Ukraine Gains Advantage in UAV Race with Russia

According to experts, efforts to develop the field of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) not only help Ukraine gain an advantage over Russia in this race but also help Kiev reduce its dependence on Western weapons.

UAVs have dominated the battlefield in Ukraine, used by both sides for combat and intelligence gathering. While more traditional military UAVs are in service, first-person view (FPV) drones have become particularly prominent, proving to be a cheap and effective way to carry out precision strikes on the enemy.

The growing importance of UAVs in the more than two-year conflict has prompted Ukraine and Russia to step up domestic efforts to produce unmanned systems, kicking off a race to outpace production capabilities.

Kiev appears to have the upper hand. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this week that Ukrainian defense companies can now produce 4 million UAVs a year.

In contrast, Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that Moscow intends to increase UAV production tenfold to about 1.4 million units per year, significantly lower than its neighbor.

Ukraine has set ambitious production targets, especially for FPVs. Kiev is also building an arsenal of drone boats used to attack Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and long-range attack UAVs used to strike key military and energy facilities deep inside Russia.

Ukraine’s UAV production is growing as the country expands its defense industrial base. Kiev, which produced virtually no weapons before the conflict, has shifted to producing new ammunition at a rapid pace.

“Many years ago, the Ukrainian defense industry seemed powerless, but today it is on the leading path, at least in Europe,” President Zelensky said.

Kiev’s continued efforts to develop domestic military production will eventually allow it to reduce its dependence on military support from the West, conflict analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said this week.

However, analysts also stressed that Kiev “still needs significant Western support in the next few years to deal with Russia and regain important territories under Russian control.

 Western countries have provided more than $100 billion in military and security aid to Ukraine. The United States is the largest arms supplier, with nearly $60 billion in total security assistance since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began in February 2022.

So far, these countries have not responded to Kiev’s request to allow Ukraine to use aid weapons to attack deep into Russian territory.

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