An elite unit drones Formed by volunteer computer experts, Ukrainians become a crucial part of Ukrainian resistance to invading Russian forces. Aerorozvidka builds or mods standard consumer drones to function in a military context and drop bombs on Russian vehicles under cover of night. It was founded in 2014 by a group of technical volunteers after Russia annexed Crimea.
What Aerorozvidka does
The unit mods drones that are regularly on the market like Chinese DJI, Autel, French Parrot drones, some of the most used and trusted brand names. Weapons are added to the original models. The most expensive drone is R18, can fly 40 minutes and drop five kilos of bombs. The founder, investment banker and father of four of Aerorozvidka, Volodymyr KochetkovSukach, was killed in Donbass in 2015. “The invasion didn’t start months ago. It started in 2014,” he told BusinessInsider Mykhailo, member of the council and head of communications for this unit. “Some of us have PhDs. Some of us have a Masters. Some come from the IT industry and many other industries. The most important thing that unites us is the desire to win this war, he added.
The action of drones at night
R18 costs 18,000 euros, half that of conventional antitank missiles. As Repubblica shows, these drones make a lot of use of their camera, which can also hit Night and they helped Zelenskyy’s army to thwart the Russian advance on Kyiv. Volunteers often share videos from the flights on social media, with music by Ukrainian rapper Skofka as the soundtrack. The unit now operates as a nongovernmental organization closely supporting the Ukrainian army. Unlike the Nlaw, which are disposable, the R18s can also be used repeatedly unless they take damage from Russian fire.
The help of NATO
The team has drones that Mykhailo says fly 20 hours a day on reconnaissance or combat missions. Aerorozvidka is divided into a drone team, a delta team and a cybersecurity team: Delta is a webbased situational awareness system powered by Born which creates a map of Russian targets using information from various sources, including ground agents and reconnaissance data from the drone team. The device also uses Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system, which helps ensure connectivity even in the event of a power outage or internet failure. The unit conducts about 300 reconnaissance missions a day and destroyed “dozens, possibly hundreds” of Russian vehicles, Mykhailo said.
The most important victory
Aerorozvidka mainly conducts missions under cover of night because the thermal imagers Drones give them an advantage: Equipped with night vision goggles and sniper rifles, the “drone soldiers” sneak through forests on quad bikes and position themselves to attack Russian forces. Their most significant victory was helping to stop the 40mile Russian convoy that was preparing to attack the capital, Kyiv. The unit generally targets the most valuable vehicle in a convoy in order to deal the most effective damage, as bomb use is still limited. Usually the team takes over goal Vehicles leading a convoy to block the other vehicles behind and demoralize Russian forces. Currently, Aerorozvidka operates mainly in the Kyiv region, but is expanding its activities to all of Ukraine, with a planned renewed Russian offensive in the east and south of the country.