The Armed Forces of Ukraine are currently making a breakthrough in the war on the technological front, in particular in the fight against unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with the help of UAVs. Thus, over the past few months, the Ukrainian military has made significant progress in countering Russian reconnaissance drones, shooting down as many of them as in all previous years of the war. This, in particular, was written on Facebook by soldier Ihor Lutsenko, who deals with drones at the front, according to Komersant ukrainskyi
“Another technological revolution is brewing in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Over the past couple of months, Ukrainians have shot down about as many enemy reconnaissance drones as in all the previous years of the war. And they spent 100 times less money on it, in terms of results,”
– lutsenko writes.
This breakthrough gives the Ukrainian forces great hope that Russian drones will soon no longer be able to penetrate the country’s airspace, and if they do, it will only be for a few minutes, the soldier believes. This opens up new opportunities for Ukrainian defenders in planning military operations, particularly for artillery, long-range drone operators and combat aircraft pilots. They can operate more safely, without the constant threat of Russian Iskanders and S-300 systems.
Lutsenko emphasises how important it is to remove enemy intelligence from the sky:
“The advantage in the war will be gained by those who are able to effectively ‘close their eyes’ to the enemy. The experience of the Ukrainian military shows that this is a very real task.”
The initiative to fight enemy drones came from grassroots groups of enthusiasts who organised themselves and began shooting down Russian drones using any means at their disposal, from FPV copters to wings. This allowed the Ukrainian military to quickly learn new methods of dealing with the aerial threat.
“Now is the time to scale up the best practices. The Russians are already writing about the end of their technological superiority. We have to be in time,”
– lutsenko adds.
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These words are confirmed by the panicked posts of the Russian military on Telegram. The occupiers admit that they are facing a serious problem.
“The enemy’s drones are flying like gnats… the enemy has complete air dominance. The enemy has everything figured out, they have a concept: they buy parts, bring them to the population, the population assembles drones…”
– complains one occupier about the situation in the infantry and mechanised forces.
However, the biggest problem for the Russians, which is practically changing the situation at the front, is the successful use of drones by Ukrainians against their UAV spies.
One of the popular Z-channels writes:
“Currently, the main threat to our reconnaissance drones is the enemy’s air defence drones. They can be of both quadcopter and aircraft type, striking both by direct ramming into the propeller and by using the method of aerial explosion near the target.”
The Russians acknowledge that Ukrainian forces have had significant success in shooting down their drones. In addition, they emphasise in their reports that Ukrainian drones are able to track Russian UAVs to their landing sites, transmitting coordinates to strike technicians using HIMARS:
“The enemy has a very fast decision-making speed, and it takes minutes from the moment they spot a field with our technicians to the strike.”
These new challenges have already raised alarm among Russian military experts. They argue that Russia has almost lost its advantage in the sky. A successful fight between Ukrainian drones and Russian reconnaissance drones could leave Russian infantry, artillery, tanks and even aircraft “without eyes”. Many Russians expect this process to be completed in the near future.
Against the backdrop of the loss of technological superiority, they are beginning to discuss possible solutions to the problem, but do not yet have a clear plan:
“Ukraine’s air defence drones can create big problems if we don’t start solving the problem immediately.”