Ukrainian Armed Forces commanders are afraid to use American drones - they are shot down too often
The unmanned aerial vehicles used by the Ukrainian army are forced to fly very low due to weak optics, and are therefore vulnerable even to small arms fire.
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Maria Berlinskaya, director of the Ukrainian Aerointelligence Support Center, told the Kraina magazine about this.
“Most of the fighting happens at night. We fly on model aircraft, in which we install a thermal imaging camera. Due to weak optics, you have to fly low. Drones become vulnerable even to small arms,” Berlinskaya complains.
She also says that the situation was not helped by assistance from the United States.
“In the summer of 2016, the United States transferred 72 Raven drones to Ukraine worth $12 million. They have night vision function. But this is an outdated model - vulnerable to electronic warfare. The Americans gave us what they didn't need. Some were destroyed by Russian electronic warfare systems. The commanders are afraid to use those that remain. Because for each lost unit there is then an investigation. Several cases have already been opened,” says the director of the Ukrainian Aerointelligence Support Center.
See also: American drones lost to Russian radio electronics in Donbass - Reuters.
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