ByDavid Hambling,
Senior Contributor.
One protective garment has become essential for Russian assault troops: not armor, but the thermal poncho or ‘invisibility cloak’ which provides concealment from infrared imaging. It is quite literally a must-have accessory for anyone who wants to make it across the wide ‘grey zone’ covered by drones. It is impossible to completely mask thermal signature, but Russian stormtroopers’ survival depends on it.
Early Russian assaults followed the traditional combined arms doctrine with a mix of tanks and armored personnel carriers. By 2023 these were getting cut down at long range by the growing numbers of FPV drones, small quadcopters with explosive warheads. Armor gave way to high-speed assaults on ATVs, buggies and motor bikes in an attempt to cross the danger zone as fast as possible. This approach is being superseded with infiltration tactics by small groups of soldiers on foot.
A report on Russian tactics published last month by UK thinktank RUSI report describes the new technique: “Russian soldiers usually infiltrate in groups of two to five Russian personnel, using thermal sheeting or tents that they hold away from their bodies with handles. The soldiers hang a radio around their necks and a torch between their legs to see their feet.”
