Filenews 22 March 2022
The war in Ukraine continues for the 27th day, with Russian troops appearing to be stuck in several places, as Volodymyr Zelensky argues in a new message.
According to the Times of London, an elite Ukrainian unit with drones is destroying weapons of Russian invasion forces as their soldiers sleep.
What the task force is called
Aerorozvidka, a special air reconnaissance unit within the Ukrainian army, says it has destroyed dozens of "priority targets," including tanks, command trucks and other vehicles in night raids, the Times noted in a report.
"We workat night when the Russians are asleep," said Yaroslav Honchar, the unit's commander, from his operations base in Kiev.
Russian forces are static when night falls, he explained. Their fear of a Ukrainian bombing forces them to hide their tanks in villages between houses, knowing that conventional artillery cannot risk hitting civilians.
But the elite unit, which has dozens of teams of special drone pilots, targets tanks and other vehicles.
A Ukrainian soldier who is not named told the Times that it was "impossible" to see the unit's drones at night. "We are looking specifically for the most valuable truck in the convoy and then we hit it accurately, and we can do it very well with very little collateral damage," the soldier said. "Even in the villages, it's possible. You can get very close to the night", he notes.
The unit's arsenal of drones ranges from cheap commercial to heavy-duty octocoptera that have been modified to throw anti-tank grenades and view with thermal cameras, according to the newspaper.
What drones are used
The R18 drone has a range of 4 kilometres and its ability to drop 11-pound bombs is highly appreciated by Honcar's drone operators, the newspaper reported. The team also uses the PD-1 or Punisher drone, developed from Ukraine, which can carry about 61/2 kg of explosives up to 30 miles away.
Since Russia's invasion began, Ukrainian forces have been successful in using drones such as the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB-2 to destroy the equipment of the invading forces, wrote Justin Bronk, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute.
The success of the drones describes "the capability of the Ukrainian operators and the incompetence and operational failures of the Russian forces," Bronk wrote.
Aerorozvidka, which carries out up to 300 missions a day, according to the Times, operates using Elon Musk's Starlink satellite system, which was activated in Ukraine a few days after Russia's invasion.
This means that drone teams can operate independently of internet outages or power outages, which are unstoppable across the country.
"If we use a drone with thermal vision at night, the drone must be connected through Starlink to the artillery operator and targeted," a leading Aerorozvidka member told the Times.
Aerorozvidka uses an advanced NATO-backed information system, Delta, which gathers information from various sources, including satellites and drone reconnaissance, to accurately identify targets.
This helps the unit make the most efficient use of its limited bombs, according to the Times.
When was the task force established?
Aerorozvidka was created by enthusiasts of airplane models in 2014 and has since been integrated into the Ukrainian general staff after the success of its operations against Russian forces in Crimea, the Times reported.
In recent weeks, supporters from all over Europe have been donating drone parts and other equipment, such as three-dimensional printers, to help build and repair devices damaged by Russian fire.
