WSJ: "Drone War" Has Frozen The Front Line In Ukraine
- 13.07.2025, 9:35
Soldiers can't come out of hiding.
The front line in the war in Ukraine is increasingly faltering, and the reason is the rapid development and massive supply of drones. As The Wall Street Journal writes, drones now dominate the battlefield, preventing soldiers on both sides from leaving their hiding places under threat of annihilation.
Drones can plant mines, deliver supplies ranging from ammunition to medicine, and even evacuate the wounded or dead. But more importantly, they track any movement along the front line and are sent to strike enemy manpower and equipment.
Reconnaissance Drones
Since the war began, Ukraine has actively used drones designed for aerial photography to track the movements of Russians. At first, teams of analysts viewed screens of footage stored on memory cards, but the drones were later upgraded to transmit real-time images, allowing artillerymen to target their fire.
Developers later realized, however, that simple and uncomplicated modifications could make such drones deadly:
"Technicians realized that a simple claw-like device created on a 3D printer could be activated from a remote control by turning on the drone's lights, causing it to fire a grenade. The blast can injure or kill a soldier, as well as blow up armored vehicles if dropped through a hatch."
Over time, soldiers have experimented with ways to add more explosives, such as melting down explosives from Soviet ammunition and pouring them into new, lighter plastic shells.
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Suicide Drones
As the WSJ emphasizes, no innovation has had a greater impact on the war in Ukraine than first-person view (FPV) attack drones. While they don't do as much explosive damage as missiles, they are far more accurate, and Ukraine's huge production volumes allow them to be used to similar effect.
"FPVs became a lifeline, a way to deter the Russians using technology that, unlike missiles, could be produced domestically and inexpensively."
It is the proliferation of such drones that has played a key role in slowing movement on the front lines. Anything within 20 kilometers of the line of contact can now be targeted by FPV. And they are so cheap to produce that both sides can spend them on any target - even a single infantryman.
Fiber Optic Drones
While most of the drone innovations in the war were developed by the Ukrainian side, the publication notes, it was the Russians who pioneered the most important modification to first-person view drones - the addition of a fiber-optic cable connecting the drone to the pilot that can overcome interference.
Ukraine in turn developed the "Vampire" drone, which can operate in the dark. "Vampires" were initially used by Ukrainian troops to drop larger explosives than they could afford with more compact drones.
Terrestrial Drones
Drones now deliver everything from food and water to ammunition to the front lines, saving soldiers from having to go through the most dangerous parts of the battlefield where they could be shot down by enemy drones.
Drone makers are also now experimenting with unmanned cars, boats and all-terrain vehicles that can be used to evacuate wounded and dead soldiers.