mid-2021 that they were intended to enhance protection against "various weapons". In December 2021, the Ukrainian Army released video of a military exercise in which an armored fighting vehicle (apparently a BTR fitted with a T-64-like turret) carrying such equipment was destroyed by a Javelin missile. These implementations add weight to the tank, increase its visual profile, and make it more difficult for the crew to enter and exit the vehicle. In 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine where they saw combat usage, they were pejoratively termed "cope cages" by English-language online communities, western military analysts, and British defence secretary, Ben Wallace, expressing scepticism over their real-world effectiveness, based on the assumption by these analysts that the armor was most likely designed in an attempt to mitigate the threat of top-down anti-tank missiles such as the FGM-148 Javelin, and other top-attack munitions. Other analysts have proposed that they may instead be used as a countermeasure against HEAT warheads from weapons such as RPG-7s fired from above during urban combat, loitering munitions, or against drone attacks, as a response to lessons learned from the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and First Chechen War. The lack of uniformity between the makeshift cage variants made from different meshes and iron fences suggest that they are largely improvised by the tank crews, and are not standard issue. In May 2022, it was reported in Russian media interviews with Russian tankers who have returned from Ukraine that their crews eventually removed the cages, as they obstructed the use of machine guns and radios, and prevented timely evacuation if the tank caught fire. Gallery See also Reactive armour Spaced armour V-hull Vehicle armour References External links Vehicle armour Armoured warfare