Comments by "Geoffrey Lyons" (@granatmof) on "BTR-80 Russian Army Vehicle is Worse Than You Think" video.

  1. Every Milotary makes plans for war based on the previous war, even though battlefields change. You see this in America doctrine as well. Carriers and carrier groups are the first targets for nuclear strikes: they're completely military in nature in the ocean which limits any civilian collateral damage and knock on effects. We have them only because of the rebellion if the Admirals in the 50s. They've proven effective at projecting power for sure, but nobody goes to war against them traditionally. You also see it in the Army's M5 rifle and the JLTV vehicle. Both are great for deploying in occupational patrols in a controlled area with long lines of sight. They may not be as effective in fighting in the forests of Europe or Island hopping or urban warfare. Complacency and planning for the past is a problem all militaries have to look out for.
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  2. The issues isn't necessarily the vehicle or doctrine, but deployment of forces. Many infantry carrying vehicles were sent to Ukraine without their full complement of soldiers to support and dismount. As a Special Military operation, Russia legally cannot order up their conscripts. So while on paper Russia sent so many battalions, plattons and squads in reality those elements were under deployed. Russian doctrine for cost is to keep only a fraction of the military active, with the conscripts, who have had previous training filling out those number when they go to war. This ultimately has lead to infantry transports actually carrying few to no actual dismounting soldiers, which in turn has meant poor infantry support and heavy loss of vehicles. This in turn has shot Russia in the foot: even if they declare ware, call up conscripts, they now don't have the armor to fully deploy as a mechanized force. As such they've drawn back to traditional methods of slow advance under constant artillery barrage. If Russia had done so from the outset, they probably would have actually been muc more effective and harder to push back, especially if they have full kitted out their troops. Russia made a blunder: they waited until after the winter Olympics to attack, so mud season had fully set in, and they expected to roll into Kiev like they did in Crimea wit the appearance of overwhelming forces, ignoring the fact that Ukraine has been preparing this since Crimea. Check out the youtuber Perun, he's had pretty great analysis from a logistics and policy perspective.
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  3. It's an interesting thing. Russian doctrine for war is to call up conscripts to fill out squad deployments, as many units are under assigned personelle during peace time. As a "special military operation" they legally can't call up their conscripts to fulfill the classic Russian doctrine of through many troops at it. Further Russian population undermines such strategies as the Population is lower than it was during WW2.
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