comment: >
  
  Maybe. But given how well Ukrainian soldiers have handled the land war so far, I would hate to be Russia when the first NATO jets do start arriving. I don’t think there will be much left of Russias invasion force after that.
context: Western tanks will outclass & outgun anything the Russians can put up against them.. >
  
  They will most definitely perform well but they are not invincible. They have stellar records but there’s a big difference between going up against flimsy Iraqi T-72 exports with undertrained crews in the open desert and going up against the Russian army in the mud and snows of Ukraine without the benefit of total air supremacy. 
  Don’t want to be all doom and gloom, they are good tanks and will do well. But we shouldn’t be overconfident and be fully prepared to see Challengers, Abrams and Leopards be taken out at some point and not let it shock and demoralise us. >
  
  Of course they're not invulnerable, put enough explosive ordnance on any tank and it will be lost.
  ..but the Western MBTs have far superior optics, targeting and gun range & most crucially armour protection. It will be very,very difficult for a Russian tank to take out a Challenger/Leopard in a tank on tank encounter.
  And the Ukrainians manning them will have a far,far better chance of survival/escape from the tank than anything they're using now if they're hit by another tank or a anti tank missile/RPG. Catastrophic instant 'cook offs' like we've seen with so many Russian tanks, would be very unlikely, given the 'blow out' panels and separate ammo storage in Western tanks, designed to stop such a thing from happening.
  Losing the tank but saving the crew to fight another day is a top priority in a war of attrition like we're seeing.
  ..and I've no doubt the Russians will be super eager to secure their first 'kill' of a Challenger, Leopard or any other NATO tank, if for no other reason than the propaganda value. >
  
  These tanks will be a big priority for homing artillery rounds and Russians still have some small stocks left
  Western tanks can deal with Russian MBTs but a hit from a 152mm round has a real chance to knock out any tank. And unlike Western artillery, these tanks will have to get well within range of the enemy artillery.
  They are going to do well, but their impact will be limited until Ukraine gets 100+ more. >
  
  
  They are going to do well, but their impact will be limited until Ukraine gets 100+ more.
  
  I'd argue that throwing numbers here is the wrong play. The Russian play, if you will.
  We would do much better to help Ukraine achieve air superiority and use MBTs for their intended purpose, rather than throwing hundreds of MBTs to solve a problem they weren't designed to solve.
  The US has been training Ukrainian pilots to fly US jets since July (maybe November?) That will be the real game changer. >
  
  Ideally we would do all of those things. It's not like the US doesn't have the inventory lying around.