A Russian fighting vehicle has appeared on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine with an unusual new look – spiked bristles and long wavy “hair”.
The strange modifications, shown off on Russian state TV, are the latest crudely improvised defences used to counter rapidly evolving drones being developed by both sides.
The vehicle, believed to be a rusted BMP-1, was coated in metal sheets in a rudimentary design first used in the First World War to cover weak spots in armour, mockingly known as “cope cages”.
However, what is new is the curly sheaves of steel that hang over the vehicle’s open, exposed back, while on its sides, thick broom-like bristles poke out from holes.
The hair-like additions appear to be in an attempt to keep small explosive-rigged FPV (first-person-view) drones – that have become ubiquitous on Ukraine’s battlefields – at a distance.
Oleksandr Danylyuk, a military and defence analyst at RUSI told The Telegraph, he hadn’t seen such defences used in the war before.
The mobile shed-like BMP was filmed and broadcast by the state-owned Russia1 channel earlier this week
The mobile shed-like BMP was filmed and broadcast by the state-owned Russia1 channel earlier this week close to Chasiv Yar, near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, where Russian forces have steadily been advancing since last year.
Valerii Riabykh, a Ukrainian weapons expert and editor of Defence Express, said he believes the hair and bristles are used to “prematurely initiate the fuses on FPV warheads to prevent hard damages for whoever and whatever is covered under the improvised protection”.
Mr Riabykh added that the makeshift modifications are part of a wider effort to protect armoured vehicles from the growing quantity of increasingly sophisticated drones.
During the first year of the war, it was feared that tanks and combat vehicles were becoming obsolete after the cheap remote-controlled quadcopters were able to disable or fatally wound them by striking where their defences were always thinnest – on top.
But the added armour, despite the mobile shed-look drawing ridicule – have proved key to their survival on the battlefield, particularly when explosive armour and advanced electronic warfare (EW) systems are also strapped on.
Fibre optic drones
Mr Riabykh also noted that the “hairy” BMP could be a specific response to the new FPVs, used by both sides, that are controlled by fibre optic cables to prevent being downed by electronic jamming.
Last year, military officials estimated that 75 per cent of Ukrainian and Russian drones were being knocked out by electrical impulses that scramble the radio frequencies used by the pilot to guide the drone.
But fibre optic drones – first spotted earlier this month – provide a stable connection for soldiers on the ground to carry out drone strikes for now, albeit with a more limited range.
The so-called “unjammable” weapons are the latest example of low-tech solutions being used to counter high-tech EW systems as Russia and Ukraine continue their complex game of cat-and-mouse drone warfare across the 700-mile front.
