KBM Arena-M

History

KBM Arena-M is a Russian hard-kill active protection system developed to defend armored fighting vehicles against incoming anti-tank weapons. It is a modernization of the earlier Arena family, whose development originated in the Soviet period and continued in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Arena-M uses radar sensors and protective countermunitions to detect, track, and intercept approaching threats before they strike the vehicle. The modernization has progressively addressed anti-tank guided missiles, top-attack threats, and FPV drones.

By 2026, Arena-M had moved beyond test-range demonstrations and had been observed in combat on Russian T-72B3A tanks in Ukraine. A further modernization program was also under way to increase the carried protective ammunition from 12 to as many as 36 countermunitions.

Development

The Arena-M system was developed by the Kolomna-based Engineering Design Bureau, commonly known as KBM, as a modernization of the earlier Arena active protection system. Development of the Arena family traces back to Soviet work begun in the 1980s. Background information on the earlier system is summarized in the Arena system overview.

Compared with the original Arena configuration, Arena-M introduced impulse correction motors for its countermunitions. This arrangement allowed the designers to move away from the earlier ring of defensive munition launchers around the turret. The large central radar assembly of the original system was also replaced by four more compact radar modules.

Russian designers were reported to be integrating Arena-M with T-72B3 and T-90M tanks by at least 2019. Live-fire testing on a T-72B3 was shown on Russian television in 2021, including an interception of a 9M113 anti-tank guided missile. This is the earliest supplied evidence of a completed Arena-M installation carrying out a physical interception test.

The first modernization stage described by tank researcher Andrii Tarasenko changed the positioning of four of the system's 12 countermunitions and revised the installation of the radar transmitter-receiver modules. The four countermunitions were positioned at approximately 0 to 10 degrees to improve the ability to engage anti-tank missiles attacking from above.

A second modernization stage focused on protection against drones. The supplied account states that experience with this configuration showed that a vehicle could face more drones than the available defensive ammunition could economically defeat.

2026 ammunition expansion program

In 2026, work began on a third modernization stage intended to increase the number of protective munitions from 12 to 36. The program was reported as scheduled for completion before the beginning of the first quarter of 2027.

According to Tarasenko, simply tripling the number of the existing countermunitions within the current installation dimensions would not be practical. The existing protective munition was designed primarily for fast anti-tank threats and requires a substantial propellant charge, high launch velocity, and robust welded mounting brackets capable of absorbing recoil.

Increasing the number of full-size countermunitions would also create packaging problems around the turret. Expanding the installation laterally could interfere with access to the engine-transmission compartment cover and complicate vehicle servicing.

A proposed solution is the development of a smaller specialized countermunition intended specifically for slower threats such as FPV drones. Because such targets do not impose the same reaction-time and launch-performance requirements as anti-tank guided missiles, a smaller defensive munition could potentially allow the ammunition load to be tripled or increased further. This configuration remains a development proposal rather than a confirmed production standard.

Design

Arena-M is a hard-kill active protection system. Radar sensors monitor the area around the protected vehicle, detect an approaching threat, and provide tracking information to the system's control equipment. When an incoming object is assessed as a threat, Arena-M launches a protective countermunition intended to destroy or disrupt it before impact.

Radar and control system

The modernized configuration replaces the earlier Arena system's large central radar installation with four compact radar modules. The supplied account also describes the architecture as capable of exchanging targeting information with other vehicle systems.

An earlier Arena-family integration concept allowed the active protection system to determine the approach angle of an incoming weapon and send a corresponding signal to the turret drives. This could automatically direct the vehicle's main armament toward the approximate direction from which the attack originated while the active protection system dealt with the incoming projectile.

Further expansion has been proposed using optical sensors, acoustic sensors, electro-optical systems, obscurant systems, and additional vehicle weapons such as machine-gun mounts. The described architecture is intended to support such integration, potentially including artificial-intelligence elements, but the supplied source states that this broader layered counter-drone configuration had not yet been implemented.

Protective munitions

Arena-M's protective countermunitions use impulse correction motors. Their installation angle is important because different engagement geometries are required for horizontally approaching weapons and threats descending from above. The supplied account gives installation angles between approximately 10 and 45 degrees for different target types in proposed configurations.

The standard countermunition requires a high initial velocity for intercepting anti-tank guided missiles. This requirement results in a relatively large propellant charge and strong mounting brackets welded to the turret. These characteristics make it difficult to relocate the standard countermunitions onto lightweight external structures or improvised stand-off frames.

In the 12-munition configuration described by the source, ammunition capacity is a significant limitation when the vehicle is subjected to repeated FPV drone attacks. The planned third modernization stage therefore focuses on increasing the number of available defensive shots, potentially through smaller specialized anti-drone countermunitions.

Vehicle integration

The supplied material describes Arena-M installations on Russian T-72B3A and T-90M tanks. It also reports earlier Russian work on integration with T-72B3-series vehicles. Separate reporting has stated that T-80-series tanks were also intended to receive Arena-M, although the supplied evidence does not establish widespread operational deployment across all of these tank types.

In the described configuration, the countermunitions are mounted on the turret. Tarasenko stated that moving them to the hull would create packaging problems and would also require digital information transfer between the rotating turret and hull through existing rotary contact equipment that was not designed for the necessary data flow.

Operational history

In July 2026, Arena-M-equipped T-72B3A tanks appeared in combat footage from Ukraine. This provided the first supplied evidence of the system being used under battlefield conditions rather than solely during trials and demonstrations.

Janes analysis of footage released in July 2026 assessed that T-72B3A tank number 133 likely used Arena-M successfully against an approaching FPV quadcopter. Janes identified the upward-directed blast as consistent with the launch of an Arena-M effector rather than a drone impact and noted debris behind the moving tank that was likely from a destroyed UAV.

The same tank was subsequently attacked by additional FPV drones and appears to have been destroyed after its available defensive ammunition had been depleted. Janes also identified two additional T-72B3A tanks in the footage, although the outcome for one of them was not clear.

Militarnyi reporting described Ukrainian forces using multiple drones to exhaust the protective ammunition of an Arena-M-equipped T-72B3A before destroying the vehicle. The report cited an estimate of seven drones used to deplete the active protection system and a total expenditure of approximately 15 to 20 FPV drones against one tank.

The combat episode demonstrated both the potential usefulness and the ammunition-capacity limitation of the system against repeated low-cost drone attacks. The subsequent effort to increase the ammunition load from 12 to 36 directly addresses this limitation, although the final technical configuration had not been established in the supplied material.

Program status

As of August 2026, Arena-M had been observed on Russian T-72B3A tanks in combat and was undergoing further modernization. The third-stage update was intended to increase its carried protective ammunition from 12 to 36 and was planned for completion before the beginning of the first quarter of 2027.

The proposed development path includes specialized anti-drone countermunitions and possible integration with additional sensors, obscurant systems, electro-optical equipment, and vehicle-mounted weapons. These expanded capabilities were described as compatible with the system architecture but had not yet been implemented as a complete layered protection system.

Variants

• Arena-M standard configuration: Modernized hard-kill active protection system with four compact radar modules and 12 protective countermunitions in the configuration described by the supplied sources.
• Arena-M first modernization stage: Configuration in which four of the 12 protective munitions were repositioned at approximately 0 to 10 degrees and radar module installation was modified to improve engagement of threats attacking from above.
• Arena-M counter-drone modernization: Second-stage development focused on improving protection against drones.
• Arena-M third modernization stage: Planned configuration intended to increase the protective ammunition load from 12 to 36, potentially using smaller specialized anti-drone munitions. Completion was planned before the beginning of the first quarter of 2027.

Operators

• Russia: Arena-M-equipped T-72B3A tanks were observed in Russian combat service in Ukraine in July 2026. The supplied evidence also describes integration work involving other Russian tank types, but does not establish large-scale deployment numbers.

Specifications (Arena-M)

General characteristics

• Type: Hard-kill active protection system for armored fighting vehicles.
• Developer: Engineering Design Bureau, Kolomna, Russia.
• Detection arrangement: Four compact radar modules in the modernized configuration.
• Standard protective ammunition: 12 countermunitions in the configuration described by the supplied material.
• Planned expanded ammunition: Up to 36 protective munitions under the third modernization stage.

Protection system

• Interception method: Radar detection and tracking followed by launch of a hard-kill protective countermunition.
• Countermunition control: Protective munitions use impulse correction motors.
• Countermunition installation angle: Approximately 10 to 45 degrees in configurations described for engaging different target trajectories; four munitions in an earlier modernization stage were positioned at approximately 0 to 10 degrees.
• Threats described: Anti-tank guided missiles, top-attack weapons, and FPV drones.

Integration

• Confirmed combat host in supplied evidence: T-72B3A main battle tank.
• Other integration work described: T-72B3-series and T-90M tanks.
• Planned expansion: Possible integration with optical, acoustic, electro-optical, obscurant, and additional weapon systems for layered counter-drone protection.