Forbes: Time Of Russian ‘Turtle Tanks’ Is Running Out

The Ukrainian Armed Forces are changing the situation at the front with the help of US weapons.

Early this month, Ukrainian drone operators were flabbergasted to spot, on the battlefield outside Krasnohorivka — just west of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine — a Russian T-72 tank with what appeared to be a metal roof atop its hull and turret. This “turtle tank” turned out to be a lucky find for the occupiers, although not for long, Forbes reports.

“In fact, it launched a vehicular trend in the Russian army in Ukraine as more and more Russian crews came around to the idea that the strange improvised armor might actually work,” stated in the material.

It was equally obvious that the shell-like armor would prevent the tank’s turret from rotating and impede visibility and mobility, the “turtle tanks” fulfilled their mission all right — transported the infantry closer to the Ukrainian positions. Three weeks after the appearance of the first tank, such models became commonplace along the entire front.

“Most of the turtle tanks belong to the 5th Motor Rifle Brigade, a former Ukrainian separatist unit that joined the Russian army last year. The 5th Motor Rifle Brigade has always made do with whatever weapons it can beg, borrow or steal,” the publication clarifies.

But now turtle tanks are also showing up in the workshops of better-equipped Russian units, including the 90th Tank Division, which is lurking around the ruins of the eastern city of Avdiivka.

“I know people are laughing at this, but I don't think it is a crazy adaptation,” wrote Rob Lee, an analyst with the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. “The Russians are adapting to the particular conditions of the battlefield.”

Despite their strange appearance and technical drawbacks, these tanks served as a solution to a specific problem — they protected against Ukrainian FPV drones. However, the times when the Armed Forces of Ukraine experienced an acute shortage of weapons are coming to an end: new shipments of American aid are already being sent to Ukraine, in particular artillery shells and Javelin missiles.

“The FPVs aren’t going away. But neither are they going to remain the main—practically only—Ukrainian munition on the battlefield. How will the lumbering turtle tanks, and their mostly blind crews, fare when the Ukrainians are firing 100-pound shells and 35-pound missiles at them in addition to two-pound drones?” Forbes summarizes.