Ukrainian tanks confront drone threats amid supply challenges
Due to a lack of sufficient support weapons, Ukrainians are using tank charges as a substitute to shell a given area with high-explosive shells. This is a risky tactic, exposing them to attack by lethal drones, among other threats. Here, we delve into the clash between the Lancet-3 drone and the T-72 tank.
The video below shows how the tank fires at a building on the left, where Russians are likely positioned, and then gets hit by a Lancet-3 drone, which appears to have detonated prematurely. Unfortunately, the quality of the recording is insufficient to see clearly, but in recent months, folding anti-drone nets have become popular on Ukrainian tanks.
These nets serve as a rather effective barrier against single-warhead drones or even tandem ones, especially if the turret has reactive armour blocks. The tank, after the hit, which was not damaging, quickly decided to retreat. It is also worth noting that it is not a T-64BW but some variant of the T-72, due to the exhaust being located on the side rather than the rear.
The T-72 tank: the USSR's workhorse with a critical flaw, popular on both sides of the war
Introduced into service in 1973, the T-72 tanks were a simplified version of the revolutionary T-64 tank. Fifty years ago, they were more advanced than anything the West had, but much has changed since then, and even its deepest modernisations in the form of the T-90M variant are nowhere near the latest M1A2 Abrams or Leopard 2 tanks.
A characteristic feature of the T-72 tanks is their relatively low weight of 40,000 kg for the applied armour, low profile at 2 metres, good mobility, and an autoloader, which reduced crew size to three soldiers. This was one of the conclusions of the nuclear experiment.
However, as the war in Ukraine has shown, the autoloader, although very helpful, can be deadly in the case of a design error. This is the case with the whole family of post-Soviet tanks, where the autoloader housing 22 shells along with propellant charges is located in the hull and not isolated from the crew in any way. Any damage to it guarantees a spectacular explosion and the death of the entire crew. For this reason, crews have begun to create various types of protection or install jammers, which do not always work.
Lancet-3 drone: the nightmare of Ukrainian tank crews
Lancet-3 drones, which debuted for the first time in 2020 during fighting in Syria, are long-range constructions capable of staying in the air for 40 minutes and covering 40 kilometres. Initially, they were equipped with a 3-kilogram engineering-shaped explosive charge KZ-6, capable of penetrating 21 centimetres of steel armour. Still, new versions are said to have a larger 5-kilogram warhead with significantly greater destructive power.
The main problem for Ukrainians is that these drones are quite difficult to jam, unlike FPV drones, and in essence, the crew of the targeted T-72 was quite lucky. Russian drones are also reportedly capable of attacking autonomously in the final phase, but their accuracy is said to be lacking, and there is no talk of hitting a specific piece of armour.
