The “cage”, is actually a BBQ grill for when the tank is on fire.

I put a cage around my house. My in laws still managed to get in.

Apparently many experts in the west were worried that the Javelin, which is now quite an old system, would become obsolete in about 2025, so it’s good to see that it’s still up to the task. The Ukrainians seem to prefer the NLAW though as it’s much easier to use, requires much less training and is more suitable for use in urban combat. But if you’re in a Russian tank right now both systems must be scaring the crap out of you.

I was anti tank platoon in the parachute regiment and was trained and fired the javelin. Wicked weapon system. Top attack, fire and forget unlike the milan system it replaced in the british army. The tracking gates in the sight system are easy to use and locks onto the target with ease. The only problem i had with the kit was it wasnt durable enough. We done alot of tank recognition and learned how to recognise nato and russian tanks by just showing us a certain part of the tank and we had to identify them.

It's like in the Roadrunner cartoons when While E Coyote pulls out a small umbrella to fend off a bolder.

I thought the cages were a means of stopping the crews running away.

The cage is not for protection, its to keep the soldiers in and stop them running away from ukrainian soldiers. 😂

It's also called ESA or 'Emotional Support Armour'. It doesn't help much against antitank weapons though.

Actually, this cage was not meant to protect against Javelin and similar missiles. It just can't do that. It is put there on tanks meant for urban combat. In those conditions, enemy uses RPG-7 and similar systems from tall buildings, shooting downwards on top of the tank (proven very effective in Chechnia). Also, RPG-7 is widely used and there are A LOT of those in former USSR republics. Also, most of its ammo still going around was produced in 1960s and 70s, so it is less effective and with less advanced fuses, so cage armor might have some use. Also, note that under this cage, there are still ERA blocks. So, cage plus ERA (old Kontakt-1 is small enough to fit there) will defeat RPG and other low penetration older ordnance. Also, drone missiles are relatively small and have less penetration compared to Javelin and this might help to some extent against those as well. But against Javelin? Forget it, it will go through no problem! Tandem warhead and massive penetration... There is only a slight chance this cage might fool the seeker about the actual position of the tank's turret and cause the HEAT jet to hit engine compartment. However, the chances of it working every time are slim and the tank will still be out of battle (crew might survive this, though).

The cage is more psychological I think, it gives the tank crew a false sense of security. But that will be gone now I would imagine as everyone knows it doesn't work.

Ukrainian forces got large numbers of NLAW first - as their primary anti-tank weapon. There weren't any complaints about it, despite it having lower specs (and lower weight and cost). The British Army has both Javelin and NLAW but uses them in a complementary, not competitive, way.

The cage does a great job of increasing the profile of the tank and making it easier for the enemy to locate, defeating the nest asset of the Russian tank- it's low profile.

There is something incredibly satisfying about watching a guy with a rocket take out a tank.

When Russia was fighting in Grozny they lost a number of tanks to RPGs being fired from the upper floors of buildings. That is what the cage is there to stop. It was not designed to stop Javelin or NLAW missiles. As for hitting the side of the tank video footage has shown that the reactive armour of the Russian tanks is in a very poor state or even missing entirely. So a side shot could penetrate without much problem.

At the start of the Conflict Ukraine had 2,000 NLAW and 47 Javelin launches - Quantity has a quality of its own

When I found out about shape charges I was borderline traumatized just from photos of the people in our IED training course that were in armored HMMWVs and charges punched through like it was a soda can.

Whoever designed Javelin is a genius

[I am not an expert] The purpose of cage armour is to damage the detonator of a contact fused shaped charge. Such as for the ubiquitous RPG. The NLAW, as the video shows, is not contact fused (magnetic or IR, I guess). The front of a Javelin is the IR sensor, so it's detonator can't be damaged by a cage. But, as another poster pointed out, the cage would still be useful against RPGs fired down from buildings in urban areas, and the Russians might reasonably expect THAT to be a problem.

You need a voice guy? I'm available

The cage installed above the tank is for the crews to have a false confidence as their engineers knew that the cage will not do anything to stop the penetration.

Javelin also has a fly over top attack mode, as well as a much longer 4.5km range vs the NLAW, but both are excellent systems

NLAW isn't just a shaped charge, it's an EFP, or SFF. The explosive forms a metal dish into a solid slug which it simultaneously accelerates to about 2km/s. The range is not limited to a specific ideal standoff the way a conventional HEAT or shaped charge is, it will work at up to 100m. I don't know how the detonating sensor works, so I don't know the vertical band that it can work in.

William Fairbairn taught Cops in Shanghai to hold their off-hand arm up like a shield, covering the heart and throat. Put one fist under you chin, back of your hand facing the Enemy...that's the stuff. It didn't afford that much protection, but anyone shooting at you will sub-consciously be trying for a 'clear shot' around the obstacle. These cages are that same kind of 'protection'.

Ahh your's is one of the rare videos that actually shows the missile go up, then down and follows the whole thing in top attack mode.

Cages were meant for single HEAT type ammo but the javelin missile is twice that HEAT, it might block the first explosion but the second one will definitely pen the armor with ease.

Having layered sheets of ERA 6 inches apart instead of bar cage can work better. When first layer explodes as missile hits, the 2nd and 3rd layers move in the opposite vertical direction instantaneously and thus hitting the missile like a baseball bat, not only exploding themselves and the tandem charge but also deflecting it somewhat. Also an upward looking radar/sensor that releases HE rounds vertically can kill off missile at much higher distances. Both can be also be cheap like less than $10K to protect $3M tank average price.

You may also check Ukrainian AT sydtem Stugna P whick is often using by Ukrainian forces at the moment. It is less complicate, less accurate but more cheap and from the footage seems has also powerful detonation and penetration force.

from what ive heard, the cope cages arent designed for the NLAW or Javelin. They are supposedly designed in response to previous urban warfare instances in the middle east where weaker RPGs were used from buildings above the tanks.

This is the problem with allowing ignorant kids to say whatever they want on the internet Who told you that the cage was even supposed to protect against Javelin and NLAW systems? It was mainly designed to stop drone attacks and RPGs coming from above and mortar fire

When you are chugging vodka, the cage sounds like a brilliant idea.... R.I.P.

If the cage causes the charge to activate far enough away from the tank it may be effective. The shape charge effectiveness is definitely subject to detonation at a specific distance from the armor; make it detonate further away and penetration will be reduced.

Each system has its purpose in the battlefield. They can complement each other.

Russia had 10 -15 years to develop countersystems against Javelin missiles and seemingly did very little to protect their tanks and now they are exposed as weak and incompetent and young Russians are beingburned alive in their armor as a result Russian should never have invaded if their tanks were this vulnerable.

you call it tank cage, i call it BBQ grill😅

I know that a lot of these comments are well-meaning, and some analysis is superb, but can we please avoid giving the enemy even a morsel of system weakness information. And I know that a lot of this information is well documented and public, but even if we can save just 1 allied life by being a tad muted - it'll be worth it. All the best folks.

The cages are more effective against Soviet designed RPGs since they are more likely to hit and detonate on the cage. Having HEAT almost completely negates it.

So let's say it... Those bars are good for barbecue. ☠️

Good analysis on these systems

Tank cage? It's like wrapping your body in plastic bags to protect from rifle's bullets.

Makes the Rushky's feel better just before going to HELL!

Love the fact that the worlds MBTs cost millions 💲 and can be blown to pieces with something like the NLAW that costs about $20,000 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

Looks like everyone here completely misses the point of cage armour. Its made to stop RPGs and other smaller munitions which does not include javelins. Thats because russians got a bloody nose in the chechen wars where chechens fired RPGs down the rooftops and since ukrainian army is equiped mostly with russian and soviet stuff they falsely thought that ukrainians will greet them with RPGs. Javelins were a BIG suprise for them.

These cages even don't protect you from rain. And even if it would do anything, the tandem warhead would still penetrate the tank and kill it.

Funny thing is much of the footage shows tanks without cages knocked out. Would love to see footage of caged tanks knocked out. Lots of heavily edited combat footage hard to draw conclusions.

Nicholas Moran has pointed out we don‘t really know that the cages don‘t work and that at least from what evidence we have, all the tanks that got busted didn‘t have them. Though of course this could be due to other factors. Of course it could be just a psychological thing, but we‘ll have to wait and see until the history of this war gets written. Incidentally, it‘s not exactly a new thing for tankers to be DIYing non-standard extra armor for their vehicles.

I saw tanks in videos surviving hits. still operational from ambush. 1 tank keep moving trying to escape survive 3 hits 1 miss but burned then exploded on 5th hit. I guess charge they need to hit ammunition , crew or engine to stop the tank.

Ukrainians call the cage - brazier or barbecue grill

The only Cage that could stop a Javelin is Nicholas Cage.

These shopping trolleys they've duct taped on their tanks is no doubt the bleeding edge of Russian technology and ingenuity.

It’s there to “ improve “ the morale of the crew… doesn’t do a thing to protect them….

That is a mad voice over. Great video though!

You should check your terminology. They are called cope cages.

Cage is not designed to stop NLAW and Javelins. This kind of armour was made for older anti tank weapons like the old RPG-7 and is fairly effect against it. They were probably expecting enemies at high buildings using rpg's and firing in the top of the turret (just like in the second chechen war). Cages like these are more likely to disarm the heat charge in the rocket than really stop the incoming led jet from it. Good idea, bad application.

Ah yes, cage/spaced armor, a cheap way to deal with low tech HEAT and HE charges but does nothing to modern AT weapons. There is a reason modern tanks don’t use this stuff, outside of low tech war zones where the best AT you will face is an RPG or even a Panzerfaust from WW2. While technically you could make it out of stronger material, doing so would defeat the “cheap solution” aspect.

great video!! I have always wondered about those cages on top of the tanks. Subscribed!

3:14 that's just awesome

I really think we're seeing the Dusk of a tank as a main battle weapon and into the support role.

Hello , can with camera see homing infra laser beam ? thanks

Being an internet troll with no real military experience but able to read the estimated russian looses Idare to say that those makeshift defenses are not working that great. Glory to Ukraine 🇺🇦

A cage would work ok against and RPG. Problem is even with a NLAW detonating high above the tank, if it penetrates down, the crew is probably dead anyways. Usually what kills the crew is either the oven effect or the blast concussion. Similarly with tank rounds... I've heard that if a Sabot from an M1 tank gets through the enemy armor, you can clean the dead crew out with a hose.

I'm only here for the mesmerizing accent of the VO.

Could the cages make the first charge go off higher above tank making it and 2nd charge alittle less effective?

The way cage armor operates is not to explode a shaped charge but to deform the charge or short out the electrical current used to initiate it from the nose tip fuse. This causes the explosive to fail. What seems to be the purpose of the cage armor on the top of the tank is to keep RPG 7s from being fired at the top of tanks from buildings. The possibility is that it was installed with the Russians expecting to invade cities like Ukraine and fighters shooting down on them from the upper stories of buildings. It also is useful in defeating improvised explosives such as anti-armor grenades which have a smaller explosive from being dropped on to the week upper armor of the tanks. The ukrainians have a large number of these anti-armor explosives. The cage armor is ineffective against the javelin which isn't a shape charge but a forced formed penetrator. The explosion occurs well above the slat armor and the penetrator passes between or through it.

Saying "COULD" is not an analysis - try presenting actual energy and timing details with experimental data

They may as well use cocktail umbrellas.

all its doing is putting more wear and tear on the gearbox leading to more disabled tanks

Putin's tanks are sitting ducks for the Javelins and at the rate they are getting destroyed, getting them replaced will be a difficult task for Putin's war machine.

May I say it? MBT for now is past it’s time. It may come back, but for now it is too expensive and to easily knocked out with man portable weapons.

The infamous cope cage

Nasty and effective weapons. Also Panzerfaust 3 and other anti amour systems are in the mix.

500k, Thanks for watching :) check out my other videos also!

U not stopping that hot projectile when it hits that cage is still going threw that turnt

0:38 1000mm?? Really?? 1 meter? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Expert!! 😅😅

Curious what countermeasures could be used against the 2 anti tank systems besides armor increases which would have to be addressed on the design and production side of things. I am talking soldiers on bases or on the Ukrainian front,

Does absolutely nothing to protect anyone in that tank.

The cage is a joke: it might as well be an umbrella ☔️

Imagine being inside the tank and then you see a NLAW fired at you from a distance... Evacuate now! Go go go!

Thought it was carry the air around out of date rations

Those metal cages are built to trap the soldiers in the tank so they won't abandon their post when the missiles fly

Next they will try mounting beach umbrellas up too 😂

Thats a cage armor to protect tanks top side from RPG when in urban combat

NLAW is more effective against this the cage. The cage is called "slat armor" and we used it extensively in Iraq and Afganistan where it worked exceptionally well against regular RPG-7 including those using tandem warheads. The slat armor would often destroy the detonator or cause the explosive material to become segmented/cut making the primary charge either a full dud or much less powerful. The secondary charge would then come at a bad angle or sometimes not detonate at all. The NLAW will detonate above the slat armor and either miss the slats all together or hit one. I've yet to see a video of one hitting a caged tank or one that had ERA on the roof like the T-80. So far it's worked very well against regular T-72's which make up a large portion of the force. The biggest worry is that the NLAW may impact the cage from the side and potentially detonate early away from the roof or become a dud as the it's fuzed for top down not direct attack. Note that you don't get to choose unlike the Javelin. The Javelin is the wildcard here. The top attack mode which is the most common and effective could be affected by this. Tandem warheads are meant to destroy Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA). If the first explosive is detonated by the slat armor then the primary main charge will be effected by ERA and possibly fail. Again, most of the tanks have been T-72s with no top ERA. I would love to see some videos of the slat armor failing.

sides of a T-80/T-72/T-90 are not 400mm they are like 80-100mm thick

I wonnder what happens if you put a layer of ERA on top of the case and another layer of ERA under the case above the tank, will this be enough to defend against javelin?

I'd say this is more an attempt to boost the Russian soldiers morale. Either that or the Russian engineers are completely clueless to the workings of NLAW, or Robot 57 as we call it here in Sweden. The shaped charge will blast right through a little cage like that, and today I saw a clip from one of our military strategists where he literally laughed at the idea that this will make a difference.😁 ...on the contrary this will make it worse. Russian tanks have a low profile, and adding a freaking tower on them will only make them easier to spot, as well as make them harder to get out of once they are blown up.

That "Cope Cage" on the Russian Tanks is less useful than American Shermans tying wooden logs on their tanks for extra protection in WW2. The "Cope Cage" is like giving someone a fake Parachute Pac that's afraid to fly. The Generals are telling their men these will protect you otherwise they will refuse to go into danger zone.

I wonder if ERA tiles would improve the (under)performance of the cage?

Javelin 🇺🇸🇺🇸 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 👋😎 🇮🇹

Thanks for collecting those films. I've now got a better idea of how those missiles fly :)

I like how everyone complains about nlaw and javelin, but it is not weapon used by Ukraine. Whics rockets post soviet country has in actual use? Lots of rpgs or couple of nlaws?

ranier wolfcastle: "the goggles do nothing!"

A great weapon for Russian scrap!👍🏻

Reminds me of US tanks in France in ‘45.

Hy bro, which instrumental or music did you use that's in the video? I really like the sound.

The best option for home defense

The cage is for older RPG´s and Mortar to apox. 100mm

Is the commentator having a stroke?

Creepy music! Thanks

Might that cage be to catch the turret?

The cope cage isn't designed to protect against either of these, it's meant for RPG-7s fired from rooftops, which Russian tanks greatly struggled with in the past. The single shaped charge of the NLAW will have its penetration greatly reduced if it hits the cage since it will act as space armour, but probably not enough to stop it from penetrating the thin roof armor. Javelins on the other hand will fuck up any tank, the explosion alone is enough to blow the roof off, and it has a tandem charge on top of that