Ukrainian soldiers complain that winter weather makes UAVs run out of batteries quickly and have difficulty operating on the battlefield, while Russia is less affected.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), especially first-person view (FPV) drones, are now one of the main weapons on the Ukrainian battlefield. They are cheap, easy to produce, and can perform many different roles such as tracking enemy movements, directing artillery targets, or being used as suicide weapons to attack infantry and heavy equipment that costs thousands of times more.
However, Vitaliy Kryukov, commander of the UAV unit of Ukraine's Adam Tactical Group, said that the multi-purpose aircraft has recently been less effective due to the effects of cold weather in winter.
“The biggest challenge for us is the weather. Low temperatures reduce the battery life of the UAV,” said Kryukov.
According to James Patton Rogers, a UAV expert and executive director of the Cornell Brooks Institute for Technology Policy, a US-based think tank, this phenomenon is similar to what happens to phones in the winter. "When you use your smartphone outside in the cold, your phone's battery will drain much faster than normal."
Ukrainian soldiers deploy a UAV near Bakhmut, Donetsk in November 2022. Photo: Reuters
The expert said that the rapid depletion of batteries reduces the operational time of UAVs on the battlefield and directly affects their combat effectiveness, especially reconnaissance UAVs, which often have to fly for long periods of time. Compared to Russia, Ukraine is said to be more affected by this phenomenon, because Kiev relies more on cheap battery-powered UAVs than its opponents.
Another challenge for Ukrainian UAVs in winter is the short days and long nights. In the area of Avdeevka city in Donetsk Oblast, one of the hot spots in the Ukrainian battlefield, the sun now rises around 7am and sets around 4pm, much earlier than in summer.
Longer nights limit the operational time of Ukrainian UAVs on the battlefield, as they are often not equipped with thermal imaging cameras to operate in low-light conditions.
"UAVs can only be deployed at dusk, dawn or at night if they are equipped with expensive specialized equipment, while we are trying to create the cheapest UAVs, especially the suicide type that can only be used once," Kryukov said. "The phenomenon of short days and long nights negatively affects our ability to strike the enemy."
Russian Lancet UAV attacks Ukrainian military equipment in Kherson in video posted on November 26, 2023. Video: Telegram/ Dnepro_Rub
Meanwhile, with the advantage of economic potential and defense industry, Russia owns a large number of UAVs capable of night combat, including the Lancet series, which is known as a "nightmare on the battlefield" for Ukrainian soldiers. Moscow has recently begun to equip the low-cost FPV UAV line with thermal imaging cameras so that it can operate at night, although this significantly increases production costs.
In addition to darkness, snow and fog in winter can also hinder UAV operations, as they often obscure cameras and make it difficult for operators to see targets. Cold weather can also cause UAV propellers to freeze and stop working, but this can be prevented by coating them with lubricant.
Ukrainian authorities are researching and manufacturing new domestic UAV models or improving existing models to be able to operate better in harsh conditions, while still ensuring production costs at an acceptable level.
Meanwhile, Russia appears to have prepared for the weather. Edward Bagdasarian, head of Russian defense company Aerocon, said last September that its UAVs had been thoroughly tuned and tested to ensure that their performance would not be reduced in cold weather.
According to Kryukov, losing to Russia in terms of the ability to deploy UAVs in winter will not make them falter and this force will continue to persevere in the coming time. "Winter will not be able to stop Ukraine," the commander affirmed.
Pham Giang (According to Business Insider, Sputnik )
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