the essential
Russia announced that it had destroyed 70 Ukrainian drones which launched an attack on its territory this Sunday, November 10. For its part, the Ukrainian Air Force claims that the territory of Ukraine was flown over by 145 Russian drones, 62 of which were shot down, “a record”. Four points to understand the role they play in the conflict.
Recent events on the Ukrainian front have once again put drones at the heart of the news. Russia announced that it had destroyed 70 Ukrainian drones which launched an attack on its territory this Sunday, November 10. On Telegram, the Russian Defense Ministry said that 34 of them had been shot down “over the territory of the Moscow region”. It is the most massive attack carried out on this region since the start of the conflict. A woman was injured, the governor of the Moscow region admitted.
This week, unfortunately, has brought Ukraine brutal Russian attacks on Kharkiv, Donetsk, Sumy, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia. Nearly every day we face drone strikes, as well as missile strikes.
In every meeting, every negotiation with partners who have air defense systems, the… pic.twitter.com/UXVBEt1ruZ
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa)
For its part, the Ukrainian Air Force claims that, on the same night of November 10, the territory of Ukraine was flown over by 145 Russian drones, 62 of which were shot down, “a record”. All regions were targeted except the westernmost part of the country. But how can we understand this increasingly recurring use of these devices?
A weapon used in proportions never before known
On both camps, we are doing everything possible to make our drone production as consistent as possible. At the end of 2023, Volodymyr Zelensky, for example, put forward the symbolic objective of one million drones produced in 2024. The Kremlin claimed a 10-fold increase in its drone production between 2023 and 2024. According to the figures put forward, it would now be d '1.4 million drones produced per year, a figure relayed by the magazine Grand Continent.
Also read:
REPORTING. War in Ukraine: after the election of Donald Trump, Ukrainians are worried but want to believe that he will help them obtain a just peace
Guillaume Ancel, former officer and war chronicler via his blog Do not suffer still wants to temper these figures: “there is a propaganda aspect, we use the figures to impress the adversary”. However, the former officer confirms the extent taken by these devices in the war. “We have entered an industrial era of drone production which makes it possible to build a very large quantity relatively quickly,” he explains.
How can we explain this generalization?
According to Guillaume Ancel, today, “the drone is the best in terms of value for money.” While tanks, shells and fighter jets all cost more than the next, most drones are affordable. And this is where the novelty lies because, before, “a drone was almost as expensive as a combat plane.”
Also read:
TRUE OR FALSE. War in Ukraine: Did kyiv use European aid to design a 1.5 billion euro ski resort?
Above all, it plays the role of “missing link”. It trivializes a type of weapon that did not or almost did not exist before, a sort of in-between “between unguided weapons such as shells and the hyper-sophisticated and hyper-expensive remote-guided missile.” Precise actions carried out at great distances are now possible at an acceptable cost thanks to drones.
Also read:
War in Ukraine: he promised to end the conflict in 24 hours, but what exactly is Donald Trump planning?
The other thing it allows is advanced guidance. Before, “it was a risk, these operations mobilized teams with a very low life expectancy. Clearly, we could hear the bullets whistling.”, says the war chronicler. Drones make it possible to secure essential combat operations.
The different types of drones and their roles
There are two “families” of drones: “kamikaze” or “consumable” drones and drones intended to be reused. The first, mostly so-called “FPV” drones, contain a charge and are equipped with a “very simple observation system solely to guide the device”. These are almost intended to be destroyed upon use. “It’s a kind of flying grenade that sees,” summarizes Guillaume Ancel. The others are equipped “with much more expensive and sophisticated optics”, can be used at night, maneuvered in difficult conditions, contain detection systems, etc.
Also read:
War in Ukraine: why did Elon Musk participate in a phone call between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky?
These two types of drones are the most widespread but they are not found in the same proportions. “The FPV is the most common, we have a ratio between 100 to 1 and 10 to 1,” estimates the war chronicler. There are also other, more specific types of drones. THE Magura V5 for example, is a naval drone with a range of up to 800 kilometers that allowed Ukraine to push back the Russian fleet in Crimea. Russia, for its part, recently developed an FPV drone carrier and deployed it on the front. This carrier makes it possible to counter the short range of the classic FPV drone, which only has 30 kilometers of autonomy on average.
A development that changes the way of fighting
Already, the drone continues to be a complementary weapon. Despite the abundance that we have just mentioned, we must put the importance of the drone as a weapon into perspective. “It doesn’t have at all the saturation aspect that artillery bombardments allow,” the former officer explains to us. Due to their size, they contain “around 40 kilos of charge at most”, which is not even the equivalent of a shell.
Also read:
INTERVIEW. War in Ukraine: “He has no intention of waging war”… What relationship will Donald Trump have with Vladimir Putin?
On the other hand, this allowed “the remote control of pseudo missiles, which are these drones, by relatively poorly trained soldiers”. This ease of use is incomparable with missile launch systems for example. “It can be controlled from a mobile phone, it’s incredible, you don’t even need infrastructure anymore,” concludes Guillaume Ancel.
Also read:
War in Ukraine: elite unit, new weapons, deployment to Kursk…. 4 questions about the intervention of 10,000 North Korean soldiers
Finally, an observation drone means the ability to know enemy positions and movements. But on this loss of opacity of the war, the former officer tempers: “with the first generations this was completely the case, today, due to this generalization of the drone, the fight against drones has progressed enormously even if it remains expensive.
Also read:
War in Ukraine: Russia took 478 km² of Ukrainian territory in October, a record since March 2022 and the start of the conflict
The advent of the drone as a combat weapon has therefore changed the way of waging war, and in particular of striking and observing one's enemy from a distance.
Related News :