UAV operators told about working with drones on the front line (VIDEO)
Ilya and Valery are the “crew” of unmanned aerial vehicles. These guys call themselves pilots. We communicate with these guys in Donetsk region. Together with their drones, they carry out combat missions in the Lyman area — in the area of the notorious Serebryansk forest. Both were mobilized and never before had anything to do with the army. However, the full-scale Russian invasion changed their entire lives.
“I was mobilized at the very beginning of the war. When they were distributed to military units, arriving at the PPD, they asked who wanted to be an UAV operator? Why not? It can be difficult. But, it seems to me, not as difficult as for the guys at zero, who daily repel the attacks of the enemy in the rain, under the snow, in the frost or in the heat, under continuous shelling. Something is difficult — we work both day and night without a break. But we must do our job to tell the guys where there is an enemy, where to fire, where to shoot artillery,” Ilya says.
Valery admits that he doubted before becoming a UAV operator. Over time, I looked at the lessons of pilots and fell in love with flying. Now he uses all his skills to find equipment and accumulations of enemy manpower and direct our artillery.
“This is an interesting job. How did it start? I remember wanting and not wanting at the same time. Then I watched the boys learn and I liked it. This is a completely different level, because we are dealing with modern technology. At first it was just a drone. And now everything is much more complicated. Our job is to detect the beginning of the offensive on our positions. So that the guys know where the enemies come from and how many there are. To prepare to fight back. Then — find Russian equipment and give coordinates so that our artillery will work. We also make ammunition discharges on the heads of racists. But in the forest now this is not very relevant. Now it's so hot here that you have to keep on the air all the time. Give a picture to the command. That is, we work according to the full program,” says Valeriy.
“Pilots” say that not every drone is suitable for their effective work. It is necessary to monitor the battlefield around the clock, so drones are necessary with thermal imagers. Since these are the eyes of any unit in modern warfare, the enemy is actively trying to neutralize them. Ilya and Valery say that the Russians are actively looking for places to launch our drones, cover them with artillery fire, so positions have to be changed regularly.
It is difficult to hit a small flying object with a small weapon, but the Russian invaders use the means of electronic warfare very actively. Ilya lost several drones in a few months due to such obstacles. However, our guys also skillfully hunt enemy UAVs thanks to modern anti-drone guns.
When they came to the army, the National Guards say, the goal was to drive the invaders away from their native cities, but a year and a half of confrontation with the enemy passed and their initial desire was transformed into a single common goal - to liberate Ukraine from the Russians. It is this thought that adds strength and motivation.
National Guard of Ukraine
