The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence announced that it had supplied 1.2 million unmanned aerial vehicles to the Ukrainian army in 2024.

The war in Ukraine has been characterised by the deployment of drones, of which thousands have been used to track enemy forces, guide artillery, and bomb enemy targets.

Small, inexpensive FPV drones, in particular, have proven to be one of the most powerful weapons in this war, where conventional fighter aircraft are relatively rare due to the dense concentration of anti-aircraft systems near the front lines.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a few days ago that Ukraine will continue to boost its own production, with plans to produce at least 30,000 long-range UAVs.

Beyond the battlefield, Ukraine has used long-range UAVs to strike targets hundreds of kilometres away from the front lines—mostly Russian energy infrastructure.

Also read: Ukraine | The Army is Being Strengthened with 30,000 Long-Range Drones

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, in 2024 alone, 1.2 million drones of various types, designed for reconnaissance, offensive operations, and other specialised missions, were delivered to the country’s armed forces:

• 40,000 multi-rotor reconnaissance drones, with more than 12,000 night vision-capable
• 5,000 reconnaissance drones, such as Shark, HOR, and Fury
• 6,000 deepstrike drones, including An-196 Lyutyi and Firepoint
• 2,000 reusable attack drones such as Nemesis, Kazhan, and Vampir
• 5,000 FPV (First Person View) type.

The State Special Communications Service provided 1.1 million FPV kamikaze drones, which were specially ordered to meet the requirements of frontline units.

The Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced on December 6 the creation of the Elf-P drone as part of the “Brave1” project, specifically designed to neutralise the Russian Orlan, ZALA, and SuperCam drones.

Source: Euromaidan Press

Also read: Ukraine | Presentation of drone and anti-drone solutions at EDEX 2023