Before starting a newer count I decided to review the current one, because I was unsure about some BTR identifications. I decided to try Yandex. Alas, idk why I didn't use it before, there's so much newer footage there.
For example, the 4990th. Before the war there were over 600 MT-LBs, and we didn't get newer footage from that one in all these two years on Google Earth. But take a look at Yandex, just 91 MT-LBs remained there a while ago, three of them visibly broken hulls.
Another base we didn't got newer footage, the 230th. Here a lot of stuff is gone too.
All in all, of the total amount of MT-LBs we found during our updated count, these new Yandex images show that half of them are gone from storage already. Unfortunately, there's not much newer footage to significantly update our numbers of other AFV types.
Only a single base remains with a considerable amount of MT-LBs: the 7020th in the Far East, with 342 MT-LBs stored there as of May 2023. In every other base they're counted by the dozens, except at the 187th as of May 2022 where the number actually increased to 115.
I estimate the current number of MT-LBs in storage in 400-500, including 100 broken hulls. Consider that they started the war with 2,4k in storage and according to TMB2021 another 3k in active service.
Here are the prewar numbers in case someone didn't see this tweet.
Just got another update from the 111th. Some interesting things: by now most tanks in this base are the ones in this spot (pics are from September on Google Earth):
Like in most bases, the scrapyard has been mostly cleaned out:
And most of the refurbed BMPs have been dispatched and are no longer in the 111th:
The pace at which these BMPs are being pulled out of this base is so unexpected. Most rows are already half empty, and it's only been 2 months since they started. I was never expecting this from the 111th, it's so noticable yoh don't even need high res imagery to see it.
Just to make it more clear, these were the rows of BMPs in the main area of the 111th base that didn't look (for the most part) like were missing structural components such as turrets or engines back in 2022:
1/ It's time to take a look at Russian tank productions and refurbishment rates! Long time delayed, I know, but finally here! This first part of the thread will be about T-54/55s, T-62s, T-64s and T-80s. T-72 and T-90s and specifics on the industry will come in the second part.
2/ Here’s the previous threads, first about APCs, where I also explained the fundamentals and methodology:
There's one fundamental reason for everything that we're seeing lately, and it's been in the making for 2 years already: Zelensky & co refusing to understand that this is a war of survival and not enacting a proper mobilization. Corruption, incompetence, political interests...
Call it whatever you want, but at some point it's not even Syrskiy's fault anymore. YOU CAN'T HOLD GROUND WITHOUT INFANTRY. Everything and everywhere is atrociously undermanned.
Since some people are wondering how many of the "poor" and "worse" tanks can ever be brought back to service, let me explain it once more: ALL OF THEM. It's just a matter of money and time, and how willing the Kremlin is to waste its assets.
Take for example the 2456th tank storage base. The main facility is the one already known, but to the right there's the old scrapyard. Right when the war started they were scrapping T-62s and 64s there, but they stopped for obvious reasons:
We included this tanks in our count, as explained by @CovertCabal in his video about the 2456th, because the ones remaning weren't yet scrapped, tho they're in a terrible state.
Thanks to the kind benefactor we observe that in 3-4 months things have changed a lot for the Russian tank reserve:
- Overall tanks have dropped from 3,106 to 2,478.
- More specifically, T-72As, which previously stand almost the same as prewar, have dropped from 900 to just 461.
Even at bases which previously hadn't seen abrely any tank drawdown like the 2544th, which also has T-62s, T-72As are being pulled out like crazy.
No surprise, considering other recent developments linked to this one, which are what allowed us to suspect in the first place T-72As were fastly being removed from storage bases: