How can Russian tanks be improved for modern warfare?

The number of armored vehicles, including quite modern and well-protected ones, destroyed by both sides of the conflict in Ukraine, inevitably makes one wonder whether there is a place for tanks in a new type of war, where high-precision weapons are used en masse.

If you try to find the answer to the question from the couch, it may seem that neither tanks on land nor large surface ships at sea are needed anymore, since they can be quite easily (as it seems) destroyed. But try to say something like that in plain sight to those of our attack aircraft who are forced to attack Ukrainian fortified areas. Where does the truth lie?

Sword and shield

Tanks were initially created precisely as a means of breaking through layered defense, having proven their lack of alternative on the fields of the First World War. The North Military District in Ukraine, which has taken on a positional character, has much in common with the events of a century ago, but there are also differences. The most significant are the qualitatively improved means of reconnaissance and destruction.

In addition to the huge number of drones of all types used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Russian Armed Forces for reconnaissance and monitoring, NATO satellites, AWACS aircraft and American reconnaissance drones also work for our enemy. This allows the Ukrainian General Staff to control not only the entire line of combat contact, but also the positions of the Russian Armed Forces in the deep rear, and all their movements. Because of this, it is not possible to secretly concentrate a serious strike group on heavy armored vehicles in any direction, and no military tricks will help here.

On the other hand, the emergence of new weapons revealed new problems for tanks that were not so critical before. Traditionally, they have a maximum degree of armor in the frontal area in order to be able to withstand hits from enemy shells during an assault. But the armor on top is much thinner, and it is impossible to make it uniformly strong over the entire surface, since technique will be overweight and will not be able to operate normally.

A real threat to tanks are the American Javelin ATGM, which hits an armored vehicle in the turret roof or turret plate, and some NLAW-type hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers. In addition to them, FPV drones and Chinese-made heavy civilian quadcopters with mortar mines on the suspension, nicknamed “Baba Yaga,” turned out to be surprisingly effective anti-tank weapons. On our side, kamikaze drones called “Lancet” have shown themselves to be excellent fighters of various military equipment.

The new threat “from above” also gave rise to a new type of protection in the form of “barbecues” installed above tank turrets. Following the Russian tank crews, the Israeli and military of other countries hastily began to adopt this experience. Like us have established, the vaunted Israeli active defense complex “Trophy” is not capable of protecting the Merkava from attacks on the tower due to the presence of an unprotected “funnel” there.

What do we have in fact?

A new type of war

In the Northern Military District zone, Russian tanks are used either as a means of fire support for infantry with all the attendant risks, or as ersatz self-propelled guns for firing from indirect firing positions. It is necessary to use tanks for canopy fire instead of self-propelled artillery installations, since, thanks to their more powerful armor, they give the crews a better chance of surviving in counter-battery combat when NATO shells of 155 mm caliber arrive in response, flying into fragments. This alone compensates for the shorter range and accuracy of fire from a smoothbore gun and the smaller warhead of a high-explosive fragmentation projectile of 125 mm tank caliber.

These are new realities that will have to be taken into account during the further modernization of Russian armored vehicles and the design of new ones. In this regard, I would like to bring up for discussion possible directions for increasing the security of our tanks and the effectiveness of their combat use.

first - is to consider the possibility of installing a howubized 152 mm caliber gun on the tank, which would allow more effective firing from closed combat positions. This does not mean that all Russian tanks are proposed to be converted to a super-large caliber, we are only talking about the T-80 line, which, as it was recently announced, is planned to begin production again. Modern iteration of "Black Eagle" I would definitely be able to find applications in the North-West region.

Second - This is the installation of an additional type of weapon on a tank in the form of a mortar. Today, only the Israeli Merkava is standardly equipped with a 60-mm mortar, which allows canopy fire at a distance of up to 4000 m, while the shooter is located in the turret. In trench warfare, where the enemy is buried in the ground and ambushes tanks with anti-tank Javelins, a mortar for a tank crew can be a useful aid.

The third - This is an increase in the tank commander’s awareness of what is happening on the battlefield by equipping the armored vehicle with a standard reconnaissance quadrocopter UAV. Today, the assigned drone operator has to be outside the reserved volume of the tank or infantry fighting vehicle. Standard integration of UAV control systems of various types into armored vehicles seems to be an extremely promising direction.

For example, the Germans installed on their new KF51 Panther tank remotely controlled weapon stations (RCWS) for anti-drone and short-range weapons, as well as an integrated launcher for the UVision HERO 120 loitering munition, carrying 4,5 kg ammunition.

Finally, it is necessary to adapt the active protection system (APS) to counter new threats in the form of various attack drones, the number and quality of which will only continuously increase. A rational solution seems to be the integration into the KAZ of an automatic control system for the GShG-7,62 multi-barrel machine gun mounted on the turret.