The Russian Armed Forces expanded the UAV attack zone 50 km deep into Ukraine: how the Armed Forces will protect the sky, analysts

Share: In the front-line areas, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation significantly increased the use of operational-tactical attack drones in quantitative terms, analysts said. In addition, Russian UAVs of the type are improving in the technical aspect, which requires retaliatory measures from the Defense Forces. Russian troops are increasingly using mass and cheap attack UAVs — FPV copters, Blyskavka, Lancet, and the like.

They attack civilian and military infrastructure dozens of kilometers from the front line, Militarny writes. As an example, an episode in Kharkiv was given, where a $300 Blyskavka drone carried two $200 FPVs that attacked civilian objects in the Shevchenkiv district of the city. Another incident occurred in Kramatorsk, where a fiber-optic drone targeted a military vehicle. In Slovyansk, a minibus carrying civilians was hit, and in Izyum, a "Lancet" hit a truck 50 km from the contact line.

Thus, all these cases of hostile attacks indicate the systemic nature of the threat, the article states. At the level of the command of the Defense Forces, measures are already being taken in response — specialized air defense units are being created, and the formation of unmanned systems forces is also growing rapidly. These are the right steps, according to "Military" analysts, but each formation has its own purpose and set of tasks.

"The key factor preventing the implementation of a high-quality systematic countermeasure against Russian reconnaissance and attack UAVs at the operational-tactical level is the delay in making a decision on the creation of full-time air defense units within the army corps, the transition to which has already been reported recently," the article says.

Only the emergence of a corps link of air defense, the scaling of best practices (including the use of anti-aircraft artillery, short and short-range missiles, as well as UAV interceptors) and their integration with brigade air defense will enable the corps to fully hold the direction, cover the rear and key communications, including large front-line cities and highways.

The example of the 3rd Army Corps shows that the Air Defense Forces of the Ground Forces have trained commanders, trained personnel and tried and tested procedures, ready for rapid scaling. And for this, it is necessary to provide sustainable material and technical support as part of the corps. "Delaying the formation of air defense corps units means not only a loss of time, but also a loss of initiative in the air," - concluded in "Military".