Russia is developing more lethal ammunition based on its study of all NATO-made “war trophies” it collected in Ukraine, Russian state-owned TASS News Agency has claimed.
According to the report, Russian defense conglomerate Rostec has started work on upgrading the country’s tank shells after reverse-engineering NATO assets seized in the war-torn nation.
“We are proactive and creating a new line of promising ammunition with improved characteristics,” company official Bekhan Ozdoev said, adding that the feedback from Russian soldiers in Ukraine is also being taken into account.
He further claimed that the efforts of Western nations to develop improved tanks for Ukraine will be wasted as Rostec continues to develop better defense technology out of them.
Captured Tanks
In June 2023, Moscow announced it had captured several German Leopard tanks and US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles in the Zaporizhzhya region.
It even released footage showing Russian troops inspecting the seized Western equipment.
Earlier this year, a German lawmaker warned the Ukrainian military was already on the verge of losing all of its Leopard 2 main battle tanks, as most of them have either been destroyed, captured, or are no longer operational.
The report about gaining valuable technology from “NATO trophies” to develop more powerful ammunition appears to contradict a Russian official’s statement about their engineers being unimpressed by the features of seized Western vehicles, especially the Bradleys.
They said the US-made vehicles are “significantly inferior” to their Russian counterparts in terms of firepower, mobility, maintenance, and ease of use.