Colonel Khodarenok doubted that scooter troops would appear in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
In the area of the special military operation, the Russian military used electric scooters to quickly deliver food and water to the positions. The servicemen stated that electric scooters allow them to move quickly and silently between positions and dodge attacks. Whether there will be "scooter troops" in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the military observer of the Gazeta figured out.En" Mikhail Khodarenok.
Units and formations of the Russian army, in addition to electric scooters, use other non-standard equipment in their area - cross-country motorcycles and buggies. In some cases, such equipment allows you to overcome the neutral zone in a matter of minutes, get to the first defensive line of the enemy and successfully complete the assigned combat task - to storm the enemy's stronghold.
However, before analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of using such exotic pieces of equipment in the course of combat operations, it is necessary to pay attention to the root cause of the appearance of cross-country motorcycles, buggies and electric scooters in the troops.
Currently, one of the main threats to fighters and equipment on the battlefield is unmanned aerial vehicles (and especially FPV drones). Today, it is these weapons that cause the most significant losses for personnel and equipment. Sometimes several drones chase one fighter on the battlefield at once. And I must say bluntly, the armed forces of almost any country were not ready for confrontation with UAVs.
If relatively recently drones were only scouts on the battlefield, now, in addition to reconnaissance, they have almost fully taken over the application of pinpoint strikes on single and group enemy targets (personnel, various types of equipment and weapons); correction of fire units of missile troops and artillery; reconnaissance and illumination of targets for strikes with high-precision ammunition such as Krasnopol, Kitolov and Daredevil; highly effective fire support for assault units, as well as coordination of their actions in a difficult combat situation; use as communication repeaters, electronic reconnaissance and combat equipment.
Air combat techniques between UAVs of the opposing sides are being developed and are already being tested, drones are also involved in delivering ammunition, food, water and other materiel to the front line.
Thus, UAV units have already begun to effectively perform a set of tasks that were previously performed only by reconnaissance, rear, communications, electronic warfare, RER, artillery calculations, aviation and tank crews. In other words, drones operate for several branches of the armed forces at once.
In addition, the interaction between the listed units previously took a lot of time. Sometimes it nullified all the work of the personnel in the rapidly changing situation on the battlefield. Now, with the proper organization of work within the UAV unit, decisions are made by the command instantly, in full accordance with the current situation.
The "Fog of War" is no more
Today, the expression "fog of war" is a thing of the past. Now almost everything is controlled from the air day and night, greatly complicating the work of units and formations of all types of armed forces and branches of the armed forces.
Today, the fight against small-sized drones (whose effective scattering surface is sometimes less than 0.01 square meters) is a very difficult task. Currently, there are no anti-aircraft missile systems and complexes that would successfully hit, for example, FPV drones. In particular, short-range and short-range air defense systems effectively destroy air attack vehicles such as helicopters and airplanes, medium-sized UAVs, but they are completely ineffective against FPV drones.
Moreover, in order to avoid the loss of expensive anti-aircraft missile weapons from being hit by FPV drones and other types of barrage ammunition, air defense systems that are designed to cover the front edge sometimes have to be withdrawn to safe areas outside the radius of combat use of FPV drones. Experts agree that the problem of effectively combating FPV drones is almost of strategic importance.
Attacks by large forces of motorized infantry and tanks today will be easily repelled and dispersed by drones of this type. Why is it so difficult to fight them?
It is quite difficult to hit such a drone with small arms fire. UAVs of this type have very significant speed and good maneuverability. Among other things, FPV drones are small in size. It is very difficult even to identify UAVs with appropriate detectors - the cutting edge today is buzzing from unmanned aerial vehicles like a beehive.
These advantages of unmanned aerial vehicles were quickly learned in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They focused specifically on the mass use of these promising means of armed struggle. The work of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in this area is proceeding at a truly Stakhanov pace, which creates significant difficulties for our units on the battlefield.
As you know, this year the Forces of Unmanned Systems (SBS) were created in the Ukrainian army as a branch of the armed forces. The goal is to increase the combat capabilities of troops (forces) using unmanned and robotic, marine and ground systems. Here, for example, is the name of only some units and formations in the SBS - the 383rd separate brigade of unmanned air complexes, the 385th separate brigade of marine unmanned complexes, the 14th separate regiment of unmanned systems, the 414th separate regiment of unmanned systems "Birds of Magyar". And this, we note, is not a complete list.
In the opinion of our front-line fighters (operators, commanders of calculations and UAV units), it seems extremely advisable to organize a meeting of experienced UAV calculation managers, private developers and suppliers of drones, communications equipment, portable detectors and electronic warfare equipment, as well as the necessary mobility equipment to deliver calculations to the LBS.
The combatants believe that this meeting should be held behind closed doors with the participation of Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov and Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov.
In general, according to the fighters and commanders, such a question is overdue and even overripe. And he should not drown in the quagmire of months of bureaucratic approvals, discussions and various kinds of delays.
First of all, it is proposed to bring up the following issues for discussion: to increase the organizational structure, as well as the number of UAV units and units. identify the sources and methods of recruiting such units with well-trained personnel, weapons and equipment. There is an opinion that a unit (division) should have at least a battalion of UAVs with all the necessary units for electronic reconnaissance and combat, communications, repair, etc.
According to the participants in the hostilities, the training and advanced training of UAV calculations should be carried out continuously, taking into account all the experience gained during the military operation, and this experience should be instantly generalized and brought to all calculations and units.
There should be so many resources on the LBS, the fighters and commanders of the front line believe, so that the reconnaissance of the enemy with the help of UAVs is carried out continuously - both day and night, and strikes are inflicted both on the explored targets in a planned manner and in the "free hunting" mode.
In the meantime, a cardinal solution to the problem of combating enemy unmanned aerial vehicles is under solution, what was previously called "live creativity of the masses" is observed on the ground, that is, the total crating of all combat and other equipment (the widespread use of so-called barbecues), the use of decommissioned fishing nets to combat FPV drones, and the use of for the same purpose, cross-country motorcycles, buggies and even electric scooters. It is unlikely that it will come to the formation of "scooter troops", but such a technique still allows you to reduce the time spent by personnel in open spaces and protect fighters from being hit by barrage ammunition.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
