Russia’s mine-clearing turtle tanks continue to evolve. But not fast enough to save them from predation—by Ukraine’s increasingly dangerous first-person-view drones and other heavy munitions.
A turtle tank based on a 41-ton, four-person T-62 might be the most evolved of the new species, which first appeared on the battlefields of eastern Ukraine in early April.
The T-62 turtle tank—reportedly belonging to the Russian army’s 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division—had a good run, reportedly clearing mines around the ruins of Marinka, just west of Donetsk, while also surviving what one Russian blogger described as “10 direct hits.”
Direct hits by what, the blogger didn’t specify. In any event, the T-62 turtle tank ran out of luck over the weekend, when Ukrainian forces blew it up near Marinka.
Like all turtle tanks, the T-62-based terrapin featured layers of add-on metal anti-drone armor seemingly made from roofing material. Also like other turtle tanks, it had rollers fitted to its front that helped to safely detonate mines.
Unlike other turtle tanks, the T-62 apparently had its gun—or even its entire turret—removed. That removal made sense, as turtle tanks are primarily mine-clearing vehicles the Russians deploy at the front of assault groups to help lead the groups across the mine-sprinkled no-man’s-land that usually separates Russian and Ukrainian lines.
And besides, the posts that support a turtle tank’s metal shell limit a turret’s traverse and all but blind the crew in any direction but straight ahead. Under those circumstances, a tank might still make a decent mine-clearing vehicle—but it’s barely an actual tank anymore.
After six weeks, there are turtle tanks all along the 700-mile front line of Russia’s 27-month wider war on Ukraine. For the first few weeks, the turtle tank crews benefited from surprise—and from the Ukrainian military’s deep shortages of artillery and missiles resulting from the six-month blockade of further U.S. aid to Ukraine organized by Russia-friendly Republicans in the U.S. Congress.
Shrugging off the lightly-armed FPV drones the Ukrainians deployed to compensate for a lack of heavier munitions, the turtle tanks actually worked at first. In more than one skirmish, they successfully led Russian troops across minefields so they could assault Ukrainian positions.
The do-it-yourself mine-clearers were especially active in the Russian campaign targeting Chasiv Yar, west of Bakhmut. “Russian forces increasingly use tanks and armored vehicles with welded metal plates for additional protection … and regularly attack at dawn and dusk,” the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies reported.
“I know people are laughing at this, but I don’t think it is a crazy adaptation,” Rob Lee, an analyst with the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, wrote about the turtle tanks. “The Russians are adapting to the particular conditions of the battlefield.”
But those conditions changed. The Republican blockade of U.S. aid to Ukraine ended in late April—and the Pentagon promptly shipped several huge consignments of artillery and anti-tank missiles to Ukraine. At the same time, the Ukrainians developed a heavier warhead for their bigger FPV drones—one possibly based on the downward-blasting warhead of a Swedish anti-tank missile.
In early May, Ukrainian brigades got a lot more lethal. And the turtle tanks got a lot more vulnerable. Several of the DIY mine-clearers have run afoul of artillery, missiles, daisy-chained mines or heavier FPVs. One notorious turtle tank ate a chain of mines and burned to the ground as its crew bailed it.
The gun-less T-62 got knocked out by a Ukrainian FPV. Whether that FPV carried one of the new heavy warheads, or just scored a lucky hit, is unclear. Either way, the turtle tank’s demise hastens the decline of its species.
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