"A DRONE IS LIKE A COMRADE IN ARMS THAT YOU WORK WITH" - A DRONE OPERATOR
Tetyana Shcherbatiuk, Ruslana Sivak
08.11.2022 18:10
Drone operator Yevhen talked about the peculiarities of his work
A full-scale war in Ukraine is called a war of drones. After all, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used everywhere: in reconnaissance, for adjusting fire, for combat purposes. Russia is now actively using Shahed kamikaze drones to attack our critical infrastructure. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military is improving the available equipment in order to successfully fight the enemy and beat him on all fronts.
I-VIN.INFO spoke with the operator of the R18 drone, Yevgeny, a member of the NGO "Aerozvidka" and found out what capabilities our drones have to effectively confront the enemy.
- At first I made copters myself, it was my hobby. And in 2015, he joined air reconnaissance. Eventually the war became more positional and I moved away from that. I saw, was aware of events, but did not actively engage. And before the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine, we just agreed on a meeting at 8 o'clock on February 24 to coordinate all actions in case of war. And here it is necessary. And on the night of the 24th to the 25th, we worked in Gostomel. They bombed the paratroopers who landed there. We were very charged. We didn't have to say, "Guys, let's go." They offered help themselves. And since then we have been actively working all the time.
Do you usually need to be closer to the front lines?
- Yes, although we try to live in safe places, not where we work. For example, we live in Mykolaiv, but we travel further. It also takes time – it sometimes takes two hours to drive to the position. But closer than from Kyiv. A drone is not only a device that flies, it is a whole complex. Our main product is the R-18 bomber. We started back in 2016, and it was a scout, but it turned out to be so powerful that we realized: it can carry quite a lot of shells. And at first they tried to use it with infantry, but then they realized that it is much more effective to fire heavy equipment. And this is its main feature.
Why heavy equipment? Does it depend on the type of projectiles?
– Our R-18 contains three large armor-piercing cluster bombs. It is noteworthy that all military equipment in the Russian Federation is arranged in such a way that it has strong armor only in front and on the sides. And from above it is very thin and very impressive. If you still manage to get into the engine, then there are generally fireworks that can be seen from afar.
But can the enemy spot the drone and shoot it down? How do you manage to complete a combat mission and return the drone?
– It happens that our R-18s are shot down. I have lost two large drones since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. I lost one completely, and the other will return, but it was in such a condition that half of it needs to be replaced. No one believed that he would even be able to return with such damage. He was shot through one battery and caught fire in the air. After that, they started shooting at him even harder. It all happened at night and was clearly visible. And before that, he bombed them on a new BMP, some kind of cool one, with thermal imagers. That's why they poured fire on him like that. The motor was shot, after which the battery burned and fell off. It weighs a lot, and the drone would not be able to carry it. At first, they thought that it would not last long. Then they saw that he could, but he would sit in a gray zone and have to go there and return. But he was able to fly straight to the launch site. We planted him. Afterwards they joked
But the threat is not only for the drone, but also for the operator?
- Of course. But sometimes you realize that you worry more about the drone than about yourself. When the shelling starts and you, in a good way, need to lie down somewhere in a trench, and you have a drone in the air. And you wait for him to come back. You take a risk, because his loss is very painful financially. Honestly, and morally, it is already like a comrade in arms who works with you in pairs.
And silent drones are too small and will not be able to carry projectiles?
- If he is small, he will not be able to fly far. These are suitable for cleaning. When the military enters a city and needs to see what's around the corner, behind the fence. Small drones like this help. And our drones, from which we bomb, fly 10 kilometers deep. There are planes that fly 30 kilometers. And the deeper they fly, the greater the possibility of losing them, because the Russian air defense system works. And if you have to look at warehouses in Crimea, it is almost unreal. If the drone is as big as "Bayraktar", it is very clearly visible, even if it flies high, then air defense can still see it and not spare the missile. By the way, the Russians do not even spare very expensive missiles, which are ten times more expensive than that drone. And they shout. We have this opinion that they simply make a report after that that they shot down "Bayraktar" or something else.
Can drones be targeted not only by missiles, but also by electronic warfare (EW)? Is there anything that can be opposed to this?
- When we manufacture new products, we work with a view to radio frequencies, to anti-REBs. And we bypass the use of EW tactically and technologically. There are problems with this, of course, if there is a WB machine, then we do not work there. Let's put it this way: it makes the job more difficult, but not impossible.
If we compare that war and this one: how much more technological is the current one?
- The war is the same in our country, but in 2014-2015 the use of drones was much less. Now there are a lot of different drones. But it is worth remembering that the horde cannot be destroyed by quantity, it must be destroyed by quality.
We will remind you that
two Shaheds were shot down over Vinnytsia.
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Photos provided by Aerorozovdka NGO
