>> M1A1 ...runs on jet fuel. It also has sucky mileage, even by tank standards.
FWIW, the major difference between diesel and jet fuel is better filtration. Jet fuel also doesn't need the cetane booster that's in diesel, but I don't think that's an issue for turbines.
[edit] I’ve missed something important here as I now see that the M1A1 can run on diesel, jet fuel and gasoline (see this). This probably means that it’ll run on K1 home heating oil as well (not as filtered as jet fuel, no cetane booster added — which the turbine doesn’t need. I have no idea if the T80 can run on gas (in the av world, avgas will typically burn out a turbine) [/edit]
The T80 is also turbine powered, so probably has similar fuel requirements, and the M1A1 gets about double the mileage of the T80 (.6MPG vs .3ish) - and yes, that's bad.
That said, Ukraine seems to have some T80s. I've read of at least one Ukranian tanker saying the T80 is a better tank than the 72 - bit it isn't clear to me the Ukrainians are using their T80s a lot.
>>...Russia imitates French generals at the battle of Verdun
For anyone unfamiliar with Verdun, it went like this: Germans capture something the French absolutely have to take back - a matter of national pride. Setup defensive works, keep killing soldiers who are trying to attack. I think the phrase was "bleed them white". The French kept throwing soldiers in and, as machine guns were a thing, and tanks were not, they mostly died. And I think Nadin's point was that the French generals didn't need to have done that. The losses were for essentially nothing.
I've seen some speculation that Prigozhin might actually want the mines and tunnel complex in Soledar. It'd be tough to pry the Russians out once they were there (although the US came up with a solution for tunnel complexes in the WWII Pacific campaign: run flame throwers to deplete the O2) so I'm not sure I buy it. Any thoughts?
