Russia and Ukraine are waging the first full-scale drone war — UNIAN
In the war between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, drones are integrated into every phase of hostilities.
Russia’s war against Ukraine, which began with the illegal crossing of Ukrainian borders by tanks in the style of the First World War, has moved into a more modern dimension. Now Ukraine and the aggressor are waging the first full-scale war in the world drones.
As written The Washington Post, in previous conflicts, unmanned aerial vehicles were used by one side of the enemy to detect and destroy targets. For example, drones are used in US operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
“In the war between Russia and Ukraine, drones are integrated into every phase of the fighting with a large fleet, air defense and electronic warfare systems on each side. just like drones, which gives Russia and Ukraine the opportunity to see and attack each other without getting close,” the publication notes.
The Ukrainian military also used drones to strike targets located in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. At the same time, the aggressor has repeatedly struck the critically important civilian infrastructure of Ukraine with the help of kamikaze drones – a cheap replacement for high-precision missiles.
Drones have become so successful for success on the battlefield that they are sometimes used by the military to destroy enemy drones. In addition, it was with the help of drones that the Ukrainian forces received the coordinates of military targets and command posts of the occupiers, which were later destroyed by accurate artillery strikes.
At the same time, the drones allowed the command to monitor what was happening on the front line during the next operations of the Defense Forces of Ukraine in real time.
“We had a complete picture of the battle,” said the commander of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi.
The result of such use of drones was a stunning retreat of the Russians.
“Two main things will affect war in the future. The expansion and availability of combat drones for longer-range, more complex operations and it is absolutely necessary to have cheap tactical drones for support operations,” said Samuel Bendett, a military analyst at CNA Research Group in Virginia.
As the publication emphasized, this “future” is already happening in Ukraine.
Drones at war in Ukraine
The Ukrainian military continues to fight against the Russian invaders, using all possible equipment. UAVs help our defenders a lot in this fight. However, the “bird” is used not only in battle. In November, a drone in the Donetsk direction “priv” captured by the “Wagnerian”.
It was presented in Ukraine in October 2022 new drone “SHARK”, which is capable of solving all the main tasks of reconnaissance, observation and adjustment of fire. BPLA has reliable encrypted communication and was created specifically for conducting deep aerial reconnaissance and adjustment, including, of Western long-range weapons, such as HIMARS.
It happened earlier that the Baykar manufacturing company, which became known for Bayraktar drones, conduct tests another invention of his – the Kızılelma unmanned fighter. The novelty can conduct a full-fledged battle in the air. The Turkish-made unmanned fighter jet is equipped with an AI-25TLT turbojet engine developed by the Ukrainian company Motor Sich.
