Army-2024 – The war in Ukraine has changed the face of Russian armoured vehicles

The static display of armoured vehicles at the Army-2024 exhibition is radically different from what Russian television broadcast every year from military parades on Red Square. Russian tanks, armoured personnel carriers (APC or BTR, BroneTRansportyor in Russian ), infantry fighting vehicles (IFV or BMP, Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty in Russian ) and airborne combat vehicles (BMD, Boyevaya Mashina Desanta in Russian ), which had low silhouettes and streamlined contours of hulls and turrets, have now turned into a kind of “monsters”, draped on all sides in cage-armour and anti-drone nets

The reason for this transformation is quite obvious – the airspace above the modern battlefield is now saturated with strike FPV-drones and loitering munitions (LM) capable of immobilizing and then completely destroying any armoured vehicle. While active protection on the front and sides of ACVs can still reduce the probability of damage after the first hits to some extent, strikes from FPV-drones and LMs from the upper hemisphere, especially in the rear part where the engine and transmission compartment is located, are the most dangerous. Currently, specialists from many countries are trying to solve the problem of protecting ACVs from new types of weapons and, in particular, from LMs and FPV-drones, which now dominate the battlefield. Some such solutions proposed by Russian specialists and the military in relation to the main types of armoured vehicles used in Ukraine were presented at the Army-2024 exhibition.

For example, BMD-4M airborne combat vehicles are now almost completely equipped with anti-drone grids. As Andrey Prokhorov, Chairman of the Military Scientific Committee of the Airborne Forces, stated during the exhibition, the decision to additionally protect the BMD-4M airborne combat vehicles with bar armour against FPV-drones, based on the experience of the special military operation, was correct. When the BMD-4M was equipped with an additional protection kit in the form of grilles, these were supposed to reduce the likelihood of the vehicle being hit by hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers (RPG), but now that the airspace between the opponents has been filled with attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), they also help against FPV-drones. Prokhorov clarified that the protection includes three components: anti-fragmentation protection, protection against RPGs and reduced visibility.

Many of the T-90M Proryv, T-72B3M and T-80BVM tanks presented at Army-2024, used in Ukraine, as well as the BTR-82A, BMP-3 and BMP-1AM Basurmanin, were completely covered with the radio-absorbing material Nakidka, as well as with additional sections of active protection on the sides, rear and frontal parts. To enhance the protection of the upper hemisphere, visors with cage armour, anti-drone nets, active protection elements and portable electronic countermeasure systems (ECM) were installed on the turrets of almost all tanks, BTRs, BMPs and BMDs, the latter allowing blocking the control and data transmission channels of FPV-drones.

As reported by the Research Institute of Steel (part of the Kalashnikov concern), the company supplies the Nakidka camouflage material for armoured vehicles used in combat operations. The Nakidka material reduces the visibility of armoured vehicles in a wide range of wavelengths. This material is supplied to enterprises producing and repairing armoured vehicles and is installed on them before transferring them to the Ministry of Defence. The Nakidka protects combat armoured vehicles primarily from detection by radar and thermal imaging sensors, and its pixel camouflage paintwork additionally provides visual camouflage.

“Today, the Nakidka is becoming a mandatory element of the Russian armoured vehicles sent to the combat zone,” the Kalashnikov concern emphasized.

Some tanks could be seen equipped with electronic jamming stations for satellite navigation and FPV-drone control channels. The mushroom-shaped antennas of the ECM station, mounted on the tank turrets, form a circular radiation pattern with radiation in the upper hemisphere.

New and upgraded tanks sent to the combat zone are equipped with a special design consisting of bar armour and nets that protect the engine-transmission compartment and the rear of the turret from tandem RPG warheads, guided missiles and FPV-drones. In particular, the T-80BVM tanks began to be equipped with a standard module for protecting the upper hemisphere of the turret. The modernized T-80BVMs are equipped with enhanced active protection.

Hereafter a series of photos depicting some of the solutions described.

Photos by N. Morris – click on images to enlarge