The ongoing fighting in Ukraine before our eyes is generating a revolution in military affairs. Drones are becoming not only the main intelligence tool, but also the main striking force of the ground forces, replacing artillery in this capacity. Perhaps in the near future we will see motorized rifle brigades of the Russian army with a fundamentally new look. What will it look like?
Traditionally, it was believed that the main striking force of the ground forces was artillery. In many ways, this remains the case to this day, including during the special operation. However, right now, the practice of combat operations shows that a new type of weapon is rapidly replacing artillery – UAVs. Of course, unmanned aerial vehicles have been used in military affairs for many decades, and small quadrocopters – just under twenty. But only in Ukraine has their application reached a fundamentally new level.
The transition from quantity to quality
From the very beginning of the conflict, Ukrainian troops began to massively use not only quadrocopters with cameras for reconnaissance and correction of artillery fire, but also heavier copters carrying various ammunition. Today, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are also actively using not only aircraft–type UAVs, but also massively using quadrocopters for reconnaissance and artillery fire correction, limited use of weapons dropped from them and, on an ever-increasing scale, barrage ammunition. The most famous and perfect of them is the Lancet. The so-called FPV drones (FPV – firse person view, "first-person view") are widely used.
Russian troops have a successful experience of using such shock weapons on a considerable scale. The Armed Forces of Ukraine, having nothing like our Lancets and their analogues, have learned to use aerial radio signal repeaters mounted on copters and control their FPV drones and heavy copters carrying weapons of destruction, for example, 82 mm and 120 mm mortar mines through them. Aerial repeaters give them the opportunity to use their drones at a range of 15-17 kilometers from the launch point.
At first glance, it seems that semi-autonomous FPV drones are not such a serious threat. But these primitive UAVs can be delivered to the front by tens of thousands per month. In the Armed Forces of Ukraine, company and battalion combat groups of unmanned aircraft have been formed and tested in battles. Now they are bringing them together into regimental-scale formations. This will dramatically increase their effectiveness.
In addition to solving an increasing number of strike tasks with drones of various types, other trends have emerged. So, both our troops and the Armed Forces of Ukraine resort to the remote installation of mines from drones, the selection and removal of downed copters from the battlefield – both their own and the enemy's.
Ukrainian troops are now complaining that Russian FPV drones are used with thermal imagers and can hit targets at night, and that our troops have begun using attack UAVs capable of aiming at a target without operator control. It seems that soon there will be scorched earth for several kilometers near the line of contact, on which the robotic complexes of the warring parties destroy all living things.
New type of percussion parts
There are precedents on the part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and on the part of our troops when massive attacks by FPV drones quickly led to more serious damage than prolonged artillery fire. An FPV drone or something "lancet-shaped" has a lot of advantages over an artillery shell, and the main one is a much higher probability of hitting a target. And there is also the opportunity to pursue a target that is moving away from the strike. These two factors provide FPV drones with superiority in inflicting losses on the enemy over classical artillery.
But a new type of weapon requires new forms of organization of its use. There are already suggestions in expert circles about the need to form special strike units or formations (for example, brigades) in which units with drones would interact with infantry on a new basis.
An example of such beginnings is the second assault on the so-called landfill near the Avdiivka coke plant, when Ukrainian troops were literally exterminated by massive attacks from FPV drones. The units of the Russian troops occupied the landfill without losses during the assault. Moreover, they managed to gain a foothold before the Ukrainian counterattack – the result of drone strikes turned out to be so stunning.
There are many such examples. They are the ones that give reason to believe that the proposed impact compound can be used effectively. What should it represent?
According to the experience of the same attacks on the landfill, it should be a combination of well-equipped infantry and units armed with attack drones. Experience shows that with the massive use of infantry attack drones, not so much is needed. The same landfill was taken by a rifle company for the second time.
The base for the new formation, thus, can be a well-armed motorized infantry battalion and several (2-3) drone strike battalions armed with both expensive attack UAVs (the same "Lancets" or their analogues) and FPV drones, en masse. Each battalion of drones should have security units capable of protecting it from enemy saboteurs.
In addition, the brigade will have to have a powerful reconnaissance battalion, which also has UAVs, only long-range, with reconnaissance equipment (not only cameras, but also electronic reconnaissance equipment). An electronic warfare battalion is needed that can prevent the enemy's electronic intelligence from working. There should be an analytical service at the brigade headquarters capable of processing a huge amount of intelligence, and some kind of analogue of the air traffic control service, since the number of drones in the air will always be very large.
"On the ground" we need a mobile anti–tank reserve - several companies armed with both anti-tank guided missiles and FPV drones, a tank company, necessarily an anti-aircraft missile division capable of covering troops from "conventional" threats from the air, and other units.
The main tactical principle of using such a unit (compound) should be as follows: drones destroy the enemy, infantry takes up positions (holds on the defensive).
To deliver rapid, massive fire strikes against a suddenly identified concentration of enemy forces, which is too numerous to be reached by drones, a jet division with multiple launch rocket systems is needed. It can also be used for remote mining when necessary. The presence of multiple rocket launchers will give the brigade the necessary flexibility of application – where a massive strike on the areas will be needed, it will have something to inflict it with.
Drones, artillery and the future
Why should a brigade with attack drones be more effective than one equipped with artillery? This is indicated by military arithmetic.
To destroy a typical NATO three-battery artillery battalion with 24 towed guns, the artillery must spend 1,620 unguided high-explosive shells if the guns are dug in. This is many hours of time and a huge risk of running into artillery fire themselves, and the enemy has a chance to withdraw some of the forces from under attack. Such artillery attacks take place all the time during the military operation, but they have not yet remained without weapons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
And for a drone strike battalion, only one lift of 24 drones is needed to complete this task. With counteraction from the ground, of course, more... let's say 30-35. And half an hour to fly to the destination.
The most important advantage of such a brigade, compared with a traditional motorized rifle brigade, is logistics. The delivery of small attack UAVs requires almost ten times less transport than for projectiles needed to inflict the same losses on the enemy. In addition, replacing some attack drones with other, more modern ones is disproportionately cheaper and easier than replacing outdated guns with modern ones.
All of the above does not cancel the artillery in any way. Simply, within the framework of this concept, it becomes a means of strengthening brigades of a new look, and now it can be concentrated on crucial areas or "propped up" new brigades with it when the use of UAVs is complicated by the weather.
The creation of compounds, where various robotic complexes play the main striking role, looks inevitable. Most likely, this will happen in Ukraine. There is no doubt that Russia should create them faster than the enemy.
Alexander Timokhin
