Ukraine to establish a dedicated military unit for drone operations

Europe, News February 8, 2024 , by IRIA No Comments

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ordered his military to establish a separate branch that would solely focus on drone warfare. The new military branch would be responsible for conducting drone operations while executing defense strategies against attacks.

According to a high-level Ukrainian government official, Zelenskyy signed a presidential decree calling on the government and the general staff of the armed forces to work out issues on the creation within the Ukrainian armed forces of a separate force for drone systems.

The president has asked his government officials to prepare a detailed study on the creation of the new military branch. The results of the study would be submitted to the policy-making National Security and Defense Council.

“I have just signed a decree which will launch the creation of a separate branch within our armed forces — a drone systems force,” Zelenskyy announced in his nightly video address on February 7, 2024.

“This is not a question for the future. Rather, it must provide concrete results in the very near future. This year must be decisive in a great many aspects. And clearly on the battlefield. Drone systems have shown their effectiveness on land, in the skies, and on the seas,” he said.

Ukraine’s Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said that the separate branch would provide “a powerful impetus” to the military’s technological development. In the past year, he said, drones had “fundamentally changed the situation on the battlefield. They are effective in stopping Russian attacks and backing up counterattacks by Ukraine’s armed forces.

*^{A Ukrainian soldier with a First Person View (FPV) drone. (Image Credit: Dmytro Larin/Ukrainska Pravda)}*

For a substantial share of its military campaign against Russian forces, the Ukrainian military has relied on both aerial and underwater drones. In recent times, the Ukrainian military has been using modified commercial First Person View (FPV) drones to conduct reconnaissance as well as small-scale attacks on Russian military posts.

In December last year, the Ukrainian president pledged that Ukraine would produce at least one million drones in 2024. Experts believe that many of these drones would be smaller FPV drones modified for military purposes.

Government officials have indicated Ukraine’s ambition to manufacture tens of thousands of drones monthly. While current production figures remain undisclosed, the onset of the conflict has triggered a surge in drone production, with numerous companies developing and manufacturing diverse models.

Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces also emphasized the pivotal role of drones in warfare. In a recent statement, Zaluzhnyi underscored the significance of unmanned systems, including drones, and advanced weaponry, as they offer Ukraine the strategic advantage necessary to evade entrenchment in a static warfare scenario.