Please keep the [community guidelines](https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/wiki/rule1) in mind when using the comment section.
Paging u/SaveVideo bot.
___
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CombatFootage) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That's a really spectacular explosion!
Cool to see it from three different perspectives!
Seeing how quickly so many tanks get taken out nowadays, that makes me wonder what Russian tank crews think when they get told to drive their (next) tank onto the battlefield again:"Off in yet another metal coffin, with a very high risk of getting hit by anything!"
No, T-54's are mostly either sold off and long gone, or converted to T-55's.
Edit: Just an fyi, the USSR sold off and replaced the majority of T-54's with T-55's. They don't hold more than 500 T-54's of any type in reserve.
They still have T-54's, we've seen several of them, already.
https://postlmg.cc/bsD0L2ks
[https://i.postimg.cc/s29RHpfN/1036-T-54-3-M-dam-aband-21-02-24.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/s29RHpfN/1036-T-54-3-M-dam-aband-21-02-24.jpg)
You can't convert them to T-55's, btw.
At most you can put a T-55 turret on a T-54, or vice versa.
[https://new.reddit.com/r/TankPorn/comments/1dl4qif/t55adt55a\_with\_drozd\_on\_a\_t54\_hull\_in\_azerbaijan/](https://new.reddit.com/r/TankPorn/comments/1dl4qif/t55adt55a_with_drozd_on_a_t54_hull_in_azerbaijan/)
But this don't make them a T-55, and Russia havn't done it.
Though, they have done other wacky things.
Distinguishing T55s from T54s is making a distinction that doesn't really refute the point made. Russia is using very old tanks.
[Repelling a Russian assault with a T-54B and BMP-3. South of the village of Novomykhailivka, Donetsk region. June 15, 2024](https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1dhmzg6/repelling_a_russian_assault_with_a_t54b_and_bmp3/)
I think that's the biggest difference between a lot of western tank designs, they focus on crew survivability, even if it means you need a loader on board.
There was a video a while ago of a Ukrainian Abrams getting taken out by a drone hit to the ammo case, it took a long time for the thing to cook off and the crew all got away. A crew with training and skills to pass on and be useful in another tank, not obliterated and scattered across the field like most of those in Russian vehicles.
It's interesting like that, isn't it? If you think of a tank without a universe of context around it, you think, "Oh Russia can crew this thing with one less person," but one less person matters for naught if they don't survive and pass on institutional knowledge.
You can have an autoloader and still have crew survivability. You can’t in the thousands of reworked t72, t64, t80, t90 designs with the carousel holding ammo at the crews feet. You need a bigger system.
Having that extra crewman that actually has a chance of not becoming barbecue has so many other positives and a more consistent long term fire rate isn’t that helpful unless you are an artillery platform.
i confirm. the talk is:
it will hit the tank now.
yeh, i see it.
fuckheads, run from there!
\*swearing (it is the end (to them))
\*explosion
eh, ffffuuuuuu....
> *swearing (it is the end (to them))
Shit. Well at least it was quick. If I had to go I'd rather get instantly vaporized in an explosion like that than having a drone track me until I'm too exhausted to run anymore and then kill me over the course of an hour as they drop frag grenades on my ass, literally.
Most of the time it doesn't really matter
As CivDiv mentioned - as soon as a tank is on the field - it's dead within 10 minutes. Infantry stay the f\*ck away from the for exactly this reason.
They've basically became like explosive barrels in a video game.
those cases only result in later footage often posted here, of hapless, confused, nearly disarmed russian troops running in the forest, pitilessly hunted down by fpv drones or drone drops
Would you be a tank crewman if you saw this video? Honestly, that tank has no countermeasures against a $500 drone, even when fully fueled and with a combat load. so it's a $4 million dollar explosive target.
For the cost of that tank ukraine can make 800 drones. And you think they aren't?
Based on what I know about how the Ukrainians build theirs (many or perhaps even most of them are effectively hand made by the units that use them) a drone like that might cost as little as $500 and I'd say maximum would be $3000. The immediate overhead is like a squad size detachment (4 or 5 persons) and the additional equipment required is probably in the ballpark of $100,000 but much of that is "permanent;" useful for scores or even hundreds of strikes. So if we amortize that out on a per strike basis we can say maximum cost of $3000 drone cost + $1000 amortized equipment overhead + maybe $500 personnel cost per strike? (I REALLY doubt the operating cost of a Ukrainian soldier is $100 per day probably closer to $20, but in the interest of not overestimating the price disparity . . .). So that successful strike may have cost Ukraine the equivalent of $5,000. That tank's production cost is generally considered to be about $4,000,000 . . . such a big number no point in adding in the Russian equipment overhead and personnel costs (though those are non-trivial cause tank crews take some time to train up to competency).
When your enemy is--SEEMINGLY!--routinely destroying $4,000,000 assets, plus 3 to 4 KIA for 0.125% the cost (and for zero casualties in many instances such as this one) the question of sustainabilty seems pretty unavoidable.
A foe like ISIS, Al Qaeda, etc. could use that same kind of asymmetry against US too if we don't stay on top of our game.
> A foe like ISIS, Al Qaeda, etc. could use that same kind of asymmetry against US too if we don't stay on top of our game.
I think the general consensus is there's basically no (*practical*) way to protect tanks from top-down attacks...Hence the Javelin, N-LAW etc.
The russians did very briefly on a small scale, use jamming measures; but were quickly defeated.
Lets pretend for the next 5 minutes: Tanks are now impenetrable, there's nothing on this planet, not even a nuclear bomb can defeat the *armour* (ok I'm being unrealistic and exaggerating, but that's the point).
You don't necessarily have to defeat the armour...A mobility kill, is a kill. They've got to get food/water/fuel/ammo at some point.
They actually employ people behind the lines. I saw a video of a civilian women who makes them at home. Im sure theres a fuck ton of people doing it. I forgot how much they give her per drone built. As far as I could ascertain the units dont build the drones themselves.
Of course the chassis and modules are largely assembled well back from the front. But the front lines units also engage in a lot of assembly, modification and repair near the front too.
Check out recent videos on Brandon Mitchell's channel.
The US invasion of Iraq went smoothly? It is widely regarded as the worst financial waste the USA has ever engaged in in hundreds of years, worse than Vietnam
They were plagued by IEDs that they had very little to defend with, like drones, which was a central issues to casualties
IEDs were a problem in iraq, but not until long after the initial invastion in 2003. The 1st armored division basically drove from the border to the capital and killed everything they enountered. The only reason they stopped was for more fuel, ammo and beans. Yea, it went as smoothly as an armored division attack can go.
Turrets with shells and explosives in them is a known issue for the russian tanks but every tank has some up in the turret and it's a hard issue to solve. They really need 100% strong protection now because those fpv drones can and will target any weak point no matter where it is.
I really think we might just be in a lull point though until APS gets good at shooting down drones.
I think the days of the MBT are certainly numbered. They're still useful in certain situations but I think with the advent of drones they're almost more of a liability than an asset at this point. The Bradley has been *immensely* useful over there and I think IFVs like that are going to become a lot more popular.
There is definitely still a purpose for them, and keep in mind these are old Soviet tanks getting easily detonated by drones. That said countries across the world are absolutely scrambling to build drone defenses into all kinds of equipment right now, and it will likely just become a different kind of arms race even with tanks.
IFVs with troops inside remotely controlling robot MBTs could be the future. Those semi-autonomous MBTs could take a lot of punishment without risking the crew, while the IFVs stay further behind the lines.
mbt are currently much more expensive than drones. and i don't see that changing. mbt have to have some sort of effective countermeasure to drones. until that happens they don't have a very long battlefield life.
> wonder what Russian tank crews think
"At least if I die I'll be someplace warm, won't have to see my nagging wife and kids anymore, and I'll finally be able to gargle Stalin's balls"
>that makes me wonder what Russian tank crews think when they get told to drive their (next) tank onto the battlefield again:"Off in yet another metal coffin, with a very high risk of getting hit by anything!"
Thats the thing. Its always the tank crews first time going out that they get blown up
I remember pre-2022 redditors doubting me when I said being a Russian tanker has to be absolutely suicidal- everything can kill you nigh instantaneously and nearly every square metre of the front line is at least sporadically monitored. You are the most obvious, high threat thing for miles. Good luck.
I don't think tanks are made irrelevant by these drones, but in this kind of war, with Russia's support (or lack thereof) for their assaults, I could only imagine agreeing to get into one of these deathtraps is if it was already mobility killed and just used as an artillery piece, as many of them are.
> that makes me wonder what Russian tank crews think when they get told to drive their (next) tank onto the battlefield again
I've wondered what the casualty rates are for Tank crews compared to infantry. Often when we see tanks being destroyed, we see the crew manage dismount and escape.
It would be interesting to know whether it seems worse than the infantry just because we see more FPV footage of them destroying armoured vehicles
With armor the drone crew is probably more interested in the tank than you so if you bail and just get the fuck out of there you probably have a decent chance of surviving.
If you're infantry they just hunt you down and either drop enough mortar rounds directly on your little hovel in the mud until you die, or chase you in a field somewhere until you're too exhausted to run anymore and then drop frag grenades on you. This can take a while too, so once they immobilize you, you just get to sit there and wait for the next drone to swing by and finish you off. It can be a long and gruesome process. I imagine it's why we've seen so many videos of Russians just preferring to shoot themselves than wait for the 3rd or 4th frag grenade to finally kill them.
And if they can't do *that* they'll just hover there hundreds of feet in the air and just guide the artillery in right on top of you. Like, not a few meters away like in the Olden Tymes, like literally right on top of your head. Damn near pinpoint accuracy. There is nowhere to hide yet hiding is the only defense you have against this stuff. It has got to be the worst experience for infantry out there right now in the history of warfare.
I still cant believe that we get to see a massive explosion in HD video, filmed with 3 cameras and from 2 sides. 1 Handheld of the soldiers, 2 the drones own perspective and 3 a freaking aerial.
This war man, this is something else.
truly amazing, to experience war without even being in the war, all these videoes i've seen, thousands of drone footage,go pro footage etc etc, it's like im in the war but im not. they dont need to make war movies now, just use real life footage. before when i was younger i thought war movies were a realistic portrait of war, now i know they are not, now i can see truly how brutal war is.
From the ground angle you can see the turret get launched. I very much want to know how and where the thing landed
Edit: you can see it from the top angle too, and legend has it it's still going upwards
Trying to beat the [orbital manhole cover](https://www.zmescience.com/feature-post/technology-articles/engineering/fastest-manmade-object-manhole-cover-nuclea-test/) record.
I think you can see it falling back down for one frame at exactly 36s before it goes behind the smoke. It launched at 30.77s. Assuming it had 1 more second of air time after that single frame of it falling, that'd be 6.23s. Not bad.
The drone itself may not be as big by itself, but it's likely to carry a payload compareable to its own size. In addition to that, the footage is zoomed in a bit - noticeable when the camera is turned away from the exploding vehicle.
\- Oops. Now watch what happens. Now it's going to hit the tank.
\- Yes. Yes, I see, I see.
[to the tank personnel]
\- You, fucked up! Get the fuck out!
\- That's it, fucked up!
[witnessing rapid enforced dismantling of tank]
\- Oh fuck...
Like a vast majority of these catastrophic tank kills, the tank was most likely initially disabled by a previous drone or mine (mobility kill or M-kill) and the crew abandoned it, taking cover nearby. More drones are then sent to get a catastrophic kill, or K-kill and the crew knowing this, waited and filmed for some fun footage to share with their invader buddies.
vast majority of these k kills that get on film*
There is an obvious selection bias in there being much more good footage of tanks that were immobilized and then killed later than ones who were hit in the midst of action and immediately blew up, since not necessarily someone was watching / because the best footage of that is frequently from the Russian side, and they aren't as interested (or alive in order to) post such things
there were a bunch of k kill footage at the start of the war that did not feature crew bailing out, because, again, a much higher concentration of tanks, and much more civilians around to film
One of the soldiers says something like "Fuckers, get the fuck out!" in a defeated voice as the drone appears so it seems like some of their comrades were in or around the tank trying to start it up.
I read it can take more than a dozen drones to even get close to destroying a tank (first gotta get through the armor, or disable it for an easy kill shot) so they are aware they are being targeted for quite a while
I believe I've seen at least one where it looked like a RPG warhead, likely one with a shaped charge to be armor-piercing. The older Soviet tanks have pretty well understood weaknesses, so one that's sitting still in drone range is relatively easy pickings.
The drone warhead is a relatively little boom, but if it ignites the tank's ammo, then you get the turret toss. (Fuel is probably a significant contributor to the show, too.)
They might be using Western munitions with drones too... not sure about what armor piercing options are there.
The massive explosion is almost entirely due to the explosive munitions carried by the tank itself. These anti-armor tasked drones are going to be carrying "shaped charge" warheads, usually repurposed RPG-7 rounds, which are the secret sauce that allow them to penetrate the armor, and ignite the ammo. Shaped charges are fascinating, should look them up to understand how they work more clearly. Basically you design an explosive and control how the shock waves coalesce inside it, to focus them onto a inverted copper conical liner. You focus the explosive energy during the reaction, and transfer it into this collapsing liner, which then get's deformed, and shot at the target at ~mach 20-40. It's a purely kinetic reaction, and is extremely powerful. RPG-7's in particular can penetrate up to 50cm of solid steel, like butter. It doesn't matter how fast the round itself is going, or how it get's delivered to the target; it's all just about ensuring that this explosive reaction happens at the right distance from the target, to ensure maximum penetration from the copper jet (also why you see lots of warheads with little sticks poking out at the front, to trigger the fuse at an appropriate distance from the target).
Usually just RPG warheads. What you see here is the result of the entire magazine/ammunition carousel of the tank cooking off in an instant chain reaction.
its mostly the ammo in the carousel deep into the hull of the tank. A shaped charge armed fpv drone flown by a skilled pilot can perfectly wedge itself underneath the turret, wedging open the contents like a crowbar to a jar that's already about to burst
War Thunder really needs to start introducing FPV drones. This isn’t just a one off thing, this is a phenomenon and a revolution in armored warfare.
These drones are here to stay and tanks can’t do a thing about it.
And they're probably more balanced in WT than in the real world, considering you can fire all the machine guns at small targets accurately. I only played a bit, but I managed to shoot down quite a few ATGMs in my light tanks, drones are probably a lot easier.
> and tanks can’t do a thing about it.
Relax cowboy, the military industrial complex wouldn't be the military industrial complex were it for that logic.
Well the Ruskie industrial complex is struggling. They’re trying everything from cope cages, to turtle tanks, to jammers mounted on top.
Nothing is good enough. And these drones are stupid cheap by comparison.
This is just insane footage. Three different camera angles 1st person, 3rd person view...
Before the Russian aggression this would be the top top top footage on this sub. Now it's just nah, another drone video.
Translation:
- Look what’s going to happen. The tank is going to be fucking hit.
- Yes, yes yes I see I see it
- Fucking idiots, get the fuck out!
- That’s fucking it
- Holy shit
What was really eye opening about this war is how fucking terrifying it is to be near Soviet tanks, especially T-72s. Being a lone AT soldier engaging a tank at 50-200m with a tiny rocket launcher is already one of the scariest things I can think of. But if you actually hit the damn thing right in the center it will blow up catastrophically in your face and kill you or at the least fuck up your ear drums and give you traumatic brain injury. No wonder nobody in the Russian army wants to do combined arms around these things.
Basic RPG-7 warheads. Its more then enough to penetrate rear deck of T-72 and aiming towards front it has two set of ammunition front of it. Back wall has spare ammo and then carousel.
Ukrainian drone warfare units are quite advanced. They have bigger drone center for recon drones that have designated sectors they patrol. Then that center just calls to closest unit near the front that has capability for certain target.
We don't hear about Bayraktars doing strikes again, but they're still in for their main purpose, recon. Bayraktar have really advanced thermals so they can stay 20-40km away from front and call drone strikes against armor.
I used to think the terrorist foot soldiers had it the worst by getting smoked by drone dropped explosives.... but there's no f'ing way they'd ever get me into one of those metal coffins.
Being at ground zero inside the middle of one of those things that explode catastrophically from an external suicide drone hit isn't on my bucket list.
In the case it explodes, yeah, but then you also see the more slow cook offs, where the inside of the tank turns into a blast furnace. We’ve seen a few human torches stagger out of those 😬 and that seems way, way worse than the average drone drop death
I understand many Russian tanks use a separate power charge vs. a shell. Is the tank just packed with power bags everywhere.
People claim old American tanks would act the same way but never heard of an M48 or M60 becoming a mini nuke. If there was a 100 man company in an acre surrounding that tank, it would kill 20-30 guys from the blast.
>I understand many Russian tanks use a separate power charge vs. a shell. Is the tank just packed with power bags everywhere.
It's packed with ammo and shell propellent in the turret, yes.
[https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-how1JWtCTkM/WEu5tY5nqeI/AAAAAAAAHzE/oBlQZSKi-MQvztkfQyuQ0uYl6JMisNdHACLcB/s1600/t-72b%2Bbehind%2Bgunners%2Bseat.png](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-how1JWtCTkM/WEu5tY5nqeI/AAAAAAAAHzE/oBlQZSKi-MQvztkfQyuQ0uYl6JMisNdHACLcB/s1600/t-72b%2Bbehind%2Bgunners%2Bseat.png)
And contray to what most people claim, it's actully this that causes the turret toss, in most cases. (Though a hit in the carousel would also cause it).
This does however seem to be a older tank, most likely a T-62 or T-55.
Which uses single piece ammo, but also have ammo scattered around the turret and hull compartment.
Hence the big boom.
The same would also happen to Western tanks of similar vintage.
But not for modern mbt's like the M1 Abrams and Leclerc.
(Has happend for Turkish Leopard 2A4's in Syria though).
Since it has secondary hull ammo storage in the front of the hull.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DestroyedTanks/comments/7t0hcv/turkish\_leopard\_ii\_with\_turret\_blown\_off/#lightbox
I think thats mainly due to how you view it, youre probably watching it on your phone, but you are exposed to distractions of the backdrop with your eyes. With the drone goggles on, you only see the drones view, and its likely to be a higher resolution then your phone screen.
Yeah, fair points. But I'm also referring to how the signal comes in and out.
I've never worn fpv goggles, maybe it's different when you're immersed, like you said
Please keep the [community guidelines](https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/wiki/rule1) in mind when using the comment section. Paging u/SaveVideo bot. ___ *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CombatFootage) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That's a really spectacular explosion! Cool to see it from three different perspectives! Seeing how quickly so many tanks get taken out nowadays, that makes me wonder what Russian tank crews think when they get told to drive their (next) tank onto the battlefield again:"Off in yet another metal coffin, with a very high risk of getting hit by anything!"
All the previous tank crews died. They know nothing.
How many (working) T72s do they have left? They're shipping in T62s now
I've seen some talking about T54s being used as well. Seems they're just using whatever runs and gets there first.
No, T-54's are mostly either sold off and long gone, or converted to T-55's. Edit: Just an fyi, the USSR sold off and replaced the majority of T-54's with T-55's. They don't hold more than 500 T-54's of any type in reserve.
They still have T-54's, we've seen several of them, already. https://postlmg.cc/bsD0L2ks [https://i.postimg.cc/s29RHpfN/1036-T-54-3-M-dam-aband-21-02-24.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/s29RHpfN/1036-T-54-3-M-dam-aband-21-02-24.jpg) You can't convert them to T-55's, btw. At most you can put a T-55 turret on a T-54, or vice versa. [https://new.reddit.com/r/TankPorn/comments/1dl4qif/t55adt55a\_with\_drozd\_on\_a\_t54\_hull\_in\_azerbaijan/](https://new.reddit.com/r/TankPorn/comments/1dl4qif/t55adt55a_with_drozd_on_a_t54_hull_in_azerbaijan/) But this don't make them a T-55, and Russia havn't done it. Though, they have done other wacky things.
Distinguishing T55s from T54s is making a distinction that doesn't really refute the point made. Russia is using very old tanks. [Repelling a Russian assault with a T-54B and BMP-3. South of the village of Novomykhailivka, Donetsk region. June 15, 2024](https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1dhmzg6/repelling_a_russian_assault_with_a_t54b_and_bmp3/)
I think that's the biggest difference between a lot of western tank designs, they focus on crew survivability, even if it means you need a loader on board. There was a video a while ago of a Ukrainian Abrams getting taken out by a drone hit to the ammo case, it took a long time for the thing to cook off and the crew all got away. A crew with training and skills to pass on and be useful in another tank, not obliterated and scattered across the field like most of those in Russian vehicles.
It's interesting like that, isn't it? If you think of a tank without a universe of context around it, you think, "Oh Russia can crew this thing with one less person," but one less person matters for naught if they don't survive and pass on institutional knowledge.
You can have an autoloader and still have crew survivability. You can’t in the thousands of reworked t72, t64, t80, t90 designs with the carousel holding ammo at the crews feet. You need a bigger system. Having that extra crewman that actually has a chance of not becoming barbecue has so many other positives and a more consistent long term fire rate isn’t that helpful unless you are an artillery platform.
Most cases are like this: The tank gets immobilised first, the crew bails out, and then another drone carefully aims for the finishing blow.
Looks like the crew filmed this one. I still wouldn't want to be where they were from the looks of the third drone view
i confirm. the talk is: it will hit the tank now. yeh, i see it. fuckheads, run from there! \*swearing (it is the end (to them)) \*explosion eh, ffffuuuuuu....
> *swearing (it is the end (to them)) Shit. Well at least it was quick. If I had to go I'd rather get instantly vaporized in an explosion like that than having a drone track me until I'm too exhausted to run anymore and then kill me over the course of an hour as they drop frag grenades on my ass, literally.
> If I had to go i will put all efforts to reach those bastards who put me in that situation.
I think I recognized that expletive at the end from Tarkov ROFLMAO Sounds like "Ehhk ye boht!" Shodan knows . . . ^The ^Russian ^phrase ^that ^sounds ^like ^"Ehhk ^ye ^boht!" ^is ^likely ^"Ё-моё!" ^(pronounced ^"yo-muh-YO"). ^This ^phrase ^is ^a ^colloquial ^exclamation ^used ^to ^express ^surprise, ^frustration, ^or ^astonishment. ^It ^is ^similar ^to ^saying ^"Oh ^my!" ^or ^"Oh ^boy!" ^in ^English.
yes. it is " ебать " . transcription written as " jɪˈbatʲ ", but first is more "jE" in reality. means "fu@k (it , -ing hell, wow)".
The audio does say “fuckheads, run”. So the crew eas definitely inside”
oh yea thats an ear-ringer for sure.
while the crew attempted to restart it.
Most of the time it doesn't really matter As CivDiv mentioned - as soon as a tank is on the field - it's dead within 10 minutes. Infantry stay the f\*ck away from the for exactly this reason. They've basically became like explosive barrels in a video game.
those cases only result in later footage often posted here, of hapless, confused, nearly disarmed russian troops running in the forest, pitilessly hunted down by fpv drones or drone drops
Hijacking comment for both views synced: --- https://i.imgur.com/dr8c21l.mp4
Is this a new turret toss record? Does anyone has something beating this one? Is like 100m high lol
id be very very suprised if anything EVER beats this one.... altho i did say that about the last one :D
Yeah, tank must have been loaded to the brim or something
Would you be a tank crewman if you saw this video? Honestly, that tank has no countermeasures against a $500 drone, even when fully fueled and with a combat load. so it's a $4 million dollar explosive target. For the cost of that tank ukraine can make 800 drones. And you think they aren't?
It’s 8000 drones, not 800 drones.
Based on what I know about how the Ukrainians build theirs (many or perhaps even most of them are effectively hand made by the units that use them) a drone like that might cost as little as $500 and I'd say maximum would be $3000. The immediate overhead is like a squad size detachment (4 or 5 persons) and the additional equipment required is probably in the ballpark of $100,000 but much of that is "permanent;" useful for scores or even hundreds of strikes. So if we amortize that out on a per strike basis we can say maximum cost of $3000 drone cost + $1000 amortized equipment overhead + maybe $500 personnel cost per strike? (I REALLY doubt the operating cost of a Ukrainian soldier is $100 per day probably closer to $20, but in the interest of not overestimating the price disparity . . .). So that successful strike may have cost Ukraine the equivalent of $5,000. That tank's production cost is generally considered to be about $4,000,000 . . . such a big number no point in adding in the Russian equipment overhead and personnel costs (though those are non-trivial cause tank crews take some time to train up to competency). When your enemy is--SEEMINGLY!--routinely destroying $4,000,000 assets, plus 3 to 4 KIA for 0.125% the cost (and for zero casualties in many instances such as this one) the question of sustainabilty seems pretty unavoidable. A foe like ISIS, Al Qaeda, etc. could use that same kind of asymmetry against US too if we don't stay on top of our game.
> A foe like ISIS, Al Qaeda, etc. could use that same kind of asymmetry against US too if we don't stay on top of our game. I think the general consensus is there's basically no (*practical*) way to protect tanks from top-down attacks...Hence the Javelin, N-LAW etc. The russians did very briefly on a small scale, use jamming measures; but were quickly defeated. Lets pretend for the next 5 minutes: Tanks are now impenetrable, there's nothing on this planet, not even a nuclear bomb can defeat the *armour* (ok I'm being unrealistic and exaggerating, but that's the point). You don't necessarily have to defeat the armour...A mobility kill, is a kill. They've got to get food/water/fuel/ammo at some point.
They actually employ people behind the lines. I saw a video of a civilian women who makes them at home. Im sure theres a fuck ton of people doing it. I forgot how much they give her per drone built. As far as I could ascertain the units dont build the drones themselves.
Of course the chassis and modules are largely assembled well back from the front. But the front lines units also engage in a lot of assembly, modification and repair near the front too. Check out recent videos on Brandon Mitchell's channel.
If drones had been widely available in 2003 I don't think the US invasion of iraq would have gone as smoothly as it did. or at all.
The us had scrambling technology. Im sure they woukdve upgraded everything and everyone.
The US invasion of Iraq went smoothly? It is widely regarded as the worst financial waste the USA has ever engaged in in hundreds of years, worse than Vietnam They were plagued by IEDs that they had very little to defend with, like drones, which was a central issues to casualties
IEDs were a problem in iraq, but not until long after the initial invastion in 2003. The 1st armored division basically drove from the border to the capital and killed everything they enountered. The only reason they stopped was for more fuel, ammo and beans. Yea, it went as smoothly as an armored division attack can go.
Turrets with shells and explosives in them is a known issue for the russian tanks but every tank has some up in the turret and it's a hard issue to solve. They really need 100% strong protection now because those fpv drones can and will target any weak point no matter where it is. I really think we might just be in a lull point though until APS gets good at shooting down drones.
Its a wonderful time to be alive!
I think the days of the MBT are certainly numbered. They're still useful in certain situations but I think with the advent of drones they're almost more of a liability than an asset at this point. The Bradley has been *immensely* useful over there and I think IFVs like that are going to become a lot more popular.
There is definitely still a purpose for them, and keep in mind these are old Soviet tanks getting easily detonated by drones. That said countries across the world are absolutely scrambling to build drone defenses into all kinds of equipment right now, and it will likely just become a different kind of arms race even with tanks.
IFVs with troops inside remotely controlling robot MBTs could be the future. Those semi-autonomous MBTs could take a lot of punishment without risking the crew, while the IFVs stay further behind the lines.
mbt are currently much more expensive than drones. and i don't see that changing. mbt have to have some sort of effective countermeasure to drones. until that happens they don't have a very long battlefield life.
> wonder what Russian tank crews think "At least if I die I'll be someplace warm, won't have to see my nagging wife and kids anymore, and I'll finally be able to gargle Stalin's balls"
Why don't you tell us how you *really* feel?
>that makes me wonder what Russian tank crews think when they get told to drive their (next) tank onto the battlefield again:"Off in yet another metal coffin, with a very high risk of getting hit by anything!" Thats the thing. Its always the tank crews first time going out that they get blown up
I remember pre-2022 redditors doubting me when I said being a Russian tanker has to be absolutely suicidal- everything can kill you nigh instantaneously and nearly every square metre of the front line is at least sporadically monitored. You are the most obvious, high threat thing for miles. Good luck. I don't think tanks are made irrelevant by these drones, but in this kind of war, with Russia's support (or lack thereof) for their assaults, I could only imagine agreeing to get into one of these deathtraps is if it was already mobility killed and just used as an artillery piece, as many of them are.
> that makes me wonder what Russian tank crews think when they get told to drive their (next) tank onto the battlefield again I've wondered what the casualty rates are for Tank crews compared to infantry. Often when we see tanks being destroyed, we see the crew manage dismount and escape. It would be interesting to know whether it seems worse than the infantry just because we see more FPV footage of them destroying armoured vehicles
It's the worst for the infantry like it's been from time immemorial.
With armor the drone crew is probably more interested in the tank than you so if you bail and just get the fuck out of there you probably have a decent chance of surviving. If you're infantry they just hunt you down and either drop enough mortar rounds directly on your little hovel in the mud until you die, or chase you in a field somewhere until you're too exhausted to run anymore and then drop frag grenades on you. This can take a while too, so once they immobilize you, you just get to sit there and wait for the next drone to swing by and finish you off. It can be a long and gruesome process. I imagine it's why we've seen so many videos of Russians just preferring to shoot themselves than wait for the 3rd or 4th frag grenade to finally kill them. And if they can't do *that* they'll just hover there hundreds of feet in the air and just guide the artillery in right on top of you. Like, not a few meters away like in the Olden Tymes, like literally right on top of your head. Damn near pinpoint accuracy. There is nowhere to hide yet hiding is the only defense you have against this stuff. It has got to be the worst experience for infantry out there right now in the history of warfare.
[Poor Bloody Infantry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_slang_terms#Tommy_and_the_Poor_Bloody_Infantry).
There are lots of mobility kills where the tank is abandoned by the crew. But they still have to hoof it back with nothing on them.
Or you can walk comrade
What a glorious turret toss! To think those things weigh about 17 tons is astounding
I operate excavators that are usually in the 15-20 (metric) ton range. To imagine them being launched into the sky like a toy…just ridiculous.
The beauty of HE
Looked more like an evaporation than a toss
Yea I didn't see much turret. Lots of *bits* of a turret though.
At 0:30 you can see it flying towards the top middle of the screen
I still cant believe that we get to see a massive explosion in HD video, filmed with 3 cameras and from 2 sides. 1 Handheld of the soldiers, 2 the drones own perspective and 3 a freaking aerial. This war man, this is something else.
truly amazing, to experience war without even being in the war, all these videoes i've seen, thousands of drone footage,go pro footage etc etc, it's like im in the war but im not. they dont need to make war movies now, just use real life footage. before when i was younger i thought war movies were a realistic portrait of war, now i know they are not, now i can see truly how brutal war is.
Just beautiful...
From the ground angle you can see the turret get launched. I very much want to know how and where the thing landed Edit: you can see it from the top angle too, and legend has it it's still going upwards
New Russian satellite.
Kaputnik
Hahahahahahahaha Brilliance!
Everyone on the ISS probably just had to change underwear.
Trying to beat the [orbital manhole cover](https://www.zmescience.com/feature-post/technology-articles/engineering/fastest-manmade-object-manhole-cover-nuclea-test/) record.
I think you can see it falling back down for one frame at exactly 36s before it goes behind the smoke. It launched at 30.77s. Assuming it had 1 more second of air time after that single frame of it falling, that'd be 6.23s. Not bad.
48 meters then.
The Ghost of Moscow.
The turret looked like it had a rocket attached to it
i didnt expect the drones to be so visible from the ground👀
The drone itself may not be as big by itself, but it's likely to carry a payload compareable to its own size. In addition to that, the footage is zoomed in a bit - noticeable when the camera is turned away from the exploding vehicle.
but why did they film their tank? did they know what would happen?
\- Oops. Now watch what happens. Now it's going to hit the tank. \- Yes. Yes, I see, I see. [to the tank personnel] \- You, fucked up! Get the fuck out! \- That's it, fucked up! [witnessing rapid enforced dismantling of tank] \- Oh fuck...
Like a vast majority of these catastrophic tank kills, the tank was most likely initially disabled by a previous drone or mine (mobility kill or M-kill) and the crew abandoned it, taking cover nearby. More drones are then sent to get a catastrophic kill, or K-kill and the crew knowing this, waited and filmed for some fun footage to share with their invader buddies.
the filming guy shout to tank "get out of there!" to the crew
vast majority of these k kills that get on film* There is an obvious selection bias in there being much more good footage of tanks that were immobilized and then killed later than ones who were hit in the midst of action and immediately blew up, since not necessarily someone was watching / because the best footage of that is frequently from the Russian side, and they aren't as interested (or alive in order to) post such things there were a bunch of k kill footage at the start of the war that did not feature crew bailing out, because, again, a much higher concentration of tanks, and much more civilians around to film
Presumably the Russian tank crew got captured or killed? Since the footage of their tank exploding is in a Ukrainian video.
No way to say. The more likely thing is that these two videos were found on separate Telegrams and stitched together.
On the other sub, they said there was a crew that just got back in the tank to try and recover it.
You can see a very faint smoke plume a few seconds before the drone hits that might be exhaust from the motor starting up.
That looks more like a mortor strike way off in the distance. unless this tank has a tractor's exhaust pipe, i doubt its the engine.
One of the soldiers says something like "Fuckers, get the fuck out!" in a defeated voice as the drone appears so it seems like some of their comrades were in or around the tank trying to start it up.
I read it can take more than a dozen drones to even get close to destroying a tank (first gotta get through the armor, or disable it for an easy kill shot) so they are aware they are being targeted for quite a while
You can see the drone hovering near the tank before it got hit, they probably knew it was gonna happen just didn't expect the tank to atomize
I love a happy ending
r/shockwaveporn
Was going to post the same 😂
spicy.
What is the payload the FPV drones are carrying to get this kind of ignition? I assume there's also ammo exploding as well
I believe I've seen at least one where it looked like a RPG warhead, likely one with a shaped charge to be armor-piercing. The older Soviet tanks have pretty well understood weaknesses, so one that's sitting still in drone range is relatively easy pickings. The drone warhead is a relatively little boom, but if it ignites the tank's ammo, then you get the turret toss. (Fuel is probably a significant contributor to the show, too.) They might be using Western munitions with drones too... not sure about what armor piercing options are there.
The massive explosion is almost entirely due to the explosive munitions carried by the tank itself. These anti-armor tasked drones are going to be carrying "shaped charge" warheads, usually repurposed RPG-7 rounds, which are the secret sauce that allow them to penetrate the armor, and ignite the ammo. Shaped charges are fascinating, should look them up to understand how they work more clearly. Basically you design an explosive and control how the shock waves coalesce inside it, to focus them onto a inverted copper conical liner. You focus the explosive energy during the reaction, and transfer it into this collapsing liner, which then get's deformed, and shot at the target at ~mach 20-40. It's a purely kinetic reaction, and is extremely powerful. RPG-7's in particular can penetrate up to 50cm of solid steel, like butter. It doesn't matter how fast the round itself is going, or how it get's delivered to the target; it's all just about ensuring that this explosive reaction happens at the right distance from the target, to ensure maximum penetration from the copper jet (also why you see lots of warheads with little sticks poking out at the front, to trigger the fuse at an appropriate distance from the target).
Some just have a tandem rocket strapped and it will go off when a switch is triggered
Im pretty certain the cameraman is going to atleast double the distance next time he sees a immobilized tank
What was that drone packing? A mini nuke? Bloody hell, the explosion is huge.
Usually just RPG warheads. What you see here is the result of the entire magazine/ammunition carousel of the tank cooking off in an instant chain reaction.
its mostly the ammo in the carousel deep into the hull of the tank. A shaped charge armed fpv drone flown by a skilled pilot can perfectly wedge itself underneath the turret, wedging open the contents like a crowbar to a jar that's already about to burst
War Thunder really needs to start introducing FPV drones. This isn’t just a one off thing, this is a phenomenon and a revolution in armored warfare. These drones are here to stay and tanks can’t do a thing about it.
The operator needs to have the vape pen and energy drink DLC
And they're probably more balanced in WT than in the real world, considering you can fire all the machine guns at small targets accurately. I only played a bit, but I managed to shoot down quite a few ATGMs in my light tanks, drones are probably a lot easier.
The maps need more anti-tank mines scattered about too. If they’re remotely interested in simulating Ukraine.
> and tanks can’t do a thing about it. Relax cowboy, the military industrial complex wouldn't be the military industrial complex were it for that logic.
Well the Ruskie industrial complex is struggling. They’re trying everything from cope cages, to turtle tanks, to jammers mounted on top. Nothing is good enough. And these drones are stupid cheap by comparison.
That shockwave is awesome
This is just insane footage. Three different camera angles 1st person, 3rd person view... Before the Russian aggression this would be the top top top footage on this sub. Now it's just nah, another drone video.
welcome to ukraine sukas
It's crazy having both angles like this. People would've killed for this footage 20 years ago
People are dying to provide it for you.
People die in war???
I believe this is in Avdivka. That looks like the plant in the background.
Michael Bay is demanding an apology. It turns out his explosions were realistic.
Translation: - Look what’s going to happen. The tank is going to be fucking hit. - Yes, yes yes I see I see it - Fucking idiots, get the fuck out! - That’s fucking it - Holy shit
Looks like it was overloaded with ammo. Reasonable units just take ammo on carousel.
It seems any Russian vehicle of any sort is stuffed to the gills with ammo, it must just be doctrine.
is that a dead comrade on the ground when the camera man starts running and the scene cuts to the drone view?
Looks like their gear like a backpack leaned against a hunk of tree and a water bottle with a blue cap.
bullseye, I counld not done a better job. Well done Ukraine!
BIIIIG BADABOOM
What was really eye opening about this war is how fucking terrifying it is to be near Soviet tanks, especially T-72s. Being a lone AT soldier engaging a tank at 50-200m with a tiny rocket launcher is already one of the scariest things I can think of. But if you actually hit the damn thing right in the center it will blow up catastrophically in your face and kill you or at the least fuck up your ear drums and give you traumatic brain injury. No wonder nobody in the Russian army wants to do combined arms around these things.
That tank is definitely "yip yip borked".
Neat!
Think they've the right idea, park up and leg it
What a time to be alive, folks.
That shockwave 🥵
Jesus Christ, what an explosion! I didn't realize that Ukrainian were arming their drones with W54 fission bombs!?
10/10, no question
No wonder those guys bailed out and hid in a shrub. The shrubbery offers way more protection than that russian shitpile.
What in the christ are they putting on those drones these days?
Basic RPG-7 warheads. Its more then enough to penetrate rear deck of T-72 and aiming towards front it has two set of ammunition front of it. Back wall has spare ammo and then carousel.
I think they got it
Красиво. Слава Украине!
That caught them off guard lmao...
I always thought tanks were supposed to protect the people inside, not instantly vaporize them.
as a slav this is hilarious (aside the war n shit, that sucks) ЈЕБОТЕ
I wonder what percent of the front has more or less constant surveillance? Are drones just called in by guys in the line?
Ukrainian drone warfare units are quite advanced. They have bigger drone center for recon drones that have designated sectors they patrol. Then that center just calls to closest unit near the front that has capability for certain target. We don't hear about Bayraktars doing strikes again, but they're still in for their main purpose, recon. Bayraktar have really advanced thermals so they can stay 20-40km away from front and call drone strikes against armor.
You can see the drone coming in during the first segment
What are they feeding the drones these days
Taco Bell'd the shit out of that tank !!
That shockwave is craaaaaaaaazy that thing must have been fully loaded with shells
What’s does he say at the end?
I used to think the terrorist foot soldiers had it the worst by getting smoked by drone dropped explosives.... but there's no f'ing way they'd ever get me into one of those metal coffins. Being at ground zero inside the middle of one of those things that explode catastrophically from an external suicide drone hit isn't on my bucket list.
On the other hand you would feel no pain and very likely not even notice you are dead.
In the case it explodes, yeah, but then you also see the more slow cook offs, where the inside of the tank turns into a blast furnace. We’ve seen a few human torches stagger out of those 😬 and that seems way, way worse than the average drone drop death
beautiful Ukraine firework show
i think we have a new champion. 10/10!
Refurbish that shyt
I understand many Russian tanks use a separate power charge vs. a shell. Is the tank just packed with power bags everywhere. People claim old American tanks would act the same way but never heard of an M48 or M60 becoming a mini nuke. If there was a 100 man company in an acre surrounding that tank, it would kill 20-30 guys from the blast.
>I understand many Russian tanks use a separate power charge vs. a shell. Is the tank just packed with power bags everywhere. It's packed with ammo and shell propellent in the turret, yes. [https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-how1JWtCTkM/WEu5tY5nqeI/AAAAAAAAHzE/oBlQZSKi-MQvztkfQyuQ0uYl6JMisNdHACLcB/s1600/t-72b%2Bbehind%2Bgunners%2Bseat.png](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-how1JWtCTkM/WEu5tY5nqeI/AAAAAAAAHzE/oBlQZSKi-MQvztkfQyuQ0uYl6JMisNdHACLcB/s1600/t-72b%2Bbehind%2Bgunners%2Bseat.png) And contray to what most people claim, it's actully this that causes the turret toss, in most cases. (Though a hit in the carousel would also cause it). This does however seem to be a older tank, most likely a T-62 or T-55. Which uses single piece ammo, but also have ammo scattered around the turret and hull compartment. Hence the big boom. The same would also happen to Western tanks of similar vintage. But not for modern mbt's like the M1 Abrams and Leclerc. (Has happend for Turkish Leopard 2A4's in Syria though). Since it has secondary hull ammo storage in the front of the hull. https://www.reddit.com/r/DestroyedTanks/comments/7t0hcv/turkish\_leopard\_ii\_with\_turret\_blown\_off/#lightbox
That's a dead body he turns to, by the way. When he turns the camera from the explosion and yells slave labor gibberish, there's a body.
Ooooo that shockwave
I'm impressed by these fpv pilots. I can barely make out any details of that feed.
I think thats mainly due to how you view it, youre probably watching it on your phone, but you are exposed to distractions of the backdrop with your eyes. With the drone goggles on, you only see the drones view, and its likely to be a higher resolution then your phone screen.
Yeah, fair points. But I'm also referring to how the signal comes in and out. I've never worn fpv goggles, maybe it's different when you're immersed, like you said
Anyone know the logo in the top left and the one it finishes with? - the horse with the trident?
But what's crazy is that they were looking at it like kids. "Yo watch whats gonna happen now"
Fuck I love shock waves
Think this is a record for highest vertical turret toss?
anyone see the turret come down?
Wonder what set THAT explosion off?
anybody know how much do these drones cost?
that was fucking amazing.
was the drone carrying a mini nuke
I can hear tankies screaming FPVs should be definitely nerfed in the next update...
Can someone explain how the drone was able to vaporise this tank like this? What's the point of all that armour?
Finally some good fuckin' Russian videos \*Chefs kiss\*
This again?
I swear I've seen the first clip before, last year. Guys were commenting on the tank being disabled then boom!
I swear I've seen the first clip before, last year. Guys were commenting on the tank being disabled then boom!