Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on December 19, stated that manufacturing one million FPV drones was part of increasing weapons production for the next war year.
In the war against Russia, Ukraine reportedly frequently uses affordable multirotor FPV ( First Person View) drones to target and destroy high-value Russian military assets.
“In production, we will make one million drones next year. We’ll make a million. We will do everything to make it happen, and I know it will happen,” Zelensky stressed.
It was emphasized that he had held a meeting with Ukrainian military commanders in which he stressed the importance of proper logistics for drone deliveries.
Not only relying on field artillery cannons or rockets, FPV drones have proven to be very effective in targeting enemy combat vehicles and soldiers hiding in trenches.
This strategic shift has significant implications for military strategy, technological advances, and new challenges on the modern battlefield.
So far, these low-priced FPV drones have proved their effectiveness in attacking various targets, including tanks, other armoured vehicles, aircraft and naval assets, some of which are worth tens of millions of dollars.
This combination of FPV drones with RPG munitions remains more ‘lopsided’ compared to kamikaze drones such as the Russian Lancet, which have a relatively high price of around 3 million rubles, or the equivalent of 35,000 US dollars.
The affordability of these FPV drones has facilitated their widespread deployment in the Ukrainian military, thereby significantly increasing operational efficiency.
Aided by the proliferation of high-flying “repeater” drones and additional batteries, the signal range between FPV drones and their operators in the field has expanded. This expansion increases operational range and mission duration, allowing the Ukrainian Armed Forces to deploy these low-cost FPV drones within a 10 to 20 km radius behind the Russian front lines.
“I don’t like that logistically we are still mired in Soviet bureaucratic processes when 26,000 drones are in warehouses and failing to reach the front lines,” Zelensky said.
However, he expressed confidence that logistical problems would be resolved.
In October, Strategic Industries Minister Oleksandr Kamyshin stated that Ukraine was producing thousands of drones and would soon produce tens of thousands per month.
In response to the threat posed by Ukrainian armed FPV drones, Russian forces have created a series of countermeasures.
This includes implementing jamming stations, such as the Volnorez system installed on the turret of the T-80BVM Model 2023 tank.
