Ukraine's drones being countered by new Russian reinforcements

The drones behind much of Ukraine’s early success against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces are becomes less and less effective as their invaders implement countermeasures.

Small consumer drones have been used to surveillance, like scouting enemy positions, while military drones like the Turkish Baykar Bayraktar TB2 and U.S. Switchblades were critical in taking out Russian tanks and armor.

But the Russian military has since improved its defense systems and is downing and jamming many of Ukraine’s drones, reports Business Insider.

Early warning radars are identifying drones as they approach, which are targeted by electronic warfare systems that disrupt their communications or show down with machine guns or anti-air missile systems, according to one expert on unmanned and robotic military systems.

"Drones were able to play such a role because the Russians were slow to set up an air defense system,” said Mark Cancian, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“They were slow to establish the combined arms operation (armor, infantry, artillery, recon, engineers, air defense) that their doctrine called for.”

The Ukrainian Air Force has cut back on their use of TB2 drones, which cost $1-2 million each, and are pressing Western allies for modern fighter jets that operate outside the range of Russia’s anti-air missile systems, according to The War Zone.

Meanwhile, the resistance is having trouble countering Russia’s growing drone fleet due to a lack of appropriate weaponry.

“We can’t see the Russian drones, but they can see us,” one soldier told The Sunday Times.

“The only thing we can do is hide.”

Moscow claims Ukrainian drones are responsible for attacks within its own borders, like the two who recently hit a major Russian oil refinery.