Drones are rewriting the rules of war. Ukraine is fighting the might of Russia using tiny drones. They act as small mosquitos which sight and help target the lumbering elephant like tanks.
Drone operators were drawn from an air reconnaissance unit, Aerorozvidka, which began eight years ago as a group of volunteer IT specialists and hobbyists designing their own machines that have evolved into an essential element in Ukraine’s successful David-and-Goliath resistance.
A special IT force of 30 soldiers on quad bikes is vital part of Ukraine’s defense, but has to crowdfund for supplies. Lieutenant Colonal Yaroslav Honchar, gave an account of the ambush near the town of Ivankiv that helped stop the vast, lumbering Russian offensive in its tracks.
He said the Ukrainian fighters on quad bikes were able to approach the advancing Russian column at night by riding through the forest on either side of the road. The Ukrainian soldiers were equipped with night vision goggles, sniper rifles, remotely detonated mines, drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras and others capable of dropping small 1.5kg bombs. “This one little unit in the night destroyed two or three vehicles at the head of this convoy, and after that it was stuck. They stayed there two more nights, and [destroyed] many vehicles,” Honchar said.
Online there is a huge amount of aerial combat footage published by the Ukrainians which underlines the importance of drones to their resistance. “The tank was key at one point,” said John Parachini, a Rand Corporation military researcher. “Now drones may be the more decisive weapons system.” Ukrainians are using about 1,000 drones in the war effort, a military officer estimated. Many are mere “toys,” he said, “but we have what we have.”
“Those shiny tanks are being set ablaze – Bayraktar – that’s the new craze,” go the lyrics of a popular Ukrainian song dedicated to a drone that has become one of many symbols of the nation’s resistance. The drones “are part of the Ukrainian social media campaign that is executed very well by the Ukrainian military and civilians,” he said. Videos of Bayraktar strikes went viral on social media and that is “a great morale booster … a great tactical victory.”
Drones are also being used to target Russian tanks which are then targeted by Javelin anti-tank missiles.