It is difficult for Ukraine to reverse the situation when using cheap UAVs instead of artillery 0
(Dan Tri) – Ukraine is increasingly using drones to compensate for the lack of artillery ammunition, but experts warn that this tactic cannot change the balance of power.
Ukrainian soldiers carry a Leleka reconnaissance drone in Donetsk province in 2023 (Photo: AFP/Getty).
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), both specialized types that can strike hundreds of kilometers away and commercial types, are dominating the Ukrainian battlefield.
`In Ukraine right now, we are seeing UAVs being used on an unimaginable scale. We are really talking about tens, hundreds of thousands of them on the battlefield,` Ulrike Franke, researcher at
In the 2024 budget, Kiev spent 1.25 billion USD to buy drones.
Ukraine’s allies are also bolstering Ukraine’s UAV inventory.
Ukrainian officials estimate the country needs about 100,000-120,000 drones per month.
Meanwhile, according to the assessment of the British Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Ukraine needs 200,000-250,000 artillery shells/month for a major attack or 75,000-90,000 to maintain a defensive posture.
Therefore, `Ukraine can reduce the need for artillery shells by significantly increasing the production of attack drones,` two experts Michael Kofman and Franz-Stefan Gady said in the IISS assessment.
Expert Mykola Bielieskov of the Atlantic Council think tank agrees that drones `are capable of performing many of the functions of artillery and missiles at a fraction of the cost.`
A small commercial UAV costs just a few hundred euros, while a simple model anti-tank missile or an artillery shell costs a few thousand euros.
AFP quoted a French military source, 65-85% of Ukrainian raids targeting Russian positions were caused by UAVs.
But Mr. Ulrike Franke warned: `They use drones because they have the ability to produce or buy them themselves, but that is not ideal.`
FPV has a small load capacity, only hundreds of grams of explosives and a few kilograms for the largest commercial UAV models.
`Even a large number of small drones cannot match artillery fire,` expert Stacie Pettyjohn agreed in a study by the US security consulting organization CNAS.
UAVs can supplement indirect fire weapons, she added, but are not a replacement.
In September 2023, the New York Times reported that less than a third of drone strikes hit their targets because they can easily be jammed or disrupted by electronic warfare.
In addition, Ukraine can no longer be confident in its superiority in the field of drone warfare.
Ms. Pettyjohn pointed out that by 2022, Ukraine had a `9 to 1 advantage` in commercial drone capabilities, but this advantage `has essentially disappeared.`
`Although the Russian Ministry of Defense was slow to catch on, the Russian military quickly realized the benefits of commercial quadcopter drones. Volunteer groups have also provided frontline soldiers with drones and
Russia relied heavily on FPV to stop Ukraine’s counteroffensive last summer.
According to Ms. Pettyjohn, drones bring new capabilities but make it more difficult to `concentrate forces, create surprise and conduct attack operations`.
