Weapons of a new kind in a conflict that is changing dimensions. For a few weeks, several suicide drone attacks have been reported on Ukrainian territory, particularly in Odessa and in the Kyiv region, where several victims are to be mourned.
According to a CIA report published in July, ces drones de facture iranienne, l’un des rares pays à encore sutenir Vladimir Poutine dans son “opération militaire spéciale”, ont été achetés par centaines cet été par le Kremlin et leur utilisation a débuté early September. These devices were also used in the bloody series of attacks that hit Ukrainian territory on Monday.
Military weakness?
Among the range of equipment supplied by Iran to Russia, we find combat drones (Mohajer-6 and Shahed 129), but especially Shahed-136, aerial kamikazes produced by the Iranian Aircraft Industrial Company (HESA). However, several questions are raised about these deliveries, while Russia itself is one of the world’s leading arms producers.
Guest this Tuesday morning on our antenna, General Vincent Desportes, former director of the War College and professor of strategy at Sciences Po, sees it as a way for Moscow to save its missiles.
“They have the possibility of limited strikes,” he said.
“Since the beginning of September, the Russians have been using drones to help alleviate the difficulty they have in using their planes. They have no air superiority and any Russian plane that goes out on the battlefield has a very good chance of being destroyed. drones, the risk is just as great but there is no death of the man ”, she analyzes.
Regarding these suicide drones, “their use is a saving measure for Russia, because it saves precious cruise missiles, which cost between 1.5 and 2 million” US dollars, recalls Pierre Grasser, a French researcher associated with the Sirice center in Paris. .
In response, the Ukrainians may try to shoot them down with man-portable anti-aircraft systems during the day, or radar-equipped batteries at night. They can also try, but the maneuver is not easy, to jam the GPS signal to interfere with Shahed 136s that are not equipped to pursue their target in this situation.
faulty logistics
Still on Tuesday’s BFMTV, General Vincent Desportes sees in this import of war material the sign of “a logistical problem” for Russian industry. A point also developed by Russian Colonel Igor Ichtchouk with the TASS agency.
“The Ministry of Defense has developed appropriate tactical and technical requirements for drones. And most (Russian) manufacturers, unfortunately, cannot meet them,” he explains.
Pierre Grasser, for his part, evokes a weakness in the Russian industrial structure. “The STC, which makes the Orlan drones (reconnaissance, editor’s note), has announced that it will switch to 3-8 to operate 24 hours a day. They cannot form teams. Like on the front line, Russia’s problem is human resources,” he explains.
Beyond this difficulty, Russia did not have long-range suicide drones such as the Shahed 136 in its arsenal, preferring “models with reduced autonomy (40 km maximum)”, he adds.
As for the MALE armed drones, “the fact of receiving Iranian Mohajer-6 is also an admission of industrial failure”, specifies the researcher. “They are supposed to have materials in this range … This means that (Russian industry) cannot keep up.”
The effect of western sanctions
The last point to take into account in the use of Iranian drones, the effect of the sanctions imposed on Russia since the beginning of the conflict. “Western sanctions have caused problems, as has Covid, which has disrupted global supply chains,” said Vikram Mittal, a professor at the US Military Academy at Westpoint.
The Russians “no longer have access to Western technological components and their attempts to develop this type of serial device have been unsuccessful,” says Jean-Christophe Noël, a French researcher at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri).
However, the Kremlin manages to implement artisanal means of circumvention, such as having a Russian diplomat buy navigation systems anywhere in the world at a model airplane shop. “Then the pieces will be sent to Russia by diplomatic bag”, concludes Pierre Grasser.
Source: BFM TV
