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A Russian army BAT-2.

As Russias winter offensive peters out in the ruins of Bakhmut and Vuhledar, in eastern Ukraines Donbas region, Ukraine is preparing to seize the initiativeand launch a counteroffensive.

Keep a lookout for Ukraines ex-Russian BAT-2 armored engineering vehicles. Its possible the hulking AEVs are about to become very useful.

The Russians knew this time would come. Starting last fall, they began digging in eastern and southern Ukraine. Laying mines, stringing up razor wire, digging anti-tank trenches and building bunkers.

These fortifications stretch for hundreds of miles along the Ukraine front. Holding them will be the Russians main task. Breaching them will be the Ukrainians main task.

A breach is one of the most complex and dangerous missions in land warfare. Engineers must clear a lane through minefields, fill or bridge trenches then excavate earthen berms. And they have to do it quickly, while under fire.

To give the sappers a fighting chance, armies deploy armored engineering vehicles theyve optimized for breaching.

The best breaching vehicles can clear mines, fill trenches and excavate berms, all while deflecting small arms fire and artillery shrapnel. Examples include Germanys Dachs, the American Assault Breacher and Russias BAT-2.

It should come as no surprise that, as Ukraines allies supply equipment for the coming counteroffensive, breaching vehicles have been a top priority. The United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway and Sweden together have pledged to Ukraine dozens of specialized AEVs.

Ironically, the Russians have helped out, too. When Russia widened its war on Ukraine back in February 2022, a host of AEVs led the way. As the Russian advance faltered and regiments retreated to the current front line, they left behind nearly 200 of these specialist vehicles. Many of them now work for Ukraine.

Among the engineering vehicles Russian forces abandoned in Ukraine last year are no fewer than three BAT-2s.

The 40-ton BAT-2 adds a dozer blade, a soil-ripping spike, a two-ton crane and a crew compartment for eight people onto the lower hull and suspension of a T-64 tank.

The BAT-2 uses its huge, hull-mounted blade to clear a path through minefields, fill trenches and smash through berms and other obstacles.

Its not for no reason that, when hundreds of thousands of Belarusians took to the streets in Minsk and other cities to protest their authoritarian government back in 2020, the Russian army deployed at least one BAT-2 in Minsk. Its job: to punch through the protestors barricades.

Russias BAT-2s met their match in Ukraine. The vehicles are powerful and versatile. But theyre also slow and lightly armored. A BAT-2 like any armored engineering vehicle requires close protection from infantry and tanks. If the infantry and tanks retreat, they risk leaving behind their attached AEVs.

Whether the Ukrainian army makes better use of its BAT-2s than the Russian army did comes down to leadership and discipline. A breach is a classic combined-arms operation. That is, it requires infantry, tankers and engineers to work together.

The Russian army in Ukraine has neglected combined armsand paid for it with heavy losses. The Ukrainian armys own battlefield practices are more sound, thanks in large part to intensive training alongside NATO forces. But the coming breaching ops might be the real test of the Ukrainians combined-arms prowess.

If theres a flaw in Ukrainian preparations for the coming counteroffensive, its a lack of material depth. Kyivs ammunition stocks are dangerously low. And it has too few of its best vehicles.

Its unclear whether the Ukrainian army inherited any working BAT-2s from the Soviet army when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The three BAT-2s that the Ukrainians captured from the Russians might be the only BAT-2s in Kyivs inventory.

In Russian army doctrine, engineers attached to a battalion tactical group form a movement support detachment that trails behind the first line of tanks. Each detachment has four BAT-2s. Three BAT-2s are too few to equip even a single battalion to the Russian standard.

Breaching vehicles work fastest when they work together. An understrength BAT-2 detachment would work slower than a full-strength detachment would. And it would lose capability quickly with every vehicle that gets damaged or destroyed.

This fragility could be one of the main limiting factors in Ukraines coming counteroffensive. Its possible the Ukrainian army has just enough BAT-2s and similar vehicles for one attempt at simultaneously breaching Russian fortifications in the east and south.

Originally posted here:

Ukraine Has Captured Three of Russia's Giant Engineering Vehicles ... - Forbes