Russia is flying fewer types of drones than Ukraine, which is making them easier to recognize and defeat, a Ukrainian drone operator told Business Insider.
Dimko Zhluktenko, a drone operator with Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, told BI that when it comes to some Russian drone types, “it’s very easy to identify them. They rarely make any changes to the design.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has become a war of drone-filled skies.
Yet Ukraine is presenting a bigger variety of drone types to counter, aided by a huge domestic drone industry with hundreds of companies producing a vast range of different models and technologies.
Russia, in contrast, has focused on making bigger numbers of just a few models. While this has helped it produce them at scale, it also aids Ukrainian drone operators in identifying them and developing a sense of how to defeat them.
Hard to surprise
Zhluktenko said that Ukraine’s more dispersed way of making drones means that “it is very hard for them to surprise us and it’s very easy for us to surprise them.”
He said Russia doesn’t upgrade its drone designs very often, so it can be “very easy to identify friend/foe.”
Russia’s defense procurement is highly centralized, with soldiers getting material through state weapons manufacturers and Russian allies like Iran and North Korea.
Ukraine, in contrast, has hundreds of homegrown defense companies that work directly with soldiers to develop, test, and roll out gear, as well as volunteer networks that buy, alter, and develop new equipment for soldiers.
James Patton Rogers, a drone expert at the Cornell Brooks Tech Policy Institute, told BI that Russia’s more centralized process means that “if there’s an error with a component part, then it will be an error that spreads across systems. If there’s a loophole that allows you to hack, then it spreads across all systems and makes them vulnerable.”
The different varieties of drones give Ukraine some advantages, but it still has a huge challenge.
An advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told NPR last month that Russia is a few months behind Ukraine when it comes to drone innovation, but has a far larger production capacity.
The production gap means Ukraine’s soldiers are still using some drones bought from Western and Chinese companies. Those can be bought by the soldiers themselves, or by crowdfunding groups.
Zhluktenko said they are needed, but typically don’t perform as well as Ukrainian-made drones designed specifically for this fight.
A booming drone industry
Ukraine is making most of its drones itself. Its military said more than 96% of the 1.5 million drones it bought last year were of Ukrainian origin, and that number is set to increase in 2025.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country would make 1.4 million drones in 2024, but it’s not clear if that goal was met.
Most of the drones that Russia has fired at Ukraine have been Shaheds, a type of drone given to Russia by Iran and that Russia has started making itself.
Mauro Gilli, a senior researcher in military technology at ETH Zurich, told BI that Russia “does not have the type of production, both scale and diversity, that Ukraine has.”
He also said that Ukraine has been the first in the world to develop some drone tech. Ukraine’s pioneering drone types have included different naval drones, and drones that can fly over 1,800 miles.
A drone war
Drones remain key to Ukraine’s fightback against Russia, especially given its smaller military and population.
Zhluktenko said that in his unit’s area of the front, up to 80% of hits on Russian infantry and mechanized targets are being made by drones. Ukraine also uses them to identify and launch attacks, hit Russian ships and oil refineries, and in place of weaponry like artillery.
But while Russia’s approach to different drone models makes it easier, defeating them is still a struggle.
Zhluktenko said it can still be “a big problem” to recognize whose drones are whose, because there are so many flying at any given time.
Another drone operator, who spoke to BI on the condition of anonymity, said there can be so many drones in the sky that infantry can be ordered to shoot down every one they see.
Even so, they said that Ukraine’s overall tactics and equipment were constantly changing toward unmanned systems, and that drones were proving “decisive.”
Ukraine will be hoping it can keep this advantage.
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