In the battle between Russia and Ukraine, drones are integrated into every phase of fighting, with extensive fleets, air defenses and jamming systems on each side.
SHELLY TAN AND WILLIAM NEFF/THE WASHINGTON POST
The drone spotted a base for Moscow’s own unmanned aerial vehicles , according to overhead images captured by the Ukrainians that were later reviewed by The Washington Post. In September, members of one such team squinted at their small handheld monitor and snickered. On the screen, they could make out several people in military uniform and a cart, in a cornfield across the Oskil River in a part of the Kharkiv region then occupied by Russians.
It is these commercial drones — often small, relatively inexpensive and now ubiquitous — that make the war in Ukraine unique, providing unprecedented visibility and sharpening the accuracy of normally inexact artillery fire. Left: A Ukrainian soldier launches a DJI Mavic with a VOG-17 30mm grenade attached. Right: A VOG-17 30mm falls from a DJI Mavic or drone of similar style.
Senior Ukrainian and Russian commanders, many of whom trained together in Soviet times, used to be skeptical of drones. Now, they are rushing to train thousands of pilots. Typically, Ochi teams are in constant contact with an artillery unit — providing coordinates of Russian equipment or bases, and monitoring strikes in real time as colleagues carry them out. Ahead of the Kharkiv counteroffensive, the order was to watch and save up targets. Soldiers involved in the lightning push in the northeast said they had never seen so much aerial reconnaissance with such detail.
For the next several hours, shelling followed wherever they went. The soldiers tried to split up, moving around the village and ducking for cover. But the Orlan helped the Russians correct their fire. It was relentless and accurate. “They were trying to destroy the car and obviously destroy us,” Sosovskyy said.In recent months, however, Sosovskyy has noticed there are fewer Orlans to fear.
In September, after Russia’s forces were ousted from Kharkiv, Alexander Khodakovsky, commander of Russia’s Vostok Battalion, lamented Moscow’s drone shortage. Homegrown drones range from miniature planes that can fly nearly 30 miles and drop a five-pound missile — such as the Punisher drone preferred by Ukraine’s special forces — to reconnaissance gliders. The goal is to produce 2,000 small combat drones in Ukraine per month by year’s end, said Fedorov, the digital minister.
The Shahed is Russia’s solution to its domestic production woes — a powerful drone bought from another country ostracized by the West. Ukrainian officials said Moscow has recently ordered more from Tehran. This frustrating choice is partly the point, said Aksenov, the Russian military expert — to exhaust Kyiv’s resources while conserving Russia’s own arsenal.
The TB2s, which cost about $5 million each, are the most powerful drones in Ukraine’s fleet and offered the first evidence of how UAVs could help Kyiv compete against Russia’s far larger, better-equipped military. The TB2 carries four laser-guided missiles and can fly for more than 24 hours at an altitude of up to 25,000 feet.
Ukraine now has several foreign-made combat drones in its fleet, including U.S.-provided Switchblade self-destructing drones. But Bayraktars remain an icon, helping to spur a sort of drone fever in Ukraine.
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