ResidentialBusiness Posted February 19 Report Posted February 19 While Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin decide the future of Ukraine in Saudi Arabia, the war keeps raging on in Europe. Kiev doesn’t give up and continues to unleash a seemingly endless swarms of drones against Moscow’s assets, from heavy bombers to light first-person view (FPV) drones, explosive-loaded kamikaze flying vehicles controlled with gamepads and AR goggles designed to eliminate armored vehicles, trucks, and infantry units. The drones have had a devastating impact on the much larger Russian forces, so effective that Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces—the first of its kind in the world—has inaugurated a new era of warfare and jump-started a novel arms race. On the ground, the relentless barrage of ultrafast FPVs has forced Russian forces in the Bakhmut sector—in Eastern Ukraine—to resort to a low-tech, desperate measure: a mile-long tunnel constructed of netting designed to intercept the tiny, explosive wasps. In theory, this construction—which stretches along a critical supply route between Bakhmut and the city of Chasiv Yar—stops the FPVs before they reach their targets, too far from the troops on the ground to do any damage. The Russians claim it works, though requires constant maintenance because the FPVs keep piercing the improvised structure. According to Ukrainian drone operators, however, it is not as effective as the Russians had hoped. Old trick, new enemies Similar low-tech solutions have been employed throughout history, often arising from a need to counter a technologically superior or novel threat with readily available materials. During World War II, for example, barrage balloons were deployed extensively by the British and also the United States, with the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion deploying them after the Normandy landings to protect the Allies’ beachheads. These large, tethered balloons were intended to deter enemy aircraft from dive-bombing and strafing ground positions and cities, forcing airplanes to fly higher to avoid colliding with the tethering cables, thus making bombing less accurate. Barrage balloons protect ships unloading cargo at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, in June 1944. [Photo: United States Coast Guard] Instead of dive bombers, the Ukrainians are using FPV drones. Instead of balloons and cables, Russians are using nets. Ukrainian drones so effective that the Russians now refer to open roads in battle areas as “roads of death.” X and Telegram are full of videos that highlight this big problem for Moscow’s forces, showing long stretches of roads littered with the charred remains of countless vehicles destroyed by FPV drones. Anton Gerashchenko—former adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine—counts here a whopping 90 destroyed Russian vehicles: a mix of trucks, vans, and what appears to be a tank, all piled up along a short stretch of road in the Donetsk region. Another video posted by war analyst Special Kherson Cat depicts a seemingly endless column of destroyed Russian supply vehicles on the Pokrovsk front. Developing countermeasures for drones Before these nets, the Russian military experimented with various countermeasures against drone attacks. Initially, they attempted to use electronic warfare systems to jam drone signals. However, the rapid evolution of drone technology, including the use of varied frequencies to control them, fiber optic cables, and artificial intelligence to avoid remote control, has rendered these jamming efforts largely ineffective. And while tank crews have been building improvised anti-drone armors around them—making them look like grotesque steampunkish turtles—soldiers don’t have that luxury. So they had to improvise and build the netted tunnel. [Photo: Ukraine Ministry of Defense/Wiki Commons] The news about the tunnel was picked up from Russian TV for Western media by WarTranslated, a Estonian military analyst who has been reporting on news on the war. The video shows the skeletal framework of this unusual defense. Russian soldiers in the video explain that the netting is intended to protect vehicles and personnel from drone attacks on this exposed stretch of road. “Our group maintains more than two kilometers of anti-drone nets. We constantly improve the technology,” one of the soldiers who is working on these contraptions says in the video. “The nets are placed in the most exposed sections of the road to ensure the safe movement of our equipment. We strive to continuously expand the coverage area, enhancing the installation technology to set them up more quickly.” The “installation technology” looks like nothing more than patches of plastic netting of different sizes and colors, which are hung using existing and improvised posts along the road. Parts of the road have nets covering both the sides and the top. Sometimes they don’t build the “roof” and instead install banners of the material connecting posts across the road. The Russians believe that these banners will acts as obstacles, making it difficult for Ukrainian drone operators to maneuver into the road, and hopefully stopping the FPVs from diving in for a bombing run. https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1888536416008729027 The Ukrainians are not impressed The Ukrainian pilots disagree. While netting can indeed capture drones, preventing them from detonating on impact, they remain unimpressed. They point out that fragmentation munitions, effectively flying claymore mines, can be detonated remotely, showering shrapnel through the netting. Even more concerning for the Russians is that the netting itself can become a trap. Ukrainian forces are exploring the use of incendiary “dragon drones” known as Dracarys, maneuvering inside the tunnels to spray thermite (a mixture of metal powder and metal oxide that burns at 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit). This substance produces intense heat on contact thanks to a chemical reaction where the metal powder steals oxygen from the metal oxide, releasing a tremendous amount of energy in the process. It can burn through any armor and, according to the Pentagon, kill anyone in under 10 seconds. Another possibility is that they will use anti-tank mines to destroy sections of the netting, creating openings for other FPVs to exploit. Once inside the tunnel, the Russian vehicles and personnel can’t disperse easily, becoming an easier target for the FPVs. So despite these nets, Russians could easily find themselves back at square one. But in any case, the construction of these tunnels is a testament to the effectiveness of Ukrainian drone attacks and the desperation of the Russian military to protect its supply lines. They highlight the ongoing cat-and-mouse game of military innovation in Ukraine, with each side constantly developing new tactics and countermeasures. The “roads of death” are likely to remain a feature of this conflict until Trump and Putin strike a deal reported to erase Ukraine’s effort and sacrifice for their benefit. View the full article Quote
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