Russia and Ukraine

[Fake Messiah]

The up-gunned, tracked MT-LBs are further evidence of the Kremlin’s worsening equipment crisis as it struggles to make good its losses in Ukraine.

The first of these weirdo MT-LBs started showing up in Ukraine last month. On or before Feb. 3, Ukrainian forces in Vuhledar captured from hapless Russian brigades a 13-ton, two-crew MT-LB sporting a 2M-7 gunboat turret.

The 2M-7 is an over-under pair of 14.5-millimeter machine guns behind a steel shield. It entered service with Soviet forces in 1945.

Ukrainian missile teams, tankers and artillery gunners—including the crews of MT-LB-12s—can hit the weirdo Russian vehicles from thousands of yards beyond the weirdos’ own firing range. That might not be such a big problem if the MT-LB were better-protected.

Now, the Russian MT-LB/2M-3/7 might have an anti-aircraft role—which, of course, would obviate the armor problem. But the vehicle lacks a radar to guide its gunfire. So if it is an air-defense system, it’s a bad one.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/20...-tractors/