The US Army has announced plans for large-scale purchases of passive protection systems against attacks from above for its tracked armored vehicles based on the experience of the war in Ukraine.
This is reported by The War Zone with reference to the US Army’s fiscal year 2026 budget assessment document.
The US Army plans to purchase 1,500 sets of additional passive top hemisphere protection “Top Attack Protection” for tracked combat vehicles, which should cover their weak areas.
Although the documents do not describe what the TAP system might look like, it is likely that it will resemble the anti-drone structures made of metal grids and nets that are common in terms of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
According to the justification of the army document, the kit “is a passive additional armor to the basic configuration of the vehicle. It is strategically placed over crew compartments and hatches, working in conjunction with the base vehicle armor to reduce damage from overhead threats. It is most effective against high-explosive and fragmentation rounds.”
The Justification Book document specifies that “the amount of Top Attack Protection on each platform varies depending on the platform’s base armor and crew compartment location.” That is, the system will be modular and installed like dynamic protection kits, not as a single monolithic structure.
The TAP kits are “designed to be installed on all combat vehicles with further expansion to other US Army transportation systems”. Presumably, the first to receive them will be the vehicles in the highest risk group – Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles, which traditionally operate on the front lines under enemy fire.
The Army is allocating about $92 million to install the kits on 1,528 vehicles, according to budget documents. This is part of the $107 million Vehicle Protection System (VPS) package, which also includes Laser Warning Receivers (LWR) and Signature Management Paint (SMP).
The contract is expected to be awarded no earlier than April 2026, with the first delivery expected by November 2027.
Abrams’ problems and Ukrainian solutions
“Currently, there is no tank in the world, including M1 Abrams, that has the effective passive armor protection needed to combat modern threats that attack the upper hemisphere,” retired Army Major Michael Liscano Jr, former development manager for Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles, told The War Zone.
The losses of tanks on both sides of the Russian-Ukrainian war have shown the vulnerability of third-generation tanks to drone attacks. This problem was partially compensated for by massive superstructures – a good example is last year’s occurence with a Ukrainian Abrams that was ambushed by a drone and received several strikes in a matter of minutes.
The tank commander of the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade “Magura” said that his vehicle had been hit twice within two minutes. However, despite contusions, the entire crew survived and was able to return to their positions unharmed.
“In fact, there were four to six strikes within two minutes. I think at least one got stuck in the net. Two more missed a few minutes before that,” he said. After the soldiers left the vehicle,“Russian FPV crews hit the tank with several more drones… but it was not destroyed and can still be saved,” the commander said.
The tank commander owes his life and the salvation of his crew to the Abrams’ sophisticated design with a separate armor and knockout panels, as well as to the anti-drone superstructure and dynamic protection.
“Without the additional dynamic protection and the nets on the top of the turret, we would have been smashed and definitely killed without any chance,”said the vehicle commander.
For more information on how the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade’s technicians retrofitted American Abrams tanks, read the article or watch the video here.
