The Russian 4th Motor Rifle Brigade Makes The Best Turtle Tanks
The up-armored tanks can traverse their turrets and quickly load and unload infantry
The Russian 4th Motor Rifle Brigade has mastered the art of turtle tank design. Wrapping their T-72B3M tanks in metal shells and other anti-drone defenses and installing platforms for infantry passengers as well as hatches for rapid mounting and dismounting, the brigade—a former Ukrainian separatist unit—transforms its tanks into super-heavy infantry fighting vehicles.
Oh—and the 4th MRB turtles, unlike many of their species in other Russian formations, can rotate their turrets across a meaningfully wide arc in order to aim and fire their 125-millimeter main guns.
Turtle tanks with their drone-resistant metal shells are field modifications of vanilla tanks. That is to say, a Russian regiment or brigade makes its own turtles at workshops near the front line.
Units swap ideas and learn from each other’s battlefield victories and defeats. That means there are observable trends in turtle tank development. But at the same time, there’s a wide range in the quality and effectiveness of turtle mods.
The 4th MRB’s turtles, frequently featured in the brigade’s own videos as well as videos from opposing Ukrainian units in and around the city of Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, have all the latest features. (See the video below.)
