Russia confiscated mine-clearing vehicles worth $4 million from the US to Ukraine

Russian reporter Vladimir Soloviev on April 25 published a video of the country’s tow trucks evacuating Ukraine’s M1150 mine-clearing vehicle from the area near the village of Berdychi, northwest of the city of Avdeevka in Donetsk province.

Images posted later showed the M1150 lying on a trailer, preparing to be taken to the rear. The Ukrainian mine-clearing vehicle appeared to have suffered a huge explosion from an anti-tank mine, causing part of the armor on the left side of the turret and side of the vehicle to be blown away, and the heavy-duty chain and wheel assembly were also damaged.

A photo considered by Western military experts to be very rare, or even unprecedented, shows the cross section and complex armor structure on the M1150 turret.

Complex armor consists of many layers of steel and non-metallic materials, designed specifically to deal with armor-piercing high explosive shells (HEAT) and possesses the same defense ability as uniformly rolled steel armor with a much larger mass. Despite having similar design principles, each power’s complex armor uses different materials and structures to counter the opponent’s main weapons.

Seizing the M1150, which uses the M1A1 Abrams tank chassis, can help Russia research the effectiveness of anti-tank weapons and methods of dealing with US weapons. However, some American experts believe that Russia will not gain much benefit from the M1150 and M1A1SA Abrams tanks in current Ukrainian service.

“The ABV series is not equipped with the advanced armor on the M1A1 SEP V2/3 version used by the US. It also does not have the gunner position and digital combat control system of the Abrams tank,” a anonymous armor expert told the military website War Zone of America.

This is the first time Russia has confiscated this type of vehicle since it appeared in Ukraine in November 2023. It is unclear how many M1150s Kiev owns, because the Pentagon has never released information about aid of this type of vehicle to the Ukrainian army. Open source data statistics show that Kiev lost at least two M1150 vehicles due to land mines near the city of Avdeevka.

Losing the M1150 vehicle is a big loss to the Ukrainian army’s mine clearance capabilities, causing them more difficulties when facing dense minefields in the enemy defense network.

The 47th Mechanized Brigade, the “iron fist” unit that operates all of Ukraine’s Abrams tanks and M1150 mine-clearing vehicles, once owned 6 Leopard 2R mine-clearing vehicles that Finland donated, but lost half of them. This was during an unsuccessful attack in early June 2023.

The Russian Ministry of Defense and the Ukrainian army have not commented on these images.

The M1150 mine clearing vehicle costs about 4 million USD, uses the M1 Abrams tank body frame, is fitted with a British mine plow and an explosive wire launcher to destroy mines remotely. Western experts consider it one of the best protected and most versatile vehicles on the Ukrainian battlefield.

Vu Anh (According to War Zone)