Ukraine Is Using UTVs to Combat Russian Tanks

UTVs with antitank guided missiles have been a staple in the conflict.

Ukrainian soldiers in their armed battle UTVs.UAWeapons on Twitter

The Drive reports that the Ukrainian military has been using UTVs, thought to be Polaris Rangers and Polaris MRZR Alphas, armed with Stugna-P antitank guided missiles to combat Russian tanks. These antitank guided missiles, or ATGMs, can be mounted on vehicles, shoulder fired, or launched from the ground.

There have been reports of Ukraine’s military using UTVs as far back as 2019, before the current conflict with Russia. Some of these have been seen with ATGMs mounted on them while others seem to just be used as transportation. The guided missiles have been extremely important for Ukraine in the war, and have been one of the most popular methods of combating Russian tanks, along with US-made Javelin missiles.

A Ukrainian soldier loading an ATGM onto what seems to be a Polaris Ranger.AbraxasSpa on Twitter

The missiles can be guided through a remote terminal or by a laser beam directed at the intended target. The weapon requires a crew of two to four people to operate, and can be used remotely up to 50 meters away.

Ukraine isn’t the only country to have used these vehicles—Polaris in 2020 signed a $109 million contract with the US Special Operations Forces to supply MRZR Alphas and Dagor A1s.

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