met with a group of Ukrainian volunteers to train civilians to fly drones. On the Ukrainian front, ordinary recreational aircraft are used, among other things, to obtain information.
20.5. 16:31 • Updated May 20th. 17:27
UKRAINE See you Denisin in advance on a chilly spring day. Before the actual interview, he wants to make sure that no details of the group’s activities are revealed.
Denis is not real named Denis. He is an ordinary ordinary Ukrainian man who trains Ukrainians to fly drones.
Drones, or unmanned aircraft, are war horses on Ukrainian battlefields. They are being exploited by both the Ukrainians defending their country and Russia, which is waging an offensive war.
Both armies use different military aircraft, some of which are armed. Such battle drones have significantly shaped modern warfare. They are faceless remote-controlled killers.
At the other extreme are the planes that Denis’s group teaches to use. They are quite ordinary drones that can be found on the shelves of any enthusiast. Devices of a few hundred or a thousand euros will not solve a war, but they can cause a wide range of harm to an opponent.
“Drones are the eyes of artillery”
The next day, Denis is waiting for us at the gas station. The sale of fuel is regulated but otherwise the war will not show up here. Coffee and food are normal.
One of the group’s trainers is involved. We will not be able to follow the actual training situation, but the duo has promised to give a flight show.
After the pick-up coffees are drunk, we drive in the drizzle to the edge of the field. There is nothing on the horizon that would reveal the location. Ukraine is full of places that look just like this.
The trainer picks up various planes from the trunk of the car. Some of them are modern metallic insect-looking devices, one looks like a small airplane. According to Denis, it has been in use on the front since 2014, when Russia took over the Crimean peninsula. Now the plane is in training use here.
In addition, the car features a Chinese DJI-branded drone and a racing drone controlled with virtual glasses.
– It accelerates to a speed of up to 180 kilometers per hour, the trainer says.
Such consumer aircraft are used on the front, especially for the acquisition of information and imagery.
Drones are useful, for example, in cities and forests, where they can be used to study the environment. For a soldier, the same task could be life-threatening.
– The war is fought with artillery and the drones are the eyes of the artillery, Denis describes.
In practice, this means that with the help of the information obtained by the Drones, the artillery fire can be targeted more precisely.
Ukraine is more flexible than Russia
Experts have been impressed by Ukraine’s ability to use aircraft on the front in many ways. It has contributed to the strengthening of the David and Goliath line of war. A small country has been able to resist with ingenuity.
Ukraine has been more flexible in the use of aircraft than Russia, says aviation and military technology researcher in a video interview.
– They coordinate flexibly between small civilian equipment, military aircraft, artillery and combat units. This has caused problems for Russia, says a senior researcher at the British RUSI research center Justin Bronk.
Civilian aircraft can also be attached to small munitions, but have low destructive power and low accuracy. Still, in some situations, such a tuned drone can be very helpful, Bronk says.
According to Bronk, Russia should have the ability to intervene in this activity by interfering with the radio frequencies that control drones. He believes the explanation lies in the Russian army’s own weaknesses.
– The Russians have had a lot of problems with their communications. Perhaps they are therefore reluctant to use the means of electronic warfare to defend themselves against drones.
In that case, they could also interfere with their own equipment, Bronk explains.
Battle drones change warfare
The instrument flying over the field tempo here and there as it wills. The trainer guides the drone in a focused manner and eventually puts it back on the grass.
Airplanes are a commodity of war that the Ukrainian army is constantly short of.
Civilian drones have been solicited as donations from abroad. The Denis group has coordinated the grants. However, the capabilities of such aircraft are much more limited than those of the Drones for military use.
The various war drones are becoming cheaper today, which makes them more important than war. They can fly long and far and can even destroy armored vehicles.
Ukraine has used Turkish-made Bayraktar drones in particular, which may search for its target for up to 24 hours before the attack.
One Bayraktar TB-2 drone costs a few million. If you compare the price with traditional air guns, the difference is significant. Finland’s new fighters will pay almost EUR 10 billion for their training.
Switchblade planes are said to be suicide planes because they are destroyed when they hit their target. So in a way, it’s about flying bombs.
The front becomes the Cemetery of the Drones
Denis, who organizes the training of the drone pilots, does not want to say whether the people they have trained have gone to the front to defend Ukraine. He suggests that things are better kept a little vague.
The trainers are Ukrainians who, for one reason or another, have experience in directing Drones.
– Many are professional photographers who used to photograph landscapes or even weddings, Denis says.
Civilian drones have also been used to gather a wealth of images of the Russian invasion. The material could potentially be used in war crimes investigations.
Investigator Faine Greenwood has surveyed the use of civilian aircraft in Ukraine. According to him, Ukraine has shown their usefulness, but not enough is said about the safety of airplane pilots. Greenwood has written about it Foreign Policy (you will switch to another service).
When the show at the edge of the field is over, the duo packs the planes back in their cars. Denis further points out that losing a drone on the front is little if it could save dozens of Ukrainians.
– Thousands of fallen drones will sometimes be found on Ukraine’s battlefields, he ponders.
However, the most important thing is not the device but its controller. Ukraine also needs more of them.