The sight of exploding Russian tanks lying along the Ukrainian roads is an indication of the presence of Tank design problem Which is known as the “jack in the box” defect. The error has to do with the way Russian tanks keep ammunition.
In these tanks including the T-72, the Soviet-designed vehicle that saw widespread use in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, all the shells are placed in a ring inside the tank’s body. When an enemy projectile hits the right spot, the munitions store can quickly “explode” causing the tank to explode in a fatal blow, according to the Washington Post, which has prepared an illustration of the tank.
“For the Russian crew, if the munitions compartment is hit, everyone dies,” said Robert Hamilton, a professor at the US Army War College, adding that the force of the blast could “immediately vaporize the crew and everyone would be dead.”
And British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace estimated this week that Russia has lost at least 530 tanks, either destroyed or captured, since the invasion of Ukraine in February.
“What we’re seeing now is that the Ukrainians are taking advantage of the tank’s flaw,” said Samuel Bendet, a consultant at the Center for Naval Analytics, a federally funded nonprofit research institute, with Ukraine’s western allies providing anti-tank weapons in large quantities.
Ukraine, for its part, also uses Russian-made T-72 tanks, which faces the same problem, but the Russian invasion relied on large-scale tank deployments, and Ukraine was able to respond better than expected. Analysts say the defect speaks of a broader difference in methods between Western and Russian armies.
“American tanks have always prioritized protecting the crew in a way that Russian tanks haven’t,” said Hamilton. “It’s really just a difference in the design of the ammunition bay and the difference in prioritizing.”
“Ammo on most Western tanks can be kept under the tank’s turret and is protected by the heavy hull,” Hamilton added. “Even early versions of the American M1 Abrams tanks in the 1980s had robust anti-explosion doors that separated the crew inside and stored ammunition.”