One of the latest do-it-yourself armored vehicles in the arsenal of the Russian army in Ukraine may also be one of the fakest. The up-armored MT-LB armored tractor appears to sport extensive protection against Ukrainian drones. But some of the protection might be strictly for show.
For the unfortunate Russian crew of the improvised vehicle, the possible fakery is a tragedy in the making if and when the vehicle’s potentially fake defenses meet real Ukrainian drones. For the Ukrainian drone operators, the vehicular stagecraft is an opportunity—to knock out yet another Russian vehicle.
On Sunday, Andrey Rudenko, a Russian propagandist reporting from occupied Donetsk Oblast, highlighted the work of mechanics working for the Russian army’s 1st Guards Tank Army.
“Servicemen of the repair company of the motorized rifle brigade of the 1st Guards Tank Army of the west grouping of forces restore, repair and modernize military equipment,” Rudenko wrote. “Specialists are engaged in the repair of tracked and wheeled vehicles, including the replacement of engines and the installation of dynamic and anti-drone protection kits.”
The video accompanying purports to depict an impressive example of a drone-hardened armored vehicle—a 1970s-vintage MT-LB armored tractor that, in its baseline form, weighs just 13 tons and has armor that’s just 14 millimeters thick at its thickest point. That’s barely adequate to protect a vehicle from machine gun fire—to say nothing of protecting it from the thousands of explosive first-person-view drones that prowl the front line every day.
FPV drones, which Ukrainian industry builds at a rate of millions of copies a year, now account for the majority of Russian vehicle losses—and have lately driven the total tally of Russian losses to more than 17,000 tanks, fighting vehicles, armored trucks and other vehicles.
Kitchen pots disguised as electronic warfare systems
The MT-LB in the 1st Guards Tank Army’s workshop boasts a shell of welded-on metal plates, dangling chains to guard the fronts of the tracks and, most impressively, a hinged anti-drone grill—a “cope cage”—that opens up to reveal a mast for electronic systems. Potentially medium-range radio jammers for grounding incoming drones.
And on the vehicles’ front, there are three round radomes that appear to be shorter-range jammers. On its face, it’s a comprehensive anti-drone suite. The problem is: the radomes for the short-range jammers don’t seem to match any known design. They might even be kitchen pots painted to resemble military hardware. In that case, it should go without saying, they’d be totally useless against drones.
It became apparent recently that some Russian regiments were bolting pots onto their armored vehicles owing to jammer shortages and delays. “In a certain kingdom, the enemy began to hit equipment with drones,” Russian Telegram channel Two Majors wrote euphemistically. “Then the soldiers were forbidden to ride in the equipment if there was no miracle electronic warfare system on the roof.”
That was the origin of the fake jammers, Two Majors explained. “The military police were strictly told to watch for external signs of electronic warfare on the vehicles, so that the soldiers would take care of themselves. But they have to ride. The army is moving forward, they can’t carry ammunition and food on donkeys—and other types of supplies.”
Deadly theater of fake military protection
“What to do?” Two Majors asked rhetorically. “They ordered electronic warfare, but while it was coming … they took plastic basins and covered them with ‘secret paint that deflects enemy drones.’ At the same time, it looks like it’s an electronic warfare system, and now the military police posts frown from afar, but let them through: there is a yellow dome on the roof, which means there is order.”
That supposed “order” masks a serious problem for Russian forces, of course. Fake jammers might help get front-line troops through the military police checkpoints, but they won’t defeat Ukraine’s drones.
