According to ministry documents, the Russian army received 1,500 tanks, more than 2,200 armored fighting vehicles, more than 1,400 missile and artillery vehicles, and more than 22,000 unmanned aerial vehicles. The armed forces received more than 12,000 vehicles, 10% of which – 1,400 armored vehicles.
The information regarding the tanks should be taken with caution as the ministry did not provide information on how many of these tanks were brand new from the factory and how many were refurbished from warehouses. “A total of 1,530 new and modernized tanks were delivered to the ground forces,” said Minister Shoigu, speaking at an extended meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry's committee. We reported on the Defense website that the State Arms Corporation Rostec has announced that it has increased the production of tanks by seven times, the production of light armored vehicles by 4.5 times, artillery and MLRS – by 2.5 times, and the production of ammunition and some types of products by 2.5 times. – 60 times in a year.
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According to documents obtained by TASS, the Russian military is currently more than 84 percent self-sufficient. According to a Reuters report published late last year, the increase in Russian military production is part of a broader effort to resupply the Russian military, particularly for the war in Ukraine. Russia is very clever in getting components from allies while bypassing economic sanctions.
According to the Foreign Policy Research Institute, which roughly estimated the production of weapons in Russia based on data from previous years and taking into account possibilities and variables, the officially announced plans for the production, modernization and renovation of tanks do not indicate a significant increase in production. Vladimir Putin said in March 2023 that between 2023 and 2025, Russia would produce and modernize 1,600 main battle tanks, such as the T-72, T-80 and T-90. According to the company's calculations, the total average annual number of modernized and newly produced tanks and armored vehicles in the last decade was 650 pieces. So it can be estimated that Russia will produce roughly the same amount.
“Do they roll out of factories like sausages?” Russia is significantly increasing production of tanks.
This more or less coincides with the calculations of Patricia Marins, a user on the X platform (formerly Twitter), according to which Uralvagonzavod and Omsktransmash delivered approximately 500 tanks in 2023, with the possibility of reaching a maximum of 600 units in December. However, production is facing severe delays due to production disruptions.
Recall that after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the media reported that Russia began using decommissioned tanks that had been stored in warehouses for a long time. Novaya Gazeta once wrote that Russia could preserve 8,000 tanks in its warehouses. Others estimate the number at 10,000 tanks from the T-72, T-80 and T-90. Russia has ordered approximately 800 T-62 aircraft to be modernized and refurbished. According to an annual report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Russia entered the war in February 2022 with 3,417 tanks. CNN reported in December that Russia had lost about 2,200 of the 3,500 tanks since the invasion began, according to U.S. intelligence estimates submitted to Congress. The losses forced Russia to modernize its outdated T-62 tanks, leaving only 1,300 tanks on the battlefield.
According to the Ukrainian side, since the beginning of the war, 5,913 tanks and thousands of other Russian military equipment have been destroyed. In turn, Russia lost 2,611 tanks, according to Orix, a website that calculates frontline losses. According to a British Ministry of Defense intelligence update from November, Moscow lost about 15 percent of its tank fleet, or 2,475, in the invasion.
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Either way, Russia is replacing frontline losses with new, repaired, or salvaged tanks. As a result, it is in a better position than Ukraine, which does not have the luxury of producing tanks and replacing losses on the front. This war is a war of long-term survival.
A green politician in Germany has called for more tanks to be donated to Ukraine
Green Party politician Sebastian Schaefer called on arms companies Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann to quickly repair the Leopard tanks delivered to Ukraine. “Unfortunately, Ukraine can still use only a very small number of the delivered tanks,” he wrote in a letter to both companies obtained by dpa.
There is a shortage of spare parts in repair shops in Lithuania. There is an “urgent need to take action” in this regard to speed up the situation.
Schaefer traveled to Lithuania for a workshop with Defense Minister Boris Pistorius before Christmas.
In March, the German government transferred 18 Panther-2 tanks from the resources of the Bundeswehr to Ukraine, dpa reminded on Tuesday.
PM/PAP
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