The Russian military has begun using new and relatively cheap drones to try to identify the locations of Ukraine's air defenses.
Points of attention
- Russian military has deployed new affordable drones for reconnaissance missions in Ukraine, aiming to identify Ukrainian air defense systems.
- Ukrainian operators have developed techniques to intercept Russian drones, showcasing the ongoing drone warfare dynamics.
- Russian drones, costing around $10,000 each, provide cost-effective alternatives to traditional air defense missiles, enabling enhanced reconnaissance capabilities.
- Both Ukrainian and Russian forces are enhancing their drone interception capabilities at the tactical level, signaling a shift in modern warfare strategies.
- Russian forces exploit air defense system restrictions to deploy reconnaissance drones deep into Ukraine, enhancing their reconnaissance-fire complexes.
Russia is using new spy drones in its war against Ukraine
According to the representative of the DIU Andrii Chernyak, the Russians have started using two new types of drones.
These drones, which the Russian military has used in five drone attacks over the past two to three weeks, including a nighttime strike on July 25, are made of materials such as Styrofoam and plywood.
One type of drone is equipped with a camera and a Ukrainian mobile phone SIM card to send images to the Russian military.
They (the Russians — ed.) determine where our mobile groups are located, where the machine guns that can destroy them are. They are trying to get a complete picture of where all our air defense systems are located.
Andriy Chernyak
Representative of DIU
According to him, the new Russian drones with cameras do not carry explosives, but closely resemble conventional drones of the Shahed type and fly with them in a group.
The representative of DIU added that the second, new, type of drone does not contain an explosive charge or has only a small charge and is used as a decoy.
Since it is practically no different from a conventional ground-based attack drone, it still needs to be shot down, but the enemy receives information about the location of Ukraine's air defense systems.
The representative of DIU MO notes that the new drones probably cost "only" 10,000 dollars each, and despite the long range, this makes them much cheaper to manufacture than air defense missiles.
According to him, such drones can also fly at an altitude of 1,000 m, leaving them out of range of machine guns and automatic rifles.
Ukrainian UAV operators have perfected the interception of Russian drones
As an example, a video from June 1 shows Ukrainian forces using FPV drones with a first-person view to destroy a Russian ZALA tactical reconnaissance drone and an Orlan-10 medium-range reconnaissance drone during a flight near the city of Velika Novosilka in the Donetsk region .
On June 29, the operational group of the "Kharkiv" troops released a video showing how a Ukrainian drone with a first-person view intercepts a Russian unmanned aerial vehicle "Lancet" flying in the air in the direction of Kharkiv.
ISW notes that both Ukrainian and Russian forces appear to be improving their ability to use UAVs to intercept enemy drones at the tactical level. Instead, the Institute for the Study of War notes that they have not seen confirmation that Russian forces are capable of using UAVs to destroy Ukrainian or long-range reconnaissance drones in the air.
At the same time, the report notes, the Russians have taken advantage of restrictions on air defense systems in recent months to more freely use reconnaissance drones in Ukraine, particularly deep in the Ukrainian rear. This allowed the Russian troops to improve their reconnaissance-fire and reconnaissance-strike complexes (RVK/RUK).
