July 2024

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Highlights

• Atmospherics:
  • Since 2014, Ukraine has been a battle-lab for the development of drone warfare
    doctrine and technology, and the pace of that evolution has exponentially accelerated
    since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Yet, even after a decade of battlefield
    improvisations and innovations, Ukraine still does not have a centralized process to
    collect and collate front-line feedback to guide the formation of standardized doctrine
    and the concerted development of new technologies.‍‍
• ‍Emerging Tech:
  • Auterion has developed an automated terminal-phase guidance system for strike
    drones.
  • One of the key speed bumps in the pace of FPV drone operations is the time it takes
    to jury-rig existing munitions to be used as explosive payloads.
  • One DIY munitions case study: Steel Hornets: https://steelhornets.com.ua‍
• Battlefield Trends:‍
  • Ukraine’s drone pilot training architecture remains decentralized and uncodified.
  • The success rate of Ukrainian FPV strikes depends on the local environment,
    including factors such as the Russian EW threats and an area’s physical terrain,
    including factors such as hills or trees that might interfere with an FPV drone’s
    control signals.
  • Ukrainian FPV operators often resort to a trial-and-error process to determine what
    frequencies the Russians are jamming.
  • Across the war zone, Ukrainians have developed some interesting tactics. One
    involves a large Ukrainian drone with a signal repeater that flies with a pack of FPV
    drones.
  • Another tactic: Ukraine’s Baba Yaga bomber drone is accompanied by several smaller
    FPV drones.
  • Another popular Ukrainian tactic involves nighttime raids on Russian positions.
  • Weather is a constraint for FPV strikes since most FPVs and drones rely on visual
    navigation.