To Blow Up Russia’s Turtle Tanks, Hit Them With Two Drones In A Row

Desperate to clear mines in the no-man’s-land between Russian and Ukrainian positions—and equally desperate to protect the mine-clearers from Ukraine’s explosive first-person-view drones—the Russian military devised a new kind of vehicle this spring.

It’s an up-armored tank with mine-exploding rollers and shed-like improvised armor to shield the crew, and any infantry passengers, from FPV drones. Ukrainian troops derisively call the up-armored tanks “turtle tanks”—and refer to the hastily applied sheet metal and grills as “barbecue armor.”

As soon as the turtle tanks first began crawling along the 700-mile front line of Russia’s wider war on Ukraine in April, the Ukrainians began devising ways of destroying them.

A direct hit by an artillery shell, anti-tank missile or uncleared mine can do the trick. And so can back-to-back strikes by the very FPV drones the turtle tanks were designed to defeat, as the Ukrainian 108th Territorial Defense Brigade demonstrated recently.

On or before Saturday, the brigade’s SkyForce drone group spotted a T-62 turtle tank along the front line in southern Ukraine—and aimed at least two of their bird-sized FPVs at it.

“The Russian occupiers firmly believe that if a protective structure of the barbecue type is welded on top of the tank, it will provide guaranteed protection against drones,” the 108th Territorial Defense Brigade explained on social media. “But operators of the SkyForce group … prove that this is not the case at all.”

As a surveillance drone observed from high overhead, one FPV struck the tank on its metal-encased flank. Soon, a second FPV zoomed in—apparently aiming for the same side. The strikes triggered a blaze that consumed the tank.

“Double defeat,” is how the 108th Territorial Defense Brigade described the back-to-back strike tactic.

The method makes sense. Many of the best anti-tank missiles have “tandem” warheads with two explosive charges. The first charge punches a hole in a tank’s armor. The second charge explodes inside the tank in order to inflict maximum damage.

The SkyForce group’s double-defeat method for striking turtle tanks transforms a pair of FPVs into a de facto tandem warhead. One drone to make a hole in the outermost armor. A second drone to deliver a blow underneath the shattered shell.

Whether other brigades can coordinate their drones to land one-two hits remains to be seen. It’s also unclear whether all turtle tanks are equally vulnerable to tandem strikes.

After all, not all of the up-armored tanks are equally crude. Some wear truly improvised armor made of whatever scrap metal the crew could scrounge. Others have add-on armor that’s obviously carefully designed and installed—and may offer much better protection.