The Bears Robot Soldiers – Russian Drone Development
Russian drone development now lags behind Ukraine’s, but it’s combat tested tactics and machines represent a continuing threat.
This article went through a number of revisions. I originally thought it would form a basis for warning about the threat of Russian drones but its instead morphed in similar manner to my other pieces into something of a ‘primer' on Russian Drone weapons. So I hope, none the less, you will find this useful. I have not listed every, single Russian drone but I have attempted to introduce some of the more prevalent.
Recently many commentators have spoken about the Ukrainian drone wall.
Leveraging their latest drone technology and availability of an extensive cadre of experienced drone pilots and new tactics, Ukraine is successfully blunting the largest of Russian attacks.
Stefan gives a good review of the blunting of four of these attacks in his weekly update
Good news for Ukraine and bad news for Russia. If this drone wall holds and Ukraine can easily continue to attrite Russian forces whilst reducing its own losses.
But today in 2025, what of Russian drone development? What robotic soldiers now accompany their flesh and blood invaders?
this article will attempt to outline what drones the Russians are now relying on to maintain their attack, and how they are used.
Low tech but effective – Orlan drones
The Orlan series of recon drones have been a staple of the Russian army since well before the invasion of Ukraine.
These cheap to produce reconnaissance drones are little more than a fuselage, a camera, a motor and a simple microchip to allow the transmission of their images.
Low tech it might be but still effective.
They have been instrumental in assisting with the directing of artillery and rocket attacks, as well as hunting down individual Ukrainian vehicles and vectoring in other drones such as Lancet loitering munitions and Kamikaze FPV drones.
Whilst cheap and plentiful, and also reportedly quite resistant to jamming, the Orlan drones are slow and easily destroyed by a variety of means. However, the drones are so cheap to produce that using expensive Anti-Aircraft missiles and the like to bring them down is not cost-effective.
But with Ukraine investing in more, faster and better interceptor drones the Orlan’s effectiveness may be at threat, at least on Ukraine's battlefield. Foreign purchasers though might yet still the Orlan series still flying for a few more years…
The Lancet threat
The Lancet loitering munition has become the bane of Ukrainian tanks and vehicles across the front line.
Loitering munitions are Un-manned Aerial Vehicles that are designed to loiter around the battlefield until either they are called in to strike a target, or spot one themselves and engage (in the case of more sophisticated examples). The Lancet has a loitering time of around an hour.
First unveiled in 2019 and combat tested in Syria, overtime this system has been upgraded to increase its endurance and range as well as its explosive power
Typically the way the Russians use it is in tandem with a reconnaissance drone such as a Orban-10 / 30 or Zala reconnaissance drones.
The scout drone identifies and tracks a potential target, and operators call in a nearby Lancet, launched earlier.
At first its effectiveness drew due dubious comments.
One of the earliest videos I remember watching of a Lancet strike, was against a moving towed artillery piece. The lancet managed to strike the artillery piece but fortunately for the crew all it did was damage the wheel. A video from the ground had the Ukrainians say something along the lines of ‘we'll fix that in about 30 minutes.
But now years later the Lancet threat is taken seriously. Increasingly advanced drone nets and other camouflage must be deployed as standard to avoid a potential strike. In turn, the Lancet's development has been updated constantly. The most common videos now posted by the Russian military are Lancet hits.
The design and functionality have now been officially copied by Ukraine who have developed their own version of The Lancet.
Ukraine have also unveiled new counter measures.
Interceptor drones are now routinely going after not just the recon drones that direct the Lancets, but also the Lancets themselves seeing as Interceptor speeds have been suitably increased and their cost by unit decreased.
According to a Forbes article from November 2024 the situation for both Lancet and recon drones had become a real issue for Russian forces...
Iranian's gift – the Shahed
Prehapes the most infamous drone to come out of the War in Ukraine is the Shahed 131 and 136, known as Geran-1 and Geran-2 in Russian services,
These long range, high-explosive kamikaze drones have been deployed in huge numbers by Russian as terror weapons reminiscent of the V1 rockets used during WW2 by Nazi Germany.
Sadly for Ukraine these weapons are more than just one-way drone systems. They have deployed ever more advanced attack strategies and guidance systems, as well as variety of payloads.
They have attacked in such a way as to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences, or avoid them via low altitude flying. As well as high explosive, some have apparently been equipped with cluster munitions. Even more worrying, they may have been dosed in chemicals so that even during recover efforts they can be a threat to the likes of first responders.
Of all the drones deployed by Russian, the Shahed has been the most effective. Able to be manufactured and deployed in vast numbers, and being constantly adapted, Shahed’s will remain a major threat to Ukraine until the end of the war...
FPV drones
The humble FPV drone has become a deadly enemy on the modern battlefield, for Ukrainian and Russian troops.
These drones are manufactured by both sides in their thousands. FPV stands for First Person View and that is how these drones are controlled. Developed from ‘racing' drones, they are equipped for a variety of missions.
Some are simple short range recon drones, often used at squad level, whilst others are used as communications relays for other drones. Yet the most infamous are the ‘Kamikaze’ FPV drones and the bomb-dropper FPV drones. The Kamikaze FPV drones, as the name suggests, simply drive into their targets. Loaded with explosives or even just with anti-tank warheads strapped to them, they are a cheap and deadly threat to man and machine. Bomb droppers meantime, drop a variety of explosives, normally modified grenades, onto individuals and vehicles.
Both sides have leveraged the propaganda value of these deadly FPV drone attacks, publishing regular collections of FPV strike videos.
Recently it was Russia that first started using Fibre-optic FPV drones in the spring of 2024. The concept is simple enough; instead of controlling the FPV drone via radio signals, the drone ‘spools’ out a length of fibre optic wire behind it that allows the operator to control the drone.
These cables have a number of advantages over traditional radio singles. In particular it means the drone is effectively un-jammable, still be operational unless the cable is effectively cut. Likewise, fibre optic cables mean the likes of image quality can be much better and smoother..
Obviously spooling a cable behind the drone has disadvantages as well. Not only could the cable be snagged or cut, but also the cabling adds weight and cost to the drone.
However, Ukraine has recognised the threat these drones present and has stood its own production up, at scale.
Both sides are now in a race to see who can out-drone who in regards to Fibre-optic cable drones
Conclusion
As with most aspects of the war, Ukraine and Russia are attempting to leverage new technology and tactics to gain an advantage.
For now, Ukraine’s drone wall presents a formidable challenge to Russia’s attempts to advance. Despite recently increasing the number of troops available, Ukraine is still engaging and destroying huge numbers of men and material, whilst minimizing losses on their side.
Ukrainian drones have been instrument in this, as a future article will show.
For now, I hope this has been useful reading for you.
Another aspect of the fiber drones is that they attack without warning. Both sides are used to getting some RF based warning when a drone is approaching their area or operating in it. With fiber drones, nothing.