Ukraine turns to innovative FPV drones to counter Russian threat
Ukrainians are facing significant difficulties combating Russian surveillance drones using anti-aircraft systems, which are simply too few to meet their needs. The solution is expected to be anti-aircraft FPV drones.
6:07 PM EDT, July 23, 2024
In the face of the ongoing conflict with Russia, Ukraine is seeking innovative solutions to combat Russian reconnaissance drones. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, highlighted the critical shortage of resources, including the minimal availability of short-range anti-aircraft systems. This underscores the necessity of finding alternative defense methods. According to Defence-Ua, electronic warfare systems and FPV drones are increasingly playing a major role in the solutions being employed.
These methods have proven quite effective in neutralizing hostile drones, such as the "Orlan" or "Zala." Notably, pilots from the 93rd Independent Mechanized Brigade "Kholodnyi Yar" managed to shoot down a Russian Lancet-3 drone with an FPV drone.
These drones can attack targets even tens of miles behind the front line, and many AHS Krab self-propelled howitzers have fallen victim to them. Shooting down such drones is difficult because self-propelled anti-aircraft systems like the Gepard are in limited supply. Handheld anti-aircraft sets like the American FIM-92 Stinger or the Polish PPZR Piorun are also unavailable.
As Ukrainians admit, Western manufacturers do not always keep up with production, and it is somewhat regrettable to "waste" a missile worth up to $850,000 on a drone. For this reason, more efficient methods are being sought.
Combating drones in a budget-friendly way — own counter-drones or even light aircraft
Quite good results can be achieved by using FPV drones to ram Russian reconnaissance drones. Such situations have already occurred, and Ukrainians mention that such an achievement is possible at a distance of up to four miles. The results are remarkable because an FPV drone costs less than $1,000.
Another method involves using old Yak-52 planes with a two-person crew, where the passenger attempts to shoot down the drone with a machine gun, for example. These scenes resemble WWI tactics, but the results in the form of downed drones speak for themselves.
