Video from a Ukrainian Marine Infantry unit (see link below) reveals that entrenched Russian forces are beginning to use anti-drone screens over and around their field fortifications, in an attempt to adapt to Ukraine’s increasing use of first-person view (FPV) drones to conduct frequent strikes.
Using whatever material is available – including looted solar panels in more than one instance – Russian troops are managing to protect themselves, partially, from the effects of FPV drones dropping grenades, Molotov cocktails or other jury-rigged weapons. As the linked video shows, however, canny drone operators can steer their craft to openings and entrances, still inflicting damage and casualties. At the very least, however, such partial protection increases the complexity and difficulty of the Ukrainian military’s task. Furthermore, when combined with active use of EW systems – some of which are, to say the least, experimental – the Russian initiative may well result in the current trench warfare regime approaching stalemate, in a situation reminiscent of warfare at the beginning of the last century. An increasing use of artillery – not subject to hindrance by fragile screens – may exacerbate that situation.
FPV drones will retain their utility against armoured vehicles, static equipment and infantry in the open but, at the moment, Russian attempts at self-protection may be having some limited degree of success.
(Image: A drone-derived image of a Russian trench system, partially protected by screens, one second prior to a drone strike. Credit: 501st Marine Infantry Battalion, Armed Forces of Ukraine.)
