We have counted 3,463 tanks at storage bases. There are about 1,253 more tanks at waiting areas at armored tank factories. In total, there are 4,716. But it is worth understanding that not all of these tanks can and will be restored due to their technical condition.
For example, out of a total of 4,716 tanks, about 650 are T-64s, which cannot be restored due to the need for components manufactured in Ukraine. The only chance is smuggling, but how widespread it can be, given that a certain number of T-64s are already in service with the Moscow army and require maintenance, is a debatable issue.
So there are about 4000+ tanks left. Of these, about 2/3 are tanks in an extremely terrible technical condition and therefore require restoration from scratch. Therefore, most of them will rather be used as donors, and only a small part will go for restoration as a last resort.
Thus, only about 1,200 tanks can be restored somehow after a major overhaul. This will take more time and money, but will be slightly faster than producing from scratch.
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Lainaan myös artikkelista heidän arvionsa aktivoinnin hidastumisesta sekä sen vaikutuksista käytettävissä olevien panssarivaunujen kokonaismäärään:
At the end of 2024, the average production rate dropped to 50 tanks per month (up to 600 tanks per year), which is significantly lower than the rate of losses, given the need to replace 1,200-1,300 tanks per year.
The first observations for 2025 allow us to estimate a production rate of 30-35 units per month (or 360-400 tanks per year) with the potential for a sharp drop in the recovery rate at the end of the first half of 2025. The drop in the rate will be associated primarily with the exhaustion of T-80s suitable for recovery and modernization.
So what we see: from the second half of 2025, the current rate of replacement of tank losses of the Moscow army will hypothetically cover no more than 30% of the current losses at the front.
Therefore, the tank population will rapidly decline from 2025, which, in turn, will lead to a decrease in the involvement of equipment in assaults. And this, accordingly, will increase infantry losses during assaults, which will have corresponding consequences for the economy of the aggressor country.
Our conclusions are not a statement that Muscovy will be “without equipment”. Moscow is capable of producing and will be able to restore equipment from bases for some time. However, the intensity of the use of armored vehicles in assaults will continue to decrease due to the decline in the ability to replace losses. And this, in turn, will lead to a corresponding increase in infantry losses and an increase in the burden on the Muscovy budget for recruiting new soldiers and providing them.
In this case, the Moscow command will face a dilemma: either reduce the pace of the offensive to reduce the need for armored vehicles, or reduce the involvement of equipment in assaults and accept as a fact the increase in infantry losses with the corresponding military and economic consequences.
If the Moscow command attempts to maintain the current offensive pace by increasing the involvement of infantry, this will inevitably lead to a proportional increase in losses in the absence of a sufficient level of motorized support.
For example, by February 24, 2022, the Muscovite army had a staff number of about 3,200 tanks. From 2022 to 2024, Muscovite created an additional 11 divisions, which, according to calculations (approximately 187 to 210 tanks per division), should have brought the staff number of tanks to 5,000-5,100 units.
But according to OSINT data and comments from various intelligence agencies, including Ukrainian, there were about 2,200 tanks in Ukraine and near the borders at the beginning of 2024. Given the fact that at the end of the second half of 2024 the rate of losses exceeded the level of recovery, we can assume that as of 2025, the Moscow group has, according to our estimates, less than 2,000 tanks in Ukraine and near the borders. Or up to 40% of the required standard number.
In 2025, Moscow's industry will hypothetically produce, restore, or repair up to 400 units. That is, hypothetically, the group could have 2,400 tanks, but taking into account losses on the battlefield in 2025, if Moscow tries to maintain the pace of equipment deployment at the level of 2022/23/24, this will lead to the loss of 1,200 tanks in 2025, which will reduce the total number of tanks in combat units to 1,200 by the end of 2025 (i.e. 2,400, which could be, taking into account production, minus 1,200 tanks).
And this is only 23% of the required standard number of tanks. In the future, with each election cycle, the rate of tank production will decrease due to the poorer quality of the units that will be received for repair.
Since the so-called manufactured tanks in 80% of cases are tanks restored from storage bases, and only up to 20% are produced from scratch, this component will continue to be depleted. Of course, this will happen provided that the intensity and involvement of equipment are maintained.
The current production of tanks from scratch, according to the British International Institute for Strategic Studies, from May 17, 2022 to May 6, 2024, demonstrates that
Muscovy produced 164 T-90M tanks. Or approximately 80 tanks per year.
These are the only tanks that Muscovy can produce relatively from scratch. Although even these 80 units per year may include a certain amount of modernization from the T-90, of which there were over 100 at storage bases, to the T-90M version.
As a result, the reduction in mechanization will lead to increased losses and increase pressure on the Moscow budget: from payments for the dead and wounded, the maintenance of demobilized soldiers who have suffered injuries, to the need to increase spending on recruiting new soldiers and providing them.
Therefore, we emphasize that it is important to consider the decline in Moscow's ability to restore lost equipment not in the context of "When the tanks run out, the war will end." No. This is the wrong approach. There will always be a certain number of tanks and other armored vehicles (because they are being produced), but their insufficient production rates to replace losses trigger other processes — from economic to political and social.