Admittedly, I haven’t been following the day-to-day coverage of the Russo-Ukrainian War as I should be, largely due to other previous commitments that take up most of my time. That said, I do try and review some of the news and videos that circulate online, all in an effort to see how they can be adapted to our business model.

Recently, I watched with curiosity some of the field modified vehicles both sides have been deploying in response to the latest anti-tank weaponry being tested and operated on the battlefield. The Russians, for instance have modified some of their older T-72 tanks with all sorts of added if strange-looking protection, which give these once proud main battle tanks a peculiar look. These “turtles”, as they are being called by some analysts, resemble small barns or quonset huts with a gun protruding out the front, which prevents the gun from rotating its turret a full 360 degrees and, for all intents and purposes, turning the tank into an assault gun.

On the other side of the ledger, some of the older US-built M1A1 Abrams tanks have been similarly “upgraded” by the Ukrainian army, all in an effort to protect them from top down drone attacks that have destroyed or disabled many a tank. As the accompanying videos demonstrate, both adaptations create problems for the crew to both enter and leave their vehicles, to say nothing of the loading of the vehicle’s main armament. While I have no comment regarding the effectiveness of this “hillbilly armor” that have been used in previous conflicts, I do wonder how new systems such as the M10 Booker and T-14 Armata can survive on the battlefield if they are already being outgunned by the latest anti-tank weaponry reaching the battlefield.