Russia has lost its advantage in reconnaissance drones, which corrected missile and artillery strikes

Ukrainian FPV interceptor drones, which track and destroy Russian reconnaissance drones, have put an end to Russia's dominance in aerial reconnaissance in the war with Ukraine.

Here's What We Know

In early 2024, Russian Orlan-10, Zala, and Supercam reconnaissance drones were constantly tracking the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They flew up to an altitude of 5,000 metres, making them inaccessible to Ukrainian ground-based weapons systems. And other Ukrainian electronic warfare systems were ineffective.

As the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not have reconnaissance drones of a similar class and effective means of countering Russian drones at the time, enemy drones became a serious threat.

For example, in March 2024, Russian troops were able to destroy two Patriot anti-aircraft missile launchers near Pokrovsk, which were located more than 30 km from the front line.

However, in June, Russian reconnaissance drones began to lose their advantage. Ukrainian modified FPV drones, the so-called "interceptors", learned to catch up with Russian reconnaissance drones at an altitude of more than several thousand metres.

Ukrainian soldiers have not disclosed the details of the new method used by their FPV kamikaze pilot units, but along the entire front line, losses of Russian reconnaissance drones have quadrupled, and the time they spend over Ukrainian positions has sharply decreased.

The Russians are now looking for ways to counter Ukrainian interceptor drones. For example, they are putting Ukrainian markings on their UAVs.

Source: The Times