- Russia and Ukraine have turned to improvised armor solutions to give their tanks additional protection.
- But Moscow, in recent weeks, seems to have gone even further in innovating.
- His new “turtle tanks” may seem ridiculous, but there is some evidence that they could be effective.
Facing a myriad of deadly threats on the battlefield, with drone blasts posing a particularly serious threat, Russia and Ukraine have both taken additional steps to protect their tanks and vehicles by equipping them with additional layers of protective shielding.
This improvised armor, sometimes little more than a chain-link cage welded around the exterior of a vehicle, is essentially an effort to provide a last-resort defense against incoming munitions like artillery, missiles anti-tank or small drones packed with explosives. especially the latter.
While both militaries have used such tactics, Russia in recent weeks has unveiled a strange – if apparently effective – innovation that has been dubbed by some observers of the Ukraine war as a “turtle tank.”
Videos of the Russian aquarium design, shared by open source intelligence accounts and experts often relying on Ukrainian military accounts, have become increasingly common on social media since they first appeared in the early days of the month.
The tank is aptly named, as it is covered in what appears to be metal armor on all sides except the front, where the cannon protrudes inconspicuously – looking somewhat like the head of a a turtle.
Rob Lee, senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, identified The turtle tank took part in a mid-April assault by Russia’s 5th Motorized Rifle Brigade on the eastern Ukrainian town of Krasnohorivka, a hot spot in the fighting as Moscow advances west of the city of Donetsk. In one video, he appears to walk through a cluster munition strike and continue on.
Lee suggested that this unusual tank, at least some of which are believed to play a mine-clearing role, may not be as crazy as it seems.
“I know people laugh about it, but I don’t think it’s a crazy adaptation. The Russians are adapting to the particular conditions of the battlefield in which Ukraine has a lot of FPVs, but not enough ATGMs , anti-tank mines and artillery,” Lee said in a statement. follow-up articlereferring to first-person weapons, drones and anti-tank guided missiles.
“So it makes sense to sacrifice observation and the ability to rotate the turret on one tank per platoon, which can jam multiple FPV frequencies at once,” Lee added.
Some OSINT pages highlighted the role of the turtle tank in the assault on Krasnohorivka. Some vehicles seem to have done better than others.
The turtle tank was also spotted further north along the front line during Russian assaults on Chasiv Yar, a Ukrainian town just west of Bakhmut that became a critical battlefield due to its elevated position overlooking the surrounding areas.
These tanks appear to be at least somewhat effective, however. A Ukrainian Telegram channel, which posted footage of a turtle tank in action over the weekend, noted that Ukraine had to spend “a lot” on FPV drones just to destroy a single vehicle.
“Everyone makes fun of their barn building, but in reality, they work like hell,” wrote the Ukrainian channel, which appears to be owned by a Ukrainian serviceman, according to a translation.
Russian turtle tanks are a clear step beyond the widely documented “roll cages” that both sides relied on to try to protect their heavy armor throughout the war. These new defensive structures come as the Ukrainians are increasingly turning to FPV drones packed with explosives to attack Moscow vehicles.
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