Rigid fronts in Ukraine "This is a technology that could break the deadlock"

Just like in the First World War: certain technologies give the defender an advantage on the ground. Troops cannot deploy unnoticed due to the large number of drones. But the problem is likely to disappear in the future.

The Ukrainian armed forces are doing a lot to fend off attacks by Russian drones. They are even using a Yak-52 propeller plane in the fight against Shaheed and Co, as the video of a Russian reconnaissance drone from the manufacturer Zala shows.

The Yak-52 appears to be doing a good job: markings on the side of the aircraft show that it has already shot down two Zala 421-16Es and six Orlan-10/30s. These are Russian reconnaissance drones.

But Ukrainian drones are also fighting unmanned flying objects of the enemy: on 19 June, for example, the Signum drone unit, which is part of the 93rd Independent Mechanized Brigade, published a clip in which an FPV drone takes a Zala Lancet out of the sky to attack ground targets.

But of course this game also works in reverse: Moscow also has enemy flying objects rammed with FPV drones, where FPV stands forFirst-Person View...

... or Moscow's pilots drop grenades on the enemy's aircraft - here, a large Baba Jaga hexacopter gets to feel the effects.

Drones fighting other drones in the air? Whoever takes off first in this field is likely to gain a head start that could potentially change the course of the war in Ukraine.

As in the First World War: the defenders have the advantage

A Danish veteran, who now teaches at the National Defense Academy in Copenhagen, explains why this is the case. Drones are one of the main reasons why the front is so frozen, explains Anders Puck Nielsen.

The situation is comparable to the First World War: new military developments such as the machine gun or more precise artillery would have given the defenders an advantage back then. This weakening of the offensive led to the stalemate that we know from history. Only the invention of the tank changed this.

In land warfare, the defensive side also has an advantage, explains the military expert: It fights from prepared positions and can set up obstacles or lay out minefields. This is why the rule of thumb is that the attacker should have at least three times the superiority of the defender.

"Efficient combination of drones and artillery"

This is in contrast to naval and air warfare, where the attacker has the advantage: "Whoever shoots first usually wins the battle." But in land combat, the offensive has a major advantage: the element of surprise. The attacker decides when and where the fight takes place.

But there can no longer be any question of surprise since both warring parties have been filling the skies over Ukraine with reconnaissance drones: They are partly responsible for why the current major Russian attack on the Kharkiv region failed so miserably and why the Ukrainian summer offensive of 2023 came to nothing.

"In Ukraine, we have this extremely efficient combination of drones and artillery because it means you have the reconnaissance capabilities and the firepower," says the Dane. Gathering troops inconspicuously? It's now impossible in this war. So all the advantages lie with the defender - and the front freezes.

"A new era in air combat"

To change the situation, either the firepower or the reconnaissance aircraft had to be attacked. This is how Russia was last able to advance when Ukraine lacked artillery ammunition, the 44-year-old recalls. As soon as the supplies from the USA resumed, nothing moved on the front either.

Now Kiev wants to tackle the other element in this equation - and is working on appropriate solutions in which drones intercept other drones in the air. "This is potentially a technology that could break the stalemate we see on the battlefield because it is a countermeasure to the technology that favors the defender" - analogous to the emergence of tanks from 1916 onwards.

Scientific American also sees "a new era in aerial combat" because drones are now starting to take each other out of the sky. Sometimes they would ram into each other, sometimes they would paralyze the enemy's aircraft with nets. "This is something we haven't seen before," says Caitlin Lee from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies in Arlington, Virginia.

But that is likely to change soon: If the anti-drone drones catch on and no countermeasures can be taken, there will also be movement on the front lines again. The whole thing is a sign of a development that will in any case lead to a situation in which it is no longer people who fight each other, but machines that humans have built for this purpose.