The 412th Separated Nemesis Unmanned Systems Batallion detected and destroyed a Russian tank in the night, as shown by a video shared on the official Telegram channel of Ukraine‘s Unmanned Systems Forces and highlighted by Forbes Defense Correspondent David Axe.
This incident demonstrates Ukraine’s rapid progress, fueled by the newly formed Unmanned Systems Forces. Once used to strike stationary targets, night-capable “vampire” drones now successfully strike moving targets, demonstrating Ukraine’s growing proficiency.
Ukraine’s night drones now hit moving Russian tanks. Operators of the 412th Battalion Nemesis spotted a Russian “turtle tank” moving fast and dropped two grenades with precision–one under the tracks and one to crack the armor. All at night. pic.twitter.com/2RPMPrXAys — Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) October 13, 2024
“Aiming a grenade unguided at a tank speeding is a difficult task,” Axe said.
The drone pilots were able to target a Russian “turtle tank” that was moving fast, piercing its armor with a grenade before disabling the tracks with another. All this under cover of night. The third grenade was missed, but the damage had been done. The tank veered off the road and the crew abandoned it.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s President, announced in February that a separate drone branch would be created, the first of its kind in the world, to enhance drone warfare capabilities. Mykhailo Federorov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transform, said that drones had “fundamentally altered the situation on battlefield,” with night-operations becoming a priority.
Early in the war drones were unable to carry out nighttime attacks. However, the introduction of “vampire” infrared drones changed this, allowing for effective nighttime strikes.
These drones caused havoc to unprepared Russian forces who once saw darkness as protection. The Russians called the drones “Baba Yagas”. They initially targeted stationary targets, but as Ukrainian operators improved their skills, they were able to successfully strike moving targets.
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