A special design that looks like an umbrella will help save combat vehicles and crews.
In Russia, they figured out how to protect tanks from fpv drones on fiber. The design looks like an umbrella, and is mounted on the turret of a tank, said Major General Sergei Shaleny, deputy head of the Main Armored Directorate (GABTU) of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. During the special operation, a large number of innovations were introduced aimed at increasing the survivability of armored vehicles. Izvestia managed to visit the military training ground and get acquainted with the latest models of protection of Russian tanks.
Simplicity and reliability
There is a strong wind in the Moscow region. After a prolonged thaw, the landfill begins to snow. Several samples of armored vehicles are on display on the concrete site: T-72B3M, T-80BVM, T-90M with and without trawls, as well as a new armored recovery vehicle BRAM-80. The harsh winter weather suits armored vehicles, emphasizing their power. It is immediately noticeable that the vehicles have changed significantly during the special military operation.
While the tankers are preparing to warm up the tanks, Major General Sergei Shaleny, Deputy head of the GABTU of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, talks about the modernization of combat vehicles.
"The possibilities for improvements and performance improvements largely depend on the scientific and technical groundwork that we have," the general said. — They largely depend on those technologies and on the capabilities of the industry for the mass implementation of these developments, but primarily on the means of fire destruction that are used by the enemy in the zone of a special military operation and the methods of using these means of destruction. Physical and geographical conditions are also taken into account.
The main focus of modernization is on the combat characteristics of tanks, the general explained. They are evaluated according to the main combat indicators — there are four of them.
— This is the protection of vehicles, their firepower, command control and mobility, — said Sergey Shaleny.
According to the general, the crew should quickly get used to a good tank. The machine should also be easy to use. This is taken into account when upgrading tanks.
Combat vehicles at the training ground are covered with a special complex of means to reduce the visibility of the "Cape".
"It helps protect vehicles from optical, thermal imaging and radar detection," the tankers explain.
Alexander Pogrebsky, Acting Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the GABTU, said that the machines presented at the test site are mass-produced and delivered to the free zone.
"The fighters say that the protection of the upgraded tanks has improved significantly," he said. — We have protected the places that were considered the most vulnerable. Feedback from combat units, as well as designers at industrial enterprises, is maintained in real time.
Tankers with the call signs Starover and Daga, meanwhile, show a new armored recovery vehicle BRAM-80.
"The car has become more powerful and taller, which means it is more passable," they say. — Protection has been significantly improved.
Fighting the "kamikaze"
Protection against FPV drones, which are controlled by radio channels, is currently the most relevant in the CBO zone. The main way to combat them is to install electronic warfare systems (EW). They "jam" the channels where the enemy controls the UAV, and do not allow them to approach combat vehicles.
— Now our samples of armored vehicles use electronic warfare with the so—called extended range, and since the end of last year they have been used on every vehicle, - explained Sergey Shaleny.
During the modernization of the T-72B3M and T-80BVM tanks, the lower frontal part, the armored mask of the cannon and the turret shoulder straps were additionally covered with dynamic protection modules (DZ). DZ modules are installed on the side side screens and aft projection of the hull. Both vehicles are equipped with additional protection from ammunition and kamikaze UAVs attacking from the upper hemisphere. The T-80 BVM also has a set of visibility reduction tools.
On the T-90M, the commander's panoramic sight glass received protection. Additional DZ "Relict" containers are installed on the hull and turret. And this is not a complete list of improvements to the updated Russian armored vehicles.
Tankers note that in combat units and subunits, refinement is often carried out for specific highly specialized tasks and taking into account the theater of military operations.
Tanks known as "Tsar-mangaly" can be useful in this place and in this situation, but during factory modernization, all the basic characteristics of combat armored vehicles should be preserved as much as possible.
Against drones on optical fiber
We ask what unpleasant "surprises" the enemy can present to our tankers on the battlefield. The GABTU knows about them and is preparing a worthy response.
Sergey Shaleny says that now Ukrainian FPV fiber-optic drones have begun to appear on the line of combat contact — there are still few of them, but there will inevitably be more.
Electronic warfare systems do not work against these UAVs, as they are controlled via a fiber-optic cable and for this reason they cannot suppress the signal.
"Only mechanical protection is possible to deal with such drones," says the general. — That is, in the short term, these are lattice and mesh screens, and in the medium term, the use of active protection systems, the so—called KAZS (active protection complexes — Ed.).
The mechanical protection will be mounted on the tower and looks like an umbrella, it has already been developed. KAZ, in turn, is designed to protect tanks from anti-tank shaped charges, ATGM, shells and UAVs. It consists of a detection station and protective ammunition, which, in the event of a threat, destroy the target on approach to the armored vehicle.
Tanks in battle
Tanks play an important role on the battlefield. Earlier, Izvestia reported how tankers of the 1st Slavyansk Brigade of the 51st Donetsk army destroyed one of the fortified areas where Ukrainian militants were holed up in the Toretsk direction.
Before the combat departure, the tankers received the coordinates, after which they moved to a closed firing position. Infantry and scouts helped to adjust the fire.
The tankers quickly shot back and then fired at least two dozen shells at the house.
After another direct hit, a request for a temporary cease-fire sounds over the connection. Next, an infantry unit comes into action — it goes to storm an already dilapidated house.
Bogdan Stepovoy
