The unmanned rapid response unit BEAVER operates as part of one of the divisions of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, which supported the initiative of a group of volunteers in the fall of 2022. During the year, the pioneers of the use of FPV drones in the zone of their own account of destroyed equipment and enemy manpower goes to hundreds, in the track record of operators - almost everything that the West has supplied to Ukraine. His commander told TASS about the detachment, which has turned into a large organization (the name and call sign of the interlocutor are not disclosed at his request)
FPV drone is a kamikaze attack unmanned aerial vehicle, the pilot of which sees the image of the onboard camera "in the first person" through special glasses. The main task of the devices is to defeat enemy equipment and enemy manpower, but they are already used for reconnaissance.
— How is the situation in your sector of the front?
— Weather conditions give the enemy an extreme chance to carry out an offensive before the climate worsens, so they persistently come at us and widely use equipment. As soon as the thaw comes, it will not be possible to use the technique. However, they can't do it anyway, because our military is knocking it out. Since October 24, since the beginning of active operations in our direction, only the calculations of the BEAVER detachment have destroyed 4 Leopard tanks and 5 more Soviet—made tanks, 3 infantry fighting vehicles (infantry fighting vehicles - approx. TASS) Bradley, 2 M-113 armored personnel carriers and 4 US-made HMMWV armored fighting vehicles, Husky infantry fighting vehicles, 12 pickups and about 100 Nazis, including an ATGM calculation.
— How do you achieve such results?
— The operator of the FPV drone is not a "one in the field warrior". There is a huge organization behind him, a colossal job. On the videos that are distributed on the Internet, only the result is visible — the defeat of technology, but no one thinks who is behind it. And behind this are people — instructors of our training center, its analytical department, technicians and engineers who are outside the zone of their own, in one of the southern regions of our country. They teach, analyze, make adjustments.
— How do you train specialists to calculate the FPV drone?
— We differ in training from all other training centers in that we train a universal specialist in the field of FPV drones. As part of the calculation, the operator of the FPV drone, the operator of the "classic" reconnaissance drone, the engineer responsible for the ammunition, attaching it to the drone and cocking it into combat position, as well as a technical specialist providing stable communication between the drone and the operator, able to repair or adjust the control system in the field, change frequencies, act directly.
We train station wagons, because the work always takes place from the first, occasionally the second line of combat contact. It is possible that someone from the calculation will suffer. But the calculation should not stop the work in any case. Even if one is eliminated due to injury, evacuation is called for him, and the calculation continues to perform the combat mission, since very high hopes are placed on him. That is why everyone can replace everyone in the calculation.
— How many such specialists have you already trained and where are they going? To your squad?
— Yes, they go to our BEAVER detachment, but we train specialists for the entire front, they are trained by us and return to their units. In the future, we keep in touch with them, we are always ready to advise, the technicians and engineers of the squad will always prompt. At the moment, more than 150 universal FPV operators have been trained.
— How do you analyze the combat work of the calculations?
— The training center is also engaged in this. The video flocks to them after completing the tasks. Thanks to the analysis of this picture, errors are corrected, recommendations are developed, which are sent back to the department. Example: beginners often choose straight-line strikes at speed by technique, which becomes a habit. At first, emotions act, so I want to run faster and with a run. We are now removing this at the very initial stages of training. In general, we have a lot of developments that we will not disclose in detail, but even from our videos you can see that turns have become more difficult, there is work at low speeds, tracking, hitting specific weak points of equipment — this is all the merit of analysts.
It's like in sports. Let's take boxing. The boxer sees the picture of the fight only from his side, and the coach sees it entirely. It's the same with us.
— What tasks does the technical department perform?
— Each batch of drones is prepared individually for the combat exit in the presence of the group commander, who receives them, receives introductory instructions on how to work with them, which frequencies, which antennas, which amplifiers — full technical advice. Upon return, feedback is collected: how the drone behaved, whether the enemy jammed on this frequency, on another frequency, what to reconfigure. The technical department processes everything and sends recommendations to its zone, which will be taken into account next time.
The enemy does not stand still, fights with us by means of electronic warfare, other tricks — this constant struggle does not allow us to relax.
— Engineers, respectively, collect feedback on ammunition?
— They determine the most effective means of destruction — improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Each task has its own ammunition. High-explosive shells are being prepared for the enemy infantry, and thermobaric shells are being prepared for the analysis of dugouts. There is no point in beating a pickup truck with a cumulative projectile, for example, it has a very thin metal, it burns to the ground and there is no ignition of equipment. For the same reason, "cumulative" is ineffective against American Bradleys, although there is an option to hit them in the engine.
Engineers in conjunction with technicians work in cooperation — for example, balancing a projectile under the form of a drone in order to make the flight more comfortable for the operator.
— What do you think, what innovations are waiting for the sphere of FPV drones, what trends do you note?
— It is a very pleasant trend that now two or three drones from different calculations arrive at the front in the most tense places for one unit of equipment, that is, the density of FPV calculations on the front line is growing exponentially, and this cannot but please, because the enemy's equipment will be hit by either one, or another, or a third calculation. Cool trend. As for innovations, I would not like to talk about them. The enemy will find out about them soon enough.
