Ukraine's innovative drone tactics to combat Russian threats
Ukrainians are facing significant challenges in combating Russian surveillance drones with anti-aircraft systems, which are insufficient in number compared to the needs. The solution is expected to be anti-aircraft FPV drones.
In light of the ongoing conflict with Russia, Ukraine is seeking innovative solutions to counter Russian reconnaissance drones. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, has highlighted the critical shortage of resources, including the scarce availability of short-range anti-aircraft systems, underscoring the necessity of finding alternative defence methods. According to Defence-Ua, electronic warfare systems and FPV drones play an increasingly significant role among the solutions employed.
These have proven quite effective in neutralizing hostile drones like "Orlan" or "Zala." One of the most interesting cases of intercepting a Russian drone is the achievement of pilots from the 93rd Independent Mechanized Brigade "Kholodny Yar," who managed to shoot down a Russian Lancet-3 drone with an FPV drone.
These structures can attack targets even tens of miles behind the front line, and their victims include many AHS Krab self-propelled howitzers, among others. Shooting down such drones is challenging because few self-propelled anti-aircraft systems like Gepard are available, and handheld anti-aircraft systems such as the American FIM-92 Stinger or the Polish PPZR Piorun are also not available in abundance.
As Ukrainians admit, Western manufacturers do not always keep up with production, and it is somewhat regrettable to "waste" a missile worth up to 1.1 million Canadian dollars on just a drone. For this reason, more cost-effective methods are being sought.
Combating drones cost-effectively — własne counter-drones or even light aircraft
It turns out that quite good results can be achieved using one's own FPV drones to ram Russian reconnaissance drones. Such incidents have already occurred, and Ukrainians mention that such a feat is possible at distances of up to 4 miles. Considering an FPV drone, which can cost less than 1,400 Canadian dollars, the achieved effect is outstanding.
The second method, for instance, utilizes an old Yak-52 aircraft with a two-person crew, where the passenger attempts to shoot down a drone using a machine gun. These are scenes straight out of the First World War, but the results of shot-down drones speak for themselves.
