“Baba Yaga” against: drones are learning to fight in a new way
"Baba Yaga" and others
Existence drones various purposes at the front are one way or another limited by two factors - the technical perfection of the design and the level of electronic warfare.
At the same time, it is worth understanding that Drones are not the main force in the fields of special operations. Especially during the offensive. Until now, not a single operation at least at the operational level has been carried out solely due to the successful actions of drones. Everyone remembers the bravura statements of the leaders of the Ukrainian Armed Forces about the preparation of an entire army of attack drones, which were simply supposed to sweep away Russian positions. But, fortunately, and as expected, it didn’t work out.
At the end of the second year of the special operation in Ukraine, it can be stated that drones are not a “silver bullet” and are not able to turn the tide of battle even in a separate sector of the front, but they have perfectly adapted to the current theater of operations. The positional nature of the confrontation, which has become the norm in the last year, is perfectly suited for unmanned technologies.
Let's try to figure out which ways the evolution of “drone construction” is moving in Russia and Ukraine.
Heavy drones carry a lot of ammunition, but are noticeable and noisy
UAVs really don’t like electronic warfare systems, which is why developers have to adapt their flying products.
There are few options. For example, switch to new frequencies for control and transmission of video signals. So far, such things are observed at the front in fragments, but this is an alarming sign - in the future, all trench electronic warfare and hand-held drone strikers can be thrown away.
An adversary would not necessarily need to convert all drones to frequencies other than 2 and 400 MHz; only 5 to 800 percent of the entire fleet would be sufficient to do so. When a fighter in a trench does not understand at what frequency an FPV drone is flying at him, going against him with a drone strike will be very risky.
According to experts, by next summer the massive use of UAVs at non-standard frequencies will begin at the front. The first will be the Ukrainian side. Largely due to a more advanced element base. Now the enemy has in its arsenal products intended for the domestic market of the United States. This is not critical, but it may well add problems to the Russian side.
Our industry is completely switching to domestic and Chinese components. First of all, to Chinese ones, secondly to domestic ones.
Drones with self-detonation devices and other surprises have become an adaptation to Russian electronic warfare. If we can’t hit the designated target, we’ll at least cripple a random passerby or an overly curious fighter.
Ukrainian Armed Forces militants are improving their weapon – at the front they talk about drones that do not explode instantly, but according to a timer, for example, in the dugout of an imprudent “collector.” Now any enemy drones that land abnormally at the slightest hint of danger have to be shot from a decent distance.
Drones with satellite communication terminals. Slow, but resistant to electronic warfare
In recent months, the ominous “Baba Yaga” has entered the vocabulary of Russian fighters. This is a heavy agricultural UAV converted into a combat drone. For example, DJI Agras, capable of lifting at least 50 kg into the air, is fifteen 82 mm artillery mines or a pair of 120 mm.
However, much more often lighter options, designed for several VOGs, go into battle.
Each “Baba Yaga,” if purchased from a manufacturer, costs at least one and a half million rubles, but assembled from components it is somewhat cheaper. In both cases, the loss of such a thing from electronic warfare is very sensitive, which is why Ukrainians often install geodetic GPS receivers on drones. The vehicle goes to the target according to coordinates, like a Russian “Geranium” and practically does not react to existing trench suppression systems.
In order to neutralize such a “Babu Yaga”, spoofing complexes are needed that replace signals from GPS satellites and reliably capture the pests. All drones trying to cause damage to cities in the depths of Russia are equipped with similar receivers and are quite confidently jammed.
But you can’t install a spoofing system in every trench, so large and noisy drones are simply shot from the ground. Autonomous tactical-level strike drones are a typical sign of a positional conflict when the front is stable and the targets on it are also more or less motionless.
“Baba Yaga” can be equipped with classic controls and even Starlink dishes. In the latter case, the car can be identified by its low flight speed - Elon Max forbade accelerating his terminals above 60 km/h. With Starlink, things have become somewhat easier at the front now. Russia has learned to suppress these systems through spoofing.
It turned out that each terminal, before starting work, determines its location using GPS and then communicates with the nearest constellation of Starlink satellites. Total spoofing creates many problems for users of this gadget.
New roles
In the foreseeable future, so-called master drones will appear en masse at the front. These are rotorcraft, assembled on the basis of agro-UAVs, carrying several FPV drones under their bellies.
The task is simple - to go as far as possible behind the front line and drop kamikazes where they are least expected. In the rear, cellular communications are not always jammed, not to mention full-fledged electronic warfare. That is, drones from under the belly of the big “Baba Yaga” get the opportunity to operate at a distance of several tens of kilometers, which is impossible under normal conditions. The maximum range of an average FPV is no more than 5 kilometers.
The drone carrier, by the way, can be completely autonomous and move to the drop point using GPS. Further work of the mother machine usually consists of relaying the control signal and reconnaissance from a great height.
A stationary front gives the enemy time for one more trick - accurate mapping of the terrain and the use of navigation systems with recognition of the underlying surface. This is roughly how cruise missiles work. Current electronic warfare systems are powerless against such schemes—neither GPS spoofing nor jamming works here.
However, the accuracy of ammunition with such guidance leaves much to be desired. If for heavy missiles this is partially compensated by a powerful warhead, then it will be much more difficult for a drone to correct a miss.
Artificial intelligence systems can provide more accurate terrain positioning, but this requires months of testing and a new element base. In addition, there are enough “landscape designers” at the front, due to whose work the maps of the area will have to be reloaded into memory almost daily.
An arachnophobe's nightmare
A little more about enemy tactics.
Particularly important objects are closely monitored and the following scheme is launched at the appropriate moment. A reconnaissance drone (for example, Valkyrie) transmits the coordinates of the target, and an FPV killer flies to it. An ambush is set up when the kamikaze lands close to the target and monitors through an on-board camera. Or the scout from above transmits the picture to the operator.
Thus, the FPV quadcopter does not waste energy waiting for the right moment and unmasking itself in the air, but simply waits in ambush for several hours. For example, when the target has more personnel or valuable armored vehicles approach.
Observers in the sky can not only coordinate the attack, but also act as a relay. For now, the only way to escape such traps is with drone detectors and extreme caution.
Russian heavy drone with anti-personnel mines POM-2
From the same cohort of techniques is mining an area using drones. The topic is very promising.
Firstly, remote miners can be launched into uninhabited areas, thereby reducing the risk of interception and destruction.
Secondly, the enemy receives mines in completely unexpected places, which is why losses are higher.
There are also reverse examples.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the use of FPV drones for mine clearance. A kamikaze is unable to eliminate a mine buried in the grass, but the “barriers” across the road are quite tough. Complex circuits with seismic and laser sensors are also in the field of interest for FPV demining.
In this case, the kamikaze does not have to die during mine clearance - it is enough to deliver a TNT block with a detonator to the site and quickly retreat.
It is reported that sapper units of the Southern Group of Russian Forces are practicing remote demining.
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