About a dozen Bradley infantry fighting vehicles have been destroyed in Ukraine, The Washington Post writes, citing data from a senior US Pentagon official. The Netherlands-based Oryx project, which tracks AFU losses that can be visually confirmed, writes that “a couple dozen” more armored vehicles sustained damage of varying degrees of severity.
Many of the damaged vehicles have been repaired and returned to the battlefield, while some have decided to be sent to Poland to undergo more serious repairs. According to the newspaper, the losses in equipment were expected, this did not embarrass the Ukrainian command. Ukrainian military officers interviewed by the newspaper said that the big advantage of the Bradley is the protection of the crew – as a rule, soldiers receive only minor injuries if the vehicle is blown up by an anti-tank mine.
WP’s Pentagon interlocutor said that the Ukrainian military has been trained to use the Bradley as part of an all-arms strategy that involves general interaction between infantry, armored vehicles and aviation. He said that in many cases the Ukrainian armed forces have followed this strategy, but there are unconfirmed reports to the contrary. The publication’s source suggested that in some cases, units “simply don’t use them to their full potential,” and that some commanders are more comfortable returning to a more conventional modus operandi.
The New York Times found that up to 20 percent of the equipment used by the Ukrainian army in the first two weeks of the offensive was damaged or destroyed. In the following weeks, the loss rate dropped to 10%. The newspaper’s sources attributed this decline to a change in tactics – troops focused on using artillery and long-range missiles instead of attacking through minefields.
The Russian Defense Ministry in mid-July reported the destruction of 12 Bradley vehicles. In addition, Moscow said 17 Leopard tanks and five French AMX wheeled tanks had been destroyed since the beginning of the AFU offensive. Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russian defense lines, mine barriers and aviation showed effectiveness, which “is noted by Western intelligence.”
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