Thus, operations at the front using UAVs will be more effective.
British military experts say the army should concentrate drones in dedicated battalions that have skilled pilots to fly them and programmers who can quickly adapt to constant obstacles. They made this conclusion based on Ukraine’s experience in waging war, writes Business Insider.
According to a report by the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank (RUSI), in Ukraine, “the effectiveness of drone operations when carried out by a dedicated force has risen from 10 to 70% for some sets of missions.”
The RUSI report proposed creating “massive precision strike systems” that launch integrated swarms of drones consisting of various types of reconnaissance and combat UAVs.
“The concept is similar to ‘strike suites’ of manned combat aircraft that combine attack, escort and electronic warfare aircraft on a mission. It is clear that the report does not call for depriving infantry platoons of man-portable drones that have proven indispensable in Ukraine and the Middle East , but it states that this does not mean that they should be deprived of UAVs,” the publication noted.
In turn, the report noted that to perform tasks such as long-range surveillance and strikes, it is more appropriate and effective to use special units.
“UAVs can be deployed to provide units with situational awareness, but massive precision strikes must be managed by a specialized force,” the report added.
The department emphasized that the experience of modern military operations shows that almost all drone capabilities are sensitive to reflection, because the enemy knows how they work. Therefore, the capabilities must be constantly adapted.
The idea behind RUSI is that every unmanned battalion should be equipped to carry out various drone operations.
“The units will include the aircraft and their payloads, as well as the crews, command, planning, intelligence support and design teams required to execute this capability,” note RUSI researchers Jack Watling and Justin Bronk.
In turn, UAV battalions will be armed with five types of drones, the capabilities of which depend on reconnaissance of enemy advances to the detonation of critical rear facilities using explosives. As the researchers explain, these will include:
“Situational reconnaissance UAVs optimized for tactical reconnaissance; tactical strike UAVs; reconnaissance UAVs capable of penetrating operational depth; operational strike UAVs; and platform-launched attack UAVs designed specifically to synchronize with and support other weapon systems.”
The publication noted that the idea is for the army to have autonomous formations that are capable of detecting and destroying targets on the battlefield and beyond. At the same time, long-range reconnaissance drones will stalk the enemy at a distance of up to 60 miles behind enemy lines, searching for artillery installations, air defense batteries and command posts that can be hit by missiles and other guided weapons.
In turn, the drone battalion will launch long-range strike weapons with a range of up to 300 miles, thereby destroying fixed targets, namely supply depots, bridges and ammunition depots.
“By offering a persistent threat of precision strike against logistics infrastructure and command and control elements, these capabilities will add significant challenges to the enemy’s ability to resupply and coordinate forces, and therefore achieve concentration. These capabilities are also a concern for air and naval forces. forces because they threaten infrastructure and bases,” the report emphasizes.
The researchers noted that the war in Ukraine shows how the conflict has become a game of cat and mouse, where drones must constantly improve to survive enemy jamming of their control channels.
“As of mid-2023, the average period of peak effectiveness of a newly deployed UAV navigation and/or control system on the battlefield was about two weeks, with effectiveness deteriorating over the next four weeks. Over a period of six to 12 weeks, an adversary would have collected sufficient data on signal forms and methods that are used to begin to effectively jam and/or spoof the system across the entire front,” the report concluded.
Business Insider added that UAV operations can be more effective in the hands of specialized battalions, but permanent units will inevitably want to have their own drones available when needed, rather than relying on others for support. However, it is unlikely that such an issue will be resolved quickly and easily.
Development of UAVs during the war in Ukraine: latest news
As UNIAN wrote, Ukrainian developers recently improved drones with a “smart” chip. Thanks to it, the operator can delay the explosion of a UAV for several hours or days.
“One of the main problems with UAVs that are based on commercially available first-person view (FPV) drones or photography drones is that their explosive payload is attached to them in a non-standard way. In order to complete the circuit and cause an explosion, the drone must crash,” Wired reported.
It was also reported that the UK plans to use Chinese parts in UAVs for Ukraine. According to the British official, the money that will go towards the purchase will be sent directly to Ukrainian drone manufacturers.
