It would seem that a new modern tank should always be better than the old one, and the new armored personnel carrier, developed taking into account the latest trends, is a priori better than the old 30-year-old "iron". This rule does not work in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. There everything is assessed exactly the opposite.
Why the old T-64 is better than the "new" BM "Bulat"
“In general, the reserve of equipment is still large, but all this equipment is outdated, and the potential for modernization is practically exhausted. Some upgrade options are unsuccessful in real combat. For example, the T-64BM "Bulat" tanks, due to their heavy weight and weak engine, turned out to be ineffective, were transferred to the reserve and replaced by linear T-64 "(Deputy Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for logistics, Major General Yuri Tolochny).
So, why does Yuri Tolochny consider the good old T-64, or rather, one of its latest light versions of modernization (T-64B1M), more in demand than the BM "Bulat", which is rightfully considered the best version of the modernization of this Soviet tank?
No, of course, it's not a question of maneuverability. The T-64B1M tank has a 5TDF engine with a capacity of 700 liters. with. The basic version of the BM "Bulat" is a forced version of the same 5TDFM engine with a capacity of 850 hp. with. Probably, General Tolochny compares "Bulat" with T-64BM1M, which is equipped with a 6TD engine with a capacity of 1000 hp. with. But this is incorrect, since exactly the same engine, if desired, can be installed on the BM "Bulat", if the customer has such a desire.
So, the whole point is not in maneuverability, but in the fact that the T-64B1M and T-64BM1M tanks are equipped with spare parts and bodywork from the warehouses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, inherited from the USSR, and for the BM "Bulat" it is necessary to produce partially new and expensive equipment.
Actually, that is why, in 2014, Kiev settled on these two main versions of the modernization of the tank. Everything they needed was in warehouses and did not require costs.
On the contrary, such upgrades could still make very good money. Criminal cases against directors of Ukrainian armored factories, where exactly such schemes of sawing military budgets have surfaced en masse, is a confirmation of this.
It got to the point of being ridiculous. The plant sold spare parts to a front company and bought them from the next one, but already as new. Moreover, the spare parts themselves never left the territory of the "native" plant.
With tanks, I think everything is clear. But here at the APU everything is more or less good. At the very least, there are still Soviet reserves, and in the campaigns of 2014-15. tanks were destroyed much less frequently than lightly armored vehicles. A real detective story begins when you begin to immerse yourself in the details of the production of such machines by Ukrainian factories.
And having figured it out, you immediately begin to understand the feelings of the Kiev soldiers, who really do not like these remakes.
It's all about armor and barrels
In fact, Kiev has one problem. Technological degradation. All other troubles are a derivative of it. The thing is that in Ukraine they have forgotten how to roll good armor. And as a result, all new Ukrainian armored personnel carriers and armored vehicles have the same problem.
For the first time, it was revealed during the implementation of the so-called Iraqi contract even under Yanukovych. The Iraqi military simply refused to accept one of the batches of new BTR-4 armored personnel carriers, since they had cracks in the hull (and a host of other problems).
After long attempts to cram the unproductive and the ordeal of Ukrainian politicians and diplomats, these cars ended up in Donbass, where the war had just begun. And here they earned themselves a lot of ridicule from their own and the enemy. The cars were covered with cracks and did not hold the bullets of ordinary small arms, they often broke. In short, they "sabotaged" the conduct of hostilities and behaved like real "agents of the Kremlin" and accomplices of the "separatists".
As a result of the first battles, it became clear that the vehicles require radical modernization.
By the way, similar problems manifested themselves not only in the ill-fated BTR-3 and BTR-4, but also in all Ukrainian new armored vehicles produced under the contracts of the Ministry of Defense, starting in 2014. Everywhere the armor did not hold a bullet, and everywhere it had to be reinforced. And the gain was due to the increase in weight. As a result, the suspension could not withstand and broke down, and the floating machines themselves became purely land-based.
In general, just one, but an important technological problem has turned the once glorious branch of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine into a laughing stock.
By the way, the same thing happens in Kiev with the trunks. Do you know what this shroud around the barrel of a standard Soviet 30mm cannon is?
Its task is to stabilize the barrel, since without it the gun shoots anywhere. The root of this problem is the same. There is no corresponding steel grade from which quality barrels can be made. And so everywhere. As soon as you start to study another Kiev know-how in the field of tank building, you come across the consequences of the technical degradation of the industry.
It is noteworthy that large-caliber barrels are not produced in Ukraine. And also for the same reason. After all, a 125-mm tank cannon can no longer be taken into the casing, and without it it will shoot anywhere, but not at the target.
An example from life. The author of these lines perfectly remembers the story of one of his acquaintances, who participated in the tests of 125-mm tank barrels manufactured in the 1990s at the Sumy Pipe Plant for the tanks of the Pakistani contract. Even then, literally after the collapse of the USSR, residents of Sumy could not get a gun with the required characteristics. The barrel survivability was 2-3 times lower than the Soviet samples, and Pakistani customers did not want to accept such a product. We got out of the situation simply. The required number of old barrels was taken from the warehouses, and the products of the Sumy machine builders were put there in return.
When in 2014 Kiev decided to try to restore the production of at least such "guns", it turned out that there were no more specialists or the corresponding technologies in production. That is why Sumy residents do not make guns for ATO today. They can no longer. And so it is everywhere in Ukraine now. There is no technology, no high-quality military equipment.
I think it is now clear why today the samples of military equipment that have been preserved and modernized from Soviet warehouses are so highly valued in the Armed Forces. And you don't need to be a great analyst to predict that as soon as the last reserves of the former USSR are completely taken out, the combat power of this army will begin to decline. Rather, it is already falling, judging by the statements of the Ukrainian military, and this has not yet been clearly observed only because there has been no active hostilities in the Donbas for the third year already.
