Comments by "R Johansen" (@rjohansen9486) on "Russia Upgrades Deadly Ka-52 'Alligator' To Subdue Ukraine's Counteroffensive | Report" video.

  1.  @johnwi-l_l-iamsf3763  Numbering 12,556 tanks, the Russian Federation has the largest fleet in their arsenal by far, from the workhorse T-72 series to the ultra-advanced T-14 Armata. But the headline number misses nuances in the composition of the Russian tank fleet. Of Russia’s nearly 13,000 active combat tanks, only a fraction are main battle tanks. A 2021 Russian source estimated that their operational main battle fleet was closer to 2,600 tanks, made up of T-72s, T-80s, and T-90s, with another 400 T-72 variants used as range tanks. On top of that, only one-quarter of those are considered modern tanks—T-72B3/B3M, T-80-BVM, and T-90A/M—that is, fitted with up-to-date fire control systems and sighting. That’s why, on top of poor morale, inadequate logistics, and inflexible tactics, Russia has struggled to perform on the Ukrainian battlefield despite having more than six times the number of tanks (12,556 vs. 1,890). The Military Balance 2023, an annual report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank, said Russia began the war in February 2022 with 3,417 available tanks, compared to Ukraine's 987. Heavy Russian losses coupled with a steady stream of donations from Ukraine's Western allies, though, have helped even the score in intervening months. The most recent estimates from Bloomberg put Ukraine's tank count at 1,500 active tanks, compared to about 1,400 for Russia. But Russia has many more in storage of older tanks.
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