Thread by @Jonpy99

1/ Short thread on the status of Russian stored pontoon equipment. Let's see how it's looking after the many river crossing operations the Russian army attempted during this war.

2/ I don't think anybody needs to be explained why potoons are so important for any miltary: they allow engineer units to set up river crossings needed to carry out operations through water bodies.

3/ The Soviet Union always had river crossings in mind when developing military vehicles. That's why most of their AFVs were amphibious. However, crossing a river is a very slow process that leaves vehicles vulnerable to enemy fire while traversing it.

4/ That's why pontoons are so important, as they allow to quickly cross rivers in big numbers in the absence of proper bridges. However, they too are vulnerable.

5/ Ukraine has no shortage of rivers, and that's why Russia has attempted many river-crossing operations. Many of them were huge failiures due to their inability to protect the crossing. Bilohorivka stands out amongh this defeats.

6/ And recently, once the Ukrainian Kursk offensive started, Russia has lost a lot of pontoons trying to secure a crossing over the Seym river.

https://x.com/hizzo_jay/status/1835421914967269530

7/ To be more precise, Russia has lost at least 174 pieces of potoon systems, according to @Rebel44CZ: oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack…

8/ Pontoons aren't exactly the hardest military equipment to manufacture, to be honest. But seeing how their stocks are looking tell us a lot about their losses and ability to replace them in the short-term. So let's take a look at some of the main pontoon depots.

9/ As with my recent ARV thread, this won't be an in-depth count, as I'm not an expert on this equipment.

https://x.com/Jonpy99/status/1830206063175413797

10/ Do check @BAAService's recent thread on the locations of the main active engineer bases holding potoon systems:

https://x.com/BAAService/status/1835643795141988528

11/ With all that said, let's start with the 243rd base. This is one of the biggest engineer bases in Russia.

12/ It's seen a notable reduction in the number of useful (not decrepit) systems stored here, and remember the latest high resolution image is from 2023:

13/

14/ There's even less in blurry 2024 footage:

https://x.com/Jonpy99/status/1829804578600022132

15/ An undesignated base near Totskoe. Most systems are still in storage:

16/ The 7027th. I already talked about this one in the past, it's been completely cleared out of equipment and abandoned since the war started:

https://x.com/Jonpy99/status/1796235511440249309

17/ As usual, all pontoons and boats are gone:

18/ Then the base near Atschinsk:

https://x.com/Jonpy99/status/1796235517354246648

19/

20/ None of the boats remain, and only some pontoons:

21/ After that one comes the base near Beljow. Unfortunaly, the latest footage is from late 2022, so no way to know how it's looking nowadays, but based on Sentinel I think most of the equipment was taken at some point:

22/ Next, the 96th base near Mashkovo. I talked about this in my truck storage overview thread:

https://x.com/Jonpy99/status/1797211882844983436

23/ The few pontoon systems stored here that I could find were gone after the war started:

24/ The 82nd, in Krasnokumskoje, is another case of lacking recent footage. Latest is from May 2022, so we can't see if they have taken equipment since the, too:

25/ A similar case is the storage depot near Sosnovets and Romanovka, on the opposing sides of the Russian territory:

26/ The last storage base we'll be looking at is another undesignated depot in the outskirts of Yekaterinburg. Not a lot here even before the war, and mostly just junk:

27/ Finally, and while I'm sure I'm missing out several other storage bases (there's just too many of them, and mostly pretty small in size!), let's also look at the only repair plants for engineer equipment that I could find: an adjacent plant to the 103rd BTRZ.

28/ Even before the war this repair plant practically didn't see any activity, based on the lack of movement. However, recently they have restarted activity, based on the slightly lesser quantity of stored equipment by 2024. Still many pontoons left, tho:

29/ So as you can see, while many storage bases are mostly out of fording equipment, a lot still remains. Enough to cover up losses from recent weeks.

30/ However, the huge number of demothballed equipment points to the huge losses Russia has suffered since February 2022, and not just in famous offensives, but also due to the need of pontoons in their rear.

https://x.com/RALee85/status/1550543987559129091

31/ Remains to be seen if they'll lose many more during the current actions.

https://x.com/front_ukrainian/status/1832307439078613291

32/ But that's not a topic for this thread, so that's all for now. By popular request, I'll make a final thread covering other types of engineer vehicles, and with that I'll conclude this little series of non-AFV storage threads.

https://x.com/Jonpy99/status/1830233416723464689

33/ Finally,many thanks to the crew: @BAAService, @waffentraeger,@Ath3neN0ctu4, @hizzo_jay, @HighMarsed, @AS_22im and the rest!

34/ I deleted some posts because @Ath3neN0ctu4 rightfully pointed to me that there are no pontoons the 1019th. Guess I'm a bit rusty after two months barely looking at Russian equipment.