Russia’s ‘dandelion’ tank armour might just work
came first Russia‘s “turtle tank” is a metal shack that roars across the battlefield. Then Ukraine so-called “hairy tank” is covered in long, wavy metal wires.
Now the “dandelion tank” has arrived.
Moscow’s latest crude design, consisting of flexible metal rods arranged in branched layers, seeks to protect the tank’s hull from the ever-present threat of small kamikaze drones.
It may seem ridiculous, but analysts say Oduvanchik (dandelion) anti-drone armor could provide the best protection currently available for expensive vehicles.
It’s the latest in a series of strange-looking Russian inventions that have emerged over the past week, each of which has attracted some level of ridicule online. These include a camouflage net disguised as rubble and a patent for giant spinning propellers to protect Soviet-era pickup trucks.
But in such a situation prolonged and largely static warfareEvery advantage that demands endless innovation at ever-cheaper costs can save lives at the front.
The unusual dandelion-inspired modification was first photographed last week, covering a Russian T-90M tank inside a warehouse. It’s unclear when it will be deployed for combat, but the Russian defense ministry recently patented the design.
Reinforced metal rods are welded together to form a tree-like structure divided into several layers, creating a three-dimensional barrier like a dandelion flower. In any gaps, a high-strength mesh is stretched between them.
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If an explosives-equipped FPV (first-person perspective) drone flies toward the tank, the rods should detonate it at a distance, shielding the hull from most of the blast. For every extra centimeter the drone is kept away, the tank’s chances of survival increase.
Russia frequently adds explosive reactive armor and metal cages to the T-90’s significant base armor. Combine this with dandelion defense, and “you have the best passive anti-drone protection currently available,” says military correspondent David Axe. He wrote on his blog Trench Art:.
This is an improved version of the “hedgehog” armor used on the front by Russian forces last year and later by the Ukrainians, consisting of thick broom-like bristles protruding from the side of the vehicle.
Credit: @GrandpaRoy2/ X
“Anything you can try, be it nails, chains, cages or a combination of these, that can save the lives of soldiers at the front is worth doing,” said Ukrainian-Russian weapons expert David Kirichenko.
“Ukrainian soldiers once mocked the Russians for putting cages on their vehicles; now they are doing it too,” he told The Telegraph.
Ukrainian forces were photographed earlier this week showing off a new design of a large infantry fighting vehicle featuring dandelion-like anti-drone armor, hair-like bristles and metal plates hanging from chains.
Ukraine also operates a version of the ‘hedgehog’ tank
“It’s a part of [the] “There is a constant race to identify weaknesses, produce countermeasures and countermeasures, and adapt to changing battlefield conditions,” said Mr. Kirichenko, “with both sides developing endless experimental and strange inventions.”
But many other anti-drone systems also have drawbacks. All the extra equipment increases the weight of the vehicle, slowing it down and making it more vulnerable to the drones haunting the front.
Moreover, dandelion armor is far from impregnable. Ukrainian It is proving increasingly effective at flying drones underneath tanks and vehicles to attack them where armor is weakest, or using FPVs to drop mines in their path.
Ukrainian weapons analyst and Defense Express editor Valerii Riabykh also pointed out that such protection is “ineffective against conventional weapons such as artillery shells, especially high-precision weapons.”
But when it comes to drones, he said: “It may be effective for a while until the other party gets the key to this protection or breaks it.”
Photos of the new type of Russian camouflage net were also shared recently.
It can hide equipment from Ukrainian drone operators by hiding gun, artillery or infantry emplacements under a carpet of fake shattered bricks that look like rubble and garbage.
Nets made of fake rubble can hide vehicles from aerial drones
Like the dandelion tank, it will probably only be useful for a limited time, Mr. Riabykh said.
With the rise of artificial intelligence and image processing tools built into drones, he said, certain of their features could automatically highlight networks for drone operators, becoming “an unmasking feature that will lead to even faster destruction of those who use them.”
A Russian vehicle camouflaged with a fake debris net
Another primitive tactic that emerged last week was the use of large propellers mounted on the ceiling, front, back and sides of civilian vehicles.
Russia, which has a shortage of modern armored vehicles, has been using pickup trucks, trucks and jeeps for front-line duties for two years. Such unprotected vehicles are easy targets for Ukraine.
A Russian civilian van with rotating propellers, used as a counter-drone countermeasure
According to a Russian patent, when a drone tries to attack a protected vehicle, “there is a high probability that one of the wings will enter the turning zone.”
Analysts spoken to by The Telegraph largely dismissed such a design because so much of the van would be exposed and the rotors would likely cost more than the vehicle they were intended to protect.
But Mr. Riabykh said any change, no matter how seemingly insignificant, could buy time for both sides and that “time is everything on the modern battlefield.”
