The rise in popularity of drones is prompting armies to change strategy and, in particular, to add extra protection to their tanks, writes The Wall Street Journal, citing military personnel surveyed in an article titled “Once-Dominant Tank Is Humiliated on Battlefield.”
As the paper notes, the conflict in Ukraine has shown that heavy tanks, once “kings of the battlefield,” can be easily detected and attacked by cheap drones. This resulted in dozens of advanced Western tanks being used only occasionally in combat, while others were damaged, destroyed or captured.
Both sides are now equipping their combat vehicles with technologies to detect and suppress drones, as well as changing their designs to make them more maneuverable.
“In the near future we will [США] It is absolutely necessary to make some urgent adjustments to preserve the survivability of our armored formations.” – the general told the WSJ James Raineywho runs the U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC, managing military modernization projects).
According to the Oryx analytical group, which the newspaper refers to, one-fifth of all Abrams tanks transferred to Ukraine have already been destroyed, while the rest are used very rarely. Moreover, two-thirds of the latest German Leopard models have been destroyed or damaged to date, according to analysts.
“As soon as you step out onto the road, a drone detects you and then they start shooting at you with artillery, mines, anti-tank missiles, drones, guided bombs.” — a mechanic and driver of one of the Abrams tanks transferred to Ukraine told the WSJ.
The military official explained that while at the beginning of the conflict commanders often hid their tanks by digging trenches and camouflaging them, with the development of drones such methods ceased to work and tanks were kept away from forward positions.
Commander of a tank company of the Armed Forces of Ukraine anton gavrish He added that once upon a time, a tank commander’s skill was determined by his ability to conduct tank duels and protect infantry, but now it is about the ability to conduct covert fire and retreat quickly.
The Russian military has repeatedly stated that drones are changing battle tactics since the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict. President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin Last year, he allowed investments worth 1 trillion rubles in the production of drones. The Head of State stated that Russia will accelerate the production of drones. He promised to provide drones to “all military units, including squads, platoons, companies and battalions,” RBC recalls.
