By Sergiy Chalyi
ZAPORIZHZHIA REGION, Ukraine (Reuters) – The four propellers hum like a bee, the black drone zips into the air. Mykhailo, a 25-year-old Ukrainian soldier, stands under a tree surveying the whizzing landscape through his goggles, steering with fingertips on the remote.
“Every time I put on my goggles and take the joystick, I think about my mother telling me those video games won’t do me any good,” he says with a smile.
“Well, if this isn’t useful, then what is?”
Drones have played a central role in the Russia-Ukraine war, deployed by both sides. There are big drones that can fly hundreds of miles, some that hover over the battlefield taking pictures and others that carry weapons to drop on targets.
But there may be no more characteristic weapon of this war than the tiny, inexpensive “first-person view” (FPV) drones, designed to crash straight into a target on the battlefield, steered by a pilot wired into a virtual reality headset.
It is a constant game of cat and mouse against enemy troops, who try to interfere with remote signals using electronic warfare (EW) systems, said Mykhailo, who did not give a surnmae and uses the military call sign “Joker”.
“You cannot work from the same position many times, because the enemy reacts to it, turns on the EW, jams our drones,” he explained in between test flights of a new batch of drones received by his unit in southern Ukraine’s frontline Zaporizhzhia region.
“We need to constantly look for new positions, where to fly from, and for new targets.”
Unlike other drones that can be sent up and monitored, the FPV drones never simply hover; they are always flying fast and looking forward. Their cameras don’t even point downwards.
“The pilot must always be in full control of the drone, of its flight,” Mykhailo says. “It can attack at speed, from height, in various ways – each pilot flies the drone in his own style – but it always attacks at speed.”
(Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
