Western Wonder Weapons Too Fragile for Ukrainian Battlefield

It turns out that the Kiev regime in Ukraine is having some problems with the “wonder weapons” supplied to it by the West in recent months.

In the artillery-heavy intensive warfare conditions of the east Ukrainian battlefield, hi-tech Western artillery pieces are being called on to fire hundreds of shells each a day and are simply not up to the conditions or the task, not tough enough, breaking down quickly due to wear and tear.

The commander of the logistics service of the ground forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Brigadier General Volodymyr Karpenko, complains that these Western weapons “constantly break down and require repair.”

The US-made M777 Howitzers which have become the mainstay of the Kiev regime’s military forces are quickly “blooming” under intense firing rates, which is to say the front of the artillery barrel explodes and fray’s back, looking much like a precious flower.

The M777s are largely made of titanium instead of steel, theoretically making them lighter and quickly mobile for shoot & scoot after firing, but aren’t proving durable as a result.

According to Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Denis Sharapov one out of every 3 M777s have to be taken away for repair after the very first artillery duel.
US defense officials admit as much, reporting that a third of the roughly 350 Western-made howitzers are out of action at any given time.

Likewise; 1 out of 3 of the 22 vaunted German Panzerhaubitze 2000’s provided to the Kiev regime are also reported by German military officials as in need of repair after just a month of battlefield use.  Seems they can’t take firing more than a hundred shells a day.

Similar problems are being reported with the US’s M109 artillery pieces, the Italian  FH70, and the French Caesar self-propelled howitzer.

The diverse hodge-podge of small batches of complicated hi-tech Western supplied “wonder” weapons can rarely be repaired in Ukraine, particularly when it requires replacement of the barrel. The Kiev regime forces don’t have the training, logistics chains of parts, or safe facilities to conduct the repairs.
Different weapons systems require different spare parts and maintenance requirements, different loading mechanisms, and often require proprietary ammunition. All of this results in different training requirements to operate and maintain.

Broken and failing Western weapons need to be transported all the way across Ukraine to Western repair centers set up in Poland, Slovakia, and Germany – repaired if possible – and then make the return journey back to the front, under Russian fire, taking many months.

Another problem being reported is with supposedly NATO-standard ammunition and shells, like the 155mm artillery shell.
A Royal United Services Institute paper reports that “Nato standardization is turning out not very standardized, with different countries’ howitzers not only having completely different maintenance requirements but also using different charges, fuses and sometimes shells.”

With the general shortage of shells and ammunition at the front, poorly-trained and desperate Kiev regime forces are often trying to force guns to fire incompatible shells, often with disastrous results.

This contrasts with the Russian-built Soviet legacy systems that the Ukrainian forces had been using until they were destroyed or ran out of ammunition. Generally speaking. they were simpler and more durable, and easier to maintain and repair.

Jack Watling of the Royal Institute of Armaments in London notes that “The current approach, where each country transfers batteries in parts, is quickly becoming a logistical nightmare for Ukrainian forces, as each battery requires a separate training, support and logistics system“.

These hi-tech Western wonder weapons are just too fragile and precious, too logistically demanding, to hang in the high-intensity conflict in Ukraine.