Marco Hernandez and Thomas Gibbons-Neff
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the two sides’ tank divisions looked much as they did during the Cold War.
Now, Russia’s and Ukraine’s Soviet-era tanks rumble across the battlefield covered in anti-drone nets and spikes, dangling chains and unwieldy cages.
The exterior transformations of these hulking vehicles are a testament to how quickly drones have changed the war in Ukraine in just over three years. Lethal drones have pushed traditional missiles and artillery to the sidelines.
The armor changes began early in the war after Ukrainian forces used U.S.-supplied anti-tank missiles to strike Russian tanks directly from above, piercing weaker points in vehicles’ armor.
To counter the explosive projectiles, Russian tank crews began mounting homemade cages above their turrets to cushion the tanks from blasts. Other Russian units already had cages on their tanks, anticipating strikes from above.
Since then, the battlefield has completely changed. It is now driven by small, cheap first-person-view (F.P.V.) drones that can be used like homing missiles.
In response, both Ukrainian and Russian tanks have undergone transformations to address their vulnerabilities. Here’s how it happened:
Earlier in the war, anti-tank missiles and drones that dropped grenades primarily threatened tanks from above
To protect the tanks from above, mechanics built structures on the tops. Then, soldiers began using F.P.V. drones to maneuver like homing projectiles into other vulnerable areas of the vehicles
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