Number of FPV drones on battlefield almost quadruples in past year - General Staff

Over the past year, the number of aircraft-type UAVs deployed on the frontlines has almost tripled, and the number of FPV-type assets has almost quadrupled.

That’s according to Colonel Ivan Pavlenko, head of the Main Department of E-Warfare and Cyber Security of the General Staff, who spoke at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center - Ukrinform.

"If you look at facts, over the last year, the number of aircraft-type UAVs (at the front - ed.) has increased almost threefold, and the number of FPV-type devices has increased almost fourfold. And we understand that this will not stop, that this is a developing pattern. Therefore, the ability of people, our specialists to correctly use our tools, to coordinate their work, etc., is very important," he said.

According to the official, unmanned and robotic systems are changing the very paradigm of war at a high pace. "Accordingly, we are responding to the development of systems that can effectively counter these tools – we are talking about means of electronic and cyber warfare," Pavlenko said.

Separately, the official said the situational awareness systems have already been created in Ukraine, allowing Ukraine’s forces to see where the enemy's assets are located, where their own assets are located, to detect enemy drones, etc.

The colonel said that the Ukrainian Defense Forces’ Command pays a lot of attention to the development of electronic warfare systems as the number of relevant military units is growing.

As reported, Pavlenko said the Ukrainian EW systems are developing rather quickly.