Ukraine is training thousands of drone pilots and increasing production of unmanned aircraft to bring an “army of drones” to the front lines of its counteroffensive against Russia, Ukrainian military officials and manufacturers told ABC News in rare interviews on the classified program.
According to Ukrainian Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine trained 10,000 drone pilots from November to May, and another 10,000 pilots are currently being trained.
“I want to use all available means to destroy the enemy and achieve victory. The Ukrainian armed forces receive a lot of support from our Western partners, but we also need to develop our own technologies and use them on an unprecedented scale. “Conflicts,” said a drone pilot. The name of the pilot and the location of the facility are withheld for security reasons called.
For the Ukrainian armed forces, drone warfare is already proving indispensable on the battlefield.
Some drones spy on Russian positions and identify targets, which are then hit by artillery and mortar fire. Others include attack drones that drop ordnance or explode on impact, killing Russian soldiers hiding in trenches, blowing up tanks at the front, attacking artillery pieces hidden in tree lines, and hitting ammunition caches and key supply lines.
A Ukrainian soldier carries a reconnaissance drone over his shoulder.ABC News
A year ago there were only seven manufacturers producing drones in Ukraine. According to Dmytro Kovalchuk, CEO of drone maker Warbird, there are at least 80 of them today.
Kovalchuk embodies the entrepreneurial spirit that is driving this quiet revolution. He says he went from just three drones a month to 150 in a year.
“Not a single state-owned company produces drones in Ukraine. They are all private companies, sometimes partnerships,” Kovalchuk told ABC News.
“It costs $1,000 and can destroy a tank that costs $500,000. We are talking about developing a drone army,” Kovalchuk said.
Skyeton is one of the most advanced manufacturers of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Its Raybird reconnaissance drone costs over $1 million and can fly at altitudes of over 16,000 feet for more than 30 hours, transmitting real-time high-quality images of enemy positions deep in Russian territory.
Oleksandr Stepura, founder and chairman of Skyeton, says UAVs must be able to prioritize and identify targets.
“Tanks are not objects of recognition and impact for us. For us it is war systems, artillery systems, air defense systems.” [the] Other side. “So this is the object we want to detect and destroy,” Stepura said.
The Raybird already has basic artificial intelligence built in, but developers are looking toward a new generation that could completely transform warfare, Stepura said.
“[The] “The era of manned aircraft, in terms of air power, completely ended with this war,” Stepura said. “This war has shown that there is no reason or sense in having the person inside the flying bird.” The pilot has no time to think, ever. Just milliseconds. And every machine can do it better than humans… and faster and more accurately.”
This new drone army is now taking the war to the heart of Russia in Moscow, showing Putin and the Russians that the homeland is no longer immune from war and that Ukraine has new, longer-range drone capabilities.
A man works on drone parts in Ukraine.ABC News
ABC News has obtained an image of the drone used in the recent attacks in Moscow – a Bober long-range UAV.
A drone developer with extensive knowledge of this top-secret program agreed to speak anonymously to ABC News.
When asked about the psychological impact of the ability to attack inside Moscow or in Russian territorial waters, the developer said: “This is very important for us. We showed them that two can play this game. It is very important to make it clear to the Russians that we do too. We have weapons. We can attack them too.”
“The more drones are produced, the more attacks will be possible,” said the developer.
“My understanding of the goals is to have the ability to attack all strategic aviation airfields and push back strategic aviation capable of firing missiles,” the developer said.
This not only concerns airfields and aviation, but also warships at sea. With two recent attacks, a new generation of maritime drones has emerged.
A Russian warship was attacked in July in its own territorial waters by a drone carrying nearly 1,000 pounds of explosives. The following day there was an attack on an oil tanker supplying Russian troops.
Ukraine did not admit to carrying out these particular attacks, but intelligence officials now tell ABC News that drones are being used to attack Russia in the Black Sea.