1/ The recent success of Ukrainian FPV drones in shooting down numerous Russian UAVs has prompted concern from Russian observers. They comment that Russian adherence to military "dogmas" mean that effective countermeasures have not been found. ⬇️
https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1829130105160896959
2/ Alexander Kharchenko of the 'Witnesses of Bayraktar' Telegram channel highlights how Ukraine is compensating for its shortage of air defence missiles with its much larger supply of drones:
3/ "The enemy is increasing its efforts to destroy our reconnaissance UAVs. I will not give figures, but even within the framework of one unit they can be significant. Previously, a drone could operate for several months, but now...
4/ "Remember how in winter the enemy complained about the lack of anti-aircraft missiles? Our drones felt at ease in the sky. So now the enemy has started to perform the role of interceptors with FPV drones. There is no magic here.
5/ "The Ukrainians have deployed radars, positioned operators, created a unified system and started to shoot down our drones.
6/ "This problem must be taken extremely seriously. Without reconnaissance UAVs, our reconnaissance and strike systems will not work. Artillery, Iskanders and FAB [bombs] will sharply reduce their effectiveness if the enemy clears its skies.
7/ "The Ukrainians are increasing their efforts, and we are lagging far behind them in the matter of destroying UAVs with FPV drones. The main advantages of such air defence systems are the low cost of the interceptor, mobility, stealth and high survivability of the crews.
8/ "The whole point is that neither we nor the enemy can protect the reconnaissance aircraft in the sky. And all we can do is overtake the enemy in the numbers of destroyed UAVs. Since our drones are falling, the enemy's "wings" should not fly either.
9/ "This way we will maintain the status quo and will not allow the enemy to break ahead in the technological race."
10/ 'Military Informant' comments that "the very fact of such a massive use of kamikaze drones as a simple and cheap means of countering reconnaissance drones speaks of the need to look for countermeasures.
11/ "At the moment, it is the effective work of Russian reconnaissance drones, coupled with fire weapons guided by their data, that ensure the effective and prompt destruction of many enemy targets.
12/ "The constant loss of reconnaissance aircraft will mean a significant reduction in the impact of this advantage on the battlefield.
13/ 'Informant' notes that Ukrainian videos show FPV drones to be effective against a range of Russian observation drones: "In addition to the Orlan-10, Supercam S350 and S450, as well as the Zala Z-16 421-16E, the new reconnaissance UAV Z-20 was also spotted for the first time."
14/ He contrasts Ukrainian flexibility with Russian 'dogmatism' and asks "why the enemy, with far fewer resources, does not disdain to experiment and adapt to variables, be it a network of acoustic sensors, mobile squads of "drone hunters" or FPV interceptors. While we,…
15/ …apparently having firmly believed in the steadfastness of our dogmas, the ability of our air defense to “close the sky,” helplessly throw up our hands, covering up the objects with beautiful reports about the fall of fragments of downed drones on those very objects." /end
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
