In a critical response to massive tank losses in Ukraine, Russia has begun outfitting its T-80VM tanks with advanced reactive armor and enhanced turret protection. After months of devastating ambushes by Ukrainian forces wielding anti-tank missiles like Javelins and NLAWs, Russian tanks have taken heavy losses, prompting this urgent defensive upgrade.
Since the war’s start, Ukrainian forces have skillfully targeted Russian tanks, using the terrain and urban landscapes to launch lethal attacks from hidden, elevated positions. Open-source intelligence, such as Oryx, estimates that nearly half of Russia’s active tank fleet has been lost, with over 1,700 tanks destroyed entirely. The sheer scale of these losses has led Russia to rethink its armored strategy, turning to reactive armor and additional turret defenses to counter Ukraine’s modern anti-tank capabilities.
TASS recently reported that these upgrades focus on strengthening the T-80VM tank’s survivability. The enhanced armor includes modular protection and a sophisticated active protection system intended to detect and neutralize incoming missiles. These improvements are aimed at countering the primary threat Russian tanks face: top-down attacks from anti-tank missiles that exploit the weaker upper armor. However, questions remain about the effectiveness of these enhancements, particularly against Ukraine’s continued tactical use of elevated firing positions and terrain.
The new protections raise several critical points: Can these upgrades truly guard against top-down assaults? And to what extent does the active protection system intercept missiles before impact? Hemispheric defense capabilities—protecting tanks from all angles, including from above—will be crucial if Russia hopes to prevent further losses in urban and rugged battle zones.
For Russia, these upgrades are a race against time, as Ukraine’s anti-tank tactics continue to evolve. With the war still unfolding, the question is whether these new defenses will be enough to save Russia’s armored fleet or if Ukrainian forces will once again adapt, leaving Russian tanks vulnerable despite these new protections.
