Fighters of the 72nd brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine tracked down a Russian self-propelled anti-tank gun Shturm-SM near Vuhledar in the Donetsk region and completely destroyed it using drones.
Shturm-S in exercises in Russia. Shturm-SM is slightly different and even more rare. Image credit: Ольги Балашовой, Вадима Савицкого, Mil.ru via Wikimedia (CC BY 4.0)
The war in Ukraine will go down in history as the war with the most drones used every single day by both sides. Some small drones are performing surveillance and reconnaissance while others are just blowing things up. Like the Shturm-SM, which was spotted standing under a tree at the intersection of puddled roads.
A direct hit by an FPV drone resulted in a complete destruction of the system. A ball of fire was filmed by another drone, which was looking over the area and in just a moment a 12-13 tonne machine became just small shreds of metal.
Знищення із детонацією рідкісного ПТРК «Штурм-СМ» на базі МТ-ЛБ💥
Чорні Запорожці 72 ОМБр одним із ваших дронів ефектно і ефективно вдарили по машині, повністю її знищивши.
Постійна банка на дрони https://t.co/4hOw4MpOg5
Приват 5168745030910761
PayPal -… pic.twitter.com/xsnVKYVpDR— Serhii Sternenko ✙ (@sternenko) December 22, 2023
By the way, pay attention to how precisely the FPV drone is directed through the branches of that tree. An anti-tank missile does not have this kind of manoeuvrability.
The defenders of Ukraine are destroying Russian heavy equipment every day. However, the Shturm-SM is a particularly rare catch.
The self-propelled anti-tank missile system Shturm, called AT-6 Spiral by NATO, has been in service since 1979. However, the Shturm-SM is much newer – it was accepted into service with the Russian Armed Forces only in 2014.
It is very rare, but dangerous. Its missile’s range is 6 kilometres and it can fire a missile with a new high-explosive fragmentation warhead aimed at personnel. It is believed that the Shturm-SM can even target helicopters and other slower aircraft at lower altitudes. Being based on an MT-LB chassis, Shturm-SM is highly mobile and dangerous.
This attack showed how versatile and effective FPV drones can be. OSINT investigators from the “CyberBoroshno” group established the exact coordinates of this event — 47.719080, 37.327219. The destroyed system was located near Vuhledar city.
The approximate distance to the possible positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is approximately 7 km. This means that Ukrainian FPV drones have quite a bit of range or their operators find a sneaky way to get closer to valuable targets.
This example of the destructive powers of an FPV drone is a good reminder that warfare is changing. These FPV drones that destroyed the Russian self-propelled anti-tank missile system could also engage tanks at a fraction of the price of what the Shturm-SM costs.
Written by Povilas M.