January 27, 2025: Both Russian and Ukrainian troops are using cheap, about $500 each, quadcopter drones controlled by soldiers a few kilometers distant who use First Person Viewing or FPV goggles to see what the video camera on the drone can see. Drones with night vision cameras are more common now so the war can go on round the clock. Surveillance drones are reused if they survive a mission in an increasingly dangerous battle space. Attack drones carry half a kilogram of explosives, so it can instantly turn the drone into a flying bomb that can fly into a target and detonate. Some of these drones just drop their explosives and return to the operator to be recharged and rearmed.

This form of 24 hour warfare is an awesome and debilitating form of combat, especially when used in large numbers over the combat zone. If a target isn’t moving from a bunker it fled to, the drone operator can call in more drones to try and get into the bunker. This is why you see so many military targets equipped with nets. Tanks have them, as do bunkers, trenches and any target that wants to avoid being overwhelmed by drones seeking to get at you. Drone operators will team together to take down a target by coming from every possible direction and taking turns demolishing nets. The only secure bunker is one with a blast door and an escape tunnel so the soldiers can get to another bunker that isn’t under siege by drones.

Jamming the drones control signal often works. There are individual jammers that are used like a rifle and pointed at a nearby drone to disrupt its control signal. Larger jammers can create a bubble several kilometers in diameter. Attacking drones can get past this by using a guidance system that can switch to other frequencies. An even better solution is the use of a fire and forget guidance system. This works by equipping the drone guidance system with images of the desired targets from different angles. The FPV drone can be guided to a target protected by jammers and when the jamming is detected the drone switches to the target recognition system. If none of the targets stored in the guidance system are found the drone can be programmed to try returning to the operator, hitting any target available or simply self-destructing. For both sides it’s a constant battle of change and adapting. A successful new feature might last weeks or months before the enemy comes up with a countermeasure.

The front in Ukraine is a thousand kilometers long and soldiers are increasingly trapped in their bunkers and trenches. Bunkers are much safer from UAV attacks than trenches. Going out in the open exposes you to the immediate attention of any FPV drones in the vicinity and a life cut short by deadly quadcopters that can see and kill you. Survival without a lot of drone and jamming support is unlikely. Both sides have videos of soldiers caught in the open and hunted down by FPV drones

A major limitation with drone warfare is the need for trained drone operators. These troops need dozens of hours training or on-the-job training under the supervision of an experienced operator. Some soldiers learn by watching, as they perform other duties in a bunker where operators and support personnel assemble and work from. Each operator has a copilot who stares at a tablet computer showing the situation in the area the FPV drone is operating. The operator works with a headset that covers his eyes. The copilot describes and comments on the big picture that the FPV camera does not see.

Most drones are able to complete their mission, whether it is a one-way attack or a reconnaissance and surveillance mission. The recon missions are usually survivable and enable the drone to be reused. All these drones, including the armed ones, are constantly performing surveillance, which means that either side commits enough drones to maintain constant surveillance over a portion of the front line, to a depth, into enemy territory, of at least a few kilometers.

This massive use of FPV-armed drones has revolutionized warfare in Ukraine and both sides are producing as many as they can. Not having enough of these to match the number the enemy has in a portion of the front means you are at a serious disadvantage in that area. These drones are still evolving in terms of design and use and are becoming more effective and essential.

Ukraine was not where extensive use of these drones first occurred. Innovative use of small drones is something that has been going on for several decades and is evolving all the time. This began in 2010, when the French firm Parrot introduced the first consumer friendly quadcopter. By 2017 Parrot had competition from the Chinese firm DJI, which innovated more quickly than anyone else and soon dominated the market for commercial quadcopters. This is why both Russia and Ukraine first turned to Mavic quadcopters as models for new militarized quadcopters they would produce. Both sides soon designed and built their own drones or heavily modified commercial models like Mavic. Russian troops had a more difficult time doing this. Russian troops also used Mavic quadcopters, when they could get them. Corruption in Russia made importing Mavic quadcopters difficult.

This isn’t just about Mavic because corruption became more widespread in Russia in 2022 when the Ukraine War started, and subsequent sanctions disrupted the Russian economy. Russia’s national bureaucracy discourages and disrupts any private efforts to design and build not merely drones, but private efforts to build most anything which might compete with government ways of building or doing things. This has been true since the 1920s, originally because of the Communist system, then because that was normal even after the Communists were overthrown, and then because that private enterprise interferes with government corruption. Ukrainians have noticed that one of their assets in the war is the disruptive effect Russian bureaucracy has on the Russian military. The Ukrainians are faster in developing new weapons, and particularly new drones.

While there is some corruption in Ukraine, there is also a lot more popular anger and active opposition to any corruption hurting the war effort. Less corruption in wartime Ukraine means there are a lot more opportunities for innovation without interference from some corrupt official or supplier. Russian troops still had a lot of drones but not as many as the Ukrainians and not with all the innovations found in many Ukrainian drones. This made a difference and still does, even though the Russians have been quick to use new forms of jamming to disrupt or destroy Ukrainian drones. Both sides suffer heavy, as in the thousands, of drone losses each month and Ukraine, with NATO support and unencumbered by economic sanctions, is able to maintain a drone edge on the battlefield.

Ukrainians were particularly adept at modifying quadcopters to carry explosives. If the operator found an enemy tank or lighter armored vehicle with a top hatch open, the vehicle could be destroyed when an explosive was dropped through the open hatch. The explosives were often used against Russian troops in foxholes or open trenches. This capability is bad for Russian morale and the Ukrainians made the most of it.

DJI quadcopters are popular with military customers worldwide, as well as with gangsters, drug smugglers and Islamic terrorists. American forces were banned from using DJI products from 2017 to 2020 because of fears that DJI, which thrives and survives by cooperating with the Chinese government, might have hidden capabilities in the control software that would enable DJI quadcopters to be monitored by the Chinese, especially in wartime. Several years of trying to prove this failed to discover anything and the American ban was quietly dropped.

The ban on military use of DJI quadcopters was not universal, even among NATO countries. But many NATO members did avoid DJI and found that alternatives were more expensive and less capable. For example, in 2021 the French military ordered 300 ANAFI USA micro-drones from Parrot, a French firm that is the largest European designer and manufacturer of consumer and commercial drones. The ANAFI USA model was developed in response to a 2019 U.S. Army order for a militarized quadcopter that was similar to the banned DJI products. That was considered difficult to do because DJI had a huge head start, especially with flight control software and reliability.

The American military determined that Parrot was best suited for this contract because there were few Western firms as capable as Parrot. The French military spent $36 million not just for the purchase of 300 ANAFI quadcopters. The five-year deal includes Parrot developing new ANAFI features to meet specific needs of army, navy, and air force users.

One of the first users will be French special operations units. The ANAFI quadcopter is a militarized version of a similar, but lighter at 300 grams, consumer model. ANAFI weighs half a kilogram, has an endurance of 32 minutes and standard equipment is a day/night vidcam using military-grade communications. Parrot carries two 4K 21 megapixel video camera with 32X zoom and the ability to identify man-sized targets two kilometers distant plus useful detail in general at up to five kilometers. There is also a thermal sensor on the Parrot that works with the 4k vidcam and enables the operator to see hot spots superimposed over the video image. The flight software is as capable as DJT models and uses no Internet access. An additional security feature is the flight control software being regularly audited to ensure that no new features have compromised security. ANAFI is very quiet and is inaudible when about 130 meters away. ANAFI can be ready for use in less than a minute and is designed to be used after brief training. For experienced quad-copter users, ANAFI is very familiar, and training consists of explaining the unique security and military features.

ANAFI is also built to accept accessories that generate digital maps and thermal videos. This kind of flexibility is a major feature of Parrot commercial quadcopters and one reason for its market dominance in Europe. The ANAFI is being delivered to French forces as systems, each with two quadcopters, additional batteries, and operator controllers.

Parrot does have some competition in the military market. Since 2015 Israeli firms have designed and built several quadcopters for military and police use. In 2016 the Israeli military bought some locally made Rotem L drones for their infantry to use in urban combat. Rotem L is a lightweight 4.5 kg quadcopter based on commercial designs but modified so that it not only carries the usual day/night cameras but can also replace the cameras with two 450g grenades which can be armed and released by operator command. With 30-minute endurance and easily learned operation, Rotem L can be carried in a case by one man, set up and ready to go in a minute or so and recovered for reuse. The controller has a range of up to 10 kilometers but in a dense urban environment, the max range is more like 1,500 meters. The major advantage of Rotem L is that it is quiet and can be flown through open doors or windows. Carrying one or no grenades allows Rotem L to stay airborne for up to 45 minutes. The grenades can be triggered while still aboard Rotem L to provide a self-destruct mechanism. If Rotem L lands with live grenades aboard, the operator can double-check the armed status of the grenades before recharging it for another mission. Rotem L can be used unarmed by police or carry tear gas and flash-bang grenades. Rotem L is expensive, costing over $10,000 each. Military users prefer to use it equipped with vidcams and use the cruise missile option only when forced to. Israel firms offer less expensive unarmed quadcopters for military and police use.

Parrot was competitive with the Israeli designs and offered in the U.S. as well as demonstrating it could incorporate military-grade security features and a quadcopter that matched Israeli and Chinese designs in flexibility, features, and price. Parrot had another advantage because France was a NATO member, and this made it easier for French firms to meet NATO standards that enabled all NATO members to easily purchase Parrot drones.