I’ll keep it short and simple: one thing that I was discussing with my fiance, about the hostilities in Ukraine, is that, apparently, Western nations are refraining from sending more modern weapons to help Kiev’s regime precisely because they’re aware the Russians would capture them and, soon enough, there’d be both counter-measures for those plus suspiciously similar designs appearing in Russia and, mayhaps, China.
Or would that be too difficult to happen? What are your thoughts?
Speaking of my own country, we are sending old gear, but it isn’t because we are afraid it can get captured and used “by the enemy”. I think the reason is twofold: we don’t have enough “modern” gear to send anyway, and sending it could imply an escalation of conflict. I’m sure NATO countries are coordinating this somehow. If countries with a more modern military apparatus are not supplying Ukraine with better equipment, it’s to keep a “good enough” support narrative. We sent stuff, so Ukraine can’t accuse us of just watching, and Russia can’t accuse us of escalating.
As always, I’m not an expert and could be wrong.
Makes sense. I got curious because, well, countries like Saudi Arabia and Iraq did get things like M1A1 tanks (sure, aren’t the A2, but still), so I wondered what stopped Uncle Sam to send those, and UK to send stuff like the Challenger 1. While they’re more obsolete than their frontline arsenal, they still have quite a few types of technology their more modern versions still employ.