New weapons: how Baba Yaga drones were created in Ukraine and why they changed the war (video)
Officially, there is no UAV in Ukraine called "Baba Yaga", so the invaders call the whole class of unmanned bombers, who differ in their characteristics, ammunition and even manufacturers. The only thing they have in common is the ability to throw off bombs and terrify the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
Bombard drones have been from the very beginning of a full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine and even before, but had no great influence on fighting because of a small number. When the occupiers began to step on Kiev in February 2022, Ukrainian engineers thought of using large agricultural copters, the so -called agrodrons to deliver the enemy ammunition and arrange explosions about 5 kilometers.
They have not yet been collected very qualitatively, but became prototypes of those Baba Yaga type drones that are now used by the Armed Forces. "There was no Russian rebo then. Manufacturers collected bombers from what could find, and the most difficult challenge for them were communication systems. For a long time drones worked only within the limits of direct visibility.
From the height of human height, the radio signal from the control station reaches UAV at best at a distance of 7 km to increase it to 15 km, the operator should rise 2-3 meters above the ground. Even in this case, the signal may disappear due to obstacles such as buildings or forests. In the end, the Ukrainians solved the issue of communication in two different ways. The UAV developer team, which was called Nemesis, has installed a Starlink Satellite Internet system on the aircraft.
This technology has helped overcome the restriction of ordinary radio transmitters and eliminated the problem of radio horizon. "The distance between the operator and the drone ceased to have any meaning. The operator could control the drone from anywhere on the planet. From this idea, then a few present teams that make bombers came from that. Dron, " - said one of the creators of Nemesis.
In May 2022, the first satellite drone was created, and soon he learned about the SBU General with the call sign "Hunter", who was engaged in the creation of the first marine drones. He took part of the engineers who worked with Starlink. In the spring of 2022, the team began to create drones, which subsequently developed the Vampire drivers. They chose a different way and created a completely autonomous drone capable of acting without constant operator control.
Even if all the connection disappears on the battlefield, such a device must reach the target and complete the task. At the beginning of a full-scale war, there was a fashion for aircraft type reconnaissance, so many were skeptical of the bombard copter-bombers. The developers themselves did not think to put their products on weapons, and the first UAVs brought to the front not commanders, but ordinary soldiers, receiving directly from manufacturers.
Subsequently, the volunteers who purchased for the Defense Forces Civilian Copters "Mavic" and "Matric" began to order large bombers more and more often. And the military, in particular the fighters of the SBU "White Wolf" unit, proved their efficiency, hundreds of units destroying the equipment of the Russians. Later, the government launched a special procedure that made it possible to quickly put drones.
The main merit of the large bombard drones was that they were able to drive Russian armored vehicles tens of kilometers from the front line. Thanks to their constant attacks, the buffer zone has increased where the invaders do not leave their cars at night. UAVs similar to Nemesis can be compared to anti -tank missile complexes such as Javelin, Nlaw and Stugna, which in the first months were almost the only weapon against armored vehicles.
But to make a shot of them, the Ukrainian soldier should be 2-3 kilometers from the enemy, risking his life, giving up, releasing and bringing a rocket, and you need to have visual contact constantly. "And our operator sits in Kiev, in a warm office with a lane, and in one departure 3-4 shells are dropped," one of the developers of Nemesis explained. Vampire operators should be much closer to the front line, but they are still not so dangerous.
Such drones can now fly tens of kilometers and find themselves deep enough in the rear of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Recently, Nemesis struck the Russian machine of the Borisoglebsk RES worth about $ 200 million. During the entire work, such UAVs were affected by 158 units of tanks alone. "It is well known that this class of drone has significantly changed the tactics of fighting on the other side.
They should be laid on the night for 20 kilometers and then as much return to the front," says the NEMESIS team representative. "We counted, and it turned out that everyone was spent Our drone is destroyed by $ 50 to 50. The military identified several basic types of tasks that can perform heavy drones of this class: bombing of the front edge, defeat of equipment in the rear, mines or cover during assault.
Sometimes they also fulfill humanitarian missions, for example, they delivered water, food, medicines, communications to residents of the Kherson region after blasting the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station. It was reported that Russia is looking for ways to fight Baba Yaga's drones. The occupiers recently decided to attack them with smaller drones. It was also written that Ukrainian drones of Nemesis were copied in the Russian Federation.