Drone dogfight between Ukraine and Russia rapidly developing, video presentations

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, only a handful of drone-on-drone incidents were observed in the region.

Now, however, Russia and Ukraine are “engaged in a ‘drone arms race’, investing vast amounts of money, time and expertise into developing and countering each other’s systems,” says James Patton Rogers, a drone expert. Professional and director of Cornell Brooks Tech’s Coverage Institute, informed BI.

Nowadays, drones that issue warnings on multimillion-dollar armored cars after their explosive payloads have become obsolete are choosing to focus on alternative drones, Mike Monnick, CEO of drone decision-making platform DroneSec, told BI.

BI reviewed more than 40 videos of drone-on-drone skirmishes in Ukraine, collected and annotated via DroneSec, to identify one of the most distinct – and consistently overlapping – ways this low-risk period escalated. Have evolved from.

(BI was not able to independently test some of the videos, which are often shared by partisan groups.)

excuse of illness

The cheap and plentiful DJI Mavic drone has limited visibility overhead – meaning a drone flying overhead is a definite red flag.

The above clip, posted via a pro-Russian channel in early April, shows a Russian drone attacking a Ukrainian DJI Mavic-3 drone without any delay, knocking it out of the sky.

In early 2022, “Most of it was by chance,” Monique noted. He described how a miniature industrial drone out on reconnaissance could spot an enemy drone in the sky, fly over it, and drop down to clip its rotors.

Monique noted, “At this stage, in many incidents, both drones will actually be disabled.”

By 2024, DroneSec said it was a direct first-person view drone with proximity or far-flung detonation functions.

Colliding with an expensive drone with your affordable drone

Some of the simplest attacks are to use FPV drones to ram enemy drones, with or without any explosives.

Since attack drones are also always useless, the biggest victory is when a cheap device takes out something expensive.

The above photos, shared on June 1, present a Ukrainian following a Russian Orlan-10 drone via FPV, along with a nearby video.

The nearest photographs present Orlan in the garden, apparently destroyed by exposure.

According to the Royal United Products and Services Institute, Orlan drones, which cost between $87,000-$120,000, have proven to be one of the “most critical systems” contributing to the lethality of Russian forces.

Meanwhile, probably the oldest FPV drones cost only a few thousand dollars.

Dropping explosives on a drone in the air

Any other type of attack from above, though this life through releasing an explosive without delay on the drone below, as are the photos of a Ukrainian Mavic-3 drone being shot down by a Russian drone from above.

Ukrainian squads informed BI how they began adopting COTS drones to carry munitions that could be dropped from above.

Throwing internet at enemy drones

In February 2023, Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications and Knowledge Security said it had received six US-made DroneHunter F700, an AI-assisted drone that can lay down targets in the air.

Photos shared via CSCIS presentations show Orlan drones and old technology used to take down sheds, old giant warheads flown through Russia to undermine Ukrainian infrastructure.

In line with Clinical American, the DroneHunter F700 is on sale in Ukraine from May 2022.

Apparently Russia will also receive similar technology. In the video below, posted via a pro-Russian account in April, a miniature drone – identified as Ukrainian – is caught in a net fired from above.

Disturbing the drone before it can possibly drop its payload

In the photos below, shared in May, a Ukrainian drone carries an explosive payload carried by a Russian DJI Mavic-3 drone before it is released, according to research by DroneSec.

Release Drone – Remove Pilot

Patton Rogers told BI that there are several alternative techniques to counter enemy drones, including killing them on their supplies.

Drones could also be dispatched to search for antennae peeking out of windows – “a clear indication of an enemy drone pilot operating covertly,” he said.

“Once identified, single or multiple drones will be sent to eliminate the human drone pilot,” he said.

In future, drones could shoot down rogue helicopters

According to Clinical American, the market for counter-drone production could be worth $12.6 billion by 2030, and given the characteristics of drone warfare, it would like to be.

Monique said DroneSec has already seen some attempts to use small, weaponized drones to target helicopters and small aircraft.

Aircraft appear to be fighting again – in April, photos shared via some accounts showed what was once described as a Ukrainian Yak-52 advisory aircraft capturing Orlan. Was. Additional reporting from The Struggle Zone shows this is not an isolated incident.

Monique additionally predicted that we will soon see drones supplied with gun-like weapon platforms, and an even better incidence of drones being deployed in swarm-like formations.

It is tempting to compare this phenomenon to the dogfights of Global War I more than a century ago, when pilots took every opportunity to concentrate with front-mounted gadget weapons and even pistol-era gliding .

Patton Rogers noted, “There is still a deep real-world connection between the two warring sides – perhaps even more so than the aircrews of World War I – as pilots strive to outwit each other.”

The last thing many drone pilots will see through the viewfinder of their doomed drone is an enemy drone — knowing that somewhere, on the other end, an enemy pilot is watching it all happen on his headset, he said.

“Such is the morbidity of modern warfare,” he said.