️🇷🇺🇺🇦 How the AFU Tactics Have Changed in the #Zaporozhye Direction - Military Chronicles Analysis ️

️🇷🇺🇺🇦 How the AFU Tactics Have Changed in the #Zaporozhye Direction - Military Chronicles Analysis ️ ️The offensive on this section of the front is gradually waning. The AFU is trying to adapt to changes in the combat situation, but is facing serious difficulties. What is Happening? ▪️From August to the end of October there was a gradual decrease in the intensity of the use of artillery by the AFU, which can be attributed to a number of mutually influencing factors. The main one, during the first phase of the summer campaign, significant stocks of 155mm artillery shells were used up and lost during the AFU strikes, which were not subsequently replenished. Already on 7 July, the #US announced the delivery of DPICM cluster munitions to #Ukraine. Such ammunition is poorly suited for a number of tasks, in particular the destruction of field and long-term fortifications, but for a while made it possible to compensate for the shortage of conventional artillery ammunition. However, after almost five months of active combat and against a backdrop of reduced supplies, the shortage of ammunition for field and self-propelled artillery has worsened. ▪️In addition to 152/155 mm high-explosive fragmentation ammunition, in a number of directions and areas there is a decrease in the activity of mortars of 120 and 82 mm caliber, which indirectly indicates a shortage and the need to save such ammunition. As a result, in a number of areas, the AFU are forced not only to reduce fire support activity, but also to look for substitutes. What are the AFU trying to replace Artillery with? ▪️FPV drones and armored vehicles often act as ersatz artillery. ▪️As a rule, the equipment is used at night for direct fire at the Russian positions. FPV drones are used against scouted or detected targets within the range of UAVs. ▪️However, due to design features, neither type of weapon can fully fulfil the same tasks as artillery. ▪️For example, the single M2 Bradley IFVs of the AFU’s 47th Magura Brigade, some of which the AFU command deployed to #Avdeyevka, are used as direct infantry support weapons. ▪️This is connected not so much with the need to ensure a breakthrough or advance, but rather with the requirement to signify the AFU’s presence in a certain area. In other words, IFVs are not used for offensive action, but for organising harassing fire, which goes against the concept of their combat use. What is wrong with this approach? ▪️The main problem for the M2 Bradley IFV, oddly enough, was combat operations at night. American vehicles are capable of firing at night, but crews in most cases use only the 25-mm Bushmaster cannon for firing. It is not intended to destroy field fortifications and is of little assistance to the AFU infantry units. In addition, the use of small groups of equipment exposes combat vehicles to the risk of falling under counter fire. ▪️This is especially critical in cases of foreign-supplied armoured vehicles, which the AFU cannot replace. ▪️FPV drones, on the other hand, have become pure “frontline improvisation“ for the AFU due to the decrease in artillery activity. Their effectiveness at the moment can be compared to the French trench mortars of the First World War. The area of application of these devices is narrow and their effectiveness is low. At best, they can be used for very limited, specialised tactical tasks. In any case, the trend shows that the AFU’s stocks of conventional ammunition have been seriously depleted by the summer and autumn campaign,- and in some areas they have to be seriously saved, while there is no shortage of ammunition on the Russian side. Military Chronicles; 31 Oct 2023, 14:04 /@milchronicles/#ass/ Join SITREP Map Reports - Top Videos - Analyses Источник: Lord Of War