With the fight in Ukraine turning against it, in May Russia deployed a brand new super weapon,
dubbed the Terminator. This armored monster promised to make swiss cheese
out of Ukrainian defenders when it joined the fighting near Severodonetsk,
but did Ukraine turn out to be the Sarah Connor to Russia's Terminator?
It's a weapon born from the very painful lessons of Russia's two wars in Chechnya. Caught in
dense urban combat, Russian armored troops were famously savaged by Chechen fighters,
who rained down rocket propelled grenades from above onto the thin top armor of Russian tanks.
Superior knowledge of the city and access to the upper floors of the buildings around the
battlefield allowed Chechen hunter/killer squads to quickly decimate columns of armored vehicles
before melting away- all without receiving so much as a single round from a Russian tank in return.
Like most tanks, Russian tanks have a very limited ability to swing their main cannon upwards,
but this vulnerability is also shared by Russia's BMP infantry fighting vehicles,
deployed to support tank offensives. In dense urban jungles, this means
that Russian vehicles can do nothing to defend themselves from attacks in the
upper stories of nearby buildings. While a machine gunner in the turret of a tank
may provide some protection, they're really only turning themselves into sniper bait.
The United States faced a similar problem during the initial offensive against Iraq's military
in the second invasion of the nation. One key difference though meant that while Russian tanks
were turned to scrap metal at truly terrifying rates, American tanks suffered only extremely
nominal losses. That difference was doctrine- US and western countries long ago learned that armor
was extremely vulnerable to enemy ambush via tank hunter/killer teams armed with anti-tank missiles
and rocket propelled grenades. The mighty behemoths had a huge chink in their armor,
and the solution was infantry. Today, western militaries heavily support their tanks with
dismounted infantry, who are tasked with clearing buildings and responding to threats from above.
Russia however kept its infantry inside the perceived safety of their armored vehicles,
with very predictable results. Over a decade later, the war in Ukraine has proven that Russia
has learned very little- but they have at least fielded a terrifying
new weapon dubbed the 'Terminator' to try to mitigate this glaring weakness.
While the west learned to deploy infantry alongside tanks, Russia's answer was...
more tanks. Because there isn't a problem in the world Russia doesn't believe it can't
solve with the judicious application of lots of either artillery or tanks,
ideally both. Stubborn enemy defenses? Artillery and tanks. Enemy counterattack?
Artillery and tanks. Clogged toilet in your dorm room? Artillery and tanks.
The Terminator was specifically designed to deal with threats in urban environments, and features
a number of design choices that to be honest, make a lot of sense on paper. Knowing that the biggest
threats to tanks in urban combat comes from above, the Terminator features dual 30mm cannons- though
these too can vary- with a very specific feature: the turret can angle upwards to very high degrees,
as much as +45. This allows the Terminator to blast enemy infantry launching attacks from up
above. To be completely fair, 30mm cannon rounds will turn even the sturdiest wall into dust,
meaning the Terminator has much greater suppression/killing power compared to dismounted
infantry wielding 7.62mm assault rifles or machine guns. If a Chechen soldier tried hiding behind
a window to pop out and launch an attack, the Terminator could quickly turn them into fine mist.
But in Chechnya, enemy fighters also ambushed Russian tanks from below, striking from basements
and tossing explosives to detonate under the hull of the tank as it rolled over them. Other fighters
would simply rush to within spitting distance of a tank and toss molotovs- the burning fuel
used in the molotov cocktail could make the heat inside of an armored vehicle skyrocket
to seriously dangerous levels, forcing the crew to open hatches or abandon the vehicle entirely.
Once more, Russian tanks could do little to defend themselves in such close quarters, as even their
machine guns could not depress enough to engage close quarters targets. That's why the Terminator
features a turret that can depress to -5 degrees, blasting targets right in front of it if need be.
The Terminator can also be equipped with additional support weapons on either side of
its double-cannon turret. One configuration seen includes the addition of four anti-tank missiles,
though these could be swapped out for general high explosive missiles to allow a Terminator to level
things such as bunkers or multiple floors of a building where hostiles- or since this is Russia,
civilians- are hiding. The US often deploys a similar weapon for dismounted infantry
in the form of the Carl Gustav recoilless rifle, which can be used with a variety of
ammunition types. After battling insurgents and Taliban fighters in dense urban combat,
the US Army greatly increased the availability of the high explosive variation of round,
allowing infantry to destroy buildings housing enemy fighters without waiting
for air or artillery support. The weapon proved incredibly effective,
and thus it's no surprise to see Russia adopting a similar weapon for its Terminator vehicles.
The anti-tank missiles carried by the Terminator are similar in reach and
power to US TOW anti-tank missiles fielded on the Bradley, but the Terminator carries twice
as many missiles as a Bradley. As both vehicles can be armed with 30mm cannons,
and the Terminator has twice as many of those as a US Bradley, a showdown between a Bradley
and Terminator would end very badly for the Americans. This additional punch allows the
Terminator to directly support armor in an anti-tank role, giving the Terminator
pretty impressive flexibility. Guided by lasers though, the Ataka missiles can theoretically be
used against aircraft as well, albeit only slow flying ones such as heavy transport choppers.
twin 30mm cannons are formidable weapons in their own right. They can be equipped with a variety
of ammunition types, including armor piercing discarding sabot to deal with armored vehicles,
high explosive fragmentation, high explosive tracer, and armor-piercing tracer. The various
rounds give a Terminator a range of 2500 to 4,000 meters, but the most unique feature is that the
Terminator was designed to be equipped with one type of round in one cannon, and another in the
second. This way a Terminator could easily take on both enemy infantry and vehicles simultaneously,
without needing to exit the vehicle for a dangerous reload after its 850 bullets run out.
Initially the Terminator was also designed to feature the ability for the gunner to
designate different targets for each cannon, though that proved to be an absolute mess
logistically and very confusing for a gunner to manage. The capability was scrapped and the
Terminator now has fixed cannons for ease. With advancements in artificial intelligence though,
this capability may eventually be restored- the AbramsX demonstrator from the US showcased
an AI that was able to automatically designate, though not fire on, targets.
Backing up the main cannons is a 7.62mm machine gun with 2,000 rounds,
as well as twin grenade launchers. The Terminator can carry a truly frightening number of grenades,
up to 600 30mm grenades in total. Its automatic grenade launchers can spit out high explosive
rounds at a rate of 420 to 480 rounds a minute, depending on the type of launcher installed,
with each grenade having a kill radius of seven meters and a range of 1700 meters.
To detect and engage targets, the Terminator features modern all-weather sights, with the
inclusion of thermal vision. The commander and gunner both have their own separate sights,
though the gunner can make use of the commander' sight if his becomes damaged
or destroyed. The computerized fire control system uses a laser rangefinder like in a
modern tank to provide accurate fire and automatic stabilization even while moving at high speeds,
which is useful because the Terminator is pretty speedy, with a top speed of 37 miles
per hour (60kmh). And it can dive as deep as 1.2 meters, or 1.8 meters with the use of a snorkel.
For protection, the crew enjoy the protection afforded by the armored
chassis of a BMP fighting vehicle, which is what the entire design is based on. This provides the
crew with protection from small arms fire and limited protection from RPGs and other light
explosive weapons. Like most armored vehicles, the Terminator also features twin smoke grenade
launchers which can create dense smoke to protect from visual and thermal observation,
allowing the Terminator to use the smoke as a screen to flee or reposition.
On paper, the Terminator is a formidable machine that should excel at the urban
combat it was designed for. So why have they failed to turn the tide of the war for Russia?
When news broke that the Terminator was being deployed in May of 2022,
Russian military bloggers hailed the defeat of the Ukrainian armed forces. Nothing could
stand against this revolutionary weapon of war, who's like did not even exist in any
western military. But, turns out that plenty of things could stand against the Terminator,
including the same infantry it was supposed to crush under its armored treads.
The biggest problem with the Terminator becomes immediately obvious upon simple inspection. While
the hull of the vehicle is armored to protect the crew, very little thought was given to
protection of the vehicle's actual weapon systems. Unlike a Bradley fighting vehicle,
the turret of the Terminator is very lightly armored, with the only real protection being
given to the missiles which feature armor to protect from splinters and shrapnel. This
leaves the Terminator's weapons extremely vulnerable to concentrated small arms fire,
let alone return fire from similar caliber weapons in the 30mm range or explosives.
The next problem with the Terminator is that Russia doesn't quite know how to use
them yet. There really is no equal amongst western militaries, but that's because the
west uses dismounted infantry to protect its armor in urban combat. Current Russian doctrine
states that when fighting in urban combat, each tank is protected by two Terminators,
while in open terrain each Terminator is protected by two tanks. This sounds like
good doctrine- but there's one huge, glaring problem: situational awareness
The Terminator may feature modern and very capable sights, but at the end of the day
it has the exact same situational awareness as any other armored vehicle. Dismounted infantry
meanwhile can see and hear targets easier, and thus can respond to them much faster.
The trade-off in protection versus awareness is one that the west has agreed is well worth it,
and the combat record of nations like the US prove it works when your infantry
is well trained. Sticking that same infantry inside an armored vehicle
immediately lowers their ability to perceive enemy targets, often until it's too late.
While the Terminator may offer impressive, flexible firepower for urban battles,
at the end of the day it's simply too unresponsive to effectively deal with enemy infantry. That's
probably why the Russian army hasn’t bought the vehicle in large numbers, and it's believed only
a single active unit of Terminators exists today. Or rather, used to exist, as western intelligence
believes that most of this unit, deployed to fight in and around Severodonetsk, was
either destroyed or suffered catastrophic damage. Despite triumphant calls from Russian military
bloggers when the Terminator was announced to be joining the fight in eastern Ukraine,
it seems as if Ukraine Sarah Connor'ed this faulty Terminator, and given its very poor performance,
we're very confident it will in fact not be back anytime soon.
Now terminate your boredom with Why Russian Tanks Are Failing In Ukraine,
or click this other video instead.