Ukraine reportedly upping FPV drone fleet for rumored offensive against Russian forces

It has long been rumored that after fighting off the brutal winter offense Moscow has waged since the New Year’s holiday, Ukraine  plans on unleashing a spring onslaught against Russian forces in the east – which, if it occurs, may feature thousands of explosive-packed FPV drones.

Speculation along those lines were renewed this week with reports that FPV pilots in Ukraine’s army have already begun battering Russian units with fast-flying, munition-carrying drones. Posts on social media later picked up by traditional publications have featured footage of Ukraine-flown UAVs catching up with fleeing Russian personnel carriers, then cutting to black (or static) upon impact. 

Read: Ukraine reportedly assembles half of its 1,000 FPV drone fleet for attacking Russian targets [Video]

The most widely circulated of those videos was one originating from Ukraine’s Security Service, SBU. It shared footage presumably streamed from the FPV drone as it caught up with a Russian armored personnel carrier (APC) with at least three soldiers on the roof, then flew into the target – all to the music of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.”

According to text explaining the SBU’s post, the service’s “special forces sent the APC crew and armored infantry to hell ‘on the march’.” It added, “Warriors from the ‘White Wolves’ group worked on the occupiers with an FPV drone.”

Of course, Ukraine’s use of FPV drones against Russian targets is nothing new. DroneDJ reported on the first use of racing craft last year, and in January noted a new campaign by the country’s military intelligence services to procure a fleet of 1,000 attacking UAVs.

Read more: Ukraine seeks 1,000 ‘FPV kamikaze drones’ in new funding drive

And, indeed, earlier this month DroneDJ ran a story featuring videos shot in makeshift assembly facilities, in which nearly 500 Ukraine FPV drones waiting to be fitted with nearby munitions for use against Russian forces were on display.

That would be bad enough for Moscow’s invading troops already dreading the prospect of an Ukraine counter offensive as winter weather relents, but the US edition of The Sun suggested things may even worse than Russian leaders imagine.

The daily quoted the Telegram post by a Russian engineer who follows the war, whose comments suggest the nearly 500 FPV drones shown in the recent video may represent a small portion of the perhaps 50,000 he claims Ukraine is now against Russia’s army.

“Recently, it became known that in the field of drone assembly, the buyers of the (Ukraine) Armed Forces bought almost the entire market of fpv components in China, according to indirect estimates for 50-100 thousand units,” The Sun quoted the claims in the Telegram post. “They have already trained more than a thousand operators of these models.”

While none of that information regarding such enormous FPV drone procurement by Ukraine has been substantiated, there are indicators the country is already expanding its UAV flight capacities against Russian units.

This week Ukraine News reported that Vice Prime Minister for Innovations, Development of Education, Science and Technologies, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced the mobilization of the first three companies of reconnaissance and attack drone units.

According to the article, those divisions are made up of SUVs equipped with FVP attack drones and Starlink satellite terminals to enable constant internet connections Ukraine aerial activity against Russian troops.

“Drones will carry out reconnaissance and strike missions,” Fedorov said. “They will bring artillery, help soldiers be as effective as possible during urban battles, and preserve life.”