Combat vehicles with extra armor from improvised materials, nicknamed "turtle tanks," have been seen on Ukrainian battlefields quite a few times since summer 2024. The russian invasion forces generally use them for armor assaults on Ukraine's positions, sometimes effectively, sometimes not. Recently, they also posted a video of how they convert their standard T-72 into one of those turtle tanks, images from the footage were shared by btvt.info.
The blogger also explains in detail the technology of making the characteristic landing squad compartment atop the main body: the turret is taken off, an armored cabin is mounted instead and welded together, while the chassis remains mostly unchanged.
Read more: Ukraine Captures First Turtle Tank Along With the Crew
Then, as follows from the published imagery, the whole structure is covered with slat armor and other various passive anti-drone protection elements. The shown efforts support Defense Express' previous assumptions that the purpose of these vehicles is to assist assault groups by safely carrying them to the target location under heavy artillery bombardment and FPV drone attacks.
Apparently, the russians try to keep it simple and don't make any significant changes to the core of this unit, the T-72. This simplicity facilitates mass production of turtle tanks in the field, without putting additional load on armor plants inside russia.
It is somewhat indicative that russians are trying to scale this sort of DIY production of armored units despite already having a similar "professional" project of heavy armored personnel carriers made based on T-72 and T-90 chassis from the Uralvagonzavod enterprise. One of those finished models was seen not long ago, in July 2024, undergoing tests at the premises of the home factory.
It made an impression that russians have come up with or at least finalizing the development of a new classic tracked APC made out of their most-produced tanks, potentially getting a new type of heavy vehicle precisely to support their infantry.
However, in order to produce such a classic heavy APC based on a tank, the layout of the hull must be completely rearranged. In particular, the power plant should be moved to a different place, ideally to the front of the machine. These requirements affect the production cycle and the speed of manufacture per unit, ultimately limiting the rates and volumes.
Therefore, there are two explanations to this situation. One is that the russian military leadership decided that it's easier for them to invest in field production of turtle tanks based on standard T-72 than to wait for proper mass-produced vehicles of this class. The other option is that the russian command simply decided to support local grassroots initiatives to manufacture such vehicles, given how far behind the schedule they are in implementing the project and the growing demand on the frontline.
Read more: Mr. Tolik Got Lost: Full Story of the Turtle Tank Captured on Ukrainian War Front
