Russian armor suffers from a design flaw that makes them susceptible to losing their tops in direct strikes – a well-documented flaw that Ukrainian troops take advantage of to smash enemy forces.
The decapitated tanks, with towers torn from their bodies, are victims of what military experts call the “jack in the box” effect, a resultant shock wave caused by an explosion of stored ammunition.
“What we are witnessing with Russian tanks is a design flaw,” Sam Bendet, an adviser to the Defense Research Center’s Center for Naval Analysis, told CNN.
“Every successful strike … quickly ignites the ammunition, causing a massive explosion and the tower literally blew up.”
Unlike modern Western battle tanks, many of the tanks deployed by the Russian military hold large stockpiles of ammunition directly under their towers in an automatic loading system designed to speed up the loading of the main cannon.
Russian tanks suffer from the “jack in the box” effect, which makes them vulnerable to losing their top in direct strikes. AP
The tanks are also smaller than their Western counterparts, making it easier for exploding munitions to cause a chain reaction with other nearby cartridges, the military news site Task & Purpose reported. The shells are also stored behind fewer layers of ballistic protection than in their larger Western counterparts.
“If you get inside the tank, you are more likely to hit something [explosive]”Said tank expert Stephen Zaloga at the exit.
The defect in the Russian armor is also not new information. Soviet-built T-72 tanks set up by Saddam Hussein’s army during the first Gulf War showed the same tendency to blow up their tops.
Russian tanks store large quantities of ammunition directly under their towers, which distinguishes them from modern Western battle tanks. EPA
And while more modern Russian tanks have upgraded their armor, they all use similar systems to load and store ammunition.
“[Western militaries] “Everyone has learned from the Gulf War and from seeing tanks killed during that time that you have to split the ammunition,” defense analyst Nicholas Drummond told CNN.
Ukrainian forces have many of the same tanks designed by Russia, but so far the battles have involved mostly Russian armor. It remains to be seen how Ukrainian tanks will cope in the current battle for Donbass.
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