As Russia's Arms Exports Drop 93%, Its Best Tanks Lose Laser Guidance

Russia's decline in military exports was originally intended to help it make up extraordinary and unexpected losses being suffered in Ukraine. The assumption was that this crucial source of export trade revenue would soon be made up. 

But three years after its invasion, Russia has found that western sanctions have made it difficult to produce complex weapons systems like modern tanks, leading to having to field its own tanks in battle without crucial components like laser guided targeting, making them more vulnerable. And, in a negative spiral, also making them less attractive for export. JL

Jordan King and Jasmine Laws report in Newsweek:

Russia's most advanced battle tank is no longer fitted with laser-guided devices because of the "attritional effect" of U.S. sanctions. These devices, which help tank crews fire accurately, "mysteriously disappeared" from T-90Ms. The absence of these devices is "to the detriment of the survivability of the crew." (In a related development), exports of Russian weapons will have dropped by 93% in three years. The reason for the drop in sales was to enable Russia to produce more weapons for its own army, but Russia "cannot fully replace" the weapons it was burning through during its conflict with Ukraine and is unable to compensate for its losses."

Russia's most advanced battle tank is no longer fitted with laser-guided devices because of the "attritional effect" of U.S. sanctions, a military analyst has said.

The last few years have seen an unprecedented campaign of sanctions imposed on Russia after Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

While these will be unlikely to have a "decisive effect" on Moscow's military capabilities, one "attritional effect" can be seen in the fact that T-90M tanks are no longer fitted with muzzle reference sensors, Jack Watling, a senior researcher at the Royal United Services Institute told The Washington Post.

These laser-guided devices, which help tank crews fire accurately, "mysteriously disappeared" from T-90Ms, Berlin-based military analyst Michael Gjerstad, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the Post.

 

The absence of these devices is "to the detriment of the survivability of the crew," he added.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Ministry of Defense, via email, for comment.

Another Russian weapon seemingly suffering the effects of U.S. sanctions are Geran-2 drones, which Ukrainian Air Defense forces noticed had started spinning out of control

 

Western and Ukrainian military analysts have chalked this up to the fact that Russia has had to replace its American steering motors with devices from China instead.

The U.S. placed sanctions on Russia's largest remaining non-sanctioned bank, Gazprombank, in November.

According to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the sanctions are meant to "further diminish and degrade Russia's war machine."

 

Along with Gazprombank, over 50 internationally connected Russian banks, 40 Russian securities registrars and 15 Russian finance officials were also hit with sanctions.

 

The sanctions, in part, deny the firms and individuals access to any property or financial assets held in the U.S. and prevent U.S. companies and citizens from doing business with them.

Yellen said in a statement Thursday the new sanctions "will make it harder for the Kremlin to evade U.S. sanctions and fund and equip its military."

"We will continue to take decisive steps against any financial channels Russia uses to support its illegal and unprovoked war in Ukraine," she added.

Russia uses Gazprombank to buy military materials and equipment, according to the Treasury Department. The bank is also used to pay Russian soldiers and compensate families of soldiers killed in the line of duty, the department said.

 

In addition, Gazprombank played a role in Russia's remaining natural gas supplies to Europe by handling payments from foreign customers, though Europe is now far less dependent on Russian gas.

Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom had previously imposed sanctions on Gazprombank. 

 

Exports of Russian weapons will have dropped by 93 percent in three years by the end of 2024, a defense policy expert has found.

The country's arms exports have been falling since its President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and this year they have plummeted further.

According to news outlet Agency, Pavel Luzin—a nonresident senior fellow with the Democratic Resilience Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA)—calculated that the revenue made by Russia from these sales will stand at less than $1 billion at the end of December.

It had been 14 times higher in 2021, at $14.6 billion, according to the post shared by Agency on Russian social media platform Telegram.

Russian servicemen at a position in the Krasnoarmeysk sector of the front line amid Russia's military operation in Ukraine. A defense policy expert has calculated that Russia will no longer be a significant exporter of...  Stanislav Krasilnikov/Sputnik via AP

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade and the press office of CEPA via email for comment.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russian revenue from the sales dropped to $8 billion in 2022 and then $3 billion at the end of 2023.

Speaking at the online conference Country and World: Russian Realities 2024 on November 28 to 29, Luzin reportedly said, "We see that Russia, as an arms exporter, has generally failed

 

"It is clear here that the military-industrial complex is counting on stopping, freezing, ending the war in order to return to fulfilling export contracts, because they gave a good inflow, including hard currency," he added.

Luzin said that the reason for the drop in sales was to enable Russia to produce more weapons for its own army, according to Agency.

In an article he wrote for CEPA in 2022, Luzin said that Russia "cannot fully replace" the weapons it was burning through during its conflict with Ukraine.

 

"The Russian defense industry will simply be unable to compensate for its losses in the foreseeable future. The Kremlin is adopting measures to restore some of its lost military power by giving priority to quantity instead of quality in its arms manufacturing efforts," he wrote.

 

Earlier this year, data released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed that Russia had fallen into third place for arms exports—a first for the nation—on its annual update of the industry.

It had previously been second after the U.S., but France overtook.

According to SIPRI, in 2019 Russia exported weapons to 31 countries whereas in 2023 it was only 12, as reported by Agency.

Last year, the annual update by SIPRI showed a similar picture of Russia's arms exports, with its sales of weapons down by 12 percent—worse than in any other major nation that year.