DEnnis, a soldier from the Kijak Brigade in Ukraine, talks about a new kind of war. “More drone fights, less gunfights,” he said simply, standing in his barracks workshop with Ukraine’s basic first-person view (FPV) drones stacked behind him.
The front line, once a gunshot away, is now a killing zone miles deep. Russian and Ukrainian drone forces, hidden about 1 to 3 miles behind the front lines, target each other’s forces with simple air attacks. “In 2022, we were still running around with machine guns through the trees,” Dennis says fondly.
Dima, another brigade member whose call sign is Kimik (chemist), uses cell phone video to set an example. FPV drones explode on impact, so like many videos published online by both the Ukrainian and Russian militaries, the video ends abruptly with a flash of white noise and the effects of the explosion are invisible.
Russian soldiers several miles away were seen looking out from the upper floors of the building. Although FPV drones are relatively plentiful, the Hijak Brigades (mainly police patrols who volunteer to engage) seek to use them sparingly and patiently. The film shows the drone hovering and readjusting as the pilot tries to find the right angle to attack. “It’s like a sniper’s job,” Kimmick says.
While there is still no shortage of artillery and mortar fire in the Ukraine war, spidery 7-inch FPV quadcopters that can carry up to a kilogram of explosives and can be operated with goggles and a handheld controller have become ubiquitous. There is. In the words of Samuel Bendet, a drone expert at the Center for Naval Analysis, the weapon “went from being novel in 2022 to being one of the weapons of choice in 2023, expanding across the tactical space.” It has evolved to the point where it can fly around.
Usage will evolve, so patient solo attacks are not the only tactic. As their numbers increase, simple group attacks are more likely to be deployed. Dennis described “drone shelling” of Russian military positions near the frontline town of Toretsk in eastern Donbas. “We dropped 1.5 kg of explosives every eight minutes for three hours, but by the end they were retreating.”
There was a frightening whistling sound from a small drone of unknown origin near the front. “It’s impossible to overtake them. We have no choice but to shoot them down,” said Oleksiy, an infantryman training near Soumi. Oleksiy, who worked as a butcher near Kherson in the south before being called up, recalls the moment he was almost killed by a drone. “As the temperature started to drop, I started running. Then I tripped over a branch and the drone went straight to where I was supposed to be.”
The small FPV drone flies at about 37 miles per hour (60 kilometers per hour), faster than Usain Bolt’s top speed of 27.8 miles per hour. Armored vehicles are forced to travel rapidly to and from the front lines, transporting soldiers and casualties, and thermal cameras mean they can operate effectively at night. “Offensive capabilities have been democratized and nothing is safe on the battlefield,” Bendet said.
Battery life limits flight time, but in good weather, kamikaze FPV drones can fly as far as 20 km. However, the priority is to save costs by deploying returning bomber drones, so the effective operating radius is closer to 5 km.
FPV drones are one of two types that predominate on the battlefield. The other is a commercial Mavic quadcopter made by Chinese company DJI. But while FPV is simpler and designed in Ukraine (or Russia), as Dennis says, many of the components still come from China, theoretically working with the invaders. “There are Ukrainian companies, Chinese elements,” the soldier admits, but efforts are being made to source parts from other countries.
Ukrainians describe the drone effort as a civil society effort, initially organized and funded outside the state, with soldiers and their friends and families paying for the planes through fundraisers. Ta. It’s not unusual for Ukrainians living miles away from the front lines to assemble drone parts in their living rooms or garages. These are delivered to brigade workshops, such as the Kizak Brigade Barracks near Lyman, where final modifications are made.
But that balance is changing. Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense is ramping up supplies, reporting that as of mid-December it had delivered 1.1 million FPV drones each way and 100,000 more advanced aircraft. Russia, on the other hand, is supplying “1.2 meters to 1.4 meters” and is “equal in numbers” considering the size of the invaders, Bendet said. Technically, there is little difference between the two sides, as each one immediately copies the other.
It also involves learning to fly. Khimik says it takes “70 hours in a simulator and 70 hours in a drone.” Courses are also being run in Kiev and other parts of the country, but Britons living in Kiev describe the learning endeavor as difficult. Even after a week of practice, he says it’s still difficult to follow cars on a dirt track course. But in a war where small unmanned aircraft make up most of the country’s front-line airpower, thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have little choice but to learn to fly them. .
Ukrainian activist Serhiy Sternenko is one of the country’s most popular bloggers, with 2 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. Currently, much of his efforts are directed towards raising funds to supply FPV drones to the Ukrainian military, saying, “As of today, I have helped purchase 120,000 FPV drones, and in the past year I have supported the purchase of 100,000 FPV drones.” “We supported the purchase of 10,000 FPV drones,” with the aim of developing new types of drones. “I always hated physics in school, but now I’m studying engineering and I’m enjoying it,” said Sternenko, who trained as a lawyer.
This blogger says that without efforts like his, advances in FPV drone development would not have happened. “Our drones are used in all directions, and there is a much less bureaucratic process to supply them,” he says, adding that they can help deliver a drone to any unit within 24 to 48 hours. I added that it can be done. Sternenko, an outspoken critic of military failures, was briefly wanted in November for allegedly flouting a draft warrant, but the dispute was resolved in the same month after he met with military commander-in-chief Oleksandr Shirschiky. .
As drone efforts remain central to Ukraine’s war effort, even if, as Mr. Sternenko observes, “the high command of the Ukrainian military sometimes does not take objective criticism well.” That’s good as well. Mr. Sternenko is closely involved in efforts to use FPV drones as a cheap air defense method to defeat far more sophisticated Russian attack aircraft.
Over several months, Ukrainian FPV pilots successfully defeated Russian Orlando Lone and Lancet drones at high altitudes and reduced the intruder’s long-range reconnaissance capabilities, as several videos published by Sternenko show. did. “Air defense is very expensive and can cost $100,000 to $1 million for a single attack, whereas a drone may only cost a few hundred dollars,” he says.
There is increasing focus on developing FPV drones that can reliably shoot down Russian helicopters (which had two fatalities over the summer) and large Shahid drones that can fly at speeds of more than 160 miles per hour at speeds of more than 10,000 feet. are. Mr. Sternenko is a particular challenge. A Russian-made Shahid observes how small drones can cope with the turbulence that occurs as it flies across the country, and takes out his phone to show how FPV drones struggle to reach their targets. did.
There is talk of better use of artificial intelligence in maneuvering and targeting in 2025, as well as the development of land-based or “non-flying” drones. However, if the war continues, incremental improvements in production scale, range, and design are likely to prevail. Jamming is always a threat, but electronic warfare requires transmitting more powerful and destructive signals, which are energy-intensive and difficult to maintain.
Domestic technology is likely to become even more important to Kiev amid fears that Donald Trump may soon occupy the White House and halt U.S. arms deliveries to Ukraine. “Ukraine is fighting a huge country with a population several times its size,” Sternenko said. “We want more weapons and more technology because we can’t just fight humans. Drones are proving we can be more efficient.”
