During the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine the use and production of drones in Ukraine has reached an unprecedented scale. Some may go as far as to even call Ukraine a leader in the field of UAV technologies, and this is not far from the truth. Yet, just two years ago the situation seemed much more modest. One could not even imagine a Ukrainian drone strike against Moscow or Pskov. Today, however, in the midst of a brutal, devastating war, a real drone fever is spreading across Ukraine.
This war has turned Ukraine “into a kind of super lab of invention”, says the Washington Post’s article “The war in Ukraine is spurring a revolution in drone warfare using AI”. According to this article, “such AI technology, under development by a growing number of Ukrainian drone companies, is one of several innovative leaps underway in Kyiv’s domestic drone market that are accelerating the lethality of unmanned warfare — especially crucial for Ukraine’s military, which is fighting a larger and better-equipped Russian enemy”, reads the article.
Nobody knows the exact number of drone manufacturers currently active in Ukraine or even how many models they produce – perhaps, not even the special security services. This market is extremely chaotic, diverse and at the same time very fluctuating. And, of course, any sensitive information is classified. Although according to the drone manufacturers themselves, this excessive secrecy actually does seriously hinder promotion of their product. Volunteers, military, top businessmen, former or current officials and the state invest in the industry. There are many players willing to contribute to Ukrainian victory. However, not always people who work in this industry or invest in it are willing to openly advertise the final product.
In his interview to the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Yurii Shchyhol, the head of the State Special Forces of Ukraine, claims that today more than 200 companies are engaged in the production of UAVs in Ukraine. Each of these companies produces at least two models of drones, and sometimes three or four. Thus, if the official is to be believed, the total number of drone models that can be produced in Ukraine is close to or has already exceeded a thousand units. Here we are talking about drones of different types – the ones used for reconnaissance, surveillance, strike, close-range and long-range drones. Obviously, not all of these models are immediately put into mass production and many remain experimental, although they are often tested in real-time battlefield conditions. Nonetheless, those models are constantly being improved and modernised, because every day Ukrainians are facing new challenges on the battlefield.
The Ukrainian army began its first experiments with the drones some time before 2014. Ukrainians bought several Israeli drones to be tested, and they tried to develop their own models in Kharkiv and Chuhuiv. But all these projects proved to be unsuccessful. Only when the war in Donbas began, it became obvious that the army needed UAVs to be more effective on the battlefield and this issue needs to be taken seriously. At first, this work was done by the volunteers, not the military. Some people started bringing the first DJI Phantoms, which were first sold in 2013, from abroad and others began developing the models of their own.
By then aircraft modelers tried to adapt these drones to the needs of the front. They’ve installed cameras and experimented with the control systems. This way the legendary Furiya (“Fury”) drone was launched in its first modification. The next one was Leleka (“Stork”). Leleka, just like the Fury, is said to have been originally made as a composite copy of a cheap Chinese drone.
There was another group of people who contributed to the creation of Ukrainian UAVs – the film makers. Back then UAVs were already used in film production, and as the industry was rapidly expanding, there was a considerable demand for the drones in cinematography. The drones that were used to shoot the movies were quite simple and rather primitive, but they nevertheless could fly and record videos. For the front-line intelligence this was just what the doctor ordered. At that time nobody was jamming those primitive UAVs yet, so the soldiers on the frontline would fly them as far as possible, surveilling the enemy positions, and controlling the fire.
At first almost all components for the production of these UAVs were imported from abroad. Then their local analogues began to appear: electronics, gliders, chassis, catapult and a ground station. The camera, motor, autopilot and sensor remained mostly imported. Production of these parts in single copies or even in small batches was unreasonably expensive. Technically, before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, only around ten drone manufacturers were operating in Ukraine with variable success. Half of those were profitable and the other half survived purely on enthusiasm and donations of benefactors. In reality mass production of UAVs in Ukraine only began in 2022.
In the summer of 2023, Ukrainian authorities somewhat eased conditions for the drone manufacturers and allocated an unprecedented UAH 40 billion (USD 1,082,840) within the so-called “Drone Army” program to purchase drones for the frontline. This has certainly been a breath of fresh air for the industry. Nevertheless it turned out that the industry is not able to meet all the needs. Experts are convinced that by the end of the year it will be difficult to use the allocated funds due to the lack of production capacity.
There is a striking lack of specialists who are able to assist in production. Manufacturers keep receiving the contracts, but they are unable to find qualified workers, because most of them are already employed in similar companies. Currently, there is a great need for developers, pilots, drone operators, and especially for good instructors.
At the end of the day, regardless of how many drones are produced in Ukraine, there will always be a shortage. And not only because the war is becoming more and more technologically advanced and the areas where these drones are used are expanding. The growing intensity of hostilities and the constant lack of traditional means to confront the enemy force Ukrainians to compensate for the gaps in their defense with the mass usage of drones, and the kamikaze drones and UAVs with airdrop systems in particular. We are talking about drones that are able to fly for several kilometers, as well as those that can cover over hundreds or even thousands of kilometers.
Of course, this deadly game has not been one sided. Russia has been preparing for this war since at least 2004, thus, unsurprisingly, they have poured a lot of money into the development of new weapons and technologies. One may criticise these technologies, or call them outdated, yet the fact remains that their UAVs are fairly effective on a battlefield. Ukrainians know that if they’ve happened to spot a Russian Orlan over their positions, then the enemy’s missile or artillery fire will come in no time. Let alone the deadly Lancets, which are used combined with Orlans and are able to cover a distance of not 5 km, like FPV, but 35km. Moreover, it seems that in its new modification, Lancets are already able to fly as far as 70-100 km. This is an extremely dangerous drone that works through a radio repeater and therefore poses a serious threat. Russians do not just sit still, they invest enormous sums of money either into development of their own military technologies, or, like it happened in case of Iran’s Shaheds, into purchasing foreign made kamikaze UAVs. In fact, it was Russia’s use of Shahed-136, which prompted a large-scale production of long-range kamikaze drones in Ukraine, which are now continuously filling Moscow with horror. This is where it has begun, and not, as many people tend to think, when Ukraine’s Western allies supposedly refused to provide Ukrainian Armed Forces with the medium- and long-range missiles due to the fears that Ukraine will strike targets within Russia. The day when Shahed-136 first struck Kyiv was the point of no return.
As of now, Ukraine already has in its possession at least a dozen drone models that can cover hundreds of kilometers and reach Russia’s capital. Moscow residents will surely confirm this.
Some of these models have already been put into serial production, while others are still being tested. Nevertheless, the process has already started. For example, we’ve known about the Ukrainian UJ-22 Airborne combat drone manufactured by the UkrJet company with a flight range of 800 km since at least 2021. This drone has already been used by the Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) to hit targets within Russia. Drones that can fly more than 1000 km include Raybird-3, HaKi-20, Sokil (“Falcon”), Cobra or Bober: (“Beaver”). Bober has already paid a visit to the Russian capital at least twice – once on 30 July and then again on 1 August this year. During these visits it has somewhat even ‘contributed’ to the ‘reshaping’ of the facade of the Moscow-City business center. Fairly recently, special forces of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced their new project – the Morok (“Dusk”) drone with a flight range of 800 km.
It must be noted that no drone carrying even 5 to 30 kg of explosives is capable of replacing a missile with a warhead of 400-500 kg. For now this is just a temporary solution. It won’t be possible to bring Moscow down this way. A kamikaze drone is just like a tomahawk. It is much easier to shoot down, it has a considerably smaller combat unit, and it is enough to install a military grid over a potential target in order to defend it from such a drone.
It is possible to use drones to set Russian oil depots or warehouses on fire, to target their infrastructure facilities, but the main idea behind using the drones is something else – at least when it comes to the Russian capital. Moscow must know and feel that the war Russia has started is not just happening somewhere far away in Ukraine – it is already here, in Moscow, on Russian soil. The horrors that Russians have unleashed against Ukraine and Ukrainians have come back home.
Moreover, combined usage of different drone models has also led to serious changes in the combat tactics on the frontline itself. A while ago, Russian invaders did not hesitate to attack Ukrainian positions with tanks and shell them from a very close range, knowing full well that the Ukrainians could do nothing to reciprocate. Nowadays Russians are compelled to put their human forces upfront. Why? Because when there are so many different drones at the so-called zero positions, and all of them are able to fly further than rocket-propelled grenades or Stingers, Russians tanks are hesitant to approach. After all, Russians know that Ukrainians will absolutely use a drone against a tank, but they believe that they may regret spending expensive devices against soldiers.
Recently, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, published some interesting statistics that only confirmed this trend. Approximately half of the occupiers’ vehicles on the battlefield were hit by the Drone Army operators, unlike before, when they were targeted by the artillery or anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs). These statistics are not exhaustive. It also doesn’t mean that all of the aforementioned Russian military equipment has been fully eliminated. Some of the targets may just have been damaged. Nevertheless, if we consider the fact that an FPV drone costs $500, and a destroyed tank is worth at least $1 million, the effectiveness of such tactics is difficult to underestimate. Even if 10 FPVs are spent to damage a tank, it is still much cheaper than using one Javelin that costs about $100,000.
Of course, this does not mean that Ukrainians are now fighting against Russians with drones alone. The drones are still an auxiliary element of warfare that cannot wholly replace other types of weapons. Yet, the skillful use of UAV technologies, a successful combination of several drone models, which complement traditional weapons creates a significant advantage on the battlefield. At the very least, it makes it possible to make decisions faster, preserve time and people, and work better, destroying the enemy’s equipment, fortifications and manpower. For example, the striking power of an FPV drone used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces is about the same as that of an infantry mortar, at 60 or 82 mm. But the working conditions and efficiency are completely different. When launching an FPV, the drone operator can clearly see where it is going to hit, they can follow it throughout an entire flight. Instead, when one is using the mortar, it will most likely be launched numerous times without even knowing whether it hit the target or not. There are some nuances here though. Even when the FPV is in the air, another drone has to conduct reconnaissance from a distance to confirm whether the target has been hit. Because if the camera’s image had disappeared, the target may still remain unaffected, thus another drone must absolutely follow up on the result. In addition, combat FPV operators strongly advise working through the radio repeaters. A signal goes through a reconnaissance drone that is somewhere high in the skies, and when there is a repeater, the enemy’s electromagnetic warfare (EW) will be much less effective. If the FPV succeeds in capturing the target, it is guided by the camera and then there is no point in jamming it. In such cases there are less risks to the life of the FPV operator, because they can safely work from the shelter, without leaving the trenches.
When one has different means available and they combine them wisely, they invent something, and they may bring the most unexpected ideas to life.
For example, an FPV drone hovering over the enemy’s positions will surely force the residents to hide in dugouts or shelters. By this time, when everyone has taken cover, an attack aircraft will approach the positions, catching the enemy by surprise.
After all, even an ordinary offensive is much easier and more effective when a reconnaissance drone hovers over the battlefield exposing those who may be hiding. The same applies to artillery that can be coordinated in real time.
Ukraine’s drone fleet currently includes hundreds of UAV projects that help Ukrainians bring the victory closer. They are designed to perform a wide range of tasks on different operational levels. Arrival of the Ukrainian naval drones was a true breakthrough. At the moment we could verify two models (there are more of those) that the Ukrainian defence forces are using to attack Russian naval targets and the so-called Crimean bridge. Those are MAGURA V5 kamikaze drones and the Sea Baby brander developed by SBU engineers.
Everyone is used to the sea battles involving destroyers, amphibs and submarines. And then suddenly those naval drones show up out of nowhere and they radically twist an entire situation. No one expected it. Maritime reconnaissance drones were manufactured and used before. Kamikaze drones were hardly, if ever, used. And now it turns out that they do work.
Ukraine does not possess a navy, and thus does not need to defend its ships and has more leverage for an offensive. Russians no longer feel safe in the Black Sea. Not only have Ukrainians driven Russians away from its coast, but they keep following them along the entire perimeter. It is only possible to spot a naval drone from a military ship once it’s in the proximity of several kilometers, which means that it can get close enough to the target before anything can be done against it. Russians are forced to constantly take various precautionary measures: they sink barges in front of the Crimean bridge, stretch nets or put pontoons to protect their ships and ports. This strategy changes an entire course of war at sea.
Can Ukraine be considered a leader in the development of UAV technologies today? Perhaps, and to some extent, yes. In terms of industry growth, for sure. No other country has had its drone industry expanding so fast. Ukraine has thousands of drone operators who have by now acquired a solid combat experience, and who are very quick to figure out how things work. At the same time, when it comes to high tech itself, Ukraine is not there yet. It takes years to develop technologies. According to the developers, even cameras on the Chinese Mavic are far better than the ones used on any Ukrainian drone.
We have certainly experienced a breakthrough, which, strangely enough, has even been actively acknowledged by our Western partners. As the invasion began, it became clear that the Western drones, designed to support various ground operations, were completely unsuitable for the Russian-Ukrainian war. When the first batches arrived, there was a lot of disappointment: not the same range or not the same stability. In fact, the problem lies in the very nature of the war that’s happening in Ukraine. When NATO troops operate somewhere in Asia, they first destroy the enemy’s anti-aircraft defenses with missiles, then they bring in the aviation against certain important targets on the ground, and finally the soldiers enter the territory. There is no EW. NATO troops simply have to chase the enemy through the bushes – and this is exactly what the small American drones were made for. In Ukraine, on the other hand, we have a full-scale war with EW, aviation, air strikes, etc. It is clear that these Western drones do not work. Here is where the West has something to think about, which they actively do, while carefully analysing Ukrainian experience.
