What You Need to Know: In Ukraine, drones play a pivotal role, shaping battlefield tactics and providing essential support in reconnaissance, long-range strikes, and frontline medical aid.

-Russian forces have escalated the use of Iranian-supplied suicide drones, launching 2,000 attacks in October 2024 alone—a significant increase attributed to diversified suppliers and launch sites.

-These drones are especially effective against troop concentrations and armored vehicles. Despite heavy casualties among Russian drone operators, Russia’s reliance on one-way attack drones is expected to continue at high rates, with British Military Intelligence suggesting these figures may soon become the norm.

2,000 Drone Strikes in a Month: How Russia’s UAV Strategy Shapes Ukraine Conflict

In many ways, the war in Ukraine is a war of drones. To be sure, it isn’t a sci-fi situation where drones are doing the fighting for humans—the death toll of over a million on both sides testifies to that. But rather, drones are shaping the fighting in a way that hasn’t been seen in the history of warfare.

Both sides are using unmanned aerial vehicles to attack, reconnoiter, deny territory, support long-range fires, and even provide medical treatment to wounded troops.

In its bid to make as much progress as possible before the weather conditions worsen and large-scale offensive operations become harder, the Russian military is using record numbers of suicide drones on the frontlines.

2,000 Drone Attacks

“Approximately 2,000 One Way Attack Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (OWA UAVs) were launched by Russia against Ukraine over the month of October 2024, exceeding September’s numbers by approximately 700, and increasing significantly for the third month in a row,” the British Military Intelligence assessed in its latest estimate of the war.

“With continuing Russian investment in a range of OWA UAVs, diversification of supply, and expansion of launch-sites, firing rates have been trending consistently upwards since mid-2024,” the British Military Intelligence stated.

Despite the crippling international sanctions against Russia following the large-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, the Russian defense and aerospace industry has managed to keep the Russian military in the fight. But not without help from certain unsavory partners, including Iran and North Korea.

The Russian military is using drones made in Iran for most of its operations. Particularly, the Russian forces are using the Shahed family of one-way attack drones. However, without Tehran’s support (direct and technological), the Russian forces would have a considerably harder job in finding enough drones to maintain the current rates.

“Through the first week of November, Russian firing rates remained high and in-line with recent weeks,” the British Military Intelligence stated.

Suicide drones offer great destructive results both against troop concentrations and heavy weapon systems, such as main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. They are at their most effective when they work in conjunction with other ground and air assets to maximize the overall result. For example, a Ukrainian dismounted mechanized infantry element can disable a Russian T-90 main battle tank and then a suicide drone can destroy it.

“With launch sites being reasonably simple and easy to re-establish if targeted, should production remain uninhibited, the primary limiting factor for Russian OWA UAV operations is likely human resource relative to launch capacity,” the British Military Intelligence added.

The extremely high rate of casualties that the Russian military is taking—over 1,000 losses every single day—has even resulted in sending drone operators to the frontlines to fight and die like infantrymen. As we have discussed previously here at The National Interest, even Russian drone commanders are livid with such measures that put short-term gains over long-term operational capabilities.

“It is likely that the high figures seen through September and October to date will become normal,” the British Military Intelligence concluded.

About the Author

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from the Johns Hopkins University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.

Image Credit: Creative Commons.