Drones once again play a leading role in the war in Ukraine derived from its invasion by Russian troops just over a year ago. Unmanned aerial vehicles are spreading fear of the human and material damage they can cause beyond the front line. This week, a device with an explosive charge was located 100 kilometers from Moscow.
Drones have had a leading role since that start of the conflict, but since this week the scenario has changed. Although the exact objectives of the drones that operated over Russia a few days ago are not known, Kremlin military sources indicated that they were civilian infrastructure. From the Ukrainian side nothing is known at the moment.
On social networks, photographs of the remains of a Ukrainian-made drone called the UJ-22 allegedly found after its alleged demolition in the Russian sky have been disseminated. Such a drone would, if anything, fit the kind of fear-spreading operations Ukraine might have planned.
The UJ-22 can meet reconnaissance and bombing objectives, being able to house howitzers under its belly. Its maximum range is 800 kilometers, which would allow it to have been launched on Ukrainian soil and launched on distant targets in Russia.
When the UJ-22 is used in such long-distance operations, the ability to pilot it remotely is lost, and so it does so automatically. It involves loading into your navigation system some coordinates to which you will go and drop your explosive charges.
In principle, the UJ-22 is not considered a drone popularly called kamikazes because there is a possibility that they drop their projectiles and return to the base. That happens if you have fuel left to do it, but when the distances are so great the device ends up stalling and crashing. To give an example, the distance between Kyiv and Moscow in a straight line is 754 kilometers and we have said that the maximum manual range of the UJ-22 is 800.
There is also no detailed information on the number of drones that entered Russian airspace and how many were actually shot down or crashed and how many actually managed to outwit and how Russian air defenses were.
In addition to the UJ-22, there are other drones with a much shorter range, up to 40 kilometers, whose appearance causes fear among the Russian front lines. This other American-made device is the Switchblade 600.
It is an eminently suicidal drone that explodes when it hits the target. The Switchblade 600 is effective against certain armors, even if they are quite thick. That is why they are so feared. They can cause significant damage to armored cars.
Ukraine has already received a batch of its little brother, the Switchblade 300, from the United States, but the new model is improved in navigation and weapons systems and is much more effective.
This new generation drone, like the previous one, although larger in size, can be transported without too many problems by light infantry units and takes flight after being fired as a projectile from a tube similar to that of a mortar. Once out of the canyon, its wings automatically unfold and its propeller motor engages.
Then, a pilot drives it from a tablet and makes it hit the chosen target. This loitering drone will bring Ukraine an important tactical tool on the front lines.
