Fighting in Ukraine is creating a new type of drone war: hit-to-kill intercepts

• The grinding war in Ukraine has seen an increase in hit-to-kill interceptions of some drones.

• Kyiv and Moscow are increasingly using drones to take out enemy systems above the battlefield.

• This new strategy pushes Ukraine to develop drones especially for interceptor roles.

In the contested skies above Ukraine, a new type of war is quickly emerging as drones are increasingly deployed on new offensive missions. Their targets are not armored vehicles or combat surfaces – they are other drones.

Combat footage from the war in Ukraine has repeatedly captured these deadly stunts when a low-flying drone hits another drone. This practice is the least expensive form of air defense that the Ukrainians and Russians are using and pursuing.

Mykhailo Fedorov, the minister of digital transformation of Ukraine, wrote on Telegram in April that his country is hunting for interceptor drone solutions to shoot down Russian surveillance equipment, front eyes on piloting drones and Russian weapons, “without wasting air defense equipment. .”

Natalia Kushnerska, a senior official in the Ukrainian defense industry, told Business Insider that using such ineffective systems “marks the emergence of a completely new part of modern warfare – drone-on-drone combat.”

A new strategy in the evolving drone war

Drones have dominated the battlefield throughout the war in Ukraine, used for land, sea, and air deployments. Inexpensive first-person observation (FPV) drones are often used to conduct direct strikes on enemy artillery and military positions, while larger systems gather intelligence.

But as the war continues, drones have been increasingly used in the air defense role to bring down unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) conducting reconnaissance and attack missions. These aerial negotiations, at times, can resemble the fierce battles of the World Wars.

An outfit that makes FPV combat drones said in August that its drones had been replaced by 100 Russian UAVs. The Wild Hornets, as the project calls itself, shared a video of some of the hidden objects.

Kushnerska, the chief executive of Brave1, a Ukrainian government platform that helps innovate the country's defense industry, said interceptor drones have become “one of the innovations of this war.”

He said this strategy makes it more difficult for Russia to use its drones deep in the front lines and gather information to facilitate missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian territory, which has become a real challenge for Ukraine as Russia moves to expand its reconnaissance strike. complex. This also awards Kyiv more flexibility to carry out its military and strategic missions.

Kushnerska said Ukraine was the first to use drones to intercept UAVs spying on Russians, but Moscow has adapted to the tactic and found ways to evade interceptors. Now, efforts are underway to improve the systems to keep them running smoothly.

It is the latest iteration of what a senior Ukrainian official previously described to BI as a cat-and-mouse game between Kyiv and Moscow, with each side constantly trying to outdo each other in developing drones and other war-related technology.

Samuel Bendett, an expert on drones and Russian defense issues with the Center for Naval Analyses, told BI Moscow that it uses FPV drones to take out Ukrainian systems and that Russia has also equipped its drones with defenses against interceptor drones, such as electronic -warfare. jamming systems.

Bendett said the Ukrainians “have been very successful in deploying their FPV drones against Russian ISR assets, and the Russians have been successful, up to a point, in using their FPV drones to track heavy quadcopter UAVs that have -Ukraine.”

Interceptor drones are limited in range and altitude and typically carry less explosive power than conventional air defenses such as missiles. Drones offer Ukraine and Russia another way to eliminate aerial threats, where the cost of disruption is often less than that of a targeted system.

Kushnerska said an interceptor drone typically costs between $2,000 and $4,000. On the other hand, an anti-aircraft missile can cost hundreds of thousands – or even millions – of dollars. Using drones reduces reliance on expensive missiles and frees up Ukraine's air defense units to focus on larger threats such as Russian jets and highly lethal cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.

Pursuing multiple interceptor drones

For the Ukrainian military tasked with intercepting Russian drones, it's a dangerous job.

One drone operator in the Ukrainian military told BI that he works in shelters very close to the front lines. He said the pilots were top targets for Russia, which would use “everything in its power” to get them out.

A Ukrainian operator said drone-on-drone combat is on the rise. He said he sometimes uses interceptor drones up to five times a week. But Ukraine needs more of them.

Kyiv has taken steps to buy some of these interceptor drones. Last month, for example, a Ukrainian drone engineering company announced that it had completed testing a new FPV designed to take down Russian spy UAVs, such as the Orlan, and was ready for military use.

But there is still much to be done. Valeriy Romanenko, a former air defense official who is now a researcher at the State Aviation Museum of Ukraine, told BI that Kyiv's interceptor drones are ideal for low-altitude reconnaissance UAVs.

However, he said, Kyiv ultimately needs fast interceptor drones to take down Russian killer planes, such as the infamous Shahed-136. In October alone, Moscow fired nearly 2,000 of these missiles into Ukraine, according to Western intelligence.

The Wild Hornets have been working on a new “Sting” UAV to effectively fight the Shahds, but it's a work in progress.

This anti-killing tactic has implications beyond Ukraine and could be used in future conflicts, too. Mick Ryan, a retired Australian military general and strategist, said the use of drones in interdiction could become a permanent feature of the military.

“This is a trend that's here to stay unless there are significant breakthroughs in cost-effective anti-drone systems, and we're not seeing that yet,” he told BI. “I think this is a permanent skill that many soldiers should be looking at.”

Read the original article on Business Insider