Whether it’s the Turkish Bayraktar, which uses missiles for ground attack, the Iranian
Shahed-136, which works like a kamikaze plane to destroy its target, or the black hornet,
the world's smallest drone, which resembles a remote controlled toy helicopter, there’s
no denying that the introduction of drones into modern combat has changed the landscape of war.
Nearly every major military has adopted their use in some way.
But you’d be surprised to hear that none of these military drones are as feared as
this one — the DJI Mavic. This little commercial drone managed to outshine even the most advanced
drones in the world and prove critical to the mission of troops on the ground.
But how this simple consumer-grade drone designed for recording weddings changed
the rules of war forever, all thanks to one man, is Not What You Think!
On the night of April 13th, 2022, Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet,
was struck by two Ukrainian anti-ship missiles while at dock, causing it to catch fire,
and sink to the bottom of the sea. Even though the Russian ship was equipped
with anti-air defense systems, Bayraktar is believed to have played a distracting role,
or even having delivered the first strike to the cruiser that destroyed its radar antenna.
Bayraktar showed exceptional success during the first months of the war.
After seeing its footage, Ukrainians sent money to volunteers to afford an additional three Turkish
drones for the army. But soon TB-2 Bayraktar became scarce for a few simple reasons.
It’s big, expensive, and an easy target for Russian anti-air missiles.
As the Russo-Ukrainian war slowly went from active phase to a stalemate of trench warfare
and heavy artillery duels, the missing piece for the Ukrainian military was information on the
battlefield. Their innovative solution? Something you can get from Best Buy for cheap! That is if
you live in North America – the DJI Mavic. You may have guessed already, that the primary
use of these simple commercial drones on the battlefield, is not their firing power.
It’s reconnaissance. Mavic is cheap, easy to use, and can be applied to many recon tasks. Regardless
of its size, Mavic proved its reliability even in serious military operations.
On May 12th, 2022, Russian forces tried to cross the Siverskyi-Donets river in the Donbas region.
Ukrainian soldiers knew the Russians were going to cross from this exact place and
asked a drone operator to help pre-adjust the trajectory of shells for this location.
When the Russians deployed pontoon bridges and started crossing, the Ukrainian artillery fired
a volley of shells and destroyed the whole unit, including its tanks, light armor, and infantry.
This incident made one thing obvious — information is the most valuable weapon to defeat the enemy,
especially in close range engagements. The Mavic stepped in and rewrote the
rules of ground warfare, making both sides change their tactics of waging war.
But in the end, it’s all about sweet-sweet money.
Think of it this way. What happens if you attach a $200 grenade to a $3000 drone and drop it on
an abandoned tank? That’s right, you destroy a 3-million dollar piece of equipment with $3200.
The new trend of inflicting the most damage with low-cost solutions has made both sides
think outside-of-the-Mavic. Sure, a wedding drone is great for small operations, but what if you
need to accomplish more on the battlefield, like going deeper behind the frontline?
That’s how Mavic pushed other drones to do the thing they were built for! The Russian
Orlan-10 is an example of that. This seemingly small UAV utilizes
a portable launch complex and control station for a total price of $120,000.
It is deemed the most successful drone in the Russian army with laser-guiding artillery.
With a range of up to 75 miles and flight time of 10 hours, this sounds like a good deal…
until you look inside it and find a DSLR camera with a bunch of western details that Russia
is smuggling through other non-sanctioned countries to build these drones en masse.
Oh, and a bottle instead of the proper fuel tank.
However, this price doesn’t stand even near affordable,
compared to the Russian kamikaze drone Geran-2.
Seeing that out of 4500 missiles fired at Ukraine, only 40% hit their initial targets, Geran-2 became
the cheapest alternative to missiles like “Kalibr” for a price tag of $20,000 instead of
$6.5 million. With a range of 1,550 miles (2,500 km), the drone hit most of its targets and became
too expensive to shoot down. The only downside to it is its controversy with the Iranian government
which is suspected of supplying Shahed-136 drones to Russia which really resemble Geran-2.
But the most commonly used kamikaze drone that is not getting enough credit … is the Lancet drone.
As a loitering munition with a range of 25 miles and armed with explosives,
this manually-controlled drone can destroy Ukrainian vehicles in the short range.
Although, there have been instances where it got stuck in a fishnet.
Ukraine, on the other hand, doesn’t have much money to put into expensive drone
building, so the government heavily relies on domestically-made drones from private businesses
and also aid packages from other countries, making Ukraine a test field for drones of all sizes.
Speaking of size… It turns out it doesn’t matter!
The Black Hornet is one of the drones that proves this! Designed to be the smallest reconnaissance
drone on Earth, weighing just over 1 oz and armed with one thermal or two daytime cameras.
Ukrainian operators have already published a review on it, saying it cannot replace the Mavic,
but will be a great addition to highly-specialized tasks for special operation units.
Have you seen the big propellers of Taiwan?
The Revolver 860. A drone which can carry up to eight 60 mm shells to drop on the enemy’s armor.
As for eliminating manpower, Switchblade 300 is becoming a popular option,
especially when in the hands of Ukrainian special forces.
As for regular troops, self-made is always a choice! First-person drones you might’ve seen
on races or filming incredible shots are now being armed with explosives that can
be guided by the operator toward light armor and infantry. They can cost as little as $350 each.
As a response to the Russian Orlan, the Ukrainian-developed “Valkyrie" has slightly
worse performance than its Russian counterpart, but is now considered one of the most dangerous.
What makes it so dangerous … is the richest man in the world!
Thanks to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites, Ukrainian drones can livestream the camera
feed directly to the operator, who can correct artillery trajectories and report on enemy
movement in real time. Without Starlink, Ukrainian forces' artillery accuracy would
significantly drop and would force soldiers to spend more of their already-scarce ammo.
Even though Ukraine’s Minister of Defense said that Mavics are just drones intended for
recording weddings, they’re still playing a huge role in this war … and DJI is mad about it.
In April 2022, DJI Technology suspended its business in Russia and Ukraine to
stop the use of its products in combat. As a DJI spokesperson said, it was all about
making a statement about their principles. DJI’s decision adds much pressure to Ukraine,
as the army now relies on volunteers who can cross the border, buy Mavics, and bring
them back into Ukraine, which complicates the logistics of acquiring these drones.
In response, the Ukrainian government canceled all border taxes on drone imports to ease
the pain of the army. But in the end, all these efforts may have been for nothing.
SpaceX, the company that provided Ukrainian soldiers with a stable Starlink connection,
restricted its service for armed forces,
arguing that the company has given terminals for humanitarian purposes, not military.
As SpaceX’s president said, “Ukrainians have leveraged it in ways that were unintentional
and not part of any agreement”. Some Ukrainian units reported troubles with Starlink terminals
connected to the strike drones, but the military communication remained intact.
This is a real problem for Ukrainians. Without a stable internet connection,
commercial drones lose half of their enhanced capabilities, especially distance.
Soldiers won’t have access to valuable information in-time,
compared to their Russian counterparts who don’t rely on Starlink as much as Ukraine does.
No one knows what will happen in the coming months, but what is certain is
that military experts are carefully documenting every drone usage.
This is the first-ever drone warfare between two countries. Militaries across the world will
use this experience to craft compelling, reliable, and efficient drones both for
reconnaissance and lethal purposes, changing the rules of war forever.
And that’s all thanks to these little wings … in the sky …