(VIDEO) Russia Equips T-72B3M with Arena-M APS, Signalling Strategic Pivot in Armour Survivability Amidst Shifting Battlefield Dynamics

(DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA) — As the war in Ukraine enters yet another grinding year of attritional warfare, the Russian Ministry of Defence has begun fielding a significant enhancement to its ageing, yet battle-hardened T-72 tank fleet — the integration of the Arena-M active protection system (APS).

This marks a critical evolution in Russian armoured doctrine, aimed squarely at countering the increasingly lethal anti-tank capabilities flooding Ukrainian forces, particularly from Western-supplied inventories.

Uralvagonzavod (UVZ), the legendary Russian armoured vehicle manufacturer under the umbrella of the Rostec defence-industrial conglomerate, confirmed the development in a statement reported by state news agency TASS.

The upgrade is not limited to the T-72B3M; Russia’s more advanced T-90M ‘Proryv’ main battle tank is also being fitted with the Arena-M system, reflecting a wider strategic push toward hardening its armoured corps against precision-guided munitions.

This announcement follows earlier reports from mid-2023 indicating that production-line T-90M tanks were already being rolled out with the Arena-M, with plans extending to upgraded T-72 variants — long considered the workhorse of Russia’s armoured formations.

Until recently, Russian tanks predominantly relied on the Shtora-1 soft-kill system, a Cold War-era countermeasure that used infrared dazzlers to confuse semi-active missile guidance.

While moderately effective against older-generation threats, Shtora proved largely obsolete against the new wave of top-attack and fire-and-forget munitions deployed across modern battlefields.

Arena-M represents a significant leap forward. Developed by the Design Bureau of Machine Building (KBM) in Kolomna, this hard-kill APS detects incoming threats using a high-frequency Doppler radar array.

Upon threat detection, it launches interceptor charges to physically destroy or deflect incoming anti-tank projectiles — from RPGs to advanced ATGMs — before impact.

The latest Arena-M variant features major improvements in reaction time, interception reliability, and 360-degree coverage.

It is also believed to have greater resilience against top-attack threats — such as the American Javelin or the Israeli Spike — which have inflicted devastating losses on Russian armour throughout the war.

Though Russia began developing hard-kill APS technologies as early as the 1990s, financial constraints following the Soviet collapse meant most systems were earmarked for export rather than wide domestic deployment.

The Arena-E, a downgraded export model, was among those pitched to international buyers.

In contrast, nations such as South Korea and China moved swiftly. Seoul’s K2 Black Panther MBT is equipped with the sophisticated KAPS system, capable of multi-layered threat neutralisation.

China’s Type 99A, and even North Korea’s lesser-known Chonma-2, feature indigenous APS variants, highlighting an accelerating regional arms race in armoured survivability.

Ironically, NATO’s top-tier armoured platforms — the American M1A2 Abrams, British Challenger 2, and German Leopard 2 — have been slow to integrate APS capabilities in large numbers.

Recent footage from Ukraine, where these tanks have suffered notable losses, underscores a vulnerability that Russia itself had long faced — and is now aggressively addressing.

Despite the arrival of more modern platforms such as the T-80BVM, T-90M, and the yet-to-be-battle-proven T-14 Armata, Russia continues to prioritise the T-72B3M for critical upgrades.

With nearly 70 percent of its vast T-72 inventory upgraded to the B3/B3M standard by 2020, the platform remains a backbone of Russian ground power.

Its relatively low upgrade cost, combined with combat-proven reliability, makes it a natural candidate for further modernisation.

From mid-2022 onward, additional passive armour enhancements were introduced to T-72B3M units, a direct response to the performance of NATO-supplied anti-tank systems in Ukrainian hands.

The integration of Arena-M represents the next phase of this iterative evolution — a defensive leap in a war increasingly defined by stand-off precision weaponry and drone-assisted targeting.

The deployment of Arena-M on legacy Soviet platforms speaks volumes about Moscow’s recognition of the modern battlefield’s changing character — one where survivability increasingly hinges on electronic warfare suites, active protection systems, and multi-domain integration, rather than sheer firepower or armour thickness alone.

While the T-72 was once regarded among the world’s best-protected tanks during the 1980s, the pace of anti-tank weapons development has rendered its traditional defences insufficient.

Arena-M is thus not merely a system upgrade — it is an existential necessity for Russian armour in the 21st-century battlespace.

In the broader geopolitical context, Russia’s accelerated APS rollout also sends a signal to adversaries and allies alike: that despite the punishing costs of the Ukrainian war, Moscow remains committed to reshaping its military-industrial base and retaining its status as a land warfare heavyweight.

— DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA