Minimum investment, maximum yield. L’Ukraine boasted of having led this Sunday A large coordinated drone attack Against military aerodromes in Russia, to Siberia. But to destroyHuge bombers in several million dollarskyiv finally used a fairly simple weapon: the FPV drone.
“First person view” in English (“first -person view” in French in the text), these drones are used for almost two years now on the Ukrainian front. These are small flying devices controlled remotely. Thanks to helmets in virtual reality or simple images transmitted by the drone, pilots can go as if they were directly on board.
Remotely managed
Ukrainian FPV drones use Ardupilot software, which can be seen on screenshots shared by Ukrainian intelligence services. “It is the most advanced software for drone management, and the one that allows you to do the most things. In their place, I would also have used it, ”says Aurélien Tricault, director and founder of the French Society of Inanix drones.
First used as a recognition machine, these FPV drones were then deployed as a suicide bomber. Can drop grenades before leaving, the device can very well explode with its load directly on the desired target. But these FPV drones have very low -range rays ranging from 5 to twenty kilometers maximum. This is why their use was currently limited to the direct front line with Russia.
A low -cost operation
The Ukrainian army therefore had to lead A secret-defense operation to touch Moscow Directly on its territory, several thousand kilometers on the border. FPV drones have taken off “from a territory in the immediate vicinity of aerodromes,” confirmed the Russian Defense Ministry on Telegram.
Small by their size, FPV drones have the ability to be embedded in large numbers to take off in swarm, at very low altitude and cause more damage, while remaining undetectable. This is exactly the technique used by kyiv by clandestinely introducing their devices into enemy territory. Photos, shared by the SBU, show many small black drones hidden in the false roofs of what looks like transport containers.
It only remained to operate “as usual”. Exactly 117 drones were used in this unprecedented attack. “All drones were piloted from Ukraine in real time, without the use of artificial intelligence,” confirmed, in words reported by Le Monde, Vladlen Nikitine, founder of Ukraviakostech, one of the main manufacturers of Ukrainian military drones.
By using FPV drones, the Ukrainian army has maximized the chances of touching the desired targets. “The bombings passed with low-cost missiles were drawn from Ukraine on a given GPS position … hoping that the plane is exactly there. There, these drones are much smaller with less explosives, they can type in much more precise places, ”decrypts Xavier Tytelman, former soldier and defense consultant.
Failing to be able to destroy the whole aircraft in a single strike, these FPV drones can target key points such as the fuel tank to trigger a fire that would degrade the entire enemy apparatus. Results, these small drones at 40,000 rupees, just under 500 euros, find themselves destroying Oppy -based bombers estimated between 40 and 100 million euros room. The Ukrainian army is demanding, in total, having caused damage up to $ 7 billion, or 6.14 billion euros.
