Amid the protracted war between Russia and Ukraine, reports have emerged that the Russian military is using old Soviet-era tanks as “self-destruct tanks” loaded with bombs. On the 25th of last month (local time), Warrior Maven, a US military media outlet , said, “It is reported that the Russian army sent the T-55
tank introduced during World War II to fight Ukraine. ” It has been modified and is being mobilized for the attack.” Previously, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed in a telegram on the 17th of last month (local time) that the Ukrainian fortress was destroyed with a tank full of explosives. The tank was reportedly loaded with about 3.5 tons of TNT and five FAB-100 bombs. The FAB-100 bomb is an aerial shell containing 100 kg of explosives. The commander of the Russian tank unit, whose call sign was ‘Bernaull’, said he was in charge of the attack on the self-destructing tank. According to radio interception, the enemy suffered significant losses.” At the time of the attack, “At about 300 meters away from the enemy, the pilot manually turned the tank toward the enemy, then jumped down and ran back메이저사이트. I observed from behind and when the tank approached enemy lines, I blew it up by radio control.”
In this regard, a military blogger with a pro-Russian tendency also released a video of the Russian army’s self-destructing tank attack on the 18th of the same month. However, in the video he released, the self-destruct tank failed to attack after stepping on an anti-tank mine in Ukraine. In this video, the tank exploded and was surrounded by smoke as if it had stepped on a landmine while heading for Ukrainian positions. The tank is then attacked by Ukrainian forces and causes a large explosion. Regarding this, the blogger explained, “A ‘kamikaze tank’ was sent to Marinka, Donetsk,” and “unfortunately, it was blown up after stepping on a mine.” The T-55
, which is believed to have been mobilized for the self-destruct tank attack, is a tank that the Soviet Union began using in 1948, right after the end of World War II. CNN even commented that the tank is “so old you can only find it in museums.” According to reports, this tank has no fire control system, so shooting is difficult, and an infrared device is required for shooting at night.
Warrior Maven reported that the Russian military’s use of these obsolete tanks for remote explosives and mobilized them in the attack was “the same terror tactic used by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.” And about the background of the appearance of self-destruct tanks , it was estimated that “the Russian army lost half of its usable tanks or the main tanks such as the T-72 and T-90 were massively destroyed by Ukrainian anti-tank weapons and tactics.”
Experts also believed that the attack came while the Russian army was struggling as the war entered a protracted phase. “The Russian military, which was considered the third most powerful military in the world, has reached a stage where it is mimicking the tactics of the Islamic State (IS) after 16 months of war,” said Nathan Rouser, a researcher at the Australian Center for International Cyber Policy . “Vehicle bombs are mainly used by units that lack the technical skills of the air force to destroy enemy heavy equipment,” said Hugo Karman, an expert on vehicle-mounted improvised explosive devices (VBIED