The Russians can always benefit from obtaining U.S. equipment as we have written about in the past, especially an Abrams variant. However, the extent of the intelligence that can be gained will be limited, an armor expert tells The War Zone.
“I have very minimum concern” about what Russia can glean from the capture, said the expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Our ABV does not have the M1 Abrams current advanced turret and hull armor package that the M1A2 SEP V2 and V3 have. There is no gunner position and target acquisition systems and software in the ABV. There are no tank rounds. There is no battle command digital system and software.”
Like the U.S. foreign materiel exploitation (FME) programs, Russia has the FME capability to gain information from captured equipment. However, the only insight the Russians could gain from the ABV “is our [Mine Clearing Line Charges [MICLIC] capabilities such as launch time, distance and explosion capabilities. All detailed information posted in open source forums and YouTube to include by the US Army.”
Articles like the captured ABV could also be used for destructive testing, where Russia employs its own weapons against it to better understand their efficacy and vulnerabilities in the Abrams family of tanks.
The following image showing a cross-section of the vehicle’s composite armor does not raise any concerns for the expert.
“Russia uses the same spaced armor techniques and technologies,” was the explanation. “It’s not the latest armor technology which can defeat the latest and anticipated future sabot technology.”
That being said, he was talking about a mine-clearing Abrams, not this one, and when talking about that, he did say that there were no tank rounds available; it didn’t have a main gun. This one does, so Russia might get those on this one, but I have a hard time believing that those are incredibly sensitive. Might also get the tank software, though it’s not the latest.
I wonder how much useful they’ll be able to learn, since their manufacturing is so behind.
I read one analysis saying that there isn’t much on the model in Ukraine that Russia won’t already have access to.
Might have been TWZ. Lemme see if I can find it for you.
EDIT: Yeah.
https://www.twz.com/land/first-confirmed-abrams-tank-variant-captured-by-russia-seen-with-inner-armor-exposed
That being said, he was talking about a mine-clearing Abrams, not this one, and when talking about that, he did say that there were no tank rounds available; it didn’t have a main gun. This one does, so Russia might get those on this one, but I have a hard time believing that those are incredibly sensitive. Might also get the tank software, though it’s not the latest.