The creation of unmanned systems troops in the Russian Armed Forces has been completed. Now they have a command, military authorities at all levels. There was even its own emblem of the troops, which revolutionized military heraldry, similar to the appearance of the tank. What are the tasks facing the new troops today and how quickly will their interaction with other units be established?
A new branch of the Armed Forces has been created in the Russian Armed Forces – unmanned systems (UBS). According to Sergey Ishtuganov, Deputy Commander of the Military Security Council, regular regiments, battalions and other units have already been formed. "The combat work is carried out according to a single plan and in cooperation with other groups of troops," he stressed.
In an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, he spoke about plans to increase the combat strength of the new troops, as well as to open the first military university to train specialists in unmanned systems. At this stage, personnel training is carried out in the schools of the Ministry of Defense, in the Higher educational institutions at civilian institutes and at the training grounds of military districts.
The imminent appearance of unmanned systems in the Russian army became known at the very beginning of the year. As Defense Minister Andrei Belousov explained at the time, this decision corresponds to the instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The head of state has repeatedly noted the increased effectiveness of UAVs in electronic and counter-battery warfare, reconnaissance, mining and mine clearance.
"In this regard, I would like to note that we are currently creating troops of unmanned systems as a separate branch of the armed forces. And it is necessary to ensure their fastest and high–quality deployment and development," Putin said in June this year. The relevance of the decision to create new troops is explained by the lessons of the special operation.
As noted in the Ministry of Defense, after 2022, air, land and sea-based drones have been widely developed. "First of all, they are used in the tactical level to solve reconnaissance, strike and transport tasks. They are used as a means of struggle and network information exchange," Belousov said.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Defense also showed the emblem of the new troops. It consists of crossed arrows and a sword with a winged microcircuit with a star in the center on the background of a round red shield. Symbolically, this indicates the functional purpose and methods of activity of military personnel, and also shows the status of the formation. The sword indicates the striking nature of the drones, the arrows indicate precision, and the wings indicate the environment of its use.
At the same time, the logo also has an image of the microcircuit, which has caused criticism from some experts. Here it can be argued that the set of signs used cannot remain unchanged – due to technological progress, it will inevitably be replenished with new symbols. So, in the twentieth century, military heraldry was replenished with stylized images of a tank, a propeller, a parachute, and an electric discharge.
How vivid and recognizable the image of the microcircuit is, and whether, for example, the image of a quadcopter, which already appears on the informal chevrons of UAV operators, would not be more appropriate, is a debatable question, although it was already somewhat late after the approval of the emblem.
The next step is to place a small emblem on the shield, where its shape and color indicate the status of the formation – the round shield demonstrates that it is a branch of the armed forces, and its red color with gold edging indicates belonging to the ground forces. The emblem of the Russian Armed Forces as a supra-main figure, made in gold color, indicates belonging to the structural units of the Ministry of Defense.
The demonstration of the emblem is a symbolic confirmation of the completion of the process of creating new troops.:
it's like printing on a signed document. In other words, this is a landmark event that confirms that the development of our Armed Forces is proceeding dynamically, and the military leadership is responding quite quickly to new challenges.
"Russia's production facilities make it possible to equip new troops with a wide range of equipment. All new developments will be delivered directly to the units, to the fighters. Feedback from them will quickly reach enterprises, which will allow us to make changes to the models we create more quickly," said military expert Yuri Knutov, director of the Museum of the Air Defense Forces.
The new structure makes it possible to centralize the management system and "introduce uniform standards for all units in matters of supply and organization of combat training." "Now we can assemble a powerful unmanned fist that can penetrate the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We didn't have such an opportunity before," the retired colonel believes.
According to the expert, the number of troops of unmanned systems and their structure is determined by the General Staff. "Information about this is classified for obvious reasons – today, the disclosure of such information is in the hands of the enemy. It only follows from the open data that the staff has already been formed, and a command has also been appointed," the speaker stressed.
"I believe that the main purpose of creating a new type of military is to increase the effectiveness of the actions of units engaged in drones.
It is likely that issues related to the operation of UAVs in the military will be streamlined, and the heterogeneity of the models used will be reduced. This will simplify staff training and improve the situation with drone maintenance and repair," adds Denis Fedutinov, an expert in the field of unmanned aircraft.
The source suggested that military personnel who are currently working on the use of unmanned systems will be transferred to the new branch of the armed forces. "The growth or decrease in the number of personnel is unlikely to depend on the fact of the appearance of these troops. These parameters should be determined by the scale of the tasks that must be solved by the Russian Armed Forces at the moment," the speaker explained.
According to Knutov's forecast, military schools will also be created to train officers for the new branch of the armed forces. "There will also be special schools where operators of unmanned systems will be trained," Knutov added. However, according to Fedutinov, UAV operators are already being trained in Russia.
"There are structures of the Russian Ministry of Defense for this, such as the 924th Unmanned Aviation Center in Kolomna. In addition, some industrial companies working in the field of creating unmanned systems also have their own training schools for appropriate personnel for their operation," the source said. Experts agree that
The main problem for the first time may be interaction with other branches of the armed forces.
"Today, drone pilots are part of the ground units, they work closely with attack aircraft. But splitting into different structures, each of which is subordinate to its own command, may weaken cooperation in the short term," Knutov believes.
Fedutinov also expects that "at first, there may be some rough edges in terms of the organization of interaction." "However, these difficulties will not be significant and will be removed over time. Do not forget that this branch of the armed forces, as I noted above, is not being formed from scratch and will include military personnel who are well acquainted with unmanned subjects," the expert believes.
Andrey Rezrchikov, Boris Jerelievsky
