Illustrative image.
Sergey Chemezov, CEO of Russia’s defense and technology giant Rostec, has described the British-made Challenger 2 main battle tank as a “cooking pot unready for real combat.”
“Our experts have examined the US-made Abrams tank and found nothing to borrow. I am curious to have a look at British Challenger, however it is clear it is a cooking pot unready for real combat. The main problem of most foreign vehicles is complicated design and labor intensive maintenance. The Ukrainian example shows the result,” Chemezov was quoted by TASS as saying in an interview with the Razvedchik journal.
The United Kingdom supplied at least 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Kiev forces around two years ago. All of which were reportedly destroyed by the Russian military.
In the same interview, Chemezov said that Russian designers also studied German-made Leopard main battle tanks and found no breakthrough solutions to borrow.
“We study all trophies. If we find anything useful, we borrow it. Sometimes we see it is good vehicle, but it cannot be engaged in our conditions. Thus, the German Leopard has modern components, fire controls, a powerful engine but with strange temperature restrictions. We did not see any breakthrough solutions and have nothing to borrow from Leopard for ourselves,” Chemezov said.
Over the past two years, Kiev forces have received some 60 Leopard 2 tanks, and over 100 others older Leopard 1 tanks from Germany, Sweden, Poland, Spain and other backers.
Nearly all of the Leopard 2s have been already destroyed, damaged or captured by the Russian military. Meanwhile, close to a quarter of the older Leopard 1s have met a similar fate, despite not being used much due to their very bad operational condition.
The Russian military has also destroyed, damaged or captured more than two thirds of the 31 Abrams tanks the United States supplied to Ukraine around two years ago. Chemezov didn’t apparently mention anything about the performance or design of this tank.
The Challenger 2, Leopard 2 and Abrams were taught by the mainstream media in the West as game changers that will allow Kiev forces to dominate the battlefield.
This image was shattered in the very first day of Ukrainian 2023 spring counteroffensive in the Zaporizhzhia direction, which saw the destruction of multiple Leopard 2 tanks. The next, multiple Abrams tanks were defeated in the Donetsk direction, and all remaining Challenger 2 tanks were reportedly wiped out in the Kursk direction.
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