Is the US copying Russian military technology? This defence executive thinks so
In late 2021, Russian armoured vehicles began to spot protective structures, usually made up of slat, wire mesh, bar, or metal grills, supposedly providing the tanks protection against drones, loitering munitions, and top-attack weapons.
Known as cope cages, these protective shields function as an additional barrier between the tank’s roof, which are vulnerable, or open hatches, reducing the destruction caused to the tank’s main armour during attacks with armour-piercing weapons.
The protective shield caught on, and eventually forces of other countries like Ukraine and Israel began using them even though their effectiveness against top-attack capable anti-tank missiles is often debated.
Oleg Yevtushenko, executive director of Russia's state-owned defence corporation Rostec, claimed that makers of the US main battle tank Abrams also have started adopting this technology.
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He said Russia's tanks are capable of repelling anti-tank threats as they are equipped with anti-FPV drone meshes and rubber-reinforced protection apart from the cope cages and electronic warfare equipment to suppress drone guidance systems.
"I would like to note that some people abroad initially ridiculed our certain innovations, in particular the so-called cope cages," he said, and added that some countries have now began to adopt this practice.
“It has been reported recently that the US plans to reinforce the protection of its Abrams tanks, which, according to data at hand, have performed poorly on the battlefield,” Russian news agency TASS quoted him as saying.
According to him, the Pentagon plans to outfit the tanks with a special coating that reduces their thermal signature, and with passive protection elements against FPV drone attacks.
Yevtushenko claimed that this special protection coating that the US is planning to use is the answer to Russia's Cloak—synthetic material, which is placed over an armoured vehicle like a tarp or a slip cover—, and the additional protection is the answer to Russia's set of screens, meshes, lattices and other outside-mounted structures.
Defence