27 September 2026
Ukrainian active protection systems for armored vehicles can already intercept between 60% and 80% of FPV drones.
Former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi started this in an interview with LB.ua.
According to him, Ukraine and Russia are developing systems designed to protect armored vehicles from drone attacks. Ukraine’s latest active protection developments have already proven effective in testing.
According to the general, further improvements to active protection systems could change the battlefield situation and restore armored vehicles to a significant role in offensive operations.
Meanwhile, for now, drones have the advantage in the ongoing contest between offensive capabilities and defensive systems on the battlefield.
The moment a T-72B3A “133” tank equipped with the Arena-M active protection system and empty countermeasure-munition cells was hit. Freeze frame from a video released by the Security Service of Ukraine
“When these measures are brought to full maturity, the use of armored vehicles will once again become relevant, and the pace of offensive operations will change,” the general stated in an interview with LB.ua.
Despite the shortcomings of such active protection systems, Russia has already begun limited deployment of them on the battlefield. In July 2026, it used a T-72B3A tank equipped with the Arena-M active protection system for the first time. The system had been modified to counter FPV drones.
Despite the vehicle being destroyed by Ukrainian drones, it took seven drones to exhaust the APS’s countermeasure ammunition, while the total expenditure amounted to 15–20 FPV drones per vehicle.
Scaling up production of such systems and improving their employment tactics could significantly expand the battlefield utility of armored vehicles.
Militarnyi previously reported that the Ukrainian Armor company had unveiled an unmanned module that automatically detects, tracks, and destroys drones using shotguns.
Ukrainian Active Protection System
While Russia is developing the Arena-M active protection system to counter drones, Ukraine is making similar efforts.
The Ukrainian company I-SEE has developed an AI-based system for detecting drones and is working on an autonomous anti-drone active protection system based on it.
According to the company, it developed the solution by combining a computer vision system with Edge AI. The system has evolved from “simply an intelligent detector and tracker” of enemy UAVs into a “universal core for kinetic interception systems.”
Automatic drone detection by the I-SEE system during testing. Photo credits: I-SEE
According to the company, the I-SEE system’s key advantage is its hardware independence. The system is designed to turn any optical system into a smart sensor by processing the video stream directly “on board,” with no latency and without requiring an internet connection.