At this point, you’ve probably seen hundreds of videos of Ukrainian suicide drones diving towards the Russian armoured equipment. Some hits are more successful than others, but in some cases, even main battle tanks explode in a deadly firework. Russia has a way of pushing the drones away, but evidently, it is not working.
A captured Russian T-80BVM in the Ukrainian service. Image credit: 93rd “Kholodnyi Yar” Mechanized Brigade via Wikimedia (CC BY 4.0)
Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko pointed out that Russia’s compact electronic warfare system Volnorez, designed to protect armoured vehicles against small drones, is practically useless. The many videos of kamikaze drone attacks you’ve seen prove this. Russian propaganda ever since 2023 highly praises the Volnorez system, but Ukrainian drone pilots do not even think about it – it is not even a problem for them. Part of the problem might be the lack of devices available.
The manufacturer of the Volnorez recommends installing more than one device on each armoured vehicle. The installation of four Volnorez systems on one machine is considered the most effective defense against drone attacks.
However, if every tank, every personnel carrier, and every infantry fighting vehicle was guarded by four Volnorez devices, the Russians would not have time or resources to produce all of them.
An example of a drone attack against a Russian main battle tank:
The 110th mechanized disabled yet another tank in the Avdiivka direction and finished it off with several FPV drones. pic.twitter.com/5tBTUs8K6Q
— NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) January 5, 2024
That drone costs only a few hundred dollars. Tank – several million.
Military analyst Kovalenko says that the history of Volnorez and armoured vehicles reminds him of the missile cruiser Moskva and the S-300F systems that were supposed to protect the Russian flagship. “The S-300F air defense complex, which was supposed to protect it and the entire Black Sea Fleet from anti-ship missiles, did not protect Moskva from two R-360s,” Kovalenko stressed, calling Volnorez just “another product from the list of ridiculous junk.”
The expert also reminded that in mid-December 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) published a video in which Ukrainian drones attacked Russian T-72B3 and T-80BVM tanks armed with compact electronic warfare systems. The success of these attacks showed that these small jammers do pretty much nothing.
Electronic warfare systems like the Volnorez are, to put it simply, jamming electronics. Drones and some missiles rely on radio communication. For a drone, it is important to maintain communication with the pilot. When that connection is broken, the drone gets lost – falls out of the sky or returns to the place where it took off.
Some electronic warfare systems completely disable the electronics, causing drones to fall from the sky. It is clear that the Russians would like to protect their armoured vehicles from the FPV drones that terrorize them, but the antidote has not yet been found. Even if a drone loses its vision for a moment (and you can see that in some videos), it can still hit its target.
Written by Povilas M.
Source: Tsn.ua