One of the features of the russian-ukrainian war was the widespread and rapid use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Today, the range of tasks solved with their help is constantly expanding. Mainly – during independent combat work with the possible use of them both in automated troop control systems and autonomously as means of reconnaissance, conducting radio-electronic warfare or for air strikes, as well as means of targeting for high-precision weapons systems, relaying in communication systems "link". The article reviews the development of technologies for the use of UAVs during the large-scale invasion of the armed forces of the russian federation on the territory of Ukraine. A brief description of some Ukrainian-made UAVs has been determined. The most important parameters that must be taken into account before flying a multi- rotor UAV and the methods of their calculation are specified. The further course of events on the battlefield is predicted, taking into account the development of both UAVs and means of radio-electronic warfare. It is suggested that when choosing a rational option for the use of UAVs by the Defense Forces, they should use suitability criteria and mathematical expectation of loss of the combat potential of the enemy's group of troops (forces), taking into account complex radio-electronic conditions. Further research should be directed to the solution of practical tasks of implementing group control in the management of UAVs, which leads to an increase in the efficiency of UAV use. The application of swarms of unmanned systems has extremely high potential for effective execution of reconnaissance and reconnaissance-strike tasks on the battlefield. An important issue in the practical application of UAV swarms is the creation of specialized software for management and control.