As of: February 2, 2024, 5:04 a.m
By: Jens Kiffmeier
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Trembling about the loss of his tanks: Russian President Vladimir Putin.
© Sna/dpa/Screenshot/telgram/Montage
Setback at the front: Jammers are supposed to protect Russia's tanks from drone attacks.
But the technology works poorly - which is why losses are increasing.
Moscow - It is a picture of destruction: a charred Russian troop transport stands in a forest near Novomykhailivka, a few kilometers west of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
Flames still flicker inside the MT-LB and white smoke rises.
Two antennas dangle from the top of the armored vehicle.
They belong to a jammer that was supposed to have prevented the drone attack.
But the technology is increasingly turning out to be a flop in the Ukraine war.
The image is now causing discussion among Russian military bloggers.
Because it is not an isolated case.
In view of increasing tank losses for Russia's army, criticism of a inadequate defense system is growing.
The Russian armed forces “do not have massive protection against enemy drones,” the news magazine
Forbes
quoted a Russian military blogger as saying.
“Everything they are installing is long outdated and does not cover the enemy’s new frequencies.” Other military observers are said to have made similar comments.
Bad jammers: Russia suffers tank losses from drone attacks
With the drone attack in question, Ukraine actually inflicted a serious setback on the Russian army.
Within three hours, the defenders destroyed three T-72 tanks, seven MT-LB troop carriers and one BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle.
Due to the dwindling supply of Western weapons systems, the Ukrainian armed forces are increasingly relying on attacks with cheap first-person view drones, which can carry bombs weighing up to two pounds and drop them on the attacking columns almost undisturbed.
According to British intelligence estimates, Putin's fleet has lost up to 2,600 tanks since the start of the Ukraine war, and the trend has been increasing recently, according to a Defense Ministry report.
Increasing losses in the Ukrainian war show that the anti-tank defenses are failing
Much of the information cannot be independently verified.
But one thing is certain: Ukraine is using drones on a large scale along the 600-kilometer-long front in the Ukrainian war, which only cost a few hundred euros to produce.
Russia has been trying to thwart air attacks for months.
Since the fall, the tanks have been equipped with radio jammers to distract the drones.
So far, the two portable systems, type RP-377 and Volnorez, have been known for this, as
DefenseExpress
magazine reported.
But after initial success, the effect seems to have fizzled out, according to Russian military bloggers.
Protection against drones – how does the jammer on the tank work?
Jammers are intended to ward off drone attacks on a tank.
But can this succeed?
Armyrecognition
magazine
recently explained Russia's Volnorez system as saying that an amplifier and antenna on the potential target vehicle generate a cheese dome of electromagnetic radiation in the frequency band between 900 and 3,000 megahertz.
This frequency range corresponds to the operating frequencies of most first-person view (FPV) drones currently in use.
Activating the jammer interrupts the drone's communication with its control station, causing the drone to veer off course, lose contact and wander into nowhere.
So far we can only speculate about the background.
It is assumed that the Ukrainian defenders checked the systems on captured tanks and subsequently cracked how they worked.
It would also be conceivable that the drones would be controlled by an AI system on changing frequencies, thereby outsmarting the Russian systems.
Recently, reports emerged of a “queen drone” that can independently guide individual drones to their targets while in the air.
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Video shows tank loss for Russia's army
A video that recently appeared on X (formerly Twitter) shows how effective the drone attacks are.
You can see a tank on the front section near Avdiivka.
After the soldiers fire several times from the tank, the crew receives a drone hit - and has to flee on a snowy field.
They have to leave behind the tank, which no longer appears to be roadworthy.
The effective hits give the Ukrainian army some hope.
Otherwise the defenders will fall further and further behind.
While Russia has so far been able to throw new soldiers and new material into the battle, ammunition supplies in Ukraine are apparently running low.
The supply of tanks, fighter jets and missile defense systems is also stalling.
Because in some large supporting countries, especially the USA, the tide is changing domestically.
In view of the ongoing discussions, Volodymyr Zelensky's government is trying to bridge the gap by producing effective drones.
“Ukraine has become a drone power in recent years and especially since the beginning of the war,” Ulrike Franke from the European Council on Foreign Relations recently confirmed to
ZDF.
But is that enough?
“It looks like this is the strategy of the Ukrainian armed forces,”
Forbes
quoted a Russian blogger as saying.
“Go on the defensive and use drones.” At least in Novomykhailivka the tactic seems to have worked.
(
jkf
)