Arena-M

Arena-M is publicly documented in Russian combat use from July 2026 in imagery analysed by Militarnyi and Janes; the account of one tank intercepting seven FPV drones before exhausting its ammunition comes from a Ukrainian unit account reported by Militarnyi.

Overview

Arena-M is a hard-kill active protection system (APS). A KBM representative told Janes in February 2025 that the system had been integrated onto the Russian Army's T-90M. ISW reported that an anti-drone adaptation was developed and introduced in 2025, extending the system's original role against rockets, missiles and high-explosive anti-tank projectiles.

Arena-M is publicly documented in combat from July 2026 on Russian T-72B3A tanks in Ukraine, through separate imagery analyses by Militarnyi and Janes. Militarnyi reported Dmytro Putiata's account, obtained from a participating Ukrainian unit, that seven FPV drones depleted one tank's APS ammunition and that total expenditure reached 15–20 FPVs per vehicle.

Janes separately assessed an apparent successful interception by tank 133, which was subsequently destroyed by other FPVs. ISW assessed that Arena-M could increase Ukrainian effort and expenditure while remaining vulnerable to overwhelming attacks and leaving other battlefield threats unresolved.

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