Ukraine has destroyed an ultra-rare Soviet-era armoured vehicle that was first field-tested by the Russians at Chernobyl.
Battlefield footage shared on social media appeared to show the Ladoga nuclear command vehicle being targeted by a Ukrainian drone.
The vehicle was designed in the seventies to move senior Kremlin staff around in the event of a nuclear attack.
Quite a shame really, that’s a fascinating vehicle that just got destroyed.
That’s kind of the point of the article, I guess. What is a museum piece doing on the battlefield?
Isn’t that what the Germans were doing during the invasion of Berlin?
The Leopard 2 was designed in the 70s. So for battlefield vehicle designs, that is not necessarily outdated. Most fighter aircraft in use today were desgigned in the 70s: Su-27, MiG-29, sure, we think they’re old, but the F-16, F-15, F/A-18 are roughly the same age.
The interesting bit is not that the Ladoga is an old vehicle, it’s how incredibly rare it is. It must have been pulled from deep storage or a museum somewhere.
The result was the Ladoga. Kirovsky produced just a handful of the tracked vehicles—perhaps four or five. One spent some time in the fallout zone around the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl following the plant’s deadly 1986 meltdown. Aside from another that landed in a museum, the Ladogas then … disappeared.
It speaks volumes to the state of their armed forces to be resupplied with such a vehicle.
Soviet warfare has always been a meat grinder and outdated equipment.
They hold Chernobyl and we know at least one is in the red yard at Chernobyl so guess where this one is probably from, I’d hit it with the fun meter to see how many giggles per hour is emiting.
The Rashists left Chernobyl after one of their crazy units dug in a radioactive forest, and the Ukrainian staff of the closed power plant scared the Rashists of all possible consequences.
Well yeah, but Soviet designs tended to be outdated by year 10 of being issued. Also Western Equipment got modernised constantly.
and way more modernized since the war got them to clear out the old stuff and replace if with current day. Its funny how much russia has armed europe indirectly.
Sure they’re designed in the 70s, but the ones currently in service are usually not pulled out of a museum, like this one.
They’re also usually updated, and not left how they came out of the factory.
But I thought the entirety of the known universe will shit itself when Russia brings in the T-14 Armata?
Let me guess: 4D Chess by Putin.
Honestly kind of a shame that 1 of possibly less than 5 of these got destroyed… belongs in a museum.
Oh well, should’ve stayed in Russia
… belongs in a museum.
It wouldn’t surprised me to find out orcs looted it from a museum and pressed it into service again.
Whomp whomp motherfuckers!
Are we seing the beginning of the end of tanks and BTRs (and the raise of golf cars & quad bikes)?
cavalry
It seems like it doesn’t have much in the way of weapons. What exactly were they hoping they would achieve with it on the front line?
The “front lines” stretch back a fair bit when one considers drones.
But to guess at some applications:
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APC. Your goal is to move people without them getting ambushed by small arms and shrapnel. Not proof against a drone with sufficient payload, but the same is true for APCs.
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Armored ambulance, if it’s got large enough hatches.
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Use it as a command vehicle, if it’s got radios and space. If it’s got radios and such…shrugs
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Apparently, some officer thought that this combat vehicle was completely protected and invulnerable.
Grasping for a reason you’d prefer this in an APC role over an MT-LB/BTR/BMP. Sure the chassis has more armor, but speed, armament, troop capacity, etc are all inferior. Mines and modern ATGMs work about as well against tanks as they do APC/IFV, as do FPV drones.
Amazing how far they’re scraping the barrel of the Soviet inheritance for any metal to pack meat into
