The Special Operations Forces of the Russian Armed Forces have claimed it destroyed a Ukrainian T-84 tank with a kamikaze drone.
A rare T-84 main battle tank, one of just ten Ukraine built, was seen being struck by a Lancet drone in a newly surfaced video.
The released footage has not yet been verified and the location is currently unconfirmed.
In addition, it should be noted that the technical characteristics of the Lancet drone do not allow it to destroy heavily armored targets such as tanks. Drone’s 5kg HE warhead is too weak to penetrate tank armor.
T-84 U Oplot alcanzado por un lancet. Se trata del derivado más moderno del T-80UD. Ucrania dispone de 10 unidades y uno de ellos se envió hace añis a los EE.UU. para su estudio y evaluación. El modelo de Lancet es una versión mejorada con 5 kg de cabeza HE y alas en X pic.twitter.com/bjqnkZ6CfE
— Kasa (@Portugalujo) February 27, 2023
The T-84 is an upgraded Ukrainian variant of the Soviet-era T-80 tank. The highly advanced version of the T-80U was developed by Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It was designed to combat ground-based as well as low-flying, low-speed aerial targets while providing superior protection and high mobility for ground forces.
The T-84 is protected by an improved Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) package Kontakt-5 which was the first type of ERA able to significantly decrease the penetration of armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) rounds.
The tank is also protected by the optical-electronic countermeasures complex “Shtora-1” designed to jam anti-tank laser and infrared systems of incoming missiles and anti-tank guided weapons. The system integrates laser warning sensors, an infrared jammer, and a smoke/aerosol screen laying system.
The first T-84 prototype rolled out in 1994, and in the same year, it was decided to build several more new combat vehicles. After the successful completion of the extensive trials program in the late 1990s, the T-84 tank entered service with the Ukrainian Army in 1999. On 24 August 2000, 10 T-84 MBTs took part in the parade dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence.