'Dive' tactics help Russian UAVs avoid Ukrainian fire
May 29, 2025
Moscow [Russia], May 29: The massive Russian drone strikes were accompanied by a change in tactics to avoid Ukraine's air defense network.
According to Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat, the recent Russian tactic of using UAVs is to fly higher, more than 2 km above the ground. When approaching the target, they perform a straight dive, Business Insider reported on May 28.
Mr. Ihnat said that this tactic makes the UAVs easier to detect by radar, but in return, they fly higher than the range of small arms. Meanwhile, Ukrainian air defense forces often deploy vehicle-mounted machine guns to shoot down UAVs.
Ukrainian units say Russian suicide drones are being upgraded to fly higher and faster, making them harder to hit than before. Kyiv is increasingly using man-portable air-to-air missiles (MANPADS), said Jake Epstein, the head of Ukraine's mobile fire team, last week.
MANPADS can shoot down UAVs, but their numbers are limited compared to machine guns. In addition, some UAVs without warheads are used as decoys to attract enemy fire. Mr. Ihnat estimated that for every 100 Russian UAVs that attacked Ukraine, about 40 were decoys.
The Russian attacks are part of Moscow's strategy to use Shahed-type UAVs to weaken Ukraine's air defenses, including electronic warfare and to wear down Kyiv's surface-to-air missiles .
The Russian military has recently used many types of Shahed UAVs and carried out large-scale bombing raids in Ukraine. In addition, Moscow is said to be upgrading UAVs with a range of nearly 2,500 km and a speed of up to 600 km/h. Russia has not commented on information from the Ukrainian military.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
