Patriot, NASAMS, Abrams, Archer, Paladin, CAESAR… Russian Military Is Having A Field Day With Best NATO Gear

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Written by Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst

We’ve all gotten used to the Russian military’s masterful debunking of myths about the supposed “superiority” of NATO weapons. However, recent weeks saw a dramatic increase in the frequency of this process. Hundreds of pieces of best Western armor, artillery, air defense systems, etc. were destroyed during the much-touted counteroffensive last year. And yet, the start of 2024 seems to be no less depressing for the Neo-Nazi junta forces. Just in late January, they lost several types of the latest NATO equipment. On January 23, several military sources reported on the destruction of the first (and so far, the only) SAMP-T air defense system in its service. Then there was the reported destruction of the latest German-made “Skynex” short-range air defense system. The reported price of both weapons is €182 million (nearly $200 million).

Apart from SAM systems, Western-made armor once again proved just how overhyped it is. Namely, recent combat footage from the Zaporozhye sector of the frontline shows that another British-made “Challenger 2” was destroyed by Russian forces. Among a large number of destroyed tanks and armored vehicles, Russian soldiers also filmed several German-made “Leopard 2A4” tanks outfitted with the Soviet-era “Kontakt-1” ERA (explosive reactive armor), as well as the US-made M113 and Dutch-made YPR-765 APCs (armored personnel carriers). However, the latest Russian combat operations demonstrate that there’s effectively no end to the stream of destroyed Western and Kiev regime equipment. Once again, the now legendary ZALA “Lancet” is proving to be as deadly as usual (if not even more dangerous at this point).

At least 36 vehicles of the Neo-Nazi junta forces were neutralized between February 16 and 23 using these loitering munitions/kamikaze drones. This includes 12 tanks, including one German-made Leopard 2A4, five IFVs (infantry fighting vehicles), including two German-made “Marders”, six APCs (armored personnel carriers) and high-mobility vehicles, including a US-made M113, ten towed and self-propelled howitzers, including four American-made M777 and one Italian-British FH70, two electronic warfare stations, one drone control and command system and one Soviet-made “Strela-10” short-range air defense system. According to the Russian MoD (Ministry of Defense), approximately 700 military targets were destroyed in recent operations in and around Avdeyevka. It’s been confirmed that this also includes the latest US-made armor.

On February 22, the M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicle (ABV), an American mine and explosives-clearing vehicle based on the M1 “Abrams” chassis was destroyed. Expectedly, the US-made tank itself was also detected at around the same time in the area west of Avdeyevka. The “best tank in the world” and the supposed “game-changer”, as the Pentagon would say, turned out to be nothing more than a steel coffin, as previously predicted due to similar performance of comparable NATO armor. Namely, mere days after it engaged Russian troops, the first M1 “Abrams” was destroyed. It’s not yet clear when exactly this took place, but the footage itself was published on February 26. Still, this is only the tip of the iceberg. At this point, it’s quite clear that tanks, IFVs, APCs and similar armored vehicles are frontline equipment that is bound to go through hellfire.

However, the Neo-Nazi junta is rapidly losing strategically important gear such as the “Patriot” and NASAMS air defenses. On February 22, the former was detected at Chernobaevka in the Kherson oblast (region). It soon had a very unpleasant “close encounter” with two Russian FAB-500 M-62 aerial bombs equipped with MPK gliding modules. Still, that wasn’t the end of troubles for the Kiev regime’s air defenses. On February 26, various military sources reported that the NASAMS (Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) was also destroyed in the area around the village of Malyshevka in the Zaporozhye oblast, approximately 50 km away from the frontlines. It was initially reported that the US-Norwegian SAM system was destroyed by the “Iskander” missile system. However, the more likely “culprit” seems to have been the “Tornado-S”.

The latter is a modernized version of the Soviet-era BM-30 “Smerch” MLRS (multiple launch rocket system) that includes several new types of rockets, including the GLONASS-guided 9M542 with a range of up to 130 km. An improved variant under the designation 9M544 was tested in 2020 and has a range of 200 km. It’s equally likely that either of the two was used to destroy the NATO-sourced SAM system. It seems the Russian military is focusing on all strategically important assets of the Kiev regime forces without “losing interest” in other frontline units, particularly artillery. Namely, in the last 48 hours, it has been confirmed that at least three types of Western-supplied artillery systems have been destroyed. This includes the French-made CAESAR, US-made M109A6 “Paladin” and Swedish-made “Archer” self-propelled howitzers (SPH).

All three seem to have been neutralized by “Lancets”, proving just how deadly and cost-effective these loitering munitions/kamikaze drones are. Namely, the price of a single “Lancet” is around $30,000, while the CAESAR costs up to $7,000,000. The M109A6 “Paladin’s” price tag is over $14,000,000, while “Archer” is around $5,000,000. However, the enormous cost discrepancy is not even the biggest problem for the Neo-Nazi junta forces, but the fact that their already atrocious artillery ratio against the Russian military will plummet, further exacerbating the problem. According to various estimates, Moscow’s artillery units currently enjoy an extremely comfortable 12:1 advantage. Considering the fact that the vast majority of military deaths and injuries in the conflict are due to artillery and drones, this will only worsen the Kiev regime’s already enormous losses.