Armoured barns: Russia's unconventional tank defense exposed
Russians continue to use "armoured barn" type tanks, which can unfortunately be effective in the absence of dedicated anti-tank weapons on the Ukrainian side. Here's where their secret lies.
In response to Ukrainians' widespread use of FPV drones, the Russians have attempted to defend themselves in various ways. The most obvious solution is jammers, but these do not guarantee 100% effectiveness. There have been instances of FPV drones attacking vehicles not equipped with them because the drone pilots managed to change control frequencies beyond their range.
For this reason, the idea emerged to cover tanks and other vehicles with scrap on a frame designed to detonate the cumulative warheads used on drones prematurely. Such a shield is placed about 50 centimetres away from the actual tank armour, so the detonation of a grenade like the PG-7VL, for example, will not cause any harm. This is clearly shown in the video below, where a T-80 tank with a superstructure survived two FPV drone hits as if nothing had happened.
"Armoured barn" - helpless against full-fledged anti-tank weapons
However, this type of barrier is helpless against weapons with dual/tandem cumulative warheads, as the first warhead will make a hole in the scrap shield, and the main warhead will detonate on the actual tank armour. The Russians also use curtains protecting the front and rear to prevent a drone from flying under the scrap shield, providing limited visibility for the tank crew.
It is worth noting that when FGM-148 Javelin launchers arrived in the Krasnohorivka region in 2024, the Russian "armoured barns" there were turned into wrecks. The same applies to anti-tank weapons like Akeron MP or Stugna-P.
Ukraine lacks these means, which is why FPV drones have been successfully used as substitutes, equipped mostly with PG-7VL grenades capable of penetrating 50 centimetres of steel armour. Still, there are also occasional cluster munitions or Poland-era PGN grenades.
Meanwhile, infantry soldiers use valuable resources such as tandem grenades PG-7VR for RPG-7 launchers. In theory, mounting them on an FPV drone would solve the "armoured barns" resistance problem, but these grenades are almost twice as heavy apart from their lower availability. All this makes the bizarre modifications of Russian tanks strong only due to the Ukrainians' lack of stronger weaponry.
