First came Russia’s “turtle tank,” a metal shed that curved around the battlefield. Then Ukraine laughed at the so-called “hair tank”, covered with long, wavy metal wires.
Now comes the “dandelion tank”.
Moscow’s latest crude design, featuring flexible metal rods arranged in branching layers, attempts to protect the tank’s body from the ever-present threat of small kamikaze drones.
It may seem ridiculous, but analysts say that the Oduvanchik (dandelion) anti-drone armor can offer the best protection currently available for expensive vehicles.
It’s the latest in a series of strange Russian inventions that have appeared over the past week, each one inspiring some level of mockery online. These include camouflage netting disguised as rubble and a patent for giant rotating propellers to protect Soviet-era vans.
But in such a protracted and largely static war, which demands endless innovation at lower and lower costs, either end can save lives on the front lines.
The unorthodox dandelion-inspired mod was first pictured last week, covering a Russian T-90M tank inside a warehouse. It is unclear when it will be deployed for combat, but Russia’s defense ministry recently patented the design.
The reinforced metal rods are welded together to form a tree-like structure that spreads into several layers, forming a three-dimensional barrier, like the florets of a dandelion. In any gap, a high strength net is stretched between them.
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If an FPV (first person view) drone armed with an explosive flies towards the tank, the rods should detonate it from a distance, shielding the hull from most of the blast. For every extra inch the drone is kept away, the tank has a better chance of survival.
In addition to the T-90’s significant base armor, Russia often adds explosive reactive armor and metal cages. Combine that with the dandelion defense and “you have the best passive drone protection available right now,” David Axe, a military correspondent, wrote on his blog, Trench Art.
It is an improvement of the “hedgehog” armor, of thick bristles like a broom that protrude from the side of a vehicle, used at the front by the Russian forces last year, and later by the Ukrainians.
Credit: @GrandpaRoy2/ X
“At the front, anything you can experiment with, any different kind of spikes, chains, cages, or a combination of everything, that can save the lives of soldiers is worth doing,” said David Kirichenko, a Ukraine-Russia weapons expert.
“Ukrainian soldiers once scolded the Russians for putting cages on their vehicles; now they are doing it too,” he told The Telegraph.
Ukrainian forces were pictured earlier this week showing off a new design on a large infantry fighting vehicle that featured dandelion-like anti-drone armor, hair-like bristles, and metal sheets hanging from chains.
Ukraine also uses a version of the ‘hedgehog’ tank
“It’s part of [the] Endless development of experimental and wacky inventions on both sides, “said Mr. Kirichenko. “There is a constant race to identify weaknesses, produce measures and countermeasures and adapt to the changing conditions of the battlefield.”
However, like many other anti-drone systems, there are drawbacks. All the extra gear adds to the weight of the vehicle, slowing it down and leaving it more exposed to drones that hit the front.
Also, dandelion armor is far from unbreakable. Ukraine is proving increasingly efficient to fly drones under tanks and vehicles to hit them from below, where the armor is weakest, or to use FPVs to drop mines in their path.
Valerii Riabykh, a Ukrainian weapons analyst and editor of Defense Express, also pointed out how such protection was “ineffective against traditional weapons, such as an artillery shell, especially one of high precision.”
But when it comes to drones, he said: “It can be effective for a while until the opposite side takes the key to this protection, or breaks it.”
They also recently shared photos of a new type of Russian camouflage netting.
It can hide gun, artillery or infantry positions under a carpet of crushed fake bricks that look like rubble and garbage, and hide equipment from Ukrainian drone operators.
The nets, made of fake rubble, can hide vehicles from a drone
Mr Riabykh said that, like the dandelion tank, it would probably only be useful for a limited time.
With the addition of AI tools and image processing installed within the drones, its specific characteristics can automatically highlight the nets for drone operators, he said, becoming “an unmasking feature that leads to even faster destruction of those who use them”.
A Russian vehicle camouflaged by a net of fake rubble
Another rudimentary tactic that emerged last week is the use of large propellers mounted on the roof, front, rear and sides of civilian vehicles used at the front.
Short on modern armored vehicles, Russia has been using vans, trucks and jeeps for front-line tasks for two years. Such unprotected vehicles are easy targets for Ukraine.
A Russian civilian van with rotating propellers used as an anti-drone measure
According to a Russian patent, when the drone tries to attack a protected vehicle, “there is a high probability that it enters the rotation zone of one of the blades”.
Analysts spoken to by The Telegraph have largely dismissed such a design, given how exposed the van is and the fact that the propellers would probably cost more than the vehicle they are meant to protect.
However, any modification, however seemingly trivial, could allow either side to buy time, Mr Riabykh said, “and time on the modern battlefield is everything”.
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