:

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/russian-tank-debuts-cope-cage-covered-in-explosive-reactive-armor

Again, I never claimed they were perfect protection from anything, including drones. But if cages are so totally worthless and “stupid” as you insist, why are the Israelis adopting them?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/10/17/israel-tanks-drone-protection-gaza/

[JadeEmperor]

>> The results of the gulf war and Abrams versus t-74’s Gulf War was some 20+ years ago. Iraqis had "monkey model" T-72's, I recall reading that their armor piercing rounds used cheap steel cores. Also, their comms and firing control were subpar. Did not allow them to fire on the move. Plus, the culture of Why Arab Lose Wars.

[Gaffer]

I remember going to the F-16 General Dynamics Plant in DFW back in the late 80s to work on some RCS measurement equipment that supported it.

Pretty old airframe and the really only valuable part of that system, IMO, are the electronics and weapons suites upgrades. D-Links, higher block level A/A and A/G missiles, etc. I seriously doubt the F-16s being sent to UKR include all the latest bells and whistles.

[Alter Kaker]

The results of the gulf war and Abrams versus t-74’s migh call this analysis into question

They don't. That was 35 years ago and the US had uncontested air supremacy. The battlefield has changed dramatically.

[Alter Kaker]

Shotguns

Maybe as a last ditch weapon but not likely to work. Modern drones are just too fast.