Ukraine's drone war faces an obstacle: China
Surrounded by rooms filled with piles of cluster munitions and half-made thermobaric bombs, a soldier from Ukraine's 92nd Mechanized Brigade recently worked on the last part of a chain of deadly supply extending from Chinese factories. in a basement eight kilometers from the front lines of the war with Russia.
This is where Ukrainian soldiers turn amateur drones into combat weapons . Standing in front of a cluttered desk, the soldier attached a modified battery to a quadcopter so it could fly further. The pilots then attached a homemade shell to the bottom and smashed the gadgets into Russian trenches and tanks, turning the drones into human-guided missiles.
The aerial vehicles were so effective in combat that most of the rotors and drone cells that filled the basement workshop would be gone by the end of the week. Finding new supplies has become a full-time job.
"At night we fly bombing missions, and during the day we think about how to get new drones,” Oles said. Maliarevych, 44 years old, officer of the 92nd mechanized brigade. “It’s a constant quest. »
More than any conflict in human history, the fighting in Ukraine is a drone war. This means a growing dependence on flying vehicle suppliers, particularly from China. While Iran and Turkey produce large military-grade drones used by Russia and Ukraine, the cheap consumer drones that have become ubiquitous on the front line come largely from China, the largest manufacturer world of these devices.
This has given China hidden influence in a war waged in part against consumer electronics. As the Ukrainians have studied all varieties of drones and pieced them together into weapons, they have had to find new ways to maintain supplies and continue innovating the devices. Yet those efforts have faced new hurdles as Chinese suppliers cut sales as new Chinese rules restricting the export of drone components took effect on September 1.
A soldier of the 92nd mechanized brigade of Ukraine. The unit...
Surrounded by rooms filled with piles of cluster munitions and half-made thermobaric bombs, a soldier from Ukraine's 92nd Mechanized Brigade recently worked on the last part of a chain of deadly supply extending from Chinese factories. in a basement eight kilometers from the front lines of the war with Russia.
This is where Ukrainian soldiers turn amateur drones into combat weapons . Standing in front of a cluttered desk, the soldier attached a modified battery to a quadcopter so it could fly further. The pilots then attached a homemade shell to the bottom and smashed the gadgets into Russian trenches and tanks, turning the drones into human-guided missiles.
The aerial vehicles were so effective in combat that most of the rotors and drone cells that filled the basement workshop would be gone by the end of the week. Finding new supplies has become a full-time job.
"At night we fly bombing missions, and during the day we think about how to get new drones,” Oles said. Maliarevych, 44 years old, officer of the 92nd mechanized brigade. “It’s a constant quest. »
More than any conflict in human history, the fighting in Ukraine is a drone war. This means a growing dependence on flying vehicle suppliers, particularly from China. While Iran and Turkey produce large military-grade drones used by Russia and Ukraine, the cheap consumer drones that have become ubiquitous on the front line come largely from China, the largest manufacturer world of these devices.
This has given China hidden influence in a war waged in part against consumer electronics. As the Ukrainians have studied all varieties of drones and pieced them together into weapons, they have had to find new ways to maintain supplies and continue innovating the devices. Yet those efforts have faced new hurdles as Chinese suppliers cut sales as new Chinese rules restricting the export of drone components took effect on September 1.
A soldier of the 92nd mechanized brigade of Ukraine. The unit...
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