Filmed by a russian soldier deployed near the Ukrainian border, a video of an FPV drone attack on an unusual armored combat vehicle spread through social media a few days ago, now followed up with confirmation from the Land Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF). The vehicle, reportedly loaded with explosives and ammunition to be delivered to the frontlines, is none other than the AMN-590951 armored personnel carrier, also known as Spartak or upgraded VPK-Ural.
This MRAP-class wheeled mobility vehicle is a rare sight, even in russia. Presented in 2022, it was spotted only a handful of times deployed in Ukraine, often through the cameras of Ukraine's killer drones catching them while they're on the way to transport goods or personnel. In contrast, this time, a suicide drone piloted by the Achilles unit of the 92nf Mechanized Brigade UAF found the vehicle parked near a gas station 13 km behind the state border of russia, in the Belgorod region.
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As we can see in the video above and the following photo from the site, the armored vehicle was burned inside out. One of the reasons contributing to this result is that, according to the russian person recording the video, the vehicle was transporting grenades. That explains why after the initial strike they tried to spread out from the burning vehicle and the second explosion that is heard in the footage.
Overall, the Oryx OSINT project has recorded 20 instances of AMN-590951 being destroyed or damaged in hostilities during the russian invasion of Ukraine starting February 2022. Three more units were seen captured, at least one of them already in use with the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
As mentioned, the AMN-590951 was revealed to the public only a couple of years ago, during the Army-2022 military forum in russia. It is an upgraded variant of the VPK-Ural vehicle named after the company responsible for manufacture. The specifications are: combat weight 14.5 tons, crew is three people plus nine in the landing compartment. The chassis is Ural-5309, reaches speeds up to 100 km/h on road, operational range is 1,000 km. Armament is the Kord 12.7 mm machine gun enclosed in a protected armor box for the gunner's safety.
The exact number of such vehicles in service with the russian army is unknown but Polish resource Defence24 estimated it to be "below 100" as of spring 2023.
With the introduction of FPV drones to the Ukrainian battlefield, the AMN-590951 faced a new challenge, as it turned out such a device can quite reliably eliminate the armored vehicle. Therefore, the russians tried to come up with custom solutions, like this one in the photo below. Though there's no sight of a mass-produced slat armor kit for the vehicle just yet.
Earlier Defense Express drew attention to the anti-drone solutions that the russian invasion forces are implementing to protect their equipment and positions from the UAV strike threat, one direction being installing special protection on combat vehicles, sometimes taking grotesque forms, and another vector being deployment of electronic warfare systems, like autonomous drones with jammers.
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