The fall of Avdiivka symbolized a major victory for the Russian army. Observer news came through the White House, and John Kirby, the committee's coordinator for strategic communications, admitted that the Ukrainian army's military stronghold of Avdiivka, north of Donetsk, may have fallen under Russian control. Ukrainian forces are reportedly on the brink of collapse, with a hasty withdrawal from Avdiivka, while tens of thousands of Russian troops are rushing towards the city.
The situation in Avdiivka was already precarious, with Russian forces attacking with a thunderous attack, and the size of 40,000 people left the city on all sides. They completed the encirclement in the north and south, and even occupied key areas such as ** Park. Since 2016, the Ukrainian army has painstakingly built fortifications in the area, but now it has come to naught. The loss of Avdiivka, on a par with the fall of Mariupol, Severodonetsk, **Mutt, Maryinka and other fortresses, not only severely damaged the morale of the Ukrainian army, but also made their defensive posture worse.
On the battlefield between Ukraine and Russia, drones have come to the fore, subverting the rules of the competition. These tiny aircraft are now the masters of the battlefield, capable of anything, not only posing a serious threat to heavy tanks, but also working in tandem with field artillery to launch deadly attacks. An FPV drone worth only $500, equipped with RPG7 armor-piercing shells, managed to hit the top armor of the Leopard 2A6 heavy tank. This fragile armor, only 20 to 30 mm thick, is vulnerable. The copper shaped jet of the armor-piercing projectile penetrated the armor, and then the metal jet and fragments raged inside the turret, destroying the fire control and electronic systems, rendering the tank incapacitated.
In this battle of drones, both Russia and Ukraine have shown strong production capacity. Russia claims to have achieved its goal of mass-producing drones like leather shoes, with an annual production of up to one million units. And not to be outdone, Ukraine announced that its annual production could also reach 1 million drones. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu personally inspected the largest manufacturer of UAVs - the Zara Aviation Group, which is part of the Kalashnikov Group, which is mass-producing suicide drones such as "Kub-BLA" and "Lancet". In the news**, the scene behind Shoigu is a swarm of drones, like a flock of falcons on standby, ready to spread their wings and fly high.
Zara Aviation Group claims to have produced more than 200,000 Lancet suicide drones. This suicide drone, developed by Russia, has become a high-profile strike for the Russian army**. On the front line, the Russian army has massively used "Lancet" suicide drones to intensively attack the radar stations, anti-aircraft missiles and self-propelled artillery of the Ukrainian army, while confronting the West**, such as Leopard-2 tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and M777 howitzers.
At the same time, Ukraine has also demonstrated a strong production capacity for unmanned aerial vehicles. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell personally visited several drone factories in Ukraine. One of the companies has a daily production capacity of up to 1,500 small UAVs, with a monthly production capacity of 450,000 aircraft, and the total monthly output of several manufacturers exceeds 100,000 aircraft. Borrell praised that Ukraine's production capacity of small UAVs has increased significantly, and it no longer relies on imported complete aircraft, making Ukraine a technological power in the field of UAVs.
NATO has also made its latest commitment to produce 1 million drones for Ukraine, with deliveries scheduled for 2024. Ukraine** has ambitiously announced that they will produce more than 1 million drones by 2024, most of which are cheap and improvised FPV suicide drones. These drones will become a cutting-edge force for the Ukrainian army, bringing greater variables to the battlefield.
However, in this drone battle, the two sides seem to be evenly matched. With the support of Dongda and other countries, Russia has successfully increased the production capacity of small UAVs, with an annual output of 1 million units. This means that the front line could consume nearly 100,000 small UAVs per month, which is equivalent to 3,000 per day, enough to destroy at least 500 targets. In fact, the strike firepower of UAVs is already comparable to that of artillery.
When it comes to choosing a suicide drone, people are faced with an interesting choice: a price of 3a $50,000 drone with a 91% hit rate; Another drone, which costs only $400, has a hit rate of only 10%. Such a choice undoubtedly tests the wisdom and courage of decision-makers on the battlefield.
As of January 29, 2024, according to the latest statistics from the Lost Armour database, the Russian army has launched more than 1,000 Lancet suicide drones on the Ukrainian front. These drones soar over the battlefield like falcons, striking targets with incredible speed and accuracy. In recent months, the number of "Lancet" drones launched by the Russian army has fluctuated between 60 and 130 units, and 121 were launched in January this year alone, showing its stable production capacity.
While this figure is still relatively small compared to the ambitious target of 200,000 units claimed by Russia's Kalashnikov Group last year, the performance of the Lancet drone is remarkable. Of the more than 1,000 drones launched, they successfully attacked 1,000 targets, of which 316 were destroyed and 521 were damaged. Only 74 targets were unsure of the outcome of their hits, while 88 were lucky enough to escape the attack.
Such a result demonstrates the excellent hit rate and damage effect of the "Lancet" drone, which has a hit rate of an astonishing 912%, and the damage rate also reached 837%, and the off-target rate is only 88%。Such a performance is undoubtedly outstanding for a kind of guidance.
The Russian army mainly uses "Lancet" suicide drones to attack the heavy ** of the Ukrainian army, which are like accurate snipers, successfully destroying 151 tanks, 96 armored vehicles, 232 self-propelled guns, 31 multiple rocket launchers, 231 towed artillery, 53 field air defense systems and 69 air defense radars. These results fully prove that the cost of 3The high efficiency and excellent performance of the $50,000 Lancet suicide drone.
In contrast, FPV suicide drones are slightly less effective at hitting and destroying. In order to achieve a single kill, it is often necessary to release 10 FPV drones. In addition, FPV UAVs also have problems such as low success rate, short endurance and easy interference, so they need to cooperate with ordinary quadcopter UAVs. Despite this, the cost of FPV drones is only one percent of that of the Lancet, which makes them cheap and efficient on the battlefield.
In the field of unmanned aerial vehicles, both China and Russia have demonstrated strong production capacity and technological strength. However, in the face of restrictions on the export of drones, Russia has put forward plans to expand the production of consumer and industrial grade drones. Despite the ban on the import of drones, Russia is not helpless. Shenzhen's UAV parts have become the key to the development of Russia's UAV industry, and it is also an important component supplier of Ukraine's "self-produced" UAVs. This situation can't help but make people joke that on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, it is actually a competition between several companies in Shenzhen.
At present, China's UAV-related enterprises have exceeded 120,000, of which Shenzhen has more than 1,500 drone companies. From a global perspective, China's UAV market share exceeds 70%, showing the strong strength and great potential of the UAV industry. Perhaps, the key to Putin's final victory lies in those drones from Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen. These drones are like elves on the battlefield, fueling victory with their superior performance and precision strike capabilities.