Since the first drones went from being simple surveillance platforms to weapons capable of change entire battlesthe war in Ukraine has incorporated these machines in layers, always due to necessity and adaptation. First reconnaissance UAVs, then armed drones, then swarms and loitering munitions.
The latest has transformed the war into a new phase.
Drones with drones. The war in Ukraine has crossed a disturbing threshold by entering fully into his Frankenstein phasewhere drones “stitched” to other drones give rise to improvised, but highly lethal, spawns.
Russia has begun using larger aerial platforms as motherships transport and launch FPV attack very far from the front. The consequence is clear: the idea that FPVs are short-range tactical weapons is broken and a new strategic layer is inaugurated based on hybrids assembled with battlefield logic, not so much laboratory logic.
Gerbera as a bringer of death. In this scenario a main actor appears. He Gerbera dronelight, rudimentary and cheap, was born as a simple decoy to saturate defenses during attacks Shahed type.
Over time he began to carry small explosive charges and now it has been adapted for something even more disturbing: carrying an FPV hanging and releasing it in mid-flight. In fact, there are photographs and videos released at the beginning of this month of February that show this evolution already in usenot as an isolated experiment but as an emerging pattern. If you will, this type of “Frankenstein drone” has begun to walk alone.
A nurse launching an FPV
The logic of the graft. The first evolutions we had counted last year. The reason for this combination between drones is not only technical, but deeply operational. A fixed-wing drone can fly hundreds of kilometers, but lacks the agility needed to hunt down small or moving targets.
The FPV, on the other hand, can, for example, enter through a window, follow a person or hit an exact point, and launching it from a mothership solves its great historical limitation: the scope. It is the sum of two weaknesses that together become a strength.
Future swarms and the shadow of the Shahed. Although the Gerbera can only charge one FPV, at least for now, everything indicates that it is a test bed for something bigger. Industrial and military logic suggests that larger platforms like the Shahed could ttransport several drones of attack, increasing the probabilities of impact and allowing multiple targets to be attacked in a single mission.
What’s more, the concept is vaguely reminiscent of a kind of bomber that does not launch bombs, but rather small autonomous hunters. Frankenstein is still in its early stages, but its final form is already apparent.
The communications web. Plus: given the limitations imposed by Starlink blocking by SpaceX a few days ago, Russia has resorted to an invention that we had not seen in the war: sets of mesh spokes of Chinese origin that allow drones to communicate with each other and extend control in successive jumps.
We are talking about a system that is already quite expensivebut it reduces dependence on satellites and opens the door to deeper and more impactful operations. In the medium term, Russian experts they point to another mutation o variant of the flying monster: FPV sets with greater autonomy and capacity own decisionin this case less dependent on the human operator and much more difficult to neutralize. Background: more AI.
From battlefield to global problem. It is possibly the last of the legs to analyze with the appearance of these models. Ukraine has demonstrated an exceptional ability to shoot down carrier drones before they launch their charge, but now the concept is already out of the bottle.
FPVs launched from mother “mothers” can destroy radars, anti-aircraft systems, aircraft on the ground or even armored columns at distances that were unthinkable until very recently, all at a ridiculous cost compared to traditional missiles. In other words, this new Frankenstein phase It is not just a quirk of war in Ukraine: it is a disturbing preview of the future of conflict, one where innovation aims to be hastily “stitched” with available parts and devastating results.
Image | UNITED24
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