In a May 6 column in RT, former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter argues that the U.S. is sending billions of dollars worth of weapons that the Kyiv regime can’t use properly. What it comes down to is this: under the pressures and stresses of combat, even the toughest military gear breaks and the more complex it is the quicker it breaks. To be used under combat conditions, such equipment must be accompanied by a maintenance/logistical capability that is institutional. The Ukrainian military lacks such a capability, particularly where Western-supplied weapons systems are concerned, and so the weapons and equipment the U.S. is supplying are being used up very quickly, faster than it can be replaced. (https://www.rt.com/russia/555029-western-weapon-supplies-ukrainian-suicide/)
Ritter uses the M777 155mm howitzer as a prime example of the problem. Ninety of these weapons have been supplied to Ukraine directly from U.S. Marine Corps stocks. The M777 weighs 9,300 lbs, far less than the 16,000-lb M198 howitzer that it replaced. Reducing its weight required compromises in its structure, making it much more prone to failure due to metal fatigue, according to a fact sheet that Ritter cites. The fact sheet says the M777 cannot absorb the recoil of firing 155mm ammunition, causing it to wear out “dangerously fast” in combat conditions. Ritter says that without extensive field level maintenance, an artillery unit equipped with the M777 begins to degrade within four days and is rendered combat ineffective within a week.
