Arena-M protection: A game-changer for russian tanks or a soldier's risk?

The Arena active protection system – in its Arena-M variant – was showcased at the Army-2024 expo. It is designed to protect Russia's most valuable equipment from drones and guided anti-tank missiles. If it works, it's good news for vehicle crews but potentially disastrous for other soldiers. Here’s why.

Losses on the front prompted the Russians to revamp the Arena active protection system, a project that began as early as the 1980s. This is another instance where Russia revisits projects from the Soviet era due to a lack of modern systems.

Arena – this time in the modernized Arena-M variant – was presented at this year’s Army-2024 expo. It aims to protect valuable equipment from guided anti-tank missiles like Javelins and FPV drones.

The new version of Arena is set to be installed on T-90M Proryv tanks and heavy flamethrowers (essentially, multi-barreled rocket launchers) TOS-1A. According to Ukrainian sources, installing this self-defense system on both vehicles requires new documentation and a testing cycle, for which the UralVagonZavod facilities have been designated.

Work on the Arena began in the early 1980s, and since then, the Russians have regularly presented it as an effective countermeasure against Western-guided anti-tank missiles. However, how true this claim is remains difficult to verify, as despite its purported effectiveness, Arena is not widely used by the Russians.

Despite the development of numerous versions and attempts to attract foreign buyers, the system has not achieved export success.

While the system is theoretically part of the equipment of, among other things, T-90M Proryv tanks or T-72B3 tanks (testing with the T-72 was completed in April 2023), there has been no recorded usage of it on vehicles in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Ukrainians, on the other hand, destroyed an experimental T-80UM2 tank equipped with the 1030M Drozd self-defense system (developed in the 1970s) at the beginning of the Russian aggression.

One significant issue with using Arena (and other active protection systems) is the danger to friendly soldiers stationed near the tank. To protect the tank, the self-defense system targets incoming missiles with a swarm of fragments.

While it destroys the threat, it poses a lethal danger to nearby people not shielded by the tank’s thick armor.

This very feature led to the vulnerability of Israeli Merkava tanks, which were protected by the highly effective and battle-tested Trophy system. Hamas missiles and drones were able to destroy Israeli equipment because soldiers performing various tasks outside the tanks deactivated the self-defense system to avoid risking their own safety.