(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Quick Explainer: Why a truck may be how Ukraine achieves operational surprise [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-06 M1070 Heavy Equipment Transporter (HET) If there’s one thing that you should take away from the Russo-Ukrainian War. I think it’s that “support” is as important, if not more important, than the quality of the weapons being used to conduct the actual fighting. On paper, the Russian army looked fearsome with its massive army of tanks, huge batteries of artillery, giant air force and a 160,000+ invasion force. And it certain has done tremendous damage both to the Armed Force of Ukraine (AFU)’s soldiers, equipment, as well as Ukraine’s civilians and infrastructure. But the things that have stymied the Russian army have consistently been “the little things.” Communications—radios, encryption, coordination it permits. Maintenance—having good tires so your supply trucks don’t break down. So your wheeled AFVs don’t break down in mud. Logistics—the ability to bring your supplies to the front line. What should be clear is the “little things” ARE the “BIG THINGS.” So that brings me to the topic today. When you scroll down the list of aid packages to Ukraine, people tend to focus on the “fun stuff.” Leopard and Abram tanks. Guided munitions. Mig-29 fighters. And yes, these are all great, all important—critical for Ukraine’s survival. But there’s been a lot of stuff announced in aid packages recently that are just as important as those featured headline grabbing big ticket items. Challenger Armored Recovery Vehicle (UK) For example. the US sent 32 tank recovery vehicles. along with several dozen more from Germany, UK, the Netherlands and more, which allows the AFU to recover damaged or malfunctioning tanks. While the AFU has been making do all too frequently with civilian equipment to recover broken down (or captured) tanks, it’s far safer and faster to do it with an armored recovery vehicle that doesn’t need to wait till the fighting is done to go pick up a damaged tank. The US delivered 69 fuel tankers and another 106 fuel trailers, and I don’t think anyone needs an explanation of why fuel is critical to an armored offensive. But one relatively mundane sounding item that may be critical for Ukraine’s ability to surprise the Russian army in launching an assault is the delivery of 35 Oshkosh M1070 Heavy Equipment Transporters (HETs). I mean, that sounds pretty boring no? M1070 HET Here’s why that news should excite you. The M1070 HET can help Ukraine achieve operational surprise. That is, Ukraine can assemble an operational level force (brigade sized forces 100-ish tanks or 3000-5000 soldiers) in a span of time that makes it hard for Russia to detect and react, allowing Ukraine to catch Russia off-footed when it launches its assault. Tanks are a pain in the a** to move around, particular Western tanks like the Challenger 2 or the Leopard 2 that weigh well over 70 tons. The standard way that AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine) or the Russian Army moves tanks for longer distances tend to rely on trains. Most standard trucks struggle to move a 50-70 ton tank. Tanks suffer from a lot of equipment breakdowns quite easily, so driving them cross-country for 100+ miles should be avoided if at all possible. If you drove tanks along a highway, it would quickly rip up the highway’s pavement, and you would end up with a dirt road quite quickly. Railroads tend to be under surveillance, as movement is (obviously) predictable, and so if you are transporting 100 tanks by train, it will be hard to do that without the enemy noticing. You’re also restricted to launching an offensive close to a rail head in those circumstances. Mark noted how Russia only receives high quality satellite imagery of Ukraine once every 2 weeks (instead of multiple times per day for US intelligence passed to Ukraine). This certainly makes it easier to achieve operational surprise, but with reconnaissance drones and air craft keeping an eye on the front lines—especially close to railheads, it increases the challenges of being able to surprise the enemy. What the M1070 HET truck gives you is unparalleled mobility. Each truck can make 81kmh (about 50mph) on a highway, and can tow over 80 tons of equipment, allowing it to transport even the heaviest western tanks and self propelled guns. Assuming you could maintain 40mph on roads, you could make a 120 mile round trip in 6 hours. Assuming you had multiple drivers and kept things moving efficiently, you could theoretically make 4 round trips in maybe 26-27 hours. In other words, 35 M1070 HET trucks gives you the ability to transport 140 tanks 200km (120 mi) in a single day, Or 100km (60 mi) overnight. The Russians in a defensive position could go to bed reassured that there’s no significant enemy force within 100km, then wake up to 140 tanks ready to launch an offensive. A “Heavy Equipment Transporter” is basically just a big truck. It has no guns. It has no armor. It has no role to play once the guns start shooting. But it may be the difference between forcing Ukraine to launch a predictable assault close to a rail head, or Ukraine suddenly appearing overnight at a place the Russians’ don’t expect to begin the long awaited armored offensive. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/6/2162466/-Quick-Explainer-Why-a-truck-may-be-how-Ukraine-achieves-operational-surprise Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/