Author: Shi Jiangyue
Although considerable progress has been made in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, the military conflict continues. We hope that the fighting will subside as soon as possible, because millions of Ukrainians have become refugees, which has become a great challenge to the peace and stability of the entire world.
Observing the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict from a military point of view, in fact, an important indicator represents the information capabilities of both sides in the war, that is, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles on the battlefield.
In this regard, Russia appears to have faced the threat of Ukrainian drones from the very beginning of the conflict, leading to resistance to the advance of ground tank armored units.
So, with the United States providing Ukraine with the most advanced drones for the first time, does the Russian military still have a chance to win the battle?
01 Ukraine ordered a large number of drones before the start of the war
With the improvement of technical capabilities, UAVs have become more than just used for reconnaissance of enemy forces deployed on the battlefield, as they were originally, but more in the attack on enemy ground fire and armored forces. This can effectively reduce the pressure of ground fire that you face.
For example, at the end of September 2020, the use of Tschatt-UAVs in the military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh region received worldwide attention. In the Nagorno-Karabakh War, Azerbaijan used Turkish TB-2 drones to attack Armenian ground firepower, inflicting heavy losses on Armenia.
Then, before the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict, Ukraine actually began to purchase a large number of Turkish TB-2 UAVs, and even signed a cooperation agreement to jointly build TB-2 attack UAVs, which can be said to be preparing for possible conflicts.
In early February, Turkey had reached an agreement with Ukraine to jointly produce TB-2 drones at a ukrainian production site. The reason is that in 2019, turkey sold 6 TB-2 armed drones to Ukraine. At the time, the $69 million contract also involved the sale of ammunition that the drone could carry.
Since the Ukrainian military was later in use, it was satisfied with this drone, and then announced the purchase of 24 more Turkish drones. And hope to achieve joint production.
The TB-2 is a medium-range strike drone and is turkey's first and only domestically produced armed drone. The drone is 6.5 meters long, has a wingspan of 12 meters, a maximum takeoff weight of 630 kilograms, a flight altitude of up to 7300 meters, and can stay in the air for 24 hours.
This UAV can reach up to 150 kilometers from the control point and complete a series of operations such as independent take-off and landing in remote control or automatic mode, both modes. The drone can carry a miniature laser-guided smart ammunition that uses a 22-kilogram warhead. There are 4 different types of warheads available.
Because this kind of unmanned aerial vehicle has a relatively good killing ability against ground tanks, armored vehicles, and anti-aircraft missile vehicles, it poses a certain threat to Russian ground forces in the early stage of the Outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Moreover, in recent years, the Ukrainian army and the armed forces of NATO countries have often conducted joint exercises, and NATO, the United Kingdom and other countries have often sent personnel to train the Ukrainian army.
So, we see that the soldiers of the Ukrainian Army are more skilled in using small drone reconnaissance. According to some frontline photos published on social media, Ukraine has also purchased a Chinese civilian micro-drone for use as a battlefield reconnaissance tool. And this does happen less often on the Russian side.
02 At the critical moment, the United States provided advanced drones
In addition, the West is also providing more drones to Ukraine in a targeted manner, with the purpose of attacking Russian tanks and artillery, multiple rocket launchers and other ground fire.
For example, US President Biden ordered on the 16th to provide an additional $1 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, in addition to providing anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft missiles, especially the most cutting-edge unmanned attack aircraft - "spring knife".
According to the document signed by Biden, the United States will provide Ukraine with "including 800 air defense systems to ensure that Ukrainian troops can continue to block the attack on Ukrainian planes and helicopters and defend Ukraine's airspace." ”
The aid also included 9,000 sets of anti-armor systems, these are portable, high-precision man-fired missiles, which the Ukrainian army used very effectively to destroy Russian tanks and armored vehicles", as well as small arms including machine guns, grenade launchers and ammunition, as well as drones.
Specifically, the new military assistance includes 800 Stinger air defense systems, 2,000 Javelin anti-tank missiles, 1,000 light anti-armor weapons, 6,000 AT-4 anti-tank rocket launchers, 100 unmanned aerial vehicle systems, 100 grenade launchers, 5,000 rifles, 1,000 pistols, 400 machine guns, 400 shotguns, more than 20 million rounds of ammunition, 25,000 body armor, and 25,000 helmets.
These weapons and equipment are urgently needed by Ukraine in the current war.
In particular, the United States provided Ukraine with 100 sets of "spring knife" unmanned attack aircraft, which is known as the most sophisticated and perfect anti-tank weapon of the United States.
This unmanned aerial vehicle is a smart missile weapon between cruise missiles and unmanned combat vehicles.
It can fly and wander in the target area for a period of time to search for the target, and then after locating the target, it retracts its wings and turns into a small cruise missile, launching a dive attack from overhead, and ending up with the target, so it is described as a suicide "kamikaze special attack" weapon. The most critical "spring knife" unmanned attack aircraft can be launched from 80 kilometers away, opening up the distance between the Ukrainian army and the Russian army, so that the Russian tank and artillery units face a greater threat.
U.S. President Joe Biden has also pledged to help the Ukrainian military equip it with more efficient equipment and provide the long-range air defense systems required by Kiev. State Department spokesman Price said the United States would help Ukrainians obtain weapons from friendly countries that are both capable of long-range air defense and are familiar to them, such as weapons systems originating in Russia or the Soviet Union.
Many analysts speculate that the United States is referring to the delivery of the S-300 air defense system mentioned by Zelenskiy to Ukraine. This anti-aircraft missile system developed by the former Soviet Union/Russia, which is familiar to the Ukrainian side, can be used directly against Russian warplanes. Some Eastern European countries within NATO also have S-300 air defense systems.
A senior U.S. official said that the batch of surface-to-air missile systems includes mobile air defense systems SA-8, SA-10, SA-12, SA-14 and other Soviet-era systems, which have a range beyond Stinger missiles and have the ability to shoot down cruise missiles.
03 The Russian army made up for the shortcomings through two means
So is Russia really, as some media say, completely behind the United States, China, and even Turkey in terms of drones?
Objectively speaking, Russia has also developed new types of unmanned aerial vehicles in recent years, including reconnaissance drones and Tchatha integrated UAVs, but due to economic and technical, component aspects, these three areas are limited by the West, so the development speed is slower.
However, we also need to look at this issue from two perspectives. First, Russian drones do play a role in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, but in limited numbers.
A few days ago, some media found that a drone of the Russian army appeared in Ukraine. Known as the Orion-E attack drone, the drone is a Sanda integrated drone that can destroy enemy ground facilities and opponent tanks, artillery, armored vehicles, and more. In terms of appearance, this drone has many similarities with the MQ-1 Predator drone produced in the United States.
The Orion drone is also regarded as one of the best attack drones in Russia. With an endurance of up to 24 hours, a maximum takeoff weight of 1100 kg and a combat payload of 250 kg, it is capable of using small missiles and guided bombs to strike ground targets.
It is reported that Russia's drones have been in a state of testing, but some of them have actually been in service, and the specific number is not clear to the outside world. There is also a theory that Russian drones, which have appeared on the Battlefield in Syria before, have carried out at least 38 missions in Syria. It is said that the Orion drone can attack up to 4 targets at a time.
Second, the Russian military in the Ukrainian battlefield has begun to improve the ability to fight against drones. This time, it can be seen from the results announced by the Russian army every day that the number of Ukrainian drones destroyed by it is rising in a straight line.
So, what did the Russians rely on to achieve this goal? Mainly, the new Ka-31D2 battlefield surveillance and early warning helicopter. We know that the biggest difficulty in dealing with drones is not to strike, but to find and lock. Small UAVs like TB-2, with their small size, low flight altitude and slow flight speed, often rely on the characteristics of their own radar reflection area, and use the terrain to conceal their own tracks.
In conventional air defense radar, this slow and discontinuous signal is often filtered as a clutter, allowing the UAV to successfully hide its tracks and launch attacks unexpectedly.
Russia's new Ka-31D2 early warning helicopter effectively avoided this situation. This helicopter is based on the Russian Navy's carrier-based Ka-31 early warning helicopter, but is equipped with the Russian Air Force. The main improvements are the replacement of new ground reconnaissance and surveillance radars, as well as a large number of data links and communication systems.
In addition, because the aircraft has to fly over the more dangerous ground battlefield, a full set of missile warning and self-defense countermeasure systems has been added. Therefore, it can be seen that Russia is improving its UAV capabilities and anti-UAV capabilities under its own existing conditions.