Russian Military Awards Reveal Covert Drone Tactics

The Russian military has had few successes to celebrate in what they term their ‘special military operation,’ otherwise known as the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. But they have been handing out commendations, and these may reveal more than intended about military operations.

Samuel Bendett, an expert on the Russian defense scene and adviser to both the CNA and CNAS, takes a particular interest in uncrewed systems. He spotted recognition given to two Russian drone operators for their actions in Ukraine, reported in Russian state newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.

The two men are described as junior sergeants operating an Orlan-10 drone, a craft with a 10-foot wingspan which has been in service for seven years. Fitted with a variety of day and night cameras, the Orlan-10 is widely used by Russian artillery units to find and locate targets. Its long endurance — around 16 hours — means it can patrol for an extended period up to about 100 miles from the operators on the ground.

In one incident, the drone team discovered the movement of “six sabotage and reconnaissance groups of Ukrainian nationalists” who were “preparing an attack on fuel and ammunition supply convoys.” These were targeted by Russian forces and 19 Ukrainians reportedly killed, presumably by artillery fire using co-ordinates provided by the Orlan-10.

“In Russian drills, they [Orlan-10] are used with long range artillery,” Bendett told Forbes. “MSTA, Giatsint, D-30 and others, MLRS like Grad, long-range rockets like Iskander, and others.”

This suggests that the drones are being used to provide aerial cover for Russian supply routes. As we have seen, Russia is taking heavy losses among its logistics vehicles as advanced been down major highways without securing the territory around them. Ukrainian forces can pick off supply vehicles behind the Russian front lines – but drones like the Orlan-10 may be conducting sweeps ahead of convoys to locate possible ambushes, with artillery ready to hit anything they find. Would-be ambushers need to be aware of the threat of being seen from above even when there are no obvious aircraft in the sky.

The second incident took place in an of the artillery duels between Russian and Ukrainian forces. The Russians are increasingly using artillery and rockets not for military targets but to pound Ukrainian cities. The Ukrainians respond by targeting the Russians with their own outnumbered artillery. In the incident, the Orlan-10 team located a battery of three Ukrainian BM-21 “Grad” multiple-launch rocket vehicles firing and directed counter-battery fire on to it, destroying one vehicle.

What followed was more significant. The two remaining Ukrainian BM-21s left the area, and the Orlan-10 followed them unseen until they reached a base area where there were other vehicles and ammunition. The drone data was passed to an SS-26 Stone/Iskander ballistic missile battery and the base was hit by a missile strike claimed to have destroyed 10 vehicles and killed 52 people (an oddly exact number). The choice of Iskander, a long-range missile which can hit targets from 300 miles away, suggests the base may have been in a rear area far from Russian forces.

“Thanks to the secretive and uncompromising use of the Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicle by Russian contractors, as well as their tactical training, it was possible to eliminate a significant amount of military equipment and enemy manpower without losses,” according to the Russian Ministry of Defence.

This strike appears to exactly coincide with a video released by the Russian military and Tweeted by Ukraine Weapons Tracker showing first a drone video of a BM-21 battery firing, then a missile hit on a collection of buildings producing a fireball and rockets ‘cooking off’ after the explosion.

The lesson here is an obvious one: watch the skies, look out for small drones which may not be obvious even at low altitude, especially in the dark.

The Orlan-10 typically flies at low altitude, cruising at around 80 mph. This allows it to evade the Ukrainian large radar-guided missile systems which have taken a significant toll of Russian jet aircraft. By flying at night, it may be able to avoid the attention of teams using hand-held Stinger missiles supplied by the U.S.. Just as the Russian are having difficulty downing Ukrainian Bayraktar, their own Orlan-10 may present a challenge to the Ukrainian.

Even a no-fly zone, unlikely as it is, would not stop tactical reconnaissance drones flying at low level and passing targeting information to ballistic missiles and other long-range artillery.

Ideally, Ukraine would be supplied with modern electronic warfare equipment to deal with the threat. This might include vehicle-mounted sensors and jammers like those used by the U.S. military, and gear to locate ground transmitters. The Orlan-10 may be an easier target than most – a detailed study of one which fell into the Azov Sea and was retrieved by Ukrainian forces in 2016 found that many of the electronics in the communications and navigation system were imported from American companies. Many of the other components were sourced from China and other commercial providers.

It also seems that Russian drone pilots do not always show the same level of skill as their Ukrainian counterparts. Romanian media reported on March 14^th that a farmer in Bistrita-Nasaud found an Orlan-10 crashed in his field 50 miles from the border. Evidently the operators had lost control and the drone simply kept going until it ran out of fuel.

So far, drones have provided some of the best open-source intelligence about events on the ground, and they are likely to be equally important to military commanders. Controlling the drone space and operating effectively while denying access to the enemy is likely to be an increasing feature of this and future wars.