It comes down to the M-1’s better optics
Jan 20, 2024
VIA SOCIAL MEDIA
The Ukrainians always have sought to use their Western-made tanks and fighting vehicles in conjunction with other tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. This was apparent during Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive, when German-made Leopard 2A4 and 2A6 and Soviet-style T-64 and T-72 tanks deployed alongside U.S.-supplied M-2 Bradley IFVs. Ukraine’s 31 American-made M-1 Abrams should, if anything, enhance this interoperability.
The Abrams has the best sensors of any tank in Ukrainian service. With its SADA-II thermal vision system, a 69-ton, four-person M-1 can detect targets up to five miles away—farther than all other main battle tanks in Russia’s 23-month wider war on Ukraine.
An M-1 gunner, peering through his SADA-II, also benefits from a 50-times digital zoom. That’s extremely useful on flat terrain. An Abrams gunner not only can detect a target from five miles away, he should be able to identify it, too, thanks to the zoom function.
Think of the M-1 as a sensor platform first, and a tank second. Imagine an Abrams with its SADA-II operating alongside Soviet-style MBTs with their less capable optics. An M-1 crew could detect targets at long range and pass the locations via radio to other Ukrainian crews.
There’s also a chance that Ukraine’s M-1s and M-2s come with the Blue Force Tracker: a GPS-based system that registers, on a digital map, the locations of friendly forces.
If Ukrainian Abrams and Bradleys can share situational awareness via their networked Blue Force Trackers rather than via voice radio, they might make a better team than, say, a Leopard 2 and a Bradley would make.
Pairing an Abrams with other vehicles also lends the team-up tremendous night-fighting capability. The M-1 with its high-fidelity thermal sights fights almost as well at night as it does during the day, out to distance of several miles. Contrast this with the Russian T-72B Obr. 2022 tank, whose own crude thermal sights might work at a range of little over a mile.
The Ukrainian armor corps began shifting to night operations as it inducted Leopard 2s early last year. Now that the corps’ 31 M-1s have arrived in Ukraine, this shift could accelerate.
Teaming up and deploying at night, the Ukrainian M-1 promises to enhance the situational awareness of other vehicle types—and help them to fight around the clock.
Follow me on Twitter. Check out my website or some of my other work here. Send me a secure tip.
Indeed, Ukraine should generally put more effort to night fighting. This is where the AFU is not only superior to the roach army, but far superior. Not only its Western tanks have top-grade night vision devices, but there are many night vision goggles available for the foot soldier, the Bradley and the German Marder have them, and even some of their drones. I suppose those minefields still pose a problem. In this regard, it’s too bad that the AFU still hasn’t been able to create pontoon bridge crossings to the left bank.