It has been two days since Russia launched a full-scale military operation against Ukraine, and news of various marches, bombings, and firefights has been flying all over the place, and there are many videos. But you can clearly see a trend from this, that is, the drones that often occupy the front page in the previous conflicts have been collectively muted, and there is almost no news. Although the actual situation has yet to be discovered, this question is probably worth pondering.
In the East Ukrainian conflict before the start of the all-out war, Ukraine once invested drones and achieved certain results. An online video shows that last October, the Ukrainian military used TB-2 drones imported from Turkey to destroy a D-30 howitzer of "separatists" in the Donbass region. Ukraine also claimed to have used drones to destroy several other targets.
Turkey developed the TB-2 Tchatha integrated UAV
Since 2019, Ukraine has purchased 30 TB-2 "military flag" Tchathan integrated drones from Turkey. The drone has a speed of 138 mph, has a total of 4 external points, can mount a variety of precision-guided munitions up to 330 pounds, and is equipped with photoelectric detection devices. The TB-2 is about 39 feet long, has a wingspan of 21 feet, and a ceiling height of 18,000 feet. Overall, it is close to the level of Pterodactyl 1 but the size and endurance and mounting capacity are slightly smaller.
According to current news reports, Ukraine is still resisting Russia's military operations, so it has also invested TB-2 drones in an attempt to slow down the Russian offensive. But the Russian side announced yesterday that it had shot down at least 4 drones, and it is clear that these drones have not played the desired role in Russia's large-scale attack.
TB-2 drone
In fact, it is easy to think about it carefully, and it is very difficult to understand that the role that drones can play in large-scale ground conflicts or mobile warfare so far is limited. Russia's all-out military operation against Ukraine will inevitably be accompanied by full-scale electronic warfare and information warfare, paralyzing Ukraine's command network, destroying detection and command nodes, and interfering with and deceptive radio communications. In the case of the complete loss of this air superiority, electromagnetic and information control rights, the unmanned aerial vehicle has no room to play at all, and even if it takes off, it is difficult to effectively transmit the reconnaissance signal back to the ground command post, and it is even more impossible to select, judge or hit the target. As soon as the Ukrainian drone is launched, it will be found and identified by the Russian side at a long distance, and then it will soon be destroyed by various accompanying ground air defense equipment or fighter jets, and the supporting ground accusation station will also face an immediate blow.
It can also be seen from various news reports and video footage that Russia uses a large number of helicopter gunships to escort armored units advancing on the ground, or helicopter airborne troops. Any Ukrainian military equipment found, or any attempt to intercept, would be attacked by helicopter gunships. The flight speed is slow, the mobility is poor, and the unarmed Chada integrated UAV is a small dish in front of the Russian Military Command.
The UAV has lost its effect, so will other drones still be able to do it? First of all, the reconnaissance and school-firing drones used by the artillery are not useful at present. Now is still russia's comprehensive march stage, the Ukrainian army has not successfully carried out effective blockade, can not form a relatively fixed front, and the Russian army's route through a large number of civilian areas, large-caliber artillery is difficult to play a role, more rely on aviation fixed-point clearance, this situation will not be put into reconnaissance school shooting UAV.
The situation of small single-soldier reconnaissance UAVs is also similar, and the movement warfare blitzkrieg warfare forces move quickly towards the established target, and do not enter the environment that requires UAV investment, sneak attack, and attack. By the time a squad had put away the drone, the convoy had already run out a long distance. However, the Ukrainian army may invest in some small reconnaissance drones, but even if the target is found, it lacks the ability to deal with strikes. And these drones are found to be connected to the machine and people to be connected to the pot end, the cost is huge and the battle situation is useless.
Small, individual reconnaissance drones equipped by Russia
In the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan and Armenia, drones hit ground targets, and tanks and armored vehicles were powerless to fight back, and only in low-level conflicts that were out of the system. Drones also played a role in the East Ukrainian conflict, but now in full-scale military operations, it is another matter.
Another important factor is that the level of drones in Russia and Ukraine is not high. Ukraine needless to say, the medium-sized Tsatta integrated UAV also depends on imports, and the imports are not advanced goods. Russia's own UAV equipment has been left far behind by the United States and China, and it is seriously unsystematic. The Russian aviation industry has shown incredible slowness and low energy in the development and use of unmanned aerial vehicles, which is not commensurate with its level. The Russian army is only equipped with a small number of Sanda integrated UAVs, no long-term reconnaissance and surveillance UAVs, but has invested considerable energy in unmanned fighters such as the S-70 Hunter, which seems to be the end of the line.
The track of the RQ-4 Global Hawk
For comparison, yesterday an American RQ-4 Global Hawk cruised near the border between Romania and Ukraine for nearly 24 hours, not to say that everything is under control, but the battlefield intelligence obtained is probably no less than the Russians themselves. The contrast is too stark.