The British-supplied armor was reportedly operating in Russia’s Kursk Region when it was targeted by a fiber optics UAV
A British-supplied Challenger 2 main battle tank operated by Ukraine’s army has been hit by a Russian fiber optics-guided drone, a new video that has surfaced online purports to show. The unverified footage was reportedly taken in Kursk Region.
Footage shows a lone Challenger 2 driving in an open field along a road while observed by the FPV drone. The tank lacks any anti-drone defenses apart from multiple electronic jammers on its turrets; effective against radio-controlled drones but useless against cable-guided UAVs.
The drone dives into the rear of the tank’s turret, where its ammo stock is kept. The extent of damage sustained by the tank was not immediately clear, however.
Fiber optic-guided drones have seen increasing use over the past few months. The UAVs, which are immune to jamming but are somewhat less agile and bulkier than their radio-controlled counterparts, were first deployed en masse onto the battlefield by the Russian military last August amid efforts to contain the Ukrainian invasion of Kursk Region.
Since then, the use of cable-guided drones has spread, with their use reported by both sides in multiple cases along the conflict frontline.
The UK has supplied a total of 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Kiev, according to official data. The tanks however have rarely seen action, and the Ukrainian military appeared to primarily use them to film propaganda rather than for actual warfare.
The situation changed with the invasion of Kursk, into which the Ukrainian military poured most of its available reserves, including the Challenger 2 tanks. Up to a half of the UK-supplied tanks have been reportedly destroyed in combat, with some of the kills corroborated online.
