Drone footage of a Russian assault attempt on Krasnohorivka, north of Donetsk city, shows a tank leading the charge while adorned with an extremely conspicuous set of improvised armor. Sheet metal forms a shed-like housing over top of the hull, and was likely produced in an attempt to mitigate the ubiquitous FPV and drone-dropped munition threats.

The assault appears to fail as some of the vehicles take critical hits and the motorcade eventually turns around and returns to their point of origin. They are under heavy fire throughout the duration of their assault attempt. The vehicles were tracked on their egress by Ukrainian observation drones, and the tank-shed hybrid was reportedly later destroyed in its motor pool, which is evidenced by the second video clip.

As dorky looking as the armor is, it likely would increase survivability against the current drones that are destroying Russian equipment at a ridiculous rate. The thin sheet metal only needs to detonate the enemy munition away from the hull, which depletes the effectiveness of the charge against the armor. Every inch that can be put between the blast and the vehicle increases survivability.

About the Author

Will Killmore

Will Killmore is a US Army combat infantry veteran and Purple Heart recipient. He has deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan with the 172nd Stryker Brigade and 173rd Airborne Brigade. Following his time in service, he successfully pursued a certificate of journalism and has been a blogger for Funker530 since 2014. Follow Will’s bad takes on Twitter