Strange Russian tank with a roof spotted in Ukraine

On 8th of April 2024, the defenders of Ukraine repelled a massive Russian armoured attack near Krasnohorivka in Donetsk Oblast. As per usual, Russians lost a lot of equipment and troops. The fields are quite open there and the Ukrainian FPV drones had a busy day. But one Russian tank appeared quite ready for kamikaze drone attacks.

A tank with a full metal roof moved towards the Ukrainian positions near Krasnohorivka. It looks like some kind of early World War I attempt at a tank. Or like a shed roof on a tracked chassis. This particular roofed tank was accompanied by several less heavily protected vehicles. Maybe it was an experiment.

Russian tank with a roof going into battle for Ukraine’s Krasnohorivka:

By the way, that tank got away from the battlefield. It is not clear how much the roof contributed to this, but that tank survived to be destroyed some other day. A video has also surfaced online showing how that sheet metal tank roof was constructed. The tank appears to be covered by fairly thin sheet metal segments.

The thickness of the sheet metal, by the way, is not even an essential factor. The tank is protected more not by the steel itself, but by the space between it and the actual hull of the tank. This principle is called spaced armour. If a drone hit that roof it would explode quite a bit away from the tank and probably would not do any significant damage to the machine. Unless it would blow that turtleshell away and give other drones completely unobstructed access. On the other hand, it is easy to spot a few problems that this kind of anti-drone protection creates.

First of all, the small FPV anti-tank drones are highly maneuverable and will easily slip under that added armour. That tank with a thin shell can be attacked from both the front and the rear. In addition, that roof will undoubtedly greatly complicate the evacuation of the crew if the tank was damaged, hit a landmine, or simply got stuck somewhere. Finally, that protection severely limits the turret’s range of motion and, potentially, visibility for the crew.

Russians could say that restricting the turret’s movement is not a huge problem, as there were other weapons nearby in that particular assault and they can cover the flanks. Russian forces still remember their historic tank destroyers, such as the SU-100, which had no turret at all. The Swedish main battle tank Stridsvagn 103 also did away with a turret in order to keep a low profile. The difference, of course, is that those machines were created from ground up without a turret, while that Russian tank lost some of its capabilities because Russians are afraid of Ukrainian drones.

This kind of improvised armour is also a good reminder that the defenders of Ukraine are short on ammunition. This funny roof would not be effective against artillery rounds or anti-tank missiles.

Written by Povilas M.

Sources: Special Kherson Cat Twitter, Wikipedia