Drones change the war: that’s why Russia and Ukraine hardly gain any land

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There are thousands of Ukrainian and Russian drones in the air along the front lines of the war in Ukraine. Everything is represented from cheap quadcopters to long-range drones that can travel hundreds of kilometers and stay focused on their target for hours. The drones can be used to attack enemy positions and are also used for reconnaissance.

The use of countless drones has changed the nature of war: almost no movement goes unnoticed. New integrated battle management systems provide images and locations in real time and enable lightning-fast target acquisition.

“Survival time not more than ten minutes”

The Washington Post visited the Special Operations Center A of the Security Service of Ukraine in the town of Chasiv Yar near Bakhmut. Major General Vadim Skibitski, deputy commander of the Military Intelligence Service of Ukraine (HUR), described the changes on the battlefield to the newspaper as follows: “Today a column of tanks or a column of advancing troops can be spotted in three to five minutes. and struck within another three minutes. The survival time during movement is up to ten minutes.» Surprises are difficult to come up with now.

The technological revolution is also challenging some fundamental concepts of U.S. military doctrine. According to some soldiers in Chasiv Yar, combined arms maneuvers, in which large groups of armored vehicles and tanks are deployed to achieve rapid breakthroughs, are in principle no longer possible, the newspaper writes. However, this is exactly what America’s allies demanded from Ukraine during the counteroffensive.

The days of massive ground attacks are over

According to Ukrainian commanders, the development inevitably means that the conflict will not end soon. There have been no significant gains on the battlefield for a long time. Neither on the Ukrainian nor on the Russian side. Bradley Crawford, a retired U.S. Army Iraq War veteran, privately trains Ukrainian troops near Bakhmut. “The days of massive armored strikes taking over many miles of land at once, as in Iraq in 2003, are over because the drones are now so effective,” says Crawford.

Furthermore, drones are extremely cheap compared to tanks, howitzers or fighter jets. Therefore, it is worth using them not only against expensive military equipment, but against any target, including cars and small groups of soldiers.

Arms race between the warring parties

Since this summer, FPV drones, a cost-effective weapon type, have been deployed on a broad front. Special Operations Center A is one of many Ukrainian units using FPV drones. Its FPV crews claim to have hit 113 Russian tanks, 111 combat vehicles and 68 artillery systems in eastern and southern Ukraine since June 1. They also claim to have caused nearly 700 Russian casualties.

The Russians also have significant drone capabilities, which they are constantly improving. As “Bild” reports, Russia has been attacking Ukrainian military airports from Russian-controlled territory for days with state-of-the-art kamikaze drones. The Russian military has released three videos showing Lancet kamikaze drones attacking Krivi Rih airport twice and Mikolaiv air base once, destroying a total of two Mig-29 fighter jets. The removal of these targets from the front lines suggests that Russia has further developed the Lancet drone and improved its range.

Source: Blick