Suicide UAVs - the key to maintaining dominance in the conflict in Ukraine

The West has accused Russia of increasing its use of Iranian-supplied UAVs in recent weeks to attack Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. Iran has denied supplying UAVs to Russia. Some observers have suggested that Moscow may not have directly shipped them, but that Russia may have “borrowed” the designs from Iran to produce them domestically. However, reports from the US and Europe have continued to report that Iranian-made UAVs have been shipped to Russia.

A UAV in the sky over Ukraine on October 17. Photo: AP

New Era of Suicide UAVs

UAVs believed to be produced by Iran are characterized by their small size, certain accuracy, ability to effectively penetrate air defense systems and, above all, low cost.

In Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, suicide UAVs are highly effective weapons that can penetrate and destroy targets. Observers believe that Russia’s use of UAVs in Ukraine has many purposes, including targeting important targets, reducing enemy morale, and ultimately causing the enemy to expend weapons in the process of shooting down UAVs.

The West believes that the Iranian-made Shahed UAVs, which Russia calls Geran-2, are mobile suicide weapons. They are packed with explosives and pre-programmed with GPS guidance to target. Unlike traditional UAVs, which are larger and faster so they can return to base after launching missiles, kamikaze UAVs are smaller and designed to hit a target and then blow themselves up. This feature is reminiscent of the kamikaze attacks by Japanese pilots during World War II when they flew explosive-laden fighter jets to attack US warships and aircraft carriers in the Pacific theater.

Defense Express cited Iranian sources as saying that Shahed's wingspan is 3.5 meters long, 2.5 meters wide and weighs about 200 kg. It is powered by a 50 horsepower engine with a maximum speed of 185 km/h.

While the Shahed UAV has a range of about 1,000 kilometers, UAV expert Samuel Bendett told CNA that the Shahed used in Ukraine has a much narrower range. That's because its GPS guidance system, which is susceptible to jamming, can't operate at its maximum efficiency.

Western observers believe that because Iranian-made UAVs are cheap and numerous, Russia can attack Ukraine with a series of Shahed UAVs without losing pilots, while preserving its force of modern, expensive fighter jets.

The Key to Maintaining Superiority in Protracted Conflict of Attrition

In the October 17 UAV attack in the capital Kiev, the city's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that 28 UAVs were used to carry out mass attacks. Launched from a truck-mounted launcher, these UAVs flew low and slow, so they could avoid radar detection.

According to expert Samuel Bendett, this is not a swarm attack in theory. This type of modern UAV technology is implemented when UAVs can communicate with each other. Mr. Bendett believes that the UAVs used by Russia simply attack at the same time to overwhelm the enemy's air defense system.

At $20,000 per UAV, the Shahed UAVs are much cheaper than a fully functional missile. By comparison, the Russian Kalibr cruise missiles used in the eight-month conflict in Ukraine cost about $1 million each.

Because of their low cost, kamikaze UAVs are used to attack massive targets, whether fuel depots or critical infrastructure such as power plants. Russia has used precision UAVs in conjunction with intelligence UAVs to attack Ukrainian artillery, Bendett said.

As the conflict in Ukraine becomes a protracted war of attrition, finding low-cost, highly effective weapons is key to maintaining the advantage.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior research fellow at the Washington-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Russia could enhance its long-range strike capabilities with Iranian-designed UAVs.

"This should sound alarm bells for Europe and the world," the expert commented.

However, Samir Puri, an analyst at Imperial College London, told Al Jazeera that there is currently no weapon system that can change the outcome of the conflict.

How did Ukraine react?

A spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Defense Forces told AP that mass attacks using UAVs could pose a challenge to the country's air defense system.

Western countries have pledged to help Ukraine strengthen its combat capabilities with weapons systems that can shoot down UAVs, but many of these systems have not yet reached Kiev.

Ukraine has been asking the West to provide it with air defense systems since the early days of the conflict, but the need has become more urgent after Russia began increasing its use of UAVs.

Air defense systems are one of three priorities on Ukraine's weapons list. Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told reporters that the US and its allies need to provide Ukraine with air defense systems so that Ukraine can protect its airspace from attacks from Russia.

Not only Russia, the Ukrainian army is also using kamikaze UAVs called RAM II, developed by Ukrainian companies. This UAV can carry 3kg warheads and has an operating range of about 30km.

However, Kiev still depends on foreign UAV supplies. The US has supplied several types of UAVs to Ukraine, including the Switchblade UAVs, including the Switchblade 300 and Switchblade 600. The Switchblade 300 can attack targets 9.6 km away while the Switchblade 600 can attack targets 32 km away.

In May, the US also provided Ukraine with "Phoenix Ghost" UAVs, but very little information about their capabilities has been revealed. The UK is also providing Ukraine with a number of UAVs, including 850 "pocket" Black Hornet UAVs. Ukraine is also using Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 UAVs./.