December 9, 2024: After nearly three years of war in Ukraine, both sides are relying on cheap, unmanned drones to replace most artillery and aircraft-delivered bombs and missiles. Drones are doing most of the reconnaissance and surveillance as well as confirming how aerial attacks were on or where the enemy currently is. The latest Ukrainian innovation is longer range drones that can hit targets over 2,000 kilometers distant. Using GPS/INS navigation and unjammable terminal pattern recognition guidance, these drones have proved to be formidable aerial weapons. Recently Ukraine began using longer range attack drones to hit targets in and around Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Smolensk and the nearby Crimean Peninsula. Russian air defenses shoot down a lot of these drones, but there are many of these inexpensive drones being used that some get through and do a lot of damage. When these exploding targets are within sight of a major city, it is difficult for Russian propagandists to claim nothing happened and all the Ukrainian drones were shot down,

While Russia had some long-range bombers at the start of the war, Ukraine soon developed longer range drones. Russia is running out its elderly bombers, because of sanctions is unable to make any more of them and is turning to its remaining stocks of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles for long-range attacks while also building more drones.

Ukraine has long developed and built its own drones and Russia is playing catch up. By early 2023 it was obvious that drones were dominating the battlefield in Ukraine. In July 2024 a senior Ukrainian defense official once more confirmed this and observed that the dominance of drones in combat was increasing. Since the war began in early 2022 drone use has increased at the expense of traditional artillery. The reasons are obvious. Drones are more flexible, cheaper and come in many different models. Drones can be controlled by nearby operators and sent after targets over a thousand kilometers distant using GPS guidance and several backup systems if electronic jamming of GPS signals is encountered.

This drone revolution was made possible by increasingly cheaper and more powerful electronics as well as a highly developed amateur remotely controlled aircraft hobby. China dominated the consumer market for drones, selling over a million of its Mavic quadcopters between 2021 and 2023. Hobby firms worldwide sold quadcopter and other drone parts so enthusiasts could build their own. A lot of those enthusiasts were Ukrainian and when Russia invaded in early 2022 the many Ukrainian drone users, modifiers, builders and commercial manufacturers all got to work to defend the motherland.

Drones soon became the weapon of choice because, soon after Russia invaded Ukraine, both sides quickly lost most of their conventional offensive weapons in combat. These losses included armored vehicles, especially tanks for the Russians. Longer range weapons, like artillery, which delivered most of its fire power to targets 30 kilometers distant and a smaller number of guided missiles, which could reach targets over a hundred kilometers distant, tended to survive the heavy losses suffered by armored vehicles that fought at close range. The Ukrainians who quickly ran out of artillery ammunition, were the first to adopt drones because they had to, and the Russians are still trying to catch up.

The Russians lost most of their tube artillery in 2023-2024 by burning out their irreplaceable tube liners. By the second half of 2023 both sides had turned to drones, which were cheaper, easier to obtain and provided more flexible alternatives. It was soon discovered that drones had a seemingly endless number of new capabilities. One of the more crucial qualities was the ease of obtaining drones and modifying them or building larger or smaller versions. The technology required for current drone warfare evolved over the last few decades as the commercial quadcopters and hobbyist fixed wing remotely controlled aircraft achieved a degree of maturity in design and reliability. This made it possible for users or developers to confidently and quickly modify existing drones to meet their needs.

Most of the resulting drones were short range models operating no farther than ten kilometers from their user. This meant the combat zone was a much more dangerous place than it ever had been in the past. The surveillance was constant and round the clock. More expensive drones with night-vision sensors, usually based on a combination of object and heat detection and interpretation, provided adequate surveillance at night or in fog or misty conditions. Then there are logistical considerations. Reusable drones have to be recharged or refueled between missions. Drones built as single-use weapons have to be checked out before actual use. This is especially true for the long-range attack models. These fixed-wing drones go after targets a thousand kilometers or more distant and tend to use a single diesel or gasoline fueled engine. These engines must be sturdy and reliable because everything depends on a reliable propulsion system. Another critical component is the navigation and target acquisition system. Resistance to electronic jamming is essential. Electronic jamming technology is constantly evolving to deal with improved guidance systems that make earlier jammers ineffective or less effective. This makes every new drone design likely to be compromised and obsolete in short order. With the inexpensive technology drones use, rapid evolution is easier to achieve and the ability to quickly develop ways to disrupt new tech is essential.

A major limitation was the need for trained drone operators. They need many hours of training before they are able to start operating these drones, and another few dozen hours of actual use before they are able to make the most out of the system. These drones are difficult to shoot down until they get close to the ground and the shooter is close enough, as in less than a few hundred meters, to successfully target a drone with a bullet or two and bring it down. Troops are rarely in position to do this, so most of these drones are able to complete their mission, whether it is a one-way attack or a reconnaissance and surveillance mission. The recon missions are usually survivable and enable the drone to be reused. All these drones are constantly performing surveillance, which means that either side commits enough drones to maintain constant surveillance over a portion of the front line, to a depth, into enemy territory, of at least a few kilometers. The Ukrainians penetrate farther – they often have effective drone coverage 20 kilometers into Russian-held territory. This makes it extremely difficult for the Russians to supply their front-line troops, even with drinking water.

This massive use of FPV (First Person Viewing) armed drones has revolutionized warfare in Ukraine and both sides are producing as many as they can. Not having enough of these to match the number the enemy has in a portion of the front means you are at a serious disadvantage in that area. These drones are still evolving in terms of design and use and are becoming more effective and essential.

Ukraine has created a new branch of their military, the Drone Force. This is in addition to the Ukrainian Air Force that consists of manned aircraft. The Drone Force does not control the drones Ukrainian forces use regularly but does contribute to developing new drone models and organizing mass production for those new models that are successful. Drones have been an unexpected development that had a huge impact on how battles in Ukraine's current war are fought. Drones were successful because they were cheap, easily modified, and expendable.

Both Russian and Ukrainian forces were soon using cheap, at about $500 each, quadcopter drones controlled by soldiers a kilometer or more away using FPV goggles to see what the day/night video camera on the drone can see. Adding night vision at least doubles the cost for each drone, so not all of them have that capability. Each of these drones carries half a kilogram of explosives, so it can instantly turn the drone into a flying bomb that can fly into a target and detonate. This is an awesome and debilitating weapon when used in large numbers over the combat zone. If a target isn’t moving or requires more explosive power that the drones can supply, one of the drone operators can call in artillery, rocket, or missile fire, or even an airstrike. Larger, fixed wing drones are used for long range, often over a thousand kilometers, operations against targets deep inside Russia.