Russia deploys cutting-edge tank defense in the Ukraine conflict
The Russians have deployed the T-72B3 tank in Ukraine, equipped with the Arena-M hard-kill active protection system. This marks the first documented combat use of the system, which, according to the Russians, has been adapted to new threats and also provides protection against drones.
A short video published by the Russians on Telegram shows a T-72B3 tank equipped with an active protection system (APS) Arena-M. The Russians claim this system has been improved, allowing it to counter new threats, such as various types of drones.
While the Arena-M's application in Ukraine has so far been documented on a single tank, the system has been integrated with both the T-72B3 and the T-90M, and tank transports with this system have also been recorded. Defense 24 notes that broader implementation of the Arena-M could change the situation on the front to the Russians' advantage.
The use of tanks with an active protection system was noted earlier in Ukraine. In 2022, photographic documentation confirmed that Ukrainians destroyed an experimental T-80UM2 featuring the old 1030M Drozd protection system. It is not known whether the system was active when the tank was destroyed.
Hard-kill and soft-kill APS
The purpose of the hard-kill active protection system is to physically destroy objects threatening the protected vehicle, such as incoming guided anti-tank missiles, shells fired from tank cannons, or drones.
The APS hard-kill achieves this objective by directing the detonation of an explosive charge, detonating a MEFP (Multiple Explosively Formed Penetrator) charge, or launching various types of munitions, which usually explode at a certain distance from the protected vehicle. Despite the global trend of increasingly widespread use of such solutions and the fact that our country is becoming a tank power in Europe, none of the Polish tanks have been equipped with a hard-kill APS so far.
Complements to hard-kill systems are soft-kill solutions, which disrupt the guidance systems of munitions in various ways.
