During the first world war, fighter pilots duelled with pistols and rifles. Today, in the skies over Ukraine, a new type of dogfight is taking place—between drones
from the drone’s operator are limited and jammers are often turned off to allow friendly drones to function. Small drones are hard to spot and harder to shoot. Blasting them out of the air is expensive too: a single missile from aair-defence system can cost $1m or more. Dogfighting with drones provides an alternative mode of attack that costs a few thousands dollars a pop.
The Ukrainians’ early attacks on Russian drones involved human operators directing the attacking craft to ram the enemy in whatever way they could. But they appear to have refined their technique: now Ukrainian attackers dive. Quadcopters have rotors on top, and their cameras point downwards. A rapid descent on a target from above makes use of this blind spot.
Drone dogfights in Ukraine thus far have been improvised. This type of attack only works against small drones: the models being used to down enemy drones typically fly at 45mph and weigh less than a kilo, making them too slow to catch big drones and too light to do them much damage. But Ukrainian forces will soon have access to a purpose-built system that can inflict far greater damage.
Ukraine and Russia are not the only countries pursuing this technology. Anduril, an American tech startup, offers a drone interceptor similar toit won a contract worth almost $1bn to supply America’s armed forces. Fleets of interceptor drones may be a solution to mass drone attacks, like those on Ukraine’s power grid. Bomber drones might even gain fighter-drone escorts to protect them. In the aerial battles of the future humans could be relegated to the role of observers.
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