Knutov spoke about the trick of using the Whirlwind missiles
AFU finally put into action the Leopard tanks received from NATO, which Kiev reserved for a big offensive. True, the debut of German tanks cannot be called successful. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, 8 Leopard tanks were shot down in one day, not counting other armored vehicles. Military expert Yuri Knutov told MK what weapons were used to destroy Leopard tanks and why our army aviation turned out to be stronger than NATO armor.
Ukrainian troops began to actively use NATO equipment only with the start of a major offensive. Until June 4, German Leopard tanks, British Challenger tanks and French AMX-10RC wheeled tanks were not seen in combat.
Experts have long been talking about the armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine received from NATO, for sure, being thrown into a breach in the main direction. By the number of NATO armored vehicles, it will be possible to determine which direction the enemy will choose as the main one.
Zelensky and his generals have been begging for tanks from the US and NATO for a very long time. Finally, their «Wishlist» was satisfied. NATO tanks became for Kyiv another «wunder-waffe» — an invincible miracle weapon, which was designed to ensure the success of a large offensive towards the Crimea and Azov. However, something went wrong. Thus, during June 5, losses in the equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the South-Donetsk direction amounted to 28 tanks, including 8 Leopards, three French wheeled tanks AMX-10 and 109 armored combat vehicles.
And before that, the enemy destroyed one «leopard» with his own hands. According to the acting head of the Russian Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin, at one of the sites, a few days ago, the enemy tried to break through on German tanks. However, the attempt was unsuccessful — the Russian military knocked out the tank and tried to pull the trophy towards them for study.
“When our tanks advanced to pull it out, two tanks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine appeared. But instead of repulsing our attack, they began to destroy the Leopard tank,” the official said.
According to the Fighterbomber Telegram channel, Russian army aviation, which is very numerous on the line of contact, is now mainly busy destroying enemy armored vehicles, including «leopards».
So, what are the German tanks afraid of? Western armored vehicles were vulnerable to our helicopter missiles. Russian Ka-52 attack helicopters equipped with the GOES-451 optical-electronic sighting system took part in the destruction of the Leopards. They attacked the equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with anti-tank missiles «Whirlwind».
According to the military expert, director of the Air Defense Museum Yuri Knutov, the armor of German equipment leaves much to be desired. And even the improved Leopard is rather weakly protected.
— Unfortunately, it is not reported what type of «leopards» was destroyed. It is not completely clear whether this is Leopard-1 or Leopard-2. The fact is that the Leopard-1 is much weaker armored than the Leopard-2. The Leopard-1 is an older model and has very weak armor. Although Leopard-2 is also vulnerable. On the tower and in the upper part of the hull there is a reservation that protects only from fragments and bullets. Therefore, the use of anti-tank missiles of our helicopters is always justified and effective.
According to the expert, helicopters have long been used as a means of destroying armored vehicles. Anti-tank missiles have been specially developed for helicopters, allowing these armored vehicles to be destroyed with a sufficiently high efficiency. Moreover, Russian Ka-52 helicopters can use the Arbalet airborne radar. She detects a cluster of Ukrainian armored vehicles at a distance of 10-12 kilometers. And Vikhr missiles are used in a cunning way so that they fly farther and more accurately.
— Vikhr missiles usually hit a target from a distance of 6-7 kilometers, — said Yuri Knutov. — The range of newer missiles, if I'm not mistaken, is about ten kilometers. Working at such a distance, helicopters do not enter the effective range of man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems, such as Stingers. Our helicopter pilots still use these missiles, conducting a kind of hinged fire, which increases the range and at the same time maintains the accuracy of the defeat. I think that during the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, our helicopter pilots will demonstrate the ability to destroy NATO armored vehicles more than once or twice.