When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, tanks on both sides looked exactly as you'd expect them to—heavy, low-slung, and designed to withstand frontal assaults. But as the war ground on, these armored vehicles began sprouting makeshift cages, nets, spikes, and dangling chains, all signs of a rapidly evolving battlefield shaped by the rise of cheap, deadly drones.
As the New York Times explains, early in the conflict, Ukrainian forces used Western-supplied anti-tank missiles and basic bombs dropped from drones to target Russian tanks from above. Russian crews responded by welding metal cages and frames to their turrets, hoping to blunt attacks. But as the war shifted, so did the threat. Small, nimble first-person-view (FPV) drones—cheap enough to be disposable, accurate enough to slip through gaps in armor and destroy a multimillion-dollar tank—began coming at the tanks from multiple angles. Both armies have improvised to keep pace.
Mechanics built new layers of defense on the fly, including rubber mats placed over treads and wheels to thwart the FPV drones. The Times reports that as signal jammers began blocking wireless drones, versions guided by fiber-optic cables emerged. Soldiers responded by adorning their tanks in spikes that could snag those cables. Beyond talking about their makeover, the Times weighs in on tanks' newfound place on the battlefield: still vital but not used quite as much due to the constant aerial threat. (The Times article has images and illustrations of some modified tanks; see them here.)