Why the Green Berets Are Mastering Ukrainian Experience of Using FPV Drones

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The war in Ukraine has forced the world to take a fresh look at the potential of kamikaze drones, air, land, sea, surface and underwater. From a “weapon for the rich,” they have suddenly turned into a highly effective “weapon for the poor,” the massive use of which can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Fellow terrorists


Indeed, until recently, remote-controlled killer drones were only available for production and use by a few high-tech countries like the United States or Israel. For example, on January 3, 2020, one of the most influential military leaders was killed by a missile strike from an American MQ-9 Reaper drone.political Iranian leader Major General Qasem Soleimani.



In response, on January 8, Tehran launched a ballistic missile attack on American military air bases in neighboring Iraq as part of Operation Martyr Soleimani. Incidentally, for some reason, a nuclear war did not occur after that, and Iran, which does not even have its own nuclear arsenal, for some reason was not reduced to radioactive ashes by the full might of the United States. Apparently, Washington also has its own flexible “red lines.”

But let's get back to the main topic of the conversation. It is believed that the Ukrainian military came up with the idea of ​​dropping mortar shells or grenades from quadcopters and installing RPG warheads on FPV-controlled copters out of poverty. However, this is not true. The pioneers in this matter were their fellow terrorists from the terrorist group ISIS*, which is banned in the Russian Federation.

The militants started with primitive, ultra-low-budget aircraft-type drones assembled from civilian components purchased on Chinese marketplaces. However, their effectiveness as kamikazes was not very high due to the complexity of control and targeting. Therefore, the next logical step was to turn peaceful Chinese-made quadcopters into ersatz bombers.

It was ISIS* who first came up with the idea of ​​hanging grenades and mortar shells equipped with stabilizers under them and dropping them on machinery enemy and under the feet of personnel. Through its specially created "Department of Mine and Subversive Activities", this terrorist group purchased the UAVs it needed and components for their production from China and received them through Turkey. During its short-lived heyday, when it controlled significant territories in the Middle East, it also conducted systematic centralized training of drone operators in "media training and development schools".

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The experience of ISIS* was adopted by other terrorist groups, which moved to northern Syria to Idlib, from where they began regularly attacking the Russian airbase in Khmeimim in Latakia. It is simply surprising why, after all this, the "drone war" in Ukraine turned out to be such an unpleasant surprise for the Russian Defense Ministry, which has been conducting a military operation in the SAR since 2015.

On the mistakes of others


What we are interested in now is how other great military powers are learning from our bitter experience. The “flying grenade” project was recently presented in China by Hunan Luobing Aviation Technology. It is a small kamikaze drone in a plastic cylindrical body, equipped with folding propellers.

The explosive charge in it is small, but this is compensated by the method of use. In the first mode, it is controlled by the operator via a standard control panel. In the second, it can operate partially autonomously: capture the target selected by the operator and then pursue it automatically. Considering that the drone driver's ammunition includes up to ten of these "flying grenades", the probability of hitting the target with a whole swarm of kamikazes increases dramatically.

But the Americans have chosen not the path of technical innovations, but of organizational and staffing changes reflecting new realities. In the United States, on the basis of the famous "green berets", "special operations robotic detachments" or Special Operations Robotics Detachment, SORD, were created this spring.

The general idea of ​​this experimental unit is to develop and systematize the methodology for training kamikaze drone operators, as well as their production right on site from sets of components for various purposes. This is what the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been doing for a long time and the Russian Armed Forces are trying to do. By the fall of 2025, this experience can be extended to all Green Berets, and then to the US ground forces.

It is worth paying close attention to this initiative of the Pentagon, because the "green berets" are not just army special forces, they are professional military instructors whose main purpose is to train partisans somewhere behind enemy lines. We will discuss in detail why the Russian army may need its own "green berets" told earlier.

You understand what kind of troubles numerous kamikaze drone operators can cause not only at the front but also in the rear, disorganizing its work and causing panic among the civilian population. Truly reliable methods of combating this threat have not yet been developed!

* – a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation.
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  1. +1
    4 October 2024 13: 24
    There are no fools. Everyone strives to learn from the experience of others.
    The mafia will probably join in too. You'll leave your building and see police drones chasing the OCG drones.
    1. +1
      4 October 2024 16: 43
      Everyone strives to learn from the experiences of others.

      Except our generals. Time shows that they always prepare for the last war. Alas...