On January 22, the Vesti Week program showed a plot that stated that the main tank of the American army M1 Abrams is not suitable for winter conditions. As evidence, a video was used in which this tank could not climb onto a snowy hill. We decided to check if this statement is true.

The plot of American tanks was released against the backdrop of reports that the US authorities can transfer a certain number of Abrams to Ukraine. IN plot Dmitry Kiselev’s programs “Vesti Week” said that President Biden was in no hurry with the supply of tanks, because Abrams supposedly had too many drawbacks, including unsuitability for winter. Then a fragment of the video was demonstrated, in which the tank slipped with a small -covered elevation. The video was accompanied by the following commentary on the correspondent: “On the presented video frames you can see an unsuccessful attempt by the American heavy tank M1 Abrams to overcome the hill. In total, several attempts were made, but a heavy combat vehicle could not overcome such an obstacle. This indicates that the tank is unsuitable for use in winter, especially when overcoming impassable areas. ” It was also argued that these tanks are not adapted to work in conditions of snow and low temperatures. However, a few days after the program, on January 26, President Biden announcedthat the United States will send 31 M1 Abrams to Ukraine to form a tank battalion as part of the Armed Forces.

The video shown in the program of Dmitry Kiselev can be found in YouTube. It was posted back in January 2022 on the channel World of Real Tanks C 308 subscribers. A year before, in January 2021, the video was downloaded in Tiktok. The place and time of shooting is unknown, but the frames really captured the M1 Abrams tank.

This video has already versed earlier. Automobile site 2Drive I paid attention to the fact that the tank has rubber linings on the tracks. It’s really difficult to climb the snow hill with them: rubber begins to slide, as in the video. Usually these overlays Used In order not to destroy the coating along which the tank moves. In rough terrain, especially in the snow, they are removed.

Newsweek It notes that the video with an unsuccessful rise is too short and determine what the captured maneuver was performed. But in YouTube you can find many videos with a wide variety of experiments that are carried out as part of the exercises. For example, published Cutting the exercises In Sweden with the participation of heavy equipment in 1992-1994. They involve the T-72 and Centurion tanks, the MT-LB transporter and the PBV 302 armored personnel carrier. They storm rivers, snowdrifts, hills, and force rivers. And the trials are not always successful, sometimes the crews have to resort to the help of engineers.

“Usually tank units are in a close conjunction with engineering, and engineering intelligence is engaged in checking the possibility of passing tanks of a certain area - bridges, roads, minefields and ice slopes,” Pavel Aksyonov, military observer of the Russian BBC Service Service, explains in a commentary. That is, unexpected obstacles should not arise for tanks if the operation is properly planned.

If you return to the M1 Abrams, then you can find the shooting of tanks on ice in YouTube. On Video from the exercises In Norway, 2014–2016 there is a fragment of the travel of American tanks along the icy road. It was partially shown in the "Vesti of the Week": Abrams goes into a drift. But on Russian television, this moment was cut off, and the audience did not see how the tanks come out of the controlled drift.

The Kiselev program also stated that Abrams "are not adapted for work in snow conditions and low temperatures." It is also incorrect. On the US Army website there are Test reportthat were held in Alaska in 2020–2021. And there were tested not only the ability of tanks to move around the snow and ice, but also the work of electronics and accuracy of shooting. Moreover, the tests are carried out specifically in the most severe conditions: for example, shooting was prescribed on the early morning, when the temperature is the lowest. The report draws attention to certain shortcomings, but we are not talking about the unsuitability of tanks to use in winter.

Finally, in Kuino district, Michigan, since 1953 has been working Research Centerstudying the possibilities of military equipment in conditions of snow, ice and extremely low temperatures. It was created in the early period of the Cold War in order to be able to resist the USSR in the event of the invasion of Soviet troops from the Arctic region to Alaska. Both wheel and caterpillar equipment, including Abrams tanks, are tested there.

In winter exercises, overcoming ice and snowy fortifications is part of standard tests. The technique can not always do this, but this is precisely the task of the exercises is to identify weaknesses and eliminate the shortcomings in the future. They work on the solution of the discovered problems and try to eliminate them if possible, explains Pavel Aksyonov.

Thus, it is not possible to establish the video shown in the program of Dmitry Kiselev and in the framework of which testing the tank climbed into the hill. But only on the basis of this video to conclude that the main tank of the American army M1 Abrams and its modifications are unsuitable for use in winter, is unreasonable. Reports based on the results of the exercises, other rollers from training in such conditions and assessment of military experts also refute the statement made on the air of the “news of the week”.

Photo on the cover: Screenshot from the Vesti Week program

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Fake Dmitry Kiselev: Abrams tank is unsuitable for the Ukrainian winter
2. Were Abrams Tanks Seen Failing to Climb Hills, Being 'Blown Up' In Ukraine?