US military organises virtual repair mission in Ukraine

The US Army has organised a virtual repair mission to help keep military equipment in Ukraine in working order for as long as possible and as close to the front line as possible.

Source: DefenseNews

Details: According to the article, when units on the front line see a problem with their equipment, they send notes on the secure messaging app Signal to translators who relay them to the US military. Then, from one of seven stations in Poland, the US military schedules video calls with the Ukrainians to help them repair their weapons.

The workshop has equipment ranging from howitzers to tanks, and repairs can take anywhere from a few hours to several weeks. The soldiers who help with the repairs say the work helps Ukraine keep its weapons in working order, and the US is teaching them how to repair them on the fly.

"The capability is forward. They’re able to fix forward just with some backup support on the telephone," said Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Gauvin, a member of the 16th US Army Sustainment Brigade, during a video call from Poland at one of the seven stations where they are helping to fix such problems.

The brigade's tents look like small warehouses filled with the same equipment that the Ukrainians work with on the front line. Since June of this year, the 16th Sustainment Brigade has been operating these facilities as part of the Remote Maintenance and Distribution Centre-Ukraine, or RDC-U.

As DefenseNews writes, the team in Poland uses technical manuals and experiments with their own equipment, trying to recreate the same issues faced by Ukrainian soldiers on the front line. This way, they can get to the root of the problem.

Sometimes these issues go beyond the technical capabilities of the army. In such cases, the 16th Battalion relies on a team of 276 contractors from companies that manufacture equipment used by the Ukrainians on the front line. During one call from Poland, two engineers from British defence giant BAE Systems were discussing the repair of a M777 howitzer, a system they had been working on for 20 years.

The engineers spend a lot of time writing or filming what they call white papers – an index of videos and technical documents translated into Ukrainian that they then pass on to soldiers on the front line. In the event of longer-term problems, the army will meet with their counterparts to resolve the issue.

The Ukrainian military is learning to repair Western weapons with varying levels of success.

According to the article, they did a better job with howitzer batteries than with the 30 Abrams tanks donated by the US. The US Army is trying to train Ukrainians more thoroughly in repairs that go beyond routine maintenance, such as track or turret breakdowns, rather than oil changes.

When more serious problems arise, the tanks have to be returned to US hands across the border.

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