by Artemy Sharapov
[Regnum] Experts have been saying since the very beginning of the SVO that drones have become almost a superweapon on the battlefield. But the “unmanned art” is constantly evolving: drones are becoming smarter and more maneuverable, and they have begun to be used for tasks that many could not even think of before.
Recently, one of the main problems for the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been the deadly combination from the Russian army: "reconnaissance and fire adjustment drone plus the Iskander missile system." According to Ukrainian sources, hundreds of Orlan drones are in the sky around the clock over a two-hundred-kilometer zone along the line of combat contact.
At the same time, individual drones have taken airfields, military bases, anti-aircraft defense systems and other key military infrastructure facilities under surveillance. As soon as a significant target appears in the drone's field of view, the data is transmitted to adjust the strike, which follows within 5-10 minutes.
As a result, as a result of a series of missile strikes, the bases of the few surviving Ukrainian Air Force aircraft and batteries of S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems were hit.
In many ways, it was the use of missile systems in conjunction with reconnaissance drones that influenced the decision of Kyiv and its Western allies to relocate American-made F-16 fighters to airfields in the western regions of the country.
In addition, the frontline territories were left without air defense cover, which allowed Russian aviation to strike enemy positions with gliding air munitions, consistently knocking out fortified firing points and bases in industrial zones.
Remaining beyond the reach of Ukrainian air defense, the Orlan drones have become a powerful threat to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Kyiv, naturally, has tried to find its own response.
DRONES - DRONE HUNTERS
To intercept large reconnaissance drones, the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried to adapt small FPV drones. The mechanism of "shooting down" is extremely simple: find the enemy drone and ram it.
This method is extremely cheap. The launch of one anti-aircraft missile costs tens of times more than the destroyed target: against this background, the use of even ten FPV drones to intercept a targeting drone is much cheaper. And although this tactic has already been used by Russian operators, in particular to hunt for heavy copters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces such as the Baba Yaga, a new stage of the "drone vs. drone war" has begun in recent months.
In the "drone war", the parties are constantly looking for new ways to attack and defend, notes Denis Fedutinov , an expert in the field of UAVs and editor-in-chief of the UAV.ru portal, in a commentary to IA Regnum . According to him, one of the innovations was the use of drones as a means of kinetic destruction of enemy drones.
Moreover, the targets can be both reconnaissance and reconnaissance-strike UAVs, as well as loitering munitions. Sometimes such improvised air defense systems operate in free hunting mode.
"Hunter drones are deployed to targets using ground-based detection systems operating in tandem with them. This forces modifications to the drones that the "hunters" are working against. For example, to improve the maneuverability of drones, which makes them more difficult to hit in free control mode," says Fedutinov.
Recently, Ukrainian sources have increasingly complained that intercepting Russian surveillance drones is becoming increasingly difficult. When an FPV drone approaches, the drone begins to actively maneuver and evade the approaching interceptor.
In Ukraine, they believe that the Russians have developed software based on artificial intelligence technologies. As a result, the effectiveness of using FPV drones to intercept targeting drones has begun to decline, which again creates serious risks for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
I TWIST AND TURN, I WANT TO DECEIVE
Artificial intelligence and other modern innovations are certainly fresh and effective. However, no one has cancelled old proven technologies.
Recently, footage taken by official Moldovan services appeared on the Internet. The photos show drones that flew in from Ukrainian territory. Ukrainian sources later stated that it was a Parody UAV. Essentially, it is a dummy drone, i.e. a device without a warhead. It is stated that “dummy” drones are being launched en masse to overload Ukrainian air defense and provide cover for attack drones that strike directly at targets.
According to experts, such devices have been used for quite a long time. Some air targets, which are equipped with additional equipment, operate on the same principle, including increasing their effective scattering area to the indicators of simulated targets. In other words, the operator of the anti-aircraft system will see on the radar not a small-sized "dummy", but, for example, the Geran-2 attack drone or another combat target.
“Such devices can also be used as decoys, forcing air defense systems to turn on, revealing their location, and also forcing the enemy to waste expensive ammunition,” adds Denis Fedutinov.
A similar tactic was used by the Israel Defense Forces back in 1982 in Lebanon against the Syrian air defense forces and assets stationed in the country. And subsequently it was repeatedly used around the world in various military conflicts.
However, the massive use of "decoys" simultaneously with the introduction of software for drones seriously increases the survivability of drones and, accordingly, creates a significant advantage for the Russian army. On the one hand, drones learn to independently evade pursuit, on the other, the Ukrainian air defense is constantly overloaded with false targets. And missile systems can already work on the identified firing positions.
THE SKY IS FOR THE RUSSIAN ARMY
The confrontation between drones and methods of combating them can be compared to a game of chess. Each move of the opponent is followed by a response. But in any military conflict, as in a game of chess, there comes a moment when one of the parties no longer has the opportunity to change the situation in its favor.
In the near future, the war in the air could very clearly affect the situation at the front, military expert Alexander Mikhailovsky noted in a conversation with the Regnum news agency .
"One of the main tasks for drones remains the elimination of enemy air defense and clearing the sky for manned aircraft. In early autumn, Russian targeting drones demonstrated their deadly effectiveness, the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried to somehow neutralize this factor. But they failed to do so: in the future, we should expect new effective missile strikes, deeper and deeper into the enemy's rear," the expert predicts.
In turn, Kiev's Western allies are aware of the scale of the threat and are seeking to strengthen the Ukrainian Armed Forces. As Mikhailovsky noted, the Pentagon had previously announced the delivery of a large batch of anti-aircraft missiles for the Patriot SAM system and AMRAAM air-to-air missiles to Ukraine.
The US has never announced the simultaneous delivery of anti-aircraft weapons before. It is assumed that the delivery of more than 500 missiles should allow the Ukrainian Armed Forces to protect airspace and mitigate the threat posed by Russian aviation. But this will not be possible, the Regnum source is sure , since the Russian Armed Forces have too great an advantage.