Abstract
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the course of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine since 2022 has become widespread on both sides of the conflict. On the basis of open sources, the article provides an overview of a fairly wide range of tactical drones supplied by the United States to Ukraine in 2022–2024. Key performance characteristics, functions, and comparative advantages of respective UAV systems are analyzed. The Russia–Ukraine armed conflict makes it possible to test drones in real combat conditions, and some types of the U.S. UAVs have already been or are being modernized on the basis of lessons gleaned from their use in military operations in Ukraine. While the Biden administration expanded the supply of tactical UAVs to Ukraine, it refrained from supplying heavy high-altitude and medium-altitude drones, due to possible high costs of such a decision. Among such costs, the article identifies U.S. concerns about the possible Russian access to sensitive UAV components if the drones are captured, the significant infrastructure requirements for their deployment, and the vulnerability of such UAVs to attacks by Russian missile defense and electronic warfare systems, inter alia, in view of the losses among Turkish-made heavy drones in Ukraine.
Published Version
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