Ukraine's daring tank tactics: Drone-guided assaults unfold
Ukrainians are endeavouring to make up for the lack of air and artillery support with highly risky tank raids on enemy positions. We will explain the context of these charges.
The use of tanks as improvised artillery with a range of about 10 kilometres is not new, and armoured charges have also been underway for months. However, it is worth noting that tanks are not operating without awareness here because the crew is in contact with a drone pilot who provides them with situational information.
Thanks to this, the crew can react relatively quickly to threats, firing shots, for example, in the direction of anti-tank weapons operators. Additionally, during such an assault, there are likely a few FPV drones in the air to provide support.
Below you can see how a Ukrainian tank belonging to the 63rd Mechanised Brigade fires at Russian positions in a tree line, with some shots fired at a distance of several dozen metres. The specific tank is unknown, but previously the 63rd Brigade was equipped with modernised T-72EA tanks from the Czech Republic, a variant with an improved fire control system with thermal imaging.
T-72 tanks - an obsolete armoured revolution from decades ago
The T-72 tanks, introduced in 1973, were a simplified version of the revolutionary T-64 model. At the time of their debut, they were more technologically advanced than all Western designs, but over the next fifty years, the situation changed. Even the most significant upgrades, like the T-90M, do not compare to the newest versions of tanks such as the M1A2 Abrams or Leopard 2.
Characteristic features of the T-72 tank include its relatively low weight—only 40 tonnes—and quite solid armour for this weight class. Thanks to its low profile of about 2 metres and good manoeuvrability, the T-72 stands out in its class. A key element enabling these construction parameters is the autoloader mounted in the hull, which allows the crew to be reduced to three people.
This requirement was a consequence of nuclear experiments. However, besides its advantages, it also had a drawback that became evident during the war in Ukraine. Not every armour penetration by a shaped-charge warhead is fatal for the entire crew, but for Soviet-made machines, it's different.
In Western tanks, the ammunition is usually isolated from the crew (it's in a turret compartment separated by an armoured partition), and its ignition does not guarantee a powerful explosion along with the turret being blown off. Meanwhile, in T-72 family tanks, two of the three crew members sit on a carousel containing 22 shells along with propellant charges.
