Russia's attempt to shield its bombers from Ukrainian attacks with car tires is just the latest in a string of makeshift defenses

• New photos show Russia shielding its Tu-95 bomber jets from missiles with rows of car tires.
• It's the latest entry in a long list of jury-rigged Russian defenses and force protection measures.

Amid increasingly devastating Ukrainian strikes deep within Russian territory, Russian aircrews have devised a bizarre form of protection for one of their powerful assets: Rows of car tires to the top of Tu-95 bomber jets.

While it's unlikely these makeshift barriers will trick Ukrainian missiles or buffer the blast from exploding drones, the tires are the latest in a long line of Russia's jury-rigged defenses, joining a list that includes welded cages on tanks and sunken barriers near an important bridge.

On Tuesday, satellite images of Engels-2 — a strategic bomber base east of Saratov, a southwestern Russian city — surfaced online, showing was appeared to be dark, rubbery patches arranged along the top of Tu-95 bombers and Tu-160 heavy bombers.

Close-up analysis concluded that the patches were individual car tires, The Drive first reported, likely meant to confuse incoming Ukrainian missiles, such as the R-360 Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles that Ukraine has modified to hit land targets. The tires are also likely an attempt to foil unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) strikes, which have plagued Russian bases and bomber jets in recent weeks.

While the tire shield is a real head-scratcher, it's not the first time that Russian troops have improvised defenses in the hope they'd somehow work. Just last week, satellite images showed Russia had purposefully sunken ships along the Kerch Bridge to occupied Crimea in an effort to protect it from unmanned surface vehicle (USV) attacks after a Ukrainian drone boat attack in July caused massive damage to the roadbed and killed two people.

The six sunken ferries appeared to be separated by about 160 meters, or around 525 feet, each, creating a line of hazards along a key stretch of the 12-mile-long bridge that Ukraine has repeatedly targeted with the goal of logistically and symbolically cutting Crimea off from Russian mainland. But an expert told Insider it was far from a catch-all solution for preventing smaller and smarter drone boats from getting to the Kerch Bridge.

Other methods for protecting the bridge include smoke screens, likely to make locating and targeting more difficult, as well as containment booms and air defenses, Western intelligence said, although the extent of these measures is unclear.

That random assortment of defenses for Kerch Bridge speaks less to a cohesive strategy and more to Russia scrambling to protect against the growing threat of Ukrainian drone boat attacks.

Aerial drone attacks, too, have forced the Russians to improvise.

In mid-July, both Russia and Ukraine were documented outfitting their heavy armor with netting-like cages. The screens were apparently built on top of armored vehicles as a way of countering smaller drones and anti-tank missiles, and while some look more sophisticated, others seem to be crudely built.

One video apparently showing a Ukrainian first-person view (FPV) drone strike on a Russian MT-LB fighting vehicle with one of these cages noted that the rear of the cage was open, leaving the heavy armor exposed for a hit. And even if the barrier had covered the entire MT-LB, it's unclear how it would fare against a strike or munitions dropped from drones.

One expert told Insider the cages are likely a Hail-Mary effort to keep crews alive from these deadly strikes, speaking to the major impact of drone warfare on the battlefield, but were also a major inconvenience for operations and logistics.

They also highlight a glaring issue in Russia's botched responses to threats. For what many assumed was one of the strongest military powers in the world prior to its messy full-scale invasion of Ukraine, these defenses appear to be last-ditch efforts, possibly hinting at Russia's continued lack of preparation and systematic adapation in the war and habit of underestimating Ukraine.