Ukrainian army is facing serious shortage of FPV drones - BBC
Ukraine's defence forces are facing a shortage of FPV drones. Compared to last year, the number of drone launches in the units has significantly decreased.
This was reported by the BBC Ukraine, which spoke to dozens of officers of the Armed Forces, Censor.NET reports .
The interlocutors of the publication primarily talk about the "sagging" in the quality and number of FPV drones, which should ensure the creation and maintenance of a "killzone", that is, a "dead" territory 10-15 km deep on the front line, which would make it impossible for Russian infantry to advance.
It is noted that almost 500 UAV units operating in the Defence Forces have a mixed model of drone support. It can be conditionally called 30/30/30.
This means that military units receive about a third of the drones directly from the Ministry of Defence, while the rest are purchased by the units themselves or received from volunteer funds.
"The main "sinking" this spring happened to the third that was supposed to be provided by centralised supplies from the state," the article says.
Serhiy Varakin, commander of the unmanned systems battalion of the 58th separate motorised infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, notes that the situation has changed significantly compared to last year.
"Last year, we could easily afford to destroy 11-17 units of equipment per day. If there were active hostilities, we could afford to use 100 FPV shells a day, and their quality was more or less normal, meaning that 7-8 out of 10 hit the target. What is the situation now? Now our brigade can receive only 200-300 FPV shells per month," the soldier said.
The commander says that the unit's monthly requirement is 2200-2500 drones, but it receives "a very small amount" from the state.
The battalion has to buy most of the UAVs directly from manufacturers, the article says.
The soldiers also complain about the large number of low-quality FPV drones they have been receiving.
The soldiers are forced to buy certain parts at their own expense so that the drone can fly in the area of the front where the unit is located. All this takes a lot of effort and money.
The article says that, unlike Ukraine, Russia has been able to establish centralised production of FPV drones by creating specialised military units and improving technology, particularly in the field of long-range unmanned systems.
