Press service of the 47th Mechanized Brigade has shared a video showing an FPV drone hit a T-90M Proryv, one of the most advanced main battle tanks of the russian military
Although the damage doesn't seem significant from the outside, the crew immediately tried to retreat and ultimately abandoned the combat vehicle.
Read more: FPV Drone Production Needs Standards, Ukrainian Expert Warns
"The crew 'heroically' ran away but we promise to chase them down," the press service said in the caption to the video.
Notably, the slat armor on top of the turret couldn't prevent the strike, despite its primary objective being to protect the vehicle from exactly this type of threat: act as a screen against suicide drones and grenades that unmanned aerial vehicles drop from above.
Which is to credit of the drone operator who displayed their skill by choosing the right angle for a frontal attack. In an earlier article, Defense Express outlined how difficult such a strike is to perform, as well as the distinctive feature of T-90M Proryv tanks that makes them vulnerable to FPV drones, although this problem makes them more likely to get successfully hit from the rear, rather than in this case.
It is uncertain what happens to the tank next. The russians could return to their abandoned T-90M after a while, with evacuation tractors, because this unit is still technically repairable. On the other hand, Ukrainian forces are well aware of this possibility, which is why they tend to finish off the immobile vehicles with artillery strikes or more attack drones.
Such videos as this one prove that the value of FPV drones is not only measured in the number of annihilated enemy equipment but also the effect they can bring to the frontline, immobilizing the enemy and even forcing them to flee.
According to the Oryx OSINT community, a total of 55 tanks of the T-90M type have been recorded incapacitated in Ukraine, either destroyed, damaged, abandoned, or even captured by Ukrainians. The figure takes into account only visually confirmed instances.
Earlier Defense Express drew attention to Ukraine's strategy to cover up for the shortage of artillery ammunition, the main driving force of inflicting casualties on the russian forces, with increased production of FPV drones.
Read more: About Ukraine's Production of Munitions For FPV Drones, No Less Important Than Copters Themselves
