Braving the Battlefront with Ukraine’s FPV Drones

Ukraine’s front-line soldiers are reporting a significant increase in kamikaze drones deployed by Russian forces. In response, Ukraine is stepping up its game and producing its own. This advancement is the topic of today’s report by a France 24 team on location.

What might resemble a video game lounge is, in fact, a Ukrainian Armed Forces training center. There, soldiers are undergoing intensive two-week programs to learn FPV drone operation using VR headsets.

The end game is to attach munitions to these drones, offering a more cost-effective solution. One drone costs around $600, which is a fraction of the $80,000-$120,000 price tag for a Javelin missile. A special forces member commented, “Technology moves on, and we have to move with it.”

Ukraine isn’t just learning to fly these FPV drones; they’re building them domestically too. However, the race to launch drones quicker than Russia comes with challenges.

Yevhen Tkach, a volunteer, says, “They’re trying to copy what we’re doing… if someone in the government realized that this technology should be used, they will spend a lot of money… We’re short of parts… everything produced in China is contracted either by us or by Russians.”

Oleksiy Shevshenko, another volunteer, takes an hour to assemble one kamikaze drone. His current focus is finding a workaround for the countermeasures implemented by Russian forces.

“They use very powerful frequencies on the ground to jam our drones,” Oleksiy says. He further explains that the solution, for now, is to confirm the absence of countermeasures before deploying the drones.

Once built, these kamikaze drones are sent out to various units. A Special Forces Captain due to receive these drones revealed he requires around a hundred per week for his post. As this drone warfare intensifies, it’s clear that technological evolution on the battlefield is more crucial than ever for Ukraine’s defense.

Photos courtesy of France 24