The drone combat in Ukraine that is transforming modern warfare has begun taking a deadly toll on one of the most powerful symbols of American military might — the tank — and threatening to rewrite how it will be used in future conflicts.
Over the last two months, Russian forces have taken out five of the 31 American-made M1 Abrams tanks that the Pentagon sent to Ukraine last fall, a senior U.S. official said.
A vast majority of those are Soviet-era, Russian or Ukrainian-made tanks; only about 140 of those taken out in battle were given to Ukraine by NATO states.
And Russia has so far lost more than 2,900 tanks, the Oryx data show, although Ukraine claims that the number exceeds 7,000.
German Leopard tanks have also been targeted in Ukraine, with at least 30 having been destroyed, Oryx says.
Persons:
Markus Reisner, Abrams, ”
Organizations:
Abrams, Pentagon, NATO, Leopard, Hudson Institute
Locations:
Ukraine, U.S, Austrian, Russia, Washington