https://www.svoboda.org/a/medlennay...-armii-v-delo-poshel-metallolom/33067380.html
"Slow Cannibalization": Scrap Metal Put to Use in Russian Army
06 August 2024
Half-disassembled military equipment at one of the Russian storage bases
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Russian military equipment warehouses continue to empty, unusable equipment goes for spare parts
In early July, Radio Liberty
reported how, as military equipment is lost and gradually emptied, older models are being delivered to the Russian troops, and what remains in the warehouses is mostly what requires serious repairs before being sent to the front. New data shows that this process is continuing, and some time ago, those parts of the warehouses where dismantled infantry fighting vehicles were stored also began to empty.
Some of them were missing turrets, engines, and even parts of the armored hull, notes an OSINT analyst writing on the social network X under the nickname
@Jonpy99 .
If you count tanks, says a military expert who blogs on YouTube under the name Covert Cabal in a new video, Russia has 12,500 armored vehicles left, down from the 22,000-plus it had before the war. Satellite images available to Radio Liberty show that more than half of that number are in poor or at least less than ideal condition, meaning that such vehicles either cannot be sent to the front at all or require expensive repairs before they can be sent.
Video analysis of the amount of equipment remaining in Russian storage bases, based on satellite images (Russian subtitles available):
(linkittää Covert Cabalin tuoreen Youtube-videon)
Cannibalization (i.e. the use of incomplete equipment as a donor of spare parts) is indicated both by its disappearance from some warehouses and, conversely, by the increase in half-disassembled vehicles in others. For example, at the 349th Central Tank Storage Base in Topchikha (Altai Krai), the number of infantry armored vehicles in satellite images is growing - but upon closer inspection, they all turn out to be in a state of unsuitability for operation.
From 2023 to mid-2024, according to the analysis of satellite images, IFVs were most often subjected to cannibalization. The authors of the study note that some of the incomplete equipment that disappeared from the images could have been sent to repair plants.
"Russia has practically only old BMP-1s left in its storage, while in Ukraine, judging by the video from the front, it is losing mainly BMP-2s - because spare parts from the BMP-1 are used to repair the BMP-2," says @Jonpy99.
How empty the storage area for incomplete vehicles at the 1295th Central Reserve and Storage Base for Armored Vehicles in Arsenyev, Primorsky Krai, has become since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A comparison of satellite images from November 5, 2022 (left) and July 22, 2024 (right) shows that most of the partially disassembled armored vehicles have disappeared from the base during this period:
(katso kuvat linkin takaa)
"The rate of cannibalization continues to grow, but Russia already has very little of some types of equipment in its warehouses. It is possible that almost everything that was good for this has already been dismantled for spare parts," the OSINT analyst adds. In particular, according to calculations, by the beginning of the summer Russia had about 22% of the pre-war number of MT-LBs
(light armored multi-purpose transporter-tractor, colloquially "motolyga" - RS) left in storage. Now their number has decreased to 14% of the pre-war stocks. There are 33% of the BMDs (airborne armored vehicles) left in the number stored at bases before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, analysts note that satellite images do not allow us to look inside the indoor facilities where the equipment is also stored, but they assume that armored vehicles in better condition were stored there and they were sent to the front a long time ago.
Fresh satellite images show that from January to July 2024 alone, the number of armored vehicles at Russian storage bases decreased by 11%, and in the case of the MT-LB, by 51% (only 14% of the pre-war stocks of these vehicles remained).
Comparison of the pre-war number of infantry fighting vehicles at the main Russian military equipment storage bases with the situation as of mid-2024 (excluding tanks):
(käänsin artikkelin taulukon englanniksi ja laskin siihen hieman lisää sarakkeita, data on silti sama)
"Russia has probably already passed the peak of de-mothballing stored infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers. Most of the BMPs left in warehouses are rusty and empty hulls that have been sitting there for years, and they are starting to pull even older armored vehicles out of storage that have refused to be used until now, but at this point the Russian army simply has no other options," says @Jonpy99.
What does this mean for Russia and the war in Ukraine?
“It’s tempting to look at the rate of attrition and extrapolate from that to see when it will end. We’re almost 900 days into the full-scale war, and if Russia has irreparably lost 2/3 of its armored vehicles in good condition, that suggests the stockpiles will be completely empty in about 450 days, by the end of October 2025. The reality is more complicated. While we’re categorizing these vehicles into 2 or 3 categories for simplicity, the reality is that the range is much wider. Some vehicles in decent condition might take 1 week to repair, others 1 month. Some might be in good condition but require a few specific parts that aren’t available. Sometimes they might pull two vehicles out of storage to get the parts they need and assemble one into a working one,” says Covert Cabal.
6018th Central Tank Storage Base in Kamyshlov, Sverdlovsk Oblast. Left: pre-war satellite image, right: empty storage area for incomplete equipment in a satellite photo taken in 2024:
(katso kuvat linkin takaa)
"Trying to predict when Russia might completely exhaust its military equipment reserves is difficult and not entirely correct," the analyst continues. "Most vehicles, even in the worst condition, can be repaired and restored, it just requires a huge amount of work. To the point that it will be uneconomical and not worth the money and effort invested. Nevertheless, the shortage of vehicles available "here and now" will grow."