ISW: Stocks Of Soviet Armored Vehicles In Russia Are Running Low

27.06.2025, 7:40
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New satellite imagery confirms this.

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have studied new satellite images of Russian military depots and repair facilities. They showed that almost all Soviet armored vehicles require major repairs.

They have been idle for a long time and cannot be sent directly from the warehouses to the front, so all Soviet armored vehicles have to be resuscitated, analysts from the Institute for the Study of War say.

So, the 81st plant in Armavir (Krasnodar Krai), which has been mainly repairing BTR-70/80s since 2023, can only service 200 armored vehicles annually. The 144th plant in Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk region) is currently the only enterprise in the Russian Federation that repairs BMPs as well as BDM-2s. It manages to put 100 to 150 armored vehicles on their feet per year.

Arzamassky Mechanical Plant (Nizhny Novgorod Region) annually produces up to 500 BTR-82s. At the same time, satellite images showed very many hulls on the territory of the plant. This suggests that either the pace of production has increased there, or it is repairing old or damaged armored vehicles. Experts say it is the BTR-82 that Putin's army has often used in attacks recently.

The Kurganmashzavod produces 100 to 120 models of the BMP-4M, 20 to 30 BTR-MDMs and up to 360 BMP-3s each year. Russia has supported its offensive operations throughout the war by using its stockpile of Soviet-era armored vehicles to offset high casualty rates, but that resource is finite and approaching the point of diminishing availability. Russian forces are increasingly using motorcycles and buggies instead of armored vehicles along the front lines in Ukraine due to high Russian equipment losses in late 2023 and 2024.

The British International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated in February 2025 that Russian forces will lose more than 3,700 BMPs and APCs in 2024 alone.