Russia's cutting-edge drones challenge Ukraine's defenses
In recent days, many recordings have surfaced showing attacks by Russian Vandal drones on Ukrainian artillery hidden behind the front lines. We explain how this is possible and what challenges it presents.
The spread of inexpensive FPV drones operating on advanced fiber optics, much like many anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), has reverted the battlefield back almost to the times when FPV drones first debuted near the end of 2022 and beginning of 2023.
Suddenly, it turned out that jammers do not work on drones controlled via fiber optics, and the only way to counter them is to eliminate them or use some form of armor capable of withstanding the attack or detonating the drone prematurely. For now, partially effective forms of defense are nets, but as seen in one of the recordings, even the smallest gap makes them ineffective.
Furthermore, it is possible to use a pair of drones for an attack, where one may have a thermobaric warhead intended to breach the net for the second drone with a cumulative warhead.
Roles have reversed — Russian artillery is a shadow of its former self
The nature of the current war in Ukraine means that the biggest losses are inflicted by artillery systems, and in this category, the Russians have noticeably lagged behind the Ukrainians in recent months despite having a significant advantage at the start of the war.
Stocks of post-Soviet ammunition have been depleted. While North Korea has filled this gap, covering 60% of Russia's needs, the situation is worse with barrels for artillery systems. Russia has no source for them (local production is too small), so relics like Koksans or howitzers like M-46 or even M-30 dating back to the battle of Berlin are being deployed to the front.
The Russians are also trying to compensate for their lack of firepower by using more aviation to drop powerful guided FAB glide bombs with UMPK modules. They have no other option, because particularly NATO artillery systems with a caliber of 155 mm and a barrel length of 52 calibers offer a greater range than Russian artillery, even with the cheapest and most plentiful ammunition.
New Russian drones destroy Ukraine's key equipment
Artillery systems are generally positioned about 6 to 12 miles from the front lines, with Western systems capable of firing at 19 miles with the most common ammunition, or more with better rounds. It is specifically the Polish Krabs, French Caesars, German PzH 2000s, or Ukrainian howitzers like the 2S22 Bogdana that currently inflict the greatest losses on Russians.
The Ukrainian tactic involves keeping howitzers in camouflaged hideouts and moving them out to perform fire missions before returning as quickly as possible. Due to the range and inadequate counter-battery capabilities of the Russians, drones remain their only solution.
However, drones were not very effective due to the dense network of Ukrainian jammers, which no longer matters due to the proliferation of fiber-optic controlled drones with a range of over 19 miles. Such drones allow Russians to eliminate valuable targets in the Ukrainian back lines, which unfortunately they are now doing.
Protection against these drones is essential and consists of shooting down the attacking drone, detonating it, or trapping it in a net stretched around the target. The minimum defense would be guards placed around the artillery hideout equipped with weapons with thermal vision and SMASH-type modules from Smart Shooter. However, in the Ukrainian context, the most accessible solution is smoothbore shotguns.
