{
  "id": 1823484,
  "title": "Ukrainian drones overwhelm Russian tanks’ new active protection system—for now",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/ukrainian-drones-overwhelm-russian-tanks-new-active-protection-system",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-18T22:18:13.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Ars Technica",
    "slug": "ars-technica",
    "url": "https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/08/ukrainian-drones-overwhelm-russian-tanks-new-active-protection-system-for-now/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Russian tanks deployed a new active protection system, the Arena-M, during their first combat use against Ukrainian drones. However, the system's performance was found to be limited. Ukrainian drones overpowered the Russian armored vehicles by attacking in large numbers. The Arena-M system saw its debut on July 22 when Russian forces launched a company-sized assault in Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian defenders repelled the attack and shared video footage showing their kamikaze drone strikes destroying at least seven T-72B3A tanks, including some equipped with the Arena-M system, according to Euromaidan Press. Yet, Ukrainian soldiers also mentioned that the Russian Arena-M system managed to shoot down some incoming drones, according to journalists Dmytro Putiata and Rob Lee. They reported needing between 15 to 20 drones to neutralize each tank.",
  "summary": "Tanks with defensive tech for shooting down drones are still proving vulnerable.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}