Abrams Tank Explodes from Inside After Yemeni Drone Strike: How Vulnerable is America’s Best Armour?
Military Watch Magazine Editorial Staff
Saudi Abrams Tank During Yemeni Drone Strike
The Yemeni Ansarullah Coalition has released footage showing one of its unmanned Rajum quadcopters dropping a munition onto a Saudi M1A2S Abrams main battle tank at a forward position in Yemen's Marib Governorate. The video, released through Ansarullah-affiliated media on August 21, shows the munition that on or immediately adjacent to the tank, after which smoke and flames can be seen engulfing the vehicle. The strike causes the ammunition inside the tank to detonate in a large explosion.
Ansarullah has reportedly released footage purporting to show attacks on Saudi forces, with the latest footage providing another example of the increasingly diverse threats faced by armoured vehicles in Yemen and other modern warfare theatres. The use of a relatively small multirotor drone, rather than a dedicated anti-tank guided missile, has become increasingly widespread method in modern warfare because commercially derived or relatively inexpensive unmanned aircraft can be adapted to attack targets whose replacement or repair costs are many times greater than the drones used against them. The Ansarullah Coalition is not thought to have access to non-line-of-sight anti-tank missiles.
The survivability of the Abrams tank has repeatedly been brought to serious question, first due to the Iraqi Army’s losses in the 2010s, and subsequently due to the type’s performance in the Ukrainian Army. The tanks took heavy losses in their first engagements with Russian forces in February-April 2024, with multiple sources having noted that the tank’s dimensions, namely its very tall profile made it a large target on the frontlines that was highly challenging to conceal. The tank’s lack of active protection systems remains another major shortcoming. By early June 2025 the Ukrainian Army was assessed to have 27 of the 31 U.S.-supplied Abrams tanks, representing 87 percent of the fleet, most of which were destroyed.
Hundreds of Russia's best tanks have had turrets launched into space by Ukranian drone strikes. -.cope cages notwithstanding.
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