The Chief of the British Defence Staff said the hardware is being studied with the goal of defeating it in potential future conflicts
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian soldier of the 35th Brigade next to a destroyed Russian tank. © Diego Herrera Carcedo / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Ukraine is handing over some captured and destroyed Russian tanks to the UK, where the armored vehicles are being meticulously studied by experts, a top British military commander has said, according to an article by The Telegraph on Tuesday.
The outlet quoted the Chief of the British Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin as saying that “we have the scientists that unpick the detail that another nation might have to a really forensic level.” The study of Russian tanks conducted at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Porton Down aims to answer a variety of questions such as, “how does their equipment work, how can we defeat it, how can we have even better armour, how can we disrupt their communications, how can we ensure that we can penetrate their defences?” the official explained.
Radakin added that London is willing to share its findings with allies, suggesting that Moscow “might be a danger to us in the future.”
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was also quoted by The Telegraph as saying that he was not going to reverse the trend which has seen the British military dwindle to an unprecedentedly low personnel level in recent years. Wallace announced his upcoming departure from the office last week, but insisted that London would instead funnel more money into high-tech weapons.
Meanwhile, speaking to the Russian media on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed that experts were also studying captured Western weapons, hinting that some of their findings could be used in “reverse engineering.”
“If there is an opportunity to look inside and see if there is something that we can apply, then why not?” the Russian head of state asserted.
Putin hastened to add, however, that Russia’s T-90 main battle tank is the “best in the world, without any exaggeration.”
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian military has lost 3,000 units of heavy military equipment since it launched its counteroffensive in early June. Putin stated last week that approximately 300 Western-made armored vehicles are among the destroyed Ukrainian hardware.
Last month, Forbes described the Ukrainian counteroffensive as “disastrous,” with The New York Times reporting last week that Kiev had lost 20% of the equipment it sent into battle during the early stages of the operation.
