Is this a good defense? I've seen similar cages on the Russian armor but have heard it's ineffective.
I wouldn't say it's ineffective, it's does give the vehicle a chance to escape a drone attack.
From the videos, Ukraine is knocking out equipment by sending multiple drones. The first few take out the drone defenses, clearing the way for later drones to hit the armor and destroy the vehicle. If the vehicle can escape before the drone defenses are breached the defenses are definitely worth it.
Earlier in the war Russians welded similar structures, mostly on top like a roof, as a counter measure against javelin and other conventional anti-armour missiles, which is entirely ineffective. However, as the war progressed to rely on FPV drones carrying relatively less explosives, and the structures covering a lot more of the body of the vehicles, it gives the vehicles a fighting chance. Still not effective against conventional weapons though.
I've heard this, but then read things that dug a little more. They started around a decade before hand, and it was likely to counter roof top RPGs beging fired down, than javalins. This would be because that's what they encountered in chechnya decades ago. Some people who support them like pretending they were for drone warfare (like they had esp), but there's a kind of clear line between the Chechen war and the roof cages.
That makes sense, if you're preparing for fighting in urban or mountainous environments. The columns heading for kyiv and other cities all had this iirc. But for the columns entering from the east it doesn't make much sense, Ukraine's lowlands are extremely flat environments where the only threats from above are airstrikes, javelins and drones.
But it being derived from the experiences in chechnya makes sense, kinda like the west went for IED and mine proof, tall APCs and MRAP vehicles during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which are equally obsolete in a battlefield like Ukraine.
I think the goal with the Javelins was to try to fool the sensor making it think that the vehicle was taller than it is, causing the missile to fly too high, in top-down attack mode.
I think the fundamental problem is that if you do this consistently enough the enemy will assume their AT warhead will be detonated just off the hull by some kind of screen, which if I understand high explosive antitank physics (think RPG) correctly can actually be... better for penetrating armor (a HEAT warhead creates a super heated concentrated jet and a bit of space for it to form isn't necessarily bad depending on details) .
It becomes a psychological thing too I think.
related links
In general, one can expect cage armor or RPG screens to turn only some incoming rounds into duds, or otherwise prevent the explosive from forming a proper shaped-charge jet. If that works, even an RPG full of technically “detonated” explosives that splatter against the vehicle in glops and bang/burn, probably isn’t going to do much damage. Preventing a properly formed shaped charge jet involves a lot of specific science, math, and engineering; suffice to say that there are a number of approaches, and that this is a popular field for additional research.
The offense is also busy, of course. New RPG designs are introducing 2-stage tandem warheads, whose 1-2 punch makes many attempts at passive defense much more difficult. Meanwhile, cage armors will continue to be a popular defensive option against the most prevalent single-warhead RPG threats.
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/baes-lrod-cage-armor-03473/
https://www.reddit.com/r/tanks/comments/1cdiduq/if_heat_weapons_are_more_effectively_when/
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