A Ukrainian company has completed testing on a "complex" new shield designed to protect U.S.-donated Bradley infantry fighting vehicles from damaging Russian drone strikes along the front lines.
A new sliding screen, to be fitted onto the M2 Bradleys operated by the military in eastern Ukraine, was "successful in testing" that was completed in recent days, Oleksandr Myronenko, chief operating officer at the steel and mining-focused Metinvest Group, told Newsweek.
"We are now moving into mass production," he said.
The Metinvest Group, operating under the Steel Front initiative—a collective push from several businesses run by Ukrainian steel magnate Rinat Akhmetov—has already developed steel shields for M1 Abrams main battle tanks and other military hardware operated by Kyiv's forces.
The steel protective cages are fitted to the vehicles to fend off the threat posed by Russian explosive drones, particularly first-person view (FPV) drones.
"Drones, now, at the present moment, are the biggest danger for the tanks and for any kind of armored vehicles which the Ukrainian army uses," Myronenko previously told Newsweek. FPV drones can damage part of the tank, including immobilizing the vehicle, making the advanced Western tank a sitting duck for a follow-up drone hit, or anti-tank missiles and artillery, he added last month.
The screens bolted on to the M1 Abrams have "performed well in combat, protecting both crews and tanks," Myronenko said, following the tests of the adapted versions soon to be rolled out for the Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.
"It became clear that M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles could benefit from this defense enhancement, as they are also vulnerable to enemy drones," Myronenko continued.
The designs for the Bradleys, however, are "more complex than our previous iterations," according to Myronenko. "They required a special mobile screen structure—the screen had to be redesigned to slide back and forth from the top to the side of the vehicle depending on the combat situation."
Each shield for the Bradleys costs around $2 million.
Washington-donated equipment, like the M1 Abrams and M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, are a top-priority target for Russian explosive drones. The 47th Mechanized Brigade, fighting in the most intense hotspots in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, have been assigned Abrams and the Bradleys.
A commander with Ukraine's 47th Mechanized Brigade told Newsweek in January 2024 that Russian soldiers were "afraid" to launch operations "when they know that a Bradley will be against them."
The U.S. has provided 31 Abrams tanks and more than 300 Bradleys to Ukraine, according to Pentagon documents.
Kyiv also zeros in on Moscow's tanks and armored vehicles with its own fleet of explosive aerial drones.
Structures often referred to as "cope cages," and the more comprehensive covers known as "turtle tanks," have appeared in combat footage coming out of Donetsk in recent months.
"Turtle tanks" are typically Russian vehicles encased in large sheets, fixed on as a defense against Ukrainian FPV drone attacks.
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