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In the war that is fought in Ukraine after the invasion of Russia we have seen a large number of unpublished tactics in the front. For example, drones that are precisely looking for They catch themeither unmanned boats capable of knocking fighters. We have also seen using “tricks” from the First World War, such as The optical illusion or the use of shotguns of double cannon. However, what had not been seen so far was literally burying a combat tank.
The buzz of a drone. The story comes, in reality, months ago. In the dense forests that surround toletsk, a flame city east of Ukraine, the sound of the war had changed the bell in October: it was no longer only the rumble of the artillery that defined the battlefield, but the constant buzzing of the drones that furrowed the heavens in search of objectives.
In Donetsk, the soldiers of the 28th Mechanized Brigade separate awaited instructions with their Modernized T-64although they are no longer the imposing protagonists that used to be. The era of the dominant tank has given way to a new stage: the of the cautious tankforced to adapt to a war dominated by electronic eyes and miniature air attacks.
The loss of invulnerability. That scene has been repeated in many other stages of the war in Ukraine. The T-64 is the best example, since it was at the time a symbol of invincible power: that which was said that when the engine felt under his feet, the illusion that nothing could touch him. However, that feeling It has vanished. What was previously a strategic advantage today has become exposure to danger.
Tanks, whether Soviet or modern models M1A1 Abrams Americans are being removed from the front, not due to lack of power, but for their vulnerability in front of FPV drones low cost, which for just 500 dollars can destroy machines valued in millions. War has become a technological asymmetries equation where small colossal.
Invisible air war. Today is already a war reality: in the extensive line of the Ukrainian front, of more than 1,100 kilometers, the modern war is no longer freed on the ground, but also also in the airwhere those swarms of small explosive drones fly without rest on a lethal flight of Surveillance and destruction. Every month, both the Ukrainian forces and the Russians throw around Two million FPV dronestiny distance guided machines capable of transporting enough explosive loads to destroy vehicles or end a life.
Their size, speed and maneuvering capacity make them relentless hunters of mobile or static objectives, especially artillery pieces, tanks and fortified positions. These aerial threats, no doubt, have completely transformed the strategy on the front, displacing the combat from the surface Towards the subsoil in what is already emerging as an era of those cautious armored armored ones that we commented.
A Ukrainian tank emerging from Earth
The underground artillery is born. Given this scenario, more and more Ukrainian artillery units have begun to excavate deep burrows In the field, hiding not only its crews but also its bulky artillery pieces. There are examples of Widespread videos that show a Ukrainian battery operating a 2S1 GVOZDIKAa self -propelled howbow, hosted underground in An excavated shelter With heavy machinery.
The entrance is covered by trunks and a thick network that aims to intercept enemy drones. The depth of the position is such that even the vehicle has a hard time emerging to shoot. There are also Official photographs of the 36th Ukrainian Marine Infantry Regiment that reveal that these underground positions are not isolated cases, but a trend that extends along the front, especially in exposed areas such as the border with the Russian region of Kursk.
Trinchera 2.0. The evolution of the conflict has returned to the modern soldier to a form of buried lifebut this time with 21st century technology. The constant threat from heaven has forced a complete redesign of deployment and concealment tactics. From that prism, visual camouflage is no longer enough: layers of land, reinforced structures and one Logistics capacity that allows to bury heavy machinery safely.
They counted in Forbes That when they do not shoot, vehicles must remain hidden underground, ready to emerge only the necessary time to execute a fire mission before disappearing again under soil protection. This logic of movement translates into a stealthy, methodical and essentially defensive form, away from the traditional dynamism that characterized the armored ones.
Drones and tactical response. While FPV drones They are mortalThey are not invulnerable. Radio controlled can be neutralized by Electronic interferencewhile guided by fiber optic cable They can betray the operator’s position if the cable is tracked. Even so, its proliferation has reached such magnitude that the land no longer offers sufficient protection without intensive mechanical intervention.
Networks, armor, traps, improvised structures … in the war in Ukraine nothing seems sufficient in the face of the constant surveillance of those thousands of eyes Flying Hence the earth, thick and silent, offer a truly effective defense. This also explains why so many Ukrainian units have started Collection campaigns To acquire excavators, understanding that their survival no longer depends solely on weapons, but on access to civil machinery capable of opening a refuge under the surface.
Adaptation to urgency. Thus, what began as a improvised reaction Given the increase in unmanned air attacks, it has established itself as a New tactical pattern. In a technologically saturated war, where visibility means vulnerability and mobility implies risk, hiding has become a strategy.
Artillery, once a symbol of power and visibility on the battlefield, is now buried as a swag endangered. A strange turn, but perhaps inevitable, in a conflict where artificial intelligencethe Technological miniaturization and Asymmetric war They have relegated the human being and their machinery to seek in the subsoil a way of persisting.
Image | Ukrainian Defense Ministry, 36th Marine Brigade
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