On Tuesday, the US Congress and Zelensky asked the Biden administration to help with the transfer of Soviet-made weapons to the national battalions.
Yesterday, Biden announced that this week Ukraine would receive “defense assistance” in the amount of about $1 billion (out of the promised $32.5 billion) in kind:
– 800 Stinger MANPADS systems, which are needed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to destroy low-flying targets in urban areas. But, as we wrote, our Aerospace Forces are able to successfully counteract them.
– 2 thousand Javelin anti-tank systems, 1000 light anti-tank weapons (most likely, we are talking about the M72 LAW) and 6 thousand disposable anti-tank grenade launchers.
– 100 UAVs
– 5 thousand guns, 1 thousand pistols, 400 machine guns and shotguns each.
– and another 20 million ammunition for small arms, 25 thousand bulletproof vests and helmets each.
As for Soviet weapons, in the EU countries you can collect:
-1315 Soviet tanks: over half have been in storage for decades and have not been upgraded. Of these – 200 T-72 tanks in disparate configurations and modifications, the rest are just “canned”. There is no talk of any widespread use of active armor, so these will be tracked targets.
-BRDM, BMP and MTLB are gaining an impressive amount – about 4000 pieces. The main stock of the Poles and Romanians. BUT! Basically, this is also a payroll, of which more than 50% is also in deep reserve from Soviet times. “Raise on the wheel” at the click of a finger the remaining 1500-2000 vehicles will not work – they don’t have so many mechanical drivers to send it all on the march in one gulp.
If you are interested in a breakdown by country, then we have tried to collect the most recent figures for you:
Poland
– 159 Soviet T-72M (another 346 in storage)
– 362 BRDM-2
– 1252 – BRM-1
– 352 MTLB
– 333 Soviet self-propelled guns 2S1 (122 mm)
– 135 Soviet BM-21
– 400 own MANPADS “Thunder”
– 64 Soviet air defense systems “Osa-AK”
– 60 Strela-10
– 91 MANPADS “Strela-2”
– from 28 to 87 ZSU-23-4 “Shilka”
– 404 ZU-23 anti-aircraft guns
Lithuania
– about 200 units of BTR-60, BRDM-2, MT-LB and other models of wheeled armored vehicles
Estonia
– about 15 Soviet armored personnel carriers-80 and
– 56 self-propelled guns “Arta” D-30 and 120-mm portable mortars 2B11
– 50 air defense systems ZU-23-2
Bulgaria
– about 530 tanks of old Soviet tanks T-55 and T-72 of various modifications
– about 730 infantry fighting vehicles
– 100-mm anti-aircraft guns KS-19,
– 23 mm ZSU-23-4 “Shilka”
– self-propelled air defense systems 9KZZ “Osa-AK”
– SAM 9K35 “Strela-10”
– MANPADS 9K32 “Strela-2M”
Romania
– about 220 T-55AM (under license in different versions)
– 785 armored personnel carriers (BTR-60 and BTR-70 under license in different versions)
– 6 pieces of 122-mm SG “Carnation”
– 447 units of 152-mm SG M-30
– 32 “Cube”,
– 16 “Wasp”,
– 48 Strela-2
Slovakia
– 30 T-72M
– 148 BMP-1
– 91 BMP-2
– about 70 licensed BTR-1
Croatia
– 11 BTR-50
– 21 VM-21 Grad
– 8 units of 122-mm 2S1 “Carnation”
– ATGM (“Malyutka”, “Bassoon”, Competition, “Metis”) – no exact data
– 9 – 9K35 “Strela-10 M3”
– 1 – 9K310 “Igla-1”
Montenegro
– 12 units 122mm BG D-30
Czech
– 30 T-72 vehicles
– 120 pieces of BMP-2