Responding to the Threat of Ukrainian Missiles Russian Tanks Wearing "Steel Helmets"

Recently, a photo of the tank detachment of the Coastal Defense Force of the Russian Black Sea Fleet attracted attention. The turrets of the T-72B3 main battle tanks in which he participated were topped with a huge steel frame structure, which at first glance seemed to be wearing a "steel helmet", which made the monk confused. In fact, these odd-looking "steel helmets" are armored components designed to deal with top-loading munitions.

"Top-notch" strike threat

Since the birth of the tank, the "armor war" between tank armor and anti-tank ammunition has never stopped. Armor designers designed a wide variety of armor, such as homogeneous steel armor, inclined armor, intermittent armor, grille armor, explosive reactive armor, and composite armor, to resist increasingly aggressive anti-tank ammunition. In addition, from the perspective of the armor protection layout of the tank itself, heavy armor is usually arranged on the front of the hull and turret to resist attacks from the front. The side, rear and top armor of the tank is thinner and the defense is weaker.

In the 1980s, the ammunition designers of the Swedish company Bofors took a different approach, designing a "Beale" anti-tank missile that specifically attacked the top of the tank. When the missile flew over the tank, once the close-blowing fuze spotted the armored target below, it detonated the warhead, allowing the metal jet to penetrate the top armor of the tank turret. The advent of the "Bill" anti-tank missile opened up the idea of anti-tank ammunition design. Subsequently, more advanced US-made "Javelin" anti-tank missiles came into being. This missile further changes the way the "Bill" anti-tank missile is attacked, using a high-throw ballistic trajectory, and the missile climbs upward after firing, attacking the tank turret from top to bottom, making the "steel monster" shiver for a while.

Grille armor response

As the saying goes, "the devil is one foot taller than the other." As new anti-tank munitions entered combat, tank designers began to think about how to defend against blows from overhead. Russia is at the forefront of the world in this regard, and it mainly adopts 3 ways. The first is to lay explosive reactive armor above the tank turret. When hit, this armor detonates incoming ammunition, weakening its penetration effectiveness against the armor at the top of the turret. The second is to add an active defense system to the tank, which fires small interceptor shells to shoot down incoming ammunition, thus relieving the threat. The third is to add a steel frame structure above the turret to form a grid armor to deal with the top munitions, and the principle of action is similar to that of explosive reactive armor.

Each of these three approaches has its own advantages and disadvantages. The first method is simpler, the Russian army has added explosive reactive armor to the T-72, T-80 and other 3rd generation tanks. This armor was laid on top of the turret, and the lack of buffer between it and the tank hull made it difficult to completely interfere with the powerful metal jet generated when the top-attacking munition exploded, and the defensive effect was limited. The second approach works best, but is costly. At present, the Russian army is only equipped with an active interception system for the T-14 Armata main battle tank. In addition, once the interceptor is used up, the system will be reduced to a decoration. The third method looks the most "earthy", but it is inexpensive and works well. This steel frame structure, hit by anti-tank ammunition, detonates the opponent and interferes with the direction of incidence of its metal jet, causing it to lose most of its penetrating energy when it reaches the hull and unable to penetrate the top armor of the tank turret. This method of defense first appeared on the Syrian battlefield and achieved obvious combat results. Apparently, Russian military observers in Syria brought this simple and cheap modification back to Russia.

In recent years, the Ukrainian army has received a lot of U.S. military assistance, including "Javelin" anti-tank missiles. In addition, the Ukrainian Air Force has also imported TB-2 drones from Turkey, which can carry anti-tank missiles and are extremely threatening. Faced with this situation, the Russian army made full preparations. At present, in addition to the tank units of the Black Sea Fleet, the tank units of the Russian Army bordering Ukraine have also added this steel frame structure to the tanks to resist threats from the air.