The point-to-point drone strike competition to buy weapons has gone “viral” among Ukrainian military units, and it will be extended to reconnaissance, artillery and logistics operations in order to increase the effectiveness of attacks against the Russians, Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Mihailo Fedorov told The Guardian.
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The numbers for the drone army bonus system are impressive, according to Ukrainian officials: 18,000 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in September. And the number of drone units engaged in the competition increased significantly reaching 400 units, compared to 95 in August.
Launched over a year ago, the program rewards the most prolific drone operators with points that can be redeemed for purchases in the Brave 1 online store, a kind of Amazon catalog for war shopping. It contains a generous offer: more than 100 models of drones, autonomous vehicles and other equipment necessary for drone operation.
At the top of the ranking are the Achille and Phoenix units.
But competition is also a measure of the degree of automation in the way war is waged.
“It's become really popular with units,” says Fedorov, explaining that the armed forces are engaged in intense competition “for points, to get these drones, electronic warfare systems and other things to help them in the war. The more infantry you kill, the more drones you get to kill even more infantry. It becomes kind of a self-reinforcing cycle.”
A different order of priorities on the battlefield
Since the launch of the program, Kiev has doubled the rewards for killing Russian infantry from six to 12 points.
This is also because the infantry attacks have intensified.
Following the program's success, artillery and reconnaissance units now also receive points for identifying targets, while logistics teams receive points for successfully using autonomous vehicles instead of soldiers to resupply the frontline.
In parallel, the Ukrainian military encourages the use of drones partially controlled by artificial intelligence, which allows target selection and control of a drone's trajectory to increase the accuracy of the attack.
Reconnaissance units receive points in what they call “Uber targeting” – where they mark on a map the location of targets for drone units to hit.
This recalibration of the program comes amid warnings of a reliance on drone warfare that would be risky for NATO countries as Russian defenses against drone attacks have become formidable. In this regard, experts from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank have called for a refocus on artillery and conventional aircraft.
The score-based system involves hunting soldiers as well as drone operators.
Killing an enemy drone operator now nets 25 points, and using a drone to capture a Russian soldier is worth 120 points.
The system puts a price on human lives, but Ukrainians think in unemotional terms.
“We've been at war for four years and it's hardhe said. “We're just looking for ways to be more efficient. We look at it as part of our day-to-day work. There's little to no emotional thinking. It's just technical work. Because if you don't stop the enemy, he's going to kill your soldiers, and after they're dead, he's going to come into a city and take it over and destroy it and kill civilians.”
Ukrainian drone operators are sometimes stationed only 250 meters from the front line, and at other times about three km.
Achille is one of the 10 most successful drone regiments and operates in Kharkiv Oblast and Donetsk Oblast. The commander, Yuri Fedorenko, explained the secret of the best drone pilots.
“Disciplined people make the best pilots,” he said. “Of course, if you're younger, you can stay awake longer and you don't need much time to regain your powers. But discipline can make you one of the best.”
As for the idea of turning the war into a video game based on competition against points, the game stops when the orders come to destroy an immediate target, a more important short-term objective.
“We have to get the job done, first and foremost, because this is war,” he said. That's what we need to do, not chase higher-rated targets.”
The advantages of competition
“The whole unit is in competition. Drone operators are competing with each other. Groups of drone operators are competing with other groups. Even the highest commanders are competing with each other,” says another drone commander, Andri Poltoratski.
He characterized it as healthy competition rather than fun, and emphasized that as soon as the Russians launch an offensive, “the competition stops and everyone … works together” for the goal that best protects Ukrainian lives, regardless of the points awarded.
Last but not least, the points program provided Ukraine with considerable information so that it could come to a better “understanding of the mathematics of war,” Fedorov said.
“Thanks to the dots, we're starting to understand more about what's happening on the battlefield,” he said. “To get points, [unitățile de drone] must upload confirmation videos. So we see what targets are being hit, where they are being hit in relation to the contact line, what drones and other means are being used.”
“So we see what's more effective and what's less effective. Everyone sees the ranking, so units start to connect to learn from each other. Leaders start to teach and pave the way for those who are still growing and developing…innovation starts from the bottom up.”
