re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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Damn...I didn't know we lost 22 out of 31 Abrams. What the hell is Ukraine doing?

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They’re doing the same thing the Russians are doing; namely they’re trying to fight a combined arms manufacturer war while having not the slightest clue how to fight combined arms manufacturer warfare.

You can’t use tanks on the battlefield by just lining them up and having them drive toward enemy lines, especially on the modern battlefield where technology has advanced to where drones and precision artillery strikes can be used to neutralize individual targets. It requires close coordination between multiple combat arms, namely infantry, armor, artillery, cav (or recon), air-defense AA, and a variety of combat support units that are vital in keeping the combat arms elements of a maneuver unit going. And along either side all of this, you have to also coordinate with air assets to control the skies over the battlefield while also using other air assets to provide ground support to the maneuver formations. The battlefield is 3D and both the Russians and Ukrainians can only think in 2D.

Neither the Russians nor the Ukrainians have the training or command and control capabilities to organize and orchestrate the battlefield assets to successfully deploy what we in the West would consider combined arms operations. This is why this war has devolved into WWI style static warfare.

It was combined arms operations by the Allies in 1918 that finally broke the stalemate of the Western Front. This offensive, known now as the “Hundred Days” Offensive was the first truly combined arms operation in history and it was devastating to the German static defenses that had held since 1914.

The “Hundred Days” changed warfare forever. But it requires a level of military sophistication that the Russians and Ukrainians simply don’t have. Thus, when they try it, their attempts resemble the British and French early attempts in 1917 when they deployed tanks against German defenses. These early attempts at combined arms operations in 1917 saw some limited gains, but due to poor coordination between the tanks and other assets like infantry, cavalry, and artillery, no breakthrough was achieved.

So so answer your question as to why the Ukrainians are losing Abrams, it’s because they’re using them like it’s 1917 instead of using them like it’s 1918. And the Russians are doing the same thing.