When the columns of Russian tanks began their descent towards Kyiv at the end of February, the strategists in Moscow were challenged not only by weakness…
As Russian armored columns began their descent toward Kyiv in late February, Moscow’s strategists were challenged not only by weak logistics and fuel shortages, but also by the response of Ukrainian forces. Which launched their Turkish-made drones, the TB2, which can fly more than 24 hours and fire up to four missiles.
A Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone.
AFP archive
“The Russians didn’t expect it,” French military sources explain. Their convoys were unprotected. The effect was real: in addition to the losses, they were delayed and blocked. But the most important lesson lies elsewhere: “The Russians have understood that they can no longer move without a protective screen. In short: without ground-to-air defense. This therefore requires additional resources.
“We Can’t Stop It”
On this point, the situation in Russia further deteriorated in the summer, when Ukraine received the American kamikaze drones, the Switchblades. Either, as the established expression goes, “remote-controlled ammunition”. That is, mobile, remotely controlled by a pilot and destined to crash into their target. Fearsome weapons, as we state on the French site: “This drone flies very fast and very low, we cannot stop it. You don’t see it coming And unlike a rocket, it doesn’t come from the front. If he needs to target a tank whose armor is in the front, he can bypass it and hit it in the back where it’s vulnerable. For the enemy, the psychological effect is frightening. »
A drone approaching for an attack, in the sky of Kyiv.
YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP
Faced with this threat, the fight against drones has come up with a solution: jammers. But if you use them, you also disrupt your communications … In this war, the Russians also use these weapons. In particular, Iranian drones, the Shahed 136. They are the ones that are believed to have destroyed Ukraine’s power plants. “But as this specialist notes, these drones can only hit fixed targets whose coordinates are pre-programmed. It deals damage, but what is interesting is the destruction of mobile units. »
Ukrainian firefighters among the rubble of a Kiev building destroyed by a drone on October 17.
YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP
realtime video
One certainty is that this war has confirmed the full potential of drones, whose tactical presence has been confirmed over the past twenty years. “Drones are nothing new,” explains Lt. Col. Pierre-Yves of the Army General Staff. We’ve been using them since 1964, and the first ones were used during the first Gulf War in 1991.” But around the turn of the year 2000, the advent of real-time video changed the situation: “It used to be drones that took rocket photos of silver, he explains. Transmission over long distances in real time was a revolution. From then on, drones were taken seriously. »
During the war in Afghanistan, where France was engaged between 2001 and 2012, they provided valuable assistance in protecting convoys, bases and locating the Taliban. Operation Barkhane in Mali is another turning point. In 2017, Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly announced: The Air Force’s Reaper MALE drones will be armed to fight against jihadists. On August 17, 2021, an attack by one of its planes eliminated Daesh’s number one in the Greater Sahara, Adnan Abou Walid al-Sahraoui, one of the greatest successes of French forces in the Sahel.
A Reaper drone is scheduled to take off from Diori Hamani Military Airport in Niamey, Nigeria, as part of Operation Barkhane.
Archive Dominique Faget/AFP
Drones have taken such a place that the war in Ukraine will even accelerate the army’s equipment program. “The aim is to build up and consolidate the fleet,” emphasizes Lieutenant Colonel Pierre-Yves. Thus, the current tactical patroller drones used for intelligence missions today are armed with laser-guided missiles, while remote-controlled drones — kamikazes — are ordered.
By 2026, the army should have 3,000 armed drones. “Our goal, the officer specifies, is for each tactical squadron to be supported by a drone. He assures her: “You don’t win the battle with the drone, it’s an asset, but if you don’t have it you certainly don’t win. »