The United States and other western countries supplied Ukraine with large numbers of M-777 Artillery guns, but the maximum numbers of these advanced artillery guns have been either destroyed or captured by the Russian Forces.
Previously the West hoped that the Ukrainian battlefield would be the place where their supplied weapons will “shine” and they also saw Ukraine as a “unique” advertising place for their weapons, ultimately attracting many interested international customers.
But weapons that were hoped to “change the battlefield” failed one after another, such as Turkey’s TB-2 UAV, French Caesar self-propelled howitzers. But “the highlight of the disappointment”, is the US M-777 lightweight “super cannon”.
The M-777 lightweight howitzer has been operated by the US Army, these advanced artillery guns has delivered very impressive performance in the battlefields of Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, and has attracted many foreign buyers like India or Saudi Arabia despite of its high cost.
In the early days of the Russia-Ukraine War, when the Ukrainian Army was having shortage of artillery guns, at that time the US Army leadership believed that once the M-777 artillery guns will enter the battlefield, it will become a “game changer weapon”, specifically on the Donbass battlefield.
When it first appeared on the Ukrainian battlefield, the M-777 cannon was praised by the Ukrainian and Western media, saying that this was a weapon that changed the battlefield, easily suppressing the “old-fashioned” artillery of the Russian Army.
After the initial “excitement”, the M-777 artillery was “exposed” on the Ukrainian battlefield; The rate of destruction and damage was many times faster than the number of new artillery pieces. So what is the cause?
Recently, Savchuk, the captain of the Ukrainian army artillery company, who was taken prisoner by the Russian army, revealed that Ukrainian soldiers refused to repair the damaged M-777 howitzers, but often threw it away and simply ran away.
In this regard, Savchuk explained that, although Ukrainian soldiers are trained, they do not have the complete capability and enough spare parts to repair damaged M-777 cannons.
Along with that, Savchuk also mentioned that Western weapons are being broken and damaged at a rate faster as compared to other weapons supplied as military aid to Ukraine; this is a bitter truth. Overall , the power of the Western weapons did not overwhelm the Russian weapons in the Ukrainian Battlefield, as claimed by the western media.
American-made weapons do not have the durability and ease of repair as compared to Russian-made weapons; For example, repairing the M-777 howitzer requires a long time and a very complicated process. As the conflict continues, and the Russian military will not wait for the Ukrainian soldiers to have fully mastered artillery repair techniques.
In a war, if the soldiers do not master the equipment, for example repairing the damage, then it will lead to defeat. It also proves that self-reliance on military equipments is very important.
When you have a weapon in hand, it is not just enough to know how to use it, but also to know how to repair and maintain it. So who is responsible for the “failures” of Western weapons on the Ukrainian battlefield; Of course it is the Ukrainian Army, not the west.
Several M-777 cannons were “abandoned” by the Ukrainian Army because they could not be repaired or because the “escape” was too fast; making the Ukraine Army’s weapon attrition rate even faster than the rate of Western aid.
The western supplied weapons has ultimately became the victim of Ukrainian army complaints and russian anger on the battlefield.