There was this video floating about about a month ago, the number of fpv drones Ukraine is throwing at Russia is insane. Low cost and hard to counter.
The War in the Ukraine
- Thread starter SampanViking
- Start date
These drones and components are from China, in particular the Chinese civilian market/industry. This means that Russia could easily get 10 times Ukraine's amount.
I think it's a difference in doctrine. Unless Russia is not releasing footage due to OPSEC, UAV usage on Russian side is mostly limited to artillery spotting and high value targets only, rather than targetting individual infantryman using grenade drops/suicide fpvs.
Another possibility is purely the lack of footage in the English speaking world. This happened before in regards to body armor. In that case, Chinese body armor and vests was being used en masse in Ukraine and that was posted in Weibo and originated from Russian accounts in Telegram.
I heard the Russians have setup a FPV drone factory at Rostov-on-Don producing about 1000 drones a month. They certainly are aware of the potential, this video came out just yesterday showing Russians using one in combat:
To be honest they cost like $1k for a full set including fpv goggles, there isn't anything super hightech inside of them and they are easy to mass produce, the only surprise should be why it took so long.
Seems like a worthwhile strategy to pursue if China could add obstacle avoidance and swarming to it.
Nah, to keep costs low you can literally just pay for hundreds of pilots, good fpv pilots can basically fly through windows and doorways, signal permitting. It would cost a lot more in hardware to make it autonomous.
We've been at Bakhmut any-day now for last 2 months. They can't get Kharkiv, let alone Odessa, Kiev etc.
It's really not about what Russia wants, it's about what it can get.
Last 2 months? This battle has lasted longer than the battle for Stalingrad, might as well be too with the way both sides hype it up.