Key points:
- Armored vehicles are making a comeback as Russia masses forces for Pokrovsk
- Russian engineers convert T-72 tanks into heavily armored troop carriers
- Equipment losses force creative solutions after 22,000 vehicles destroyed
- Conversion trades firepower for protection in drone-heavy battlefield
The Russians are massing troops in eastern Ukraine for a renewed attack on the fortress city of Pokrovsk. And in a major tactical swerve after a year of foot and motorcycle assaults, they're also massing armored vehicles.
While most of the vehicles are the usual T-90, T-72, and T-80 tanks and BMP and BTR infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), there may be some real oddities in the mix. Case in point: this bizarre turret-less T-72 tank that some enterprising Russian engineers have converted into a super-protected IFV.
Having lost more than 22,000 armored vehicles and other heavy equipment in 43 months of wider war, 65% of them destroyed by drones, some Russian regiments are struggling to stay fully equipped with standard modern vehicles. Hence, the do-it-yourself curiosities like that halved T-72.
The Franken-tank, however, doesn't only mean that Ukraine's drone campaign is forcing Moscow to field whatever rolls. It also hints at the existential crisis of IFVs on the battlefield—their thinner armor makes them more vulnerable to drone strikes than main battle tanks.
A single FPV drone can take out an entire BMP; killing a tank, its armor 10 times as thick, would require coordinated multi-drone attacks. When you're entering the drone kill zone, every millimeter of armor counts.
The ultimate infantry fighting vehicle
This strange new no-gun T-72 was recently spotted somewhere along the 1,100-km front line of Russia's wider war on Ukraine. It's not the first of its type, but with its hundreds of millimeters of armor, it might be the ultimate example of an ex-tank turning into a tough but admittedly awkward transport for infantry.
The whole point of an IFV is to carry the infantry into battle while protecting them from artillery, missiles, and drones.
Looks don't matter. If it rolls, and it's got space and armor, it can make a decent IFV—however off-putting it appears at first glance.
The new odd vehicle wasn't easy to identify—and not just because it doesn't have a turret or a 125-millimeter gun like a standard T-72. Wrapped in razor wire and covered in drone-defeating metal spines and anti-missile reactive armor blocks—and also sporting a triangular metal roof supporting drone-jamming radio noisemakers—the vehicle looks most like a rolling scrap heap.
AFV Recognition was able to finger the vehicular weirdo as a heavily modified T-72 owing to a single telltale exhaust port. "It's most likely a T-72 converted for transporting assault infantry as close to objectives as possible under cover," AFV Recognition noted.
It's possible the Russians produced this strange IFV from the hull of a T-72 with a damaged turret. Tanks' turrets are held in place by gravity. With a little help from a heavy crane, a tank turret will lift right out, leaving behind a thickly armored, tracked hull with a driver's position and a convenient gap that should be big enough to fit a few infantry.
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T-72 IFV vs standard BMP: armor comparison
Compared to a standard BMP infantry fighting vehicle, a T-72-based IFV is much better protected. A BMP might have just 30 mm of armor at its thickest. A T-72's hull is 200 mm thick at some points.
- BMP-3 armor thickness: 30mm maximum steel armor
- T-72 hull armor: 200mm+ composite armor at front
- Protection ratio: 6-7 times better armor protection
- Weight difference: T-72 hull without turret (~27 tons) vs BMP-3 (~18 tons)
It's not all good with the former tank, however. A BMP has the advantage of rear-mounted hatches for easy mounting and dismounting; the infantry riding in this weirdo T-72 may have to climb over the hull and through its add-on anti-drone defenses in order to get into or out of the improvised crew compartment.
It's awkward and probably slow. In Ukraine's drone-patrolled no-man's-land, infantry must move quickly to avoid lethal strikes from above.
Why tank-to-IFV conversions work
Still, it's worth noting that the Russians aren't alone in producing super-heavy IFVs on the hulls of surplus tanks. The Israelis have been doing it for decades. And more recently, the Ukrainians have made IFVs out of captured Russian T-62s as well as out of some of their own spare T-64s.
- Israeli Namer IFV: Based on Merkava tank chassis since 2008
- Ukrainian T-64 conversions: Spare tanks converted to personnel carriers
- Russian T-62 adaptations: Ukraine converted captured tanks to IFVs
- Israeli Achzarit: T-55 tank hulls converted to APCs in 1980s
These improvised vehicles are ungainly, but that doesn't mean they don't work.
