March 16, 2024: In early 2024 Ukraine announced the creation of another branch of its military. Now, in addition to the army, national guard, navy, and air force there will also be an Unmanned Systems Force. The UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) force also trains personnel to manage production of UAVs and USVs (Unmanned surface vessels) as well as development of new or improved models. The Unmanned Systems Force will develop and install useful changes in new or existing UAVs.

Currently, the many nations using UAVs are constantly improvising while some develop new tactics and UAV designs as well as adopting new UAV related developments. Russia and Ukraine are the most active users, manufacturers, and developers of UAVs. Ukraine has also taken the lead in developing and using unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) which have enabled them to destroy about half the Russian Black Sea Fleet and force the remaining Russian ships to flee to distant naval bases in the eastern Black Sea. Even there the Russians are not safe because the Ukrainians develop longer range USVs or UAVs to attack the distant Russian bases. Ukraine also develops and uses long-range UAVs to carry out attacks deep inside Russia. The Ukrainians design and use these UAVs to avoid Russian air defenses and regularly embarrass and demoralize the Russians by destroying a growing list of Russian defense industry facilities.

The Unmanned Systems Force will also provide much-needed coordination and support efforts by nearly a hundred Ukrainian UAV manufacturers. Most of these UAV manufacturers are small, often household operations creating UAVs for friends or family members in the military. These UAVs are unarmed but equipped to have explosives added by the user. UAV manufacturers are seeking to produce a million UAVs a year and provide the troops with UAVs that, in terms of quantity and quality, can be decisive on the battlefield.

Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Force UAV experts exist to help solve problems instead of getting in the way like most new bureaucracies do. These experts can perceive problems and eliminate or limit the damage their help inflicts. Unmanned Systems Force personnel are trained and equipped to quickly fix problems encountered by combat troops.

These problems include ways to deal with Russian UAVs. The growing use of small, armed UAVs as cheap cruise missiles created the need for equally inexpensive systems to deal with this threat. All navies and ground forces must address the need for Unmanned Systems defenses. Unmanned Systems are also known, more accurately as UAVs and USVs. UAVs have been used in large numbers by both Ukrainians and Russians in the Ukraine War. Fixed wing and quad/octocopter UAVs can be used for surveillance or attacks.

A good example of this is how Ukraine, having no navy left after years of Russian attacks, managed to use armed UAVs and newly developed USVs to destroy over 30 Russian combat and military support ships. These attacks forced what was left of the Russian Black Sea Fleet to leave the western Black Sea. This allowed Ukraine to continue exporting its grain and importing needed supplies via a safe sea route. On land UAVs are constantly looking for enemy activity. If such activity is discovered, an attack by a swarm of armed UAVs often proves fatal for the enemy forces. This has reached the point that small UAVs attack individual Russian soldiers. There are videos of terrified Russians trying to swat attacking Ukrainian UAVs down with just their hands.

Russia also uses lots of UAVs against the Ukrainians. This included using swarms of UAVs to destroy three of the 31 American M1 tanks sent to Ukraine. The M1’s had not been equipped with enough overhead screens or proper electronic defense systems that the Ukrainians use on their tanks and other armored vehicles. The screens prevent explosives being dropped onto the tank by FPV (First Person View) quadcopters from operators a few kilometers away. The tanks’ electronic jammers on the M1s were using an obsolete Russian frequency which had no effect on the attacking Russian UAVs. When the jamming does work, most of the Russian UAVs fall to the ground or otherwise become useless.