It’s unclear what number of tanks of the Soviet T-72 design the Polish army presently operates, as a result of the general public doesn’t know what number of Warsaw has donated to Kiev, army analyst Damian Ratka has stated.
Ratka’s feedback got here throughout an 80-minute video occasion about the way forward for Polish armor, hosted by the information portal Defence24.
“We don’t actually know what number of T-72 tanks we now have, as a result of we don’t know precisely what number of of them have been transferred to Ukraine,” Ratka stated. Kiev in all probability acquired not less than 30 to 60 autos, however the precise numbers should not publicly accessible, he added.
Ratka’s estimates match what then-PM Mateusz Morawiecki promised to ship Ukraine in January 2023: 60 tanks in whole, half of them T-72M1 and the opposite half PT-91 Twardy, the Polish improve of the Soviet-era MBT. Nevertheless, on the time Morawiecki additionally stated that Poland had equipped “about 250” T-72s to Ukraine.
Warsaw first introduced it had donated a few of its T-72s in April 2022, however wouldn’t give any numbers. Previous to that, the Czech Republic and Slovakia had already equipped Kiev with Soviet-era armor, supposed to interchange the autos misplaced within the battles with the Russian army.
Morawiecki additionally pledged to ship 14 of the German-made Leopard 2 autos to Kiev, later clarifying that the promise was supposed to strain Berlin into doing the identical. It was unclear whether or not any Polish Leopards have been truly despatched to Ukraine.
Hyped by the Western and Ukrainian press as wonder-weapons that may win the warfare, the Leopards ended up getting destroyed in giant numbers throughout the Zaporozhye offensive final summer season.
Talking about the way forward for Polish armored forces, Ratka famous that Warsaw is working some T-72s and PT-91s nonetheless, in addition to three variations of the Leopard 2 and an unspecified variety of the US-made Abrams and South Korean K2 ‘Black Panther’ MBTs.
Poland has made plans to purchase greater than 350 Abrams tanks, together with 250 of the newer M1A2 mannequin, Ratka stated, in addition to 180 or so K2s. Credit score issues have troubled the deliberate buy from Seoul, nevertheless.
Ratka added that Poland was planning to close down the amenities producing spare components for the Soviet legacy programs, because it couldn’t manufacture among the key elements, reminiscent of turrets and engines. The destiny of the remaining T-72s and PT-91s was unsure, he famous, suggesting that they could find yourself being despatched to Ukraine as properly.
You may share this story on social media:
