Meanwhile, back in Kyiv swarms of Iranian-made kamikaze drones are wreaking havoc and plunging citizens into darkness. What are the main types of drones used in Ukraine? Will the US ever send their dreaded Reapers and Predators into the battlefield? Sky News takes a look at some of the drones being flown by both sides and answers some of the key questions. Store-bought drones give soldiers a head start in the trenches Everyday shop-bought drones are being used with great success by Ukrainian soldiers as “eyes and ears”, Stuart Ray from McKenzie intelligence told Sky News. Soldiers fighting in trenches can use a drone—often the Chinese-made DJI line—to look ahead and gain a huge advantage. “What you really have over the last 20 years is the multiplication of what was originally a strategic or operational level advantage now at the tactical level,” he said. In addition, social media is awash with videos of the cheap drones dropping grenades through the open hatches of Russian tanks, causing a massive secondary explosion as munitions ignite. The ‘AK-47 of drones’ with a song named after it – how powerful is the Bayraktar TB2? Made by Turkish company Baykar, the Bayraktar TB2 is the largest unmanned aerial vehicle known to be used by Ukrainian forces, carrying out surveillance missions and surgical strikes using laser-guided bombs. Sarah Kreps, a professor at Cornell University and an expert on drone warfare, says there was a sense in the first two months of the war that the Bayraktars could be a “game changer,” but says that’s because of Russia’s failure to establish air supremacy. He told Sky News: “What happened is with the spring thaw Russian convoys got stuck and these TB2s come in and start taking out Russian tanks. “But then the Russians figured it out and started developing better air defenses and shooting down the TB2s.” Compared to the all-purpose AK-47 rifle, the Bayraktar is believed to have been involved in the sinking of the Russian flagship Moskva in April by distracting the ship’s radar systems. “It’s a terrifying weapon” – the Iranian-made Shahed 136 Swarms of them are destroying Ukraine’s power supply, and their effectiveness is forcing militaries around the world to reevaluate their drone defense capabilities. Made by Iran’s HESA company, the Shahed 136 cruise munition is much smaller than the TB2 and is fired multiple times from a rack in an attempt to overwhelm air defenses. Their numbers make it difficult to shoot them all down, and those kamikaze drones that pass by explode on impact. Costing around $20,000 (£17,714), they are also much cheaper than their Turkish counterparts. “You don’t know where they’re going to hit, when they’re going to hit,” intelligence expert Mr Ray told Sky News. “It’s a terrifying weapon.” The Ukrainian version of the Shahed 136 – the Switchblade portable ammunition The U.S. has promised Ukraine roving blade munitions – another kamikaze drone. They are light enough and small enough to be carried by one person and are launched into the sky using a tube. Like the Shahed 136, the Switchblade can be guided to its target and will explode on impact. Read more: Record amount of grain leaves Ukraine despite threat of Russian blockade White House accuses North Korea of sending artillery to Russia Drones… boats? The new frontier of UAV warfare It is still shrouded in mystery, but reports have emerged of the use of drone ships in a recent attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Russia says 16 drones were involved in the attack near the Crimean port of Sevastopol, with two ships damaged. An adviser to Ukraine’s interior ministry gave a conflicting account, claiming that “careless handling of explosives” had caused explosions on four warships. US Army Lt. Col. and combat aircraft expert Paul Lushenko says the exact nature of the UAVs being used remains unclear, but it shows how drones can pose a threat to multiple agencies. He told Sky News: “It’s just another axis of approach that imposes additional vulnerabilities on Russia. “There are so many target acquisition systems even on these exquisite boats these days. “So when you have a bunch of possibilities, how do you prioritize goals?” Will the US send deadly Reaper and Predator drones to Ukraine? Controversial for their use in US counter-terrorism operations around the world, the MQ9-Reaper and MQ-1 Predator are some of the deadliest UAVs ever built. Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine there has been speculation about if and when the hunter-killer drones would be donated to Kyiv, but so far they have not been seen. Lt. Col. Lusenko says there are a number of reasons why, including that many mistakenly see them as useful only for counter-terrorism. There are also questions, he says, about how well Reapers and Predators would survive high-intensity conflict, with the added concern of high-tech drones being shot down and analyzed by Russian forces. Others worry that the Reaper mission will be seen as an escalation by Russia, he said. Former intelligence officer Philip Ingram told Sky News that an additional concern about the Reaper or Predators mission would be the propaganda value for Russia. He argued that if and when one is shot down it will be paraded from Moscow and used to justify the war in Ukraine and accuse the West of direct involvement. So then no Reapers or Predators for Ukraine? Not necessarily. Lt. Col. Lusenko, who edited the book Drones And Global Order, said: “It may take some kind of game-changing activity or event by Russia that then escalates to a point where drones (Reaper and Predator) can be more delicious. “So, God forbid there’s a tactical nuclear weapon used in the conflict, I think at that point all bets are off, you’re going to see it bring into play capabilities that were otherwise or previously considered somewhat escalating.”
