France uses 120mm cannons on tanks to counter drones.

The French Leclerc tank successfully shot down a drone with its 120mm cannon rounds during tests in Abu Dhabi.

The French military governor in Strasbourg, General Régis Anthonioz, and the commander of the 2nd Armored Brigade confirmed that their Leclerc tanks were able to destroy FPV drones with 120 mm cluster munitions in live-fire tests in Abu Dhabi.

This test is significant because it shows that Western armored forces are actively adapting tanks to defend against close-range drones after the Russia-Ukraine war showed that even heavily armored vehicles become vulnerable to low-cost aerial threats.

The French army's Leclerc tank was used in the test.

The tests used the OEFC F1 cluster munition developed by French KNDS, which disperses approximately 1,100 tungsten pellets in a cone-like pattern similar to a shotgun shell to intercept drones through volumetric saturation rather than direct, precise impact.

This concept gives Leclerc the ability to proactively defend against drones, including FPV drones, quadcopters, and glide munitions, without the need for additional external systems, reflecting a broader shift in modern warfare toward rapid battlefield adaptability, multi-layered survivability, and improvised anti-UAV solutions.

The OEFC F1 cluster munition, manufactured by KNDS, has a warhead containing over 1000 tungsten balls.

During live-fire tests in Abu Dhabi, a French Army Leclerc main battle tank from the 5th Cavalry Regiment successfully shot down a drone using 120 mm OEFC F1 cluster rounds to assess its defense capabilities against short-range, opportunistic drones.

This exercise was conducted under the direction of the Combat Futures Command (CCF), established on August 1, 2023, to accelerate battlefield adaptation and doctrine integration.

The firing conditions were deliberately arranged to exceed the observed combat parameters in Ukraine and the Middle East, including perpendicular approach vectors of drones, erratic trajectories, smaller target sizes, and higher engagement altitudes.

The tests aimed to address a weakness identified in Ukraine in 2022, namely the limited effectiveness of conventional armor-piercing defense systems and machine guns against low-altitude, short-range FPV drones around armored vehicles. Unlike historical tank-aircraft engagements that used conventional high-explosive rounds, the Leclerc utilizes a specialized spray round optimized for short-range spray effect.

The successful test demonstrated the new capabilities of the Leclerc tank.

The CCF is directly subordinate to the Chief of Staff of the French Army and is commanded by General Bruno Baratz. It integrates the Leadership and Command Doctrine Training Center, the French Army Technical Department, the Army Combat Laboratory, and the Scorpion Combat Specialist Force into a single structure responsible for testing, adapting doctrine, and exploiting operational feedback.

The Leclerc anti-drone tests may be part of the ATHENA (Accelerated Transition at Future Combat Level) framework, which prioritizes rapid adaptation at the unit level over conventional procurement timelines.

This approach is similar to the wartime adaptation cycles observed in Ukraine, where tactical modifications and new operational procedures were implemented in practice before industrial standardization took place.

In the case of France, the potential objective is to determine whether existing tanks and ammunition can perform a secondary anti-drone role without modification.

The 5th Cavalry Regiment has been permanently deployed to Zayed Military City in Abu Dhabi since June 2016, replacing the 13th Paramilitary Brigade of the Foreign Corps as the permanent unit of the French Army in the UAE.

Since 2024, the regiment has operated under the command of the 2nd Armored Brigade based in Strasbourg. The regiment's permanent equipment includes 16 Leclerc tanks, 14 VBL armored vehicles, 14 VBCI armored vehicles, 5 CAESAr 155 mm self-propelled howitzers, VAB engineering vehicles, and 2 DCL armored recovery vehicles.

Army Recognition, European War Recorg

Source: https://khoahocdoisong.vn/phap-dung-phao-120mm-tren-xe-tang-de-doi-pho-drone-post2149101458.html