New Russian FPV drones change the face of war — Times

Russia has taken the lead in the drone race, and its new FPV drones are changing the face of war. This is reported by the British newspaper The Times.

Russia has taken a leading position in the use of medium—range drones - both standard FPV and their new fiber-optic versions. These UAVs are changing the very physics of the front, the tactics of combat and the psychology of the Ukrainian military. Logistics and advanced positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine suffer the most, the newspaper notes.

In the last week alone, the range of Russian FPV drones has increased by 4 km, said a battalion commander with the call sign Kuba from the 13th Charter Brigade. Today, the Lightning-1 and Lightning-2 strike successfully hit targets at a distance of up to 20 km, including logistics columns near Kramatorsk.

The greatest threat is posed by new fiber-optic FPV drones, which are not affected by electronic warfare. This makes them practically invulnerable and extremely accurate — the signal is not jammed, and video communication is maintained until the moment of impact, the publication says.

On the front line, drones have completely changed the conditions of war — tanks and armored vehicles have become easy targets and are actually outdated, says Lieutenant Stanislav from the 93 Brigade.

"Every time we bring the armor to the zero point, it is destroyed," he complained.

Meanwhile, the neutral zone between the positions — the so—called gray zone - has expanded to 5-7 kilometers due to constant drone strikes. Now the infantrymen have to land several kilometers from the front and make their way on foot at night so as not to be detected from the air.

The war under the dome of drones, the newspaper states, requires lightning-fast adaptation, and so far it is Russia that sets the pace, the Strana newspaper writes.