The US military intends to replicate the military equipment of their likely adversaries for training purposes. They will acquire imitations of Russian T-72B3 tanks and Chinese VN17 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs). Analogues will be created on the basis of the M2A2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. figured out why the Pentagon needed this method of teaching. “The US Army wants to teach its military to recognize enemy equipment on the battlefield and be able to distinguish enemy armored vehicles from their own. Russian T-72B3 tanks and Chinese VN17 infantry fighting vehicles were chosen as training targets. The Pentagon considered that it was they who could be a likely enemy on the battlefield, ”writes the American edition of the Military Times.
To imitate the Pentagon, they decided to use their Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, created back in the mid-1970s. This BMP in a modernized form is still in service with the American army. About 2800 old samples are in storage. So they decided to partially "convert" them into T-72 tanks. For greater similarity, bulwark screens and anti-cumulative grilles were installed, the tower was equipped with containers that simulate dynamic protection. The standard 25-mm automatic cannon was replaced with a mock-up of a 125-mm tank gun, and “fuel tanks” were hung at the stern to make it more convincing.
The publication recalls that earlier, to imitate the BMP-2, T-72 and T-80 in the US Army, light tanks M551 Sheridan used their resources. Shooting at copies took place, in particular, at the US Army National Training Center at Fort Irvine.
At the same time, experts interviewed by the Military Times doubt the practical need for such copying. “I absolutely do not understand why this is necessary. A very dubious target decoration, ”the publication quotes the publication of former US Marine Corps Colonel Ron Makkeley.
A similar point of view is shared by Russian military experts.
“The cadets of military schools, both in Soviet times and now, must know by heart the equipment of the armies of a potential enemy,” said reserve colonel, teacher of fire training Vadim Kuzmin. - The performance characteristics of tanks and other military equipment of foreign states are studied according to a special program, their main characteristics and equipment are known. But in fact, no one saw them visually in the eye - neither the Abrams or Leopard tanks, nor the American Bradley infantry fighting vehicles or the German Marder. Everything behind the front line is the enemy. And that's enough".
Kuzmin emphasized that in the field, equipment "is often impossible to identify." “Even the most advanced cadet of the American military academy West Point is unlikely to be able to distinguish a Russian tank from a Chinese counterpart,” the expert is sure.
“The recognition of the equipment of a potential enemy is of some importance for the opposing side,” explained the president of the Collegium of Russian Military Experts, Major General Alexander Vladimirov. - The Armed Forces have training manuals with silhouettes of foreign military equipment, but their relevance has somewhat decreased in practical application. The conditions of modern combat practically exclude direct contact with enemy equipment. With us, imitation has always been conditional, without an exact resemblance to the same tanks.
In turn, a military political scientist, associate professor at the RANEPA Valery Volkov believes that such an imitation has not applied, but "political, psychological and ideological tasks."
“They want to teach the US Army soldiers to see not an abstract enemy in general, but a very specific one, from a specific country. Officers and soldiers should automatically perceive the fact that the enemies are precisely the Russians and the Chinese. This is a kind of psychological programming. People are convinced of their sense of self that they can easily destroy a Russian tank.
And this is a long tradition, in the US back in the 1960s and 70s there were targets in the form of a Soviet soldier. I would like to point out that we did not. We don't build fake American tanks and shoot them down, we don't shoot portraits of American soldiers or NATO soldiers,
Volkov said.
In October last year, a number of world media reported that copies of Soviet T-54s were disguised as American M1A2 Abrams tanks in China. Allegedly, in this way, the specialists of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) began to remake their tanks being withdrawn from service into samples similar to those of a potential enemy. Official Beijing did not comment on this information.
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