• The_v@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Two things stood out to me.

    Defense Minister Ruslan Umerov said 96% of all drones fielded by the Ukrainian military are domestically manufactured.

    About 85% of all Russian casualties and vehicle kills on the battlefield are scored by Ukrainian drones.

    That means so 82% of the effective combat activity is domestically produced.

    • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      That’s just the end effect though, you still need support from artillery, air defense, anti armor, combat engineering, and a ton more to enable those rates. Drones are the tip of the force multiplying stack, they wouldn’t be effective by themselves.

      • The_v@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        That’s the other 15% of course.

        Drones are replacing artillery and aircraft as the primary weapon of power on the battlefield. That 85% number is truly remarkable.

        In previous conflicts that’s about the percentage of casualties and equipment losses that aircraft and artillery combined caused.

        • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
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          2 days ago

          Air defense for example causes very few casualties, only a couple of pilots. But it enables the drones to fly without being shot down quickly. It’s an enabler, a force multiplier for the drones. If you didn’t have air defense, you’d get a lot less effective than just the 1% fewer direct casualties would suggest.

          • Dimand@aussie.zone
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            11 hours ago

            I assumed these are small fpv drones? They have kind of broken the traditional warfare dynamics and are more like ground force+ without the traditional air to air susceptibility.

    • Devanismyname@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      Part of the combat activity is missile defense though. Maybe other things that aren’t just taking out soldiers and tanks.