Ukraine’s Drones: Bayraktars, Switchblades and Ghosts.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, The United States has committed over $3 Billion worth of arms to Ukraine. These have included ammunition, artillery systems, and armoured vehicles and most importantly, unmanned aerial systems or drones. While Ukraine already had a number of different drones before the invasion, such as the Turkish Bayraktar TB2, new western systems are finding their way to the Eastern-European battlefield such as the Switchblade drone and most recently, Phoenix Ghost drones.

The Bayraktar TB2 is a Turkish-made drone in Ukraine’s arsenal. The drone is so admired among the Ukrainian resistance, there is a popular song dedicated to it. A recent newborn lemur at Kyiv’s zoo was even named after it. Ukraine bought dozens of these systems from Ankara before the Russian invasion and has used them to carry out ‘pop up’ attacks on the invaders with lethal effectiveness. Carrying Canadian-made optics and four laser-guided MAM-C or MAM-L missiles, the systems have been used to strike Russian convoys, destroy air defenses but most importantly, videos of the strikes on social media have become massive morale boosters for the Ukrainian people. Costing around a million dollars each, they are much cheaper than their western counterparts and have been referred to as the ‘Toyota Corolla’ of drones; inexpensive, reliable and effective.

The Switchblade drone, produced by AeroVironment in the United States, was shipped to Ukraine as part of an $800 million dollar arms package announced by the US government. The Switchblade is a kamikaze drone, meaning it flies towards its target with its warhead detonating on impact. Unlike other anti-vehicle weapons, the Switchblade is also a loitering munition, meaning it has time to stalk its target before being let loose. The drone comes in two sizes, the Switchblade 300 and the Switchblade 600. The 300 carries a smaller 40mm warhead while the 600 carries an anti-armour Javelin warhead, the same Javelin that is destroying Russian tanks across the country. Launched from a man-portable mortar-tube, it can be carried in a backpack and quickly set up and used with minimal training. First used by American Special Forces against the Taliban in 2010, the dive-bombing drone will be ideal for locating and destroying Russian vehicles.

Phoenix Ghost drones are a brand-new line of drones that have never been deployed in combat. Developed by the US Air Force, the Phoenix Ghost drone was “partly designed with Ukraine in mind.” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters “[The drone] was developed for a set of requirements that very closely match what the Ukrainians need right now in Donbas” referring to the Eastern region of Ukraine, where Russia has focused its assault. Developed by AEVEX Aerospace, a secretive California-based company, very little else is known about the system. John Kirby refused to give details about the drone stating “I would just tell you that this unmanned aerial system is designed for tactical operations.” “In other words, largely and but not exclusively to attack targets. It, like almost all unmanned aerial systems, of course, has optics. So it can also be used to give you a sight picture of what it's seeing, of course. But its principal focus is attack.” After doing independent research, this Author’s conclusion is that the Phoenix Ghost will be used to assist Ukrainian artillery crews in spotting rival Russian artillery batteries and destroying them.

These are but three of the drones being used by Ukraine in their fight for self-determination. Numerous other systems are being deployed by both sides in the conflict, such as the Russian Orlan-10, a medium-range multipurpose drone. Regardless of which side is using them, drones will continue to proliferate among ground forces on the modern battlefield as they are a cost-effective way of engaging the enemy without putting their own soldiers in harm’s way. The days of using only a few prohibitively expensive, technology laden American drones is fast disappearing as modern armies now demand smaller, and less expensive drones to be used by ground forces. Western countries are beginning to see how they might be able to help both Ukraine and themselves by understanding how these systems work on a real battlefield against a difficult near-peer adversary. What they learn now in the Donbas has real-world implications far beyond Ukraine.

The Switchblade drone being Launched.

Military Drones: Then and Now

I was first interested in the military side of drone technology when I started to follow it more than decade ago. One of the first instances of armed drones being used in a theater of conflict was back in 2002. The San-Diego based General Atomics design known as the ‘Predator RQ-1’ - which had been used previously in the Balkans conflict as aerial surveillance - was the machine that carried out the targeting killings of Al-Qaida militants on Yemenis soil.

Fast-forward to 2018 and now Chinese-made models are doing exactly same thing. A Chinese ‘Wing Loong II” drone controlled by Emirati forces targeted and destroyed an SUV carrying a top Shiite Houthi rebel official. The Chinese copy is comparable to the General Atomics ‘MQ-9 Reaper’ design which has been used by the US military across Afghanistan and Iraq. According to a top China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp executive: "In recent years, all types of drones have proven their value and importance through a high degree of use in warfare, and the military has noticed. Many countries are now speeding up the development for these weapons systems, including China.”

Due to weapons export controls, US drone technology has only been used by its closest allies such as France, Spain and the UK. This balance of power changes with the introduction of technology-capable, armed Chinese models. Not only are they considerably cheaper than US or Israeli-made drones but the communist Chinese have no qualms about selling them to despotic or criminal regimes. Chinese sales of armed drones are booming: They have been spotted at airfields in Jordan, the UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and even parked beside American models in Saudi Arabia. This has encouraged the US to drop their export controls for more of its allies - even for their armed versions.

In my opinion, the US are already working on versions (most likely with jet-engines) that will render the Chinese versions obsolete in the short-term. However, this will not discourage Beijing’s allocation of defense spending on their drone programs, potentially sparking an aerial robotic arms race between two world powers in the foreseeable future.

The American-made MQ-9 Reaper has been in service for almost a decade.

The Chinese made ‘Wing Loong II” seen at an arms bazaar - an obvious copy.

Canadian UAV Regulations: More Learning, Less Fear.

New recreational unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) rules were announced before the weekend by Canadian Transportation Minister Marc Garneau. Recreational users face hefty fines if they do not abide by certain rules, namely not flying within nine kilometers of an active airstrip. I’ve been asked by quite a few people about the new restrictions since they were released and my response has been that they have always been ‘the rules’ – however previously they had existed as ‘guidelines’ and no penalties could be handed down for breaking them. These ‘guidelines’ have always been front and center in every operation we carry out – also I’m not aware of any incidents where someone needed to be fined for negligent drone use but laws did not exist to penalize them.

I also take issue with the Transportation Minister’s statement from CBC.ca “I have read almost on a daily basis reports from pilots coming into airports, on the flight path, and reporting seeing a drone off the wing.” This is absolutely false. If there were this many UAV’s being spotted at Canadian airports, why have we not seen more investigations regarding them? Further, there have been zero reported cases of a UAV hitting an airplane – both in Canada and the United States. This statement breeds unnecessary fear which leads to hastily prepared, ill-thought regulations. Based upon this statement alone, I’m hesitant to discover further rules being handed down in June.

We need less fear from our politicians and more education. Current efforts to bring a minimum of learning to future UAV pilots before their first operation are crucial to tackling the problem. What kind of minimum education do you think pilots should have before their first flight?

The UAV Goes to School

Three quarters of a decade ago, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) invested millions into creating ‘neuromorphic chips’ – a type of computer chip that is designed to be as close as possible to a human brain in function, size and power consumption– in short, a ‘brain chip.’ With the project titled ‘SyNAPSE’ – Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scale Electronics – the ‘brain chip’ sounds like something you would find inside the research labs of Cyberdyne.

One of these ‘brain chips’ was tested inside a tiny unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which measured six inches square, 1.5 inches high, and weighed only 93 grams, including the battery.

The ‘brain chip’ works by having networks of silicon ‘neurons’ that communicate through jolts of electricity.  In the experiment, the UAV flew between three different rooms, where the ‘brain chip’ absorbed data from the aircraft’s optical, infrared and ultrasound sensors. Incoming sensor data from the room’s walls and furniture was created in the networks of silicon neurons and the UAV began to understand its surroundings. This caused a separate pattern of electrical activity in the neurons that the chip had never experienced before.” The connected neurons had begun to change, mimicking a crude version of learning like in a real brain. The UAV became ‘self-aware’ and started learning on its own, albeit in a very basic way.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to fundamentally change our civilization in ways we could not imagine. As AI takes to the skies, the public debate on the ethics of artificial intelligence will only increase.

Drones for Good in the Persian Gulf

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently held an international competition titled “The Drones for Good Award’ with the winner being awarded $1 million US dollars. Out of over 800 total contest entries which were whittled down to 39 semi-finalists, the winning design was the “Gimball” unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) created by the Swiss firm “Flyability.”

Made with rescue and industrial inspection needs in mind, this aircraft is equipped with a rotating carbon-fiber cage that absorbs impacts to keep it from crashing into obstacles as well as allows it to roll along the ground. Also due to its small size it can navigate collapsed buildings and toxic environments while still being able to safely fly close to humans. The company’s team lead Patrick Thevoz announced that with this new funding, they will be able to commercially develop their project within a year.

According the Minister of Cabinet Affairs in the UAE, “The UAE Drones for Good Award is a tangible outcome of the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to make optimal use of innovation and technology for the service of humanity.” We at Sky High Images applaud this commitment to setting global benchmarks and demonstrating how UAV’s can be used to benefit our daily lives. We encourage more governments and private organizations to promote similar innovative efforts that demonstrate UAV’s capacity to transform the world, make it a better place to live as well as to inspire new breakthroughs in this burgeoning field.