So far, the Ukrainian side in particular has caused a stir with the successful use of combat drones. Russia has long neglected this important area – but Moscow also has some trump cards.
Russian soldiers test an Orlan-10 reconnaissance drone. The camera-equipped device is launched using a catapult.
The United States is concerned that China could provide Russia with armaments in the war against Ukraine. American security adviser Jake Sullivan expressed dissatisfaction with Beijing’s intentions, which Washington claims to have learned of, to the Chinese side on Monday. The White House then said that Sullivan had warned the Chinese about “consequences”. This should mean that the US would punish Chinese support for Russia with sanctions.
The reports of an alleged request for help from Moscow make people sit up and take notice. Is the Kremlin already so alarmed by the slow pace of its offensive that it has to procure weapons from China? That would be a fallacy. According to research by the Bloomberg agency, the alleged Russian request, which has been denied in Beijing, was made at about the same time as the invasion began, i.e. not just now.
However, the list of desired goods is revealing: As various American media write, citing government circles, unmanned aircraft (drones) are high up there.
Technology and know-how from abroad
In the increasingly important field of drone technology, Russia is lagging behind. For example, while the US has had long-range combat drones for more than two decades, such a weapon is still missing from the Russian arsenal. For a long time, Russia was dependent on Israeli know-how for its own developments. This is how it is now, for example drone used in Ukraine of the type Forpost (outpost) an Israeli product that Russia has further developed.
Official Russian video about the use of a Forpost drone in Ukraine in March 2022.
China is also one of the countries ahead of Russia in drone development. So it seems plausible that Moscow actually turned to Beijing. With the wall of sanctions Russia faces, there aren’t many other sources of supply left. Under American leadership, the West is now trying to systematically cut off Russia from foreign technology that can be used militarily. Did Russia have electric motors in previous drones from Germany and Austria or navigation electronics from the Switzerland installed, this should not be quite so easy in the future.
However, Russia also has domestic production facilities. Already in Syria war used it surveillance drones in large numbers. This showed that Moscow had recognized the importance of drone technology for modern warfare. Nevertheless, it was a shock when a small military power like Azerbaijan used Turkish combat drones against Russia’s ally Armenia with great success during the Karabakh war in autumn 2020, destroying rows of defense positions in the process. The case illustrated the vulnerability of an army with inadequate anti-aircraft defenses.
In the current war, Ukraine is also using the same Turkish Bayraktar drones to demonstrate how serious losses can be inflicted on an overpowering opponent. By comparison, Russia’s drone operations in Ukraine have so far looked weak and piecemeal, especially in the early stages. Combat and surveillance drones came remarkably little use. Military experts like the American Samuel Bendett had not expected this, because Russia has a quite considerable arsenal of more than 2000 unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Orlan-10 drone, which is primarily used for reconnaissance, is the most important in terms of numbers. It is invaluable for advancing ground troops to be able to use such devices to identify enemy positions in good time and then direct artillery fire there. Since Russia’s troops all too often lack this means, its convoys repeatedly run blindly into ambushes.
After a chaotic start, however, Russia appears to be ramping up its drone operations. Evidence of this comes from two sources, the Ukrainian and Russian armed forces. The Ministry of Defense in Kyiv has reported several downings and finds of Russian drones in the past few days, which shows that they are also being used more frequently. The Ukrainian side recently presented one captured Eleron-3, a small surveillance drone. she weighs according to the Russian manufacturer only a good 5 kilograms, but has a range of around 100 kilometers and can stay in the air for almost 2 hours.
New drone factory near Moscow
It is interesting that Russia is now also using so-called kamikaze drones. These are missiles that are equipped with explosives and can hover over their target until they zoom down and detonate at the right moment. Two such drones with a wingspan of 120 centimeters were discovered on the ground by the Ukrainian side in the past few days. However, since they did not explode, it seems that there are always technical problems with this type of weapon.
Two broken Russian kamikaze drones of the type Kub-Bla in photos of the Ukrainian military
Promotional film for the drone manufactured by the Kalashnikov concern.
Official Russian information also shows that the attackers have meanwhile repeatedly used the new combat drone Orion have used. Moscow released videos allegedly showing the destruction of a Ukrainian artillery piece and a command post. The Orion only went into series production in November in a newly built factory near Moscow. These developments, as well as the alleged request for help from China, are likely to come too late for the war in Ukraine.
