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What are the "kamikaze drones" that Russia is dropping on Ukraine?

2022-10-17 21:58:26Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
What are the "kamikaze drones" that Russia is dropping on Ukraine?
Drone filmed seconds before hitting buildings in Kiev (October 17, 2022)

Kamikaze drones are very accurate in hitting the target. They are small in size and can strike in large groups. Above all, they are not expensive.

In Russia's attack on Ukraine, kamikaze drones have consolidated the reputation of a powerful weapon. Hard to stop and cost effective. They can dictate and destroy targets, simultaneously spreading panic among soldiers and civilians.

Drones are rapidly replacing missiles as the weapon of choice. This is because they can be deployed on the battlefield in greater numbers. And at less cost.

Russia's campaign of sending successive waves of Iranian-made Shahed drones into Ukraine has several aims – to eliminate key targets. To hit morale and consequently deplete Ukraine's military arsenal and in particular defensive weaponry as the conflict turns into a protracted war.

HOW DO DRONES WORK?

The Shahed drones, which Russia has named Geran-2, are loaded with explosives and programmed to stay airborne until they crash into a target - similar to Japan's World War II kamikaze pilots who crashed their planes loaded with explosives on American ships and aircraft carriers during the war in the Pacific.

According to the Ukrainian website Defense Express, which cites Iranian data, the Shahed drone with triangular wings is 3.5 meters long, over 2.5 meters wide and weighs about 200 kilograms. The drone's 50-horsepower engine reaches a top speed of 185 kilometers per hour, and has a range of up to 2,500 kilometers.

The advantage of this new technology is obvious – there is no need to sacrifice well-trained personnel, nor to spend huge funds to produce sophisticated aircraft that can reach the target.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that in Monday's attack on the capital, 28 drones struck in successive waves. The ability to knowingly deploy such aircraft in large numbers could overwhelm defense systems, particularly in civilian areas.

But according to Mykola Bielieskov, a researcher at Ukraine's National Institute for Strategic Studies, the Shahed drone carries only 40 kilograms of explosives, which is very little compared to the 480 kilograms of explosives a conventional missile can carry.

"It is difficult to hit important targets with such drones," says Mr. Bielieskov.

SMALL HIT, BUT ALSO AT LOW COST

At a cost of $20,000, the Shahed drone costs a fraction of the cost of a conventional missile. For example, the Russian Kalibr missiles, which were used extensively during the eight-month war, cost the Russian military about $1 million each.

At such a low cost, the Shahed drone can be deployed in large numbers to dominate the target, be it a fuel depot, infrastructure, or power and water supply networks.

Despite their small size, the explosive payload of Shahed drones seems to be enough to cause damage. During Monday's attacks, one drone hit an operations center, another crashed into a five-story residential building, opening a large crack and collapsing three apartments on top of each other, causing three casualties.

Mr. Bielieskov says that the Russian military has chosen to use Shahed drones against civilian targets and not on the battlefield, where Ukrainian forces "have learned how to fight them effectively", and have managed to shoot down more than half of them.

While no end to the war is in sight, the financial burden of the conflict will increasingly fall on Moscow, which is not being helped with billions of dollars in arms shipments, as the West is helping Ukraine. As the conflict turns into a protracted one – where the side that can bear the human, material and financial costs longer wins – finding cheaper but still powerful weapons will be essential.

For Moscow, Shahed drones appear to be one such alternative.

"The Shahed-136 is the cheap version of a self-guided missile that Russia can quickly produce," says Mr. Beilieskov.

Russian officials have not released data on the number of missiles fired during the conflict, but Ukraine's defense minister said recently that Russia had used most of its arsenal of high-yield missiles — 1,844 at the start of the attack and which reached 609 by mid-October.

A WAR OF NERVES

The annoying hum of Shahed drone engines, which the Ukrainians have called "tricycles", has a panic effect on people who are in their trajectory. This noise only adds to the anxiety and demoralizes everyone in its path, who do not know when and where exactly this weapon will strike.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned the terrorizing element of drones, writing on social media: “Throughout the night and throughout the morning, the enemy terrorizes the civilian population. Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all over Ukraine."

Mr. Bielieskov admits that the Shahed drones have caused fear among the population that Ukraine's defense systems are not sufficient against this danger. But he says that their use, even in large numbers, is not enough to undo Ukraine's achievements on the battlefield.

Terrorist weapons in the sky are not a new thing. Nazi Germany used these types of weapons in the form of the V-1 flying bomb, nicknamed the "buzzer bomb", which was also the earliest prototype of a missile in the form of a flying vehicle that hit British cities.

Eight decades later, the much smaller Shahed drone can be directed to a target at a much lower cost, allowing Russian forces to use far more drones than the 9,500 "buzz bombs" that Nazi Germany dropped on Britain. /VOA


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