Ukraine got America’s top tank without the latest and greatest armor upgrades, which are ‘top secret,’ but it’s adding its own

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Ukraine got America’s top tank without the latest and greatest armor upgrades, which are ‘top secret,’ but it’s adding its own

Ukraine is adding protective coverings to US-donated Abrams tanks to counter Russia.

The 31 Abrams tanks it received came without the most advanced armor.

Ukraine’s new shields aim to protect against drones and artillery in this intense conflict.

Ukraine is adding more protection to its US-provided Abrams tanks as it tries to

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. These are top tanks, but they came without the top armor upgrades.

The US started

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in fall 2023, and altogether it has sent 31 of them. These tanks are considered the best in Ukraine and among the best in the world, but Ukraine didn’t receive the newest version with all the best bells and whistles.

The US, for example, sent the tanks without their most capable armor upgrades. The tanks were older variants, and also the US, per policy requirements, downgrades export models to protect its sensitive technology.

In a brutal war in which combat vehicles are often the target of artillery and drones, among other threats, Ukraine’s tanks need all the protection they can get, though. So Ukraine is now beefing up the Abrams and other ********* vehicles with extra armor to boost survivability.

Nicholas Drummond, a former British Army officer who now works as a land warfare analyst, told Business Insider “the depleted-uranium armor the Americans use is top secret, and the last thing they want is that falling into Russian hands.” But without top armor, Ukraine needs to come up with its own solutions, he said.

Designing new protection

The tanks that Ukraine received from Western allies, as well as its arsenal of ******* tanks, have repeatedly been seen with new types of armor added on, specifically cage armor.

A Ukrainian company has made new protective shields for the

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and for

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infantry fighting vehicles.

Col. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commander for the ***’s ****** Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear forces, described these innovations to *** as “very, very simple, but actually quite effective.”

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A Ukrainian tank with an added cage near the Russian border in northern Ukraine in August 2024.ROMAN PILIPEY via Getty Images

He described the add-ons as necessary because “the Americans took off some of the secret armor,” a change which makes “them more vulnerable to direct *****.”

It’s unclear how effective the more advanced armor would be against the mass use of exploding drones, but the greater protection would still aid Ukraine against the proliferation of different Russian threats facing armor on the battlefield.

The US’ own Abrams tanks

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that includes depleted uranium, an often misunderstood material that is

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. The details of the armor are kept secret.

Three people with knowledge of the plans

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months before the tanks were sent, that the US planned to send the newer M1A2 Abrams but with the secretive depleted-uranium armor removed. The US removes the armor from any of the tanks it exports to allies and partners, the report said.

Ukraine’s military also

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that was the plan, that the depleted uranium in the M1A2 Abrams’ composite armor would be replaced by conventional armored steel.

But the plans changed. The US decided instead to send older M1A1s, as they could get to Ukraine faster. Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder

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the excess hulls the US already had would be refurbished and refitted to create M1A1s able to be sent to Ukraine. These older tanks lack the top armor upgrades.

When asked about the tanks, Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Charlie Dietz told *** that the Department of Defense “can’t provide the specifics on the details but can confirm that they were the export variants.” That confirmation indicates that the armor on the Abrams tanks, among certain other things, was downgraded prior to delivery.

A different type of war

This war is a particularly intense conflict and different from ones the West has fought, with drones being used more than in any other conflict in history and a huge amount of missiles and artillery in play. Combat vehicles of all types have struggled.

Some Ukrainian soldiers have

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with so many drones attacking from above. Drones have

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as well as to guide other weaponry to hit the vehicles.

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Screengrab from a video of a Ukrainian drone targeting a Russian tank in the Bakhmut sector in May 2024.X/@DefenceU

De Bretton-Gordon said a lot of Ukraine’s additions “are very much focused on the drones because the mass use of drones is something that is new to this conflict.”

Innovations like cage armor are seen as necessary considering that on many Western and Russian tanks, even with newer armor upgrades, the protection on the top is much thinner than elsewhere on the body of the tank, which Ukraine often strengthens with reactive armor additions to provide an extra defensive layer.

“Nobody really expected ******* from above, which is why they’re so vulnerable,” De Bretton-Gordon said. The Abrams was notably designed and built to ****** ******* tanks, not dodge airborne threats, and the tank gained a lot of its reputation in battles with air cover.

He said that where tanks are vulnerable has now changed, with drones able to ******* directly or drop devices like hand grenades onto them — something that has caused Russian tanks to explode, often by causing the ammunition inside to cook off. Western tanks like the ********* Abrams have a better design to prevent that, but the vehicles still have vulnerabilities.

Tanks in this war also face the threat of artillery and anti-tank guided missiles, making the battlespace more dangerous for tanks.

Drummond said “the Russians are equipped with a lot of anti-tank weapons and in the ******** on an ****** position, you’re going to get overwhelmed with anti-tank ********, so you do need armor.” Ukraine needs as much as possible.

Not enough Western tanks

He described Russia and Ukraine as being in a kind of race, as is typical in war. “As soon as somebody comes up with an advantage, somebody else will come back with a countermeasure,” he said.

Both Russia and Ukraine have been

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. Russia’s innovations have included a strange-looking structure that led to its tanks

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A Russian “turtle tank” seen in Ukrainian drone footage.Screenshot/Telegram via @Khortytsky_wind, ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images

This war has been a tough one for tanks. Russia had lost more than 3,000 as of February, the International Institute for Strategic Studies reported at the time. And Ukraine has lost tanks too, including at least five of its 31 Abrams.

Ukraine having so few of them, many experts say,

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, as it has to keep the precious few it has intact, and it doesn’t have enough to mount any large armor offensives.

De Bretton-Gordon said that if Ukraine had more Abrams and Challenger tanks, “they would use them differently.” But instead, “the drip feeding of kit'” to Ukraine means “they’ve been fighting with one hand behind their back.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy has lamented the limited number of Abrams.

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even taking on Russian tanks.

At least part of the explanation may be that Ukraine has been given more, at more than 300. De Bretton-Gordon said it was key that Ukraine “has a lot of them.” Ukraine has been using the vehicles as a kind of light tank.

He praised Ukrainians for being “very innovative” in coming up with ways to protect against drones while on the battlefield. He said Western militaries will be watching Ukraine to see what they might be able to learn.

Ryan Pickrell contributed to this report.

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