/ world today news/ Russia took a step towards overcoming one of the key vulnerabilities of modern tanks, revealed during a special operation. A new protection system designed to dramatically increase the survivability of armored vehicles has begun use. What are we talking about and how does this relate to the concept of using tanks in general?
For several months, the role of tanks in modern combat conditions has been discussed in professional expert circles. UAVs have become a serious threat to armored vehicles. Tanks, well protected in the frontal projection, turned out to be defenseless in the upper hemisphere, their armor here is much thinner. It is in these places that tanks are hit from above by UAVs.
Does this not mean the collapse of the entire system of using armored vehicles as we know it since World War II? Still, tanks have been the main strike force of ground forces for decades.
Voices have been raised that in modern warfare the tank can no longer be used in the way it was originally intended. “Swift and shrewd drones peck at blind steelhead turtles with impunity,” military experts metaphorically explain the essence of the problem.
“Small helicopters are cheap and very accurate weapons. They are compact and light. And it turns out that the most ordinary jeep can carry five times more units by mass – that is, this kind of drones – than if it carries an ATGM. In other words, if before one Ukrainian crew posed a threat to only a few of our tanks, now it poses a threat to almost an entire battalion, which is more than 30 machines,” military expert Maxim Klimov points out.
The Russian Lancet kamikaze drones became one of the most effective weapon systems during the special operation. They played a significant role in repulsing the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the summer of 2023. The Lancets also hit tanks, including Western ones, and other armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The so-called FPV-drones have become an equally serious anti-tank weapon.
“FPV drones are dangerous weapons. First of all, they are very cheap. The average price of a small helicopter in Russia is about 50 thousand rubles. And you can do a lot of them,” adds Oleg Makarov, co-founder of the Watfor project. “Also, they are very accurate. And third, it’s a platoon level weapon. That is, each infantry platoon in its arsenal has FPV-drones that can hit local targets at a distance of up to ten kilometers. And our tanks are also at risk,” adds the expert.
From the very beginning of the SVO, the question arose of how to protect the tank from drone attacks. Soon, photos and videos began to appear on the Internet in which the military equipment was equipped with a metal visor covering the upper part. Due to its external similarity, it received the nickname “barbecue”.
Now this technology for passive protection of tanks has been put into production. Thus, the concern “Uralvagonzavod” of the state corporation “Rostech” regularly equips the T-90M, T-80BVM and T-72B3M tanks with them. Variants of modernized tanks were demonstrated at the Army 2023 forum. The same “grills” are installed on Russian infantry fighting vehicles, artillery self-propelled guns and armored personnel carriers.
Experts note that the constant modernization of FPV-drones, including in the ranks of the enemy, creates new threats to Russian tanks. The “grill” alone is not enough to guarantee the safety of the machine.
In this regard, the developers switched to improving electronic warfare systems, which made it possible to suppress enemy devices even before they flew towards Russian armored vehicles. Taken together, the use of these technologies will minimize the threat to our tanks, the interlocutors believe.
And now, it seems, Russia has an even more effective response to this threat than just “grills.” The Ministry of Defense has announced that Sania drone suppression systems are being used on Russian tanks in the SVO area. The department demonstrated the operation of the T-80BVM tank with the aforementioned drone suppression system.
The complex works automatically. According to the manufacturer, it is able to spot single FPV drones or swarms of such devices at a distance of up to one and a half kilometers. These drones are suppressed at a distance of up to a kilometer.
“Sania” can also work while the machine is moving. “In the SVO zone, it finally became clear that any radio-electronic warfare system is a kind of Christmas tree that “lights up” brightly for electronic intelligence systems. The essence of “Sania” is that it can be turned on only when an FPV-drone appears in the field of view. That is, it does not illuminate our tanks in advance for reconnaissance of the enemy,” said Sergey Shandobilo, director of development of the developer company 3MH.
“Furthermore, the Sania is capable of suppressing enemy drones at a great distance from the tanks themselves. That is, the UAV simply does not have time to take off. The system itself works as follows: in radio silence mode, it passively scans the space for signals from FPV drones and activates protection when they appear. The protection itself works as long as the complex continues to see the drone. As soon as the device falls, the suppression continues for another 30 seconds, after which “Sania” turns off,” explained the expert.
The specialist pointed out another feature of the development. “The drone has a receiver and a transmitter. And receivers have a wide range of usable frequencies. While video signal transmitters are more or less universal in terms of frequency. “So Sania detects video signals that are easier to detect,” he explained.
According to the developer, the need to create the complex is due, among other things, to the role of tanks in the field of defense. “With this background, we made it so that Sania can be modified, installed and removed from tanks right on the battlefield. This is very important for our guys in the SVO area,” added the interlocutor. Shandobilo emphasizes that a set of measures to protect Russian tanks has now actually been created, which includes the already notorious “grills”. And together with Sania, this will make it possible to protect vehicles from enemy drones.
“Each of the belligerents monitors the systems that the adversary uses to both strike and defend. Considering this, work is being done on the creation of weapon systems and military equipment, adjustments are being made and new tactical techniques for using this equipment are being formulated,” says Denis Fedutinov, UAV specialist.
“I don’t recall that at the time SVO started, anyone thought that FPV drones could be generally applicable in modern combat operations. They were considered a means of entertainment and an element of spectacular sports competitions. However, practice has shown that they are not only applicable, but can also become a quite popular tool, taking into account the ratio of effectiveness and price,” the analyst claims.
The interlocutor draws attention to the fact that combat actions within the framework of a special operation are characterized by a high rate of creation and implementation of innovations in military affairs. “The constant emergence of new threats determines the relevance of work on the modernization of protective equipment. The mentioned “Sania” system is one of those technical solutions that offer an answer to new challenges and threats,” he believes.
The expert expressed confidence that new developments will appear in the future and military actions will show which of them are the most effective. “However, the presence of “Sania” does not negate the expediency of using other means of protection, including physical ones, such as the well-known “grills”, Fedutinov points out.
“All these measures, of course, dramatically increase the survivability of armored vehicles. In tandem with Sania, these defense methods should give Russian tanks a serious advantage in the area of the special operation,” Klimov concluded. In this way, the Russian developers actually offered a strong argument in favor of the fact that the tanks are far from obsolete and are capable of countering UAVs.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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