Last October, the First Corps Azov Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard saw the need to increase the number of drones it had and people to operate them. So it created the 12th Special Forces Brigade Azov of the Ukrainian National Guard’s Unmanned Systems Battalion. It now has several hundred troops and tens of thousands of drones ranging from first-person view (FPV) variants to heavy ‘bomber’ types. They are fighting in and around Toretsk,
a now-destroyed city in Donetsk Oblast where some of the war’s fiercest battles are taking place. In a deeper dive into our nearly two-hour exclusive interview, the commander of this battalion, callsign “Yas,” shared new details about the ever-evolving use of drones in combat.
Yas addressed a huge range of issues. He told us about what is working and what is not, Russia’s new battlefield tactics, the problem with ‘dragon drones,’ how they are putting their new fixed-wing SETH drones to use,
how combat is morphing to war between robots, and why he is wary of operating unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) that are equipped with the ability to kill. The questions and answers have been slightly edited for clarity.
You can catch up with his insights on the pros and cons of fiber-optic controlled FPV drones in our recent piece linked here.
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