It is true that large-scale support from the West plays a major role in ensuring that the Ukrainian army is not pushed back at all against the Russian army, which has an overwhelming superiority in troops and weapons. However, without the strong will of the Ukrainian people led by President Volodymyr Zelensky and the creative response of the Ukrainian people, Ukraine would have collapsed in the early stages and would not have had time to receive support from the West.
One of the many things that have been introduced about Ukraine’s miraculous struggle secret is its great adaptability, weaponizing cheap commercial small drones. The New York Times (NYT) on the 8th (local time) introduced in detail how the Ukrainian military uses drones. Here is a summary of the article.
In Bahmut, where fierce battles have been going on for eight months, a small drone that makes a sound like a large mosquito flew up and flew towards the Russian army after turning for a while.
Private First Class Yeu-Hen, wearing virtual reality goggles, informed his colleagues, “Come on,” while controlling the drone with a joystick.
In the 15-month-old war in Ukraine, small homemade hobby drones combined with home appliances and computer game tools have become the most powerful and innovative weapons.
Ukrainian soldiers use drones to pinpoint enemy trenches and bunkers to drop homemade bombs or launch suicide drone strikes. Suicide attack drones, which are easy to build, are far more widely used by the Ukrainian military than the Russians.
The US has deployed Predator and Reaper drones in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a method of returning to the base after firing missiles with expensive weapons costing millions of dollars per unit. By comparison, Ukraine uses cheap commercial drones, from quadcopters to fixed-wing drones, to locate targets and strike them with grenades.
Self-destruct drones are classified as orbiting ammunition. It is a method that directly collides with the target while orbiting over the target.
Russia also produces self-destruct drones and has also bought and used Iranian Shahed drones in large quantities. The United States has supported the Switchblade self-destruct drone developed for the Ukrainian military.
These military drones have longer ranges and carry more explosives. A switchblade or shahead drone attacks a target along a pre-set path. However, Ukrainian Army soldiers say this method is less accurate than homemade drones that can be piloted remotely.
Ukrainian soldiers and civilian volunteers test drones in their garages, 3D-print them, and load them with programs and explosives that can overcome Russian military jamming.
Some of the drones they have created cost only $20,000 each but are powerful enough to destroy tanks.
Drones are particularly useful in trench warfare, said Major Kirill Beres, battalion commander of the Ukraine Brigade stationed in Severesk, north of Bakhmut. Drones destroying Russian armored vehicles are useful in overcoming the armament gap. The Ukrainian army receives Western support, but it still lacks significantly more weapons than the Russian army.
The small self-destruct drone piloted by PFC Yeuchen costs only a few hundred dollars. It is a form of attaching explosives to DJI small drones made in China for drone racing with tape or squeegee. Since it is disposable, it cannot be safely landed once launched.
Wearing virtual reality goggles and attacking a target with a camera mounted on a drone is far from safe. This is because the drone’s flight distance is only about 6 km, so it can be bombarded or sniped at any time because it has to be operated in the trenches on the front line.
PFC Yeuchen recently attempted a drone strike from a trench in a dense forest on a clear spring morning. After launching the drone, he first checked to see if it could be controlled properly. It is not uncommon to be frightened that a bomb might explode if the drone plummets to the ground. After that, he quickly moved the drone to observe the Russian military’s movements. Colleagues launched two reconnaissance drones that located the target and filmed the blast.
Immediately after launching the drone, the auxiliary verbs informed each other of the altitude and route of the drone they were piloting. It reached the Russian target and checked for Russian jamming, but there was none. But suddenly the drone disappeared. The reason was unknown. Whether due to Russian jamming or some other technical problem, the drone disappeared hundreds of meters from its target.
Private Yeuchen took off his goggles and said, “Everyone is gone. It just fell off.” This attack was a failure. Fortunately, I was able to avoid the risk of being shot by the enemy…
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.