First-person view drones, commonly referred to as FPVs, are becoming instrumental weapons of war, particularly in Ukraine.

Supplementing for artillery shortage as Western partners look to address Ukraine’s supply issues, FPVs are helping to stabilize the frontlines. They are effective at taking out equipment and troop formations.

First-person view drones are not only effective on the battlefield, but they also have a significant psychological and tactical impact that could soon change the face of warfare.

FPV drones in Ukraine

First-person view drones/loitering munitions are a form of drone warfare that both Ukraine and Russia are using frequently on the battlefield.

Russia currently holds an advantage in loitering munitions, such as the Orlan-10, ZALA lancet, and Shahed drones. Lancets are compelling enough that the British and Ukrainian Ministry of Defense acknowledged their effectiveness.

Shahed drones are the most infamous loitering munitions being used during the invasion. The deadly suicide drone has not only hit critical Ukrainian infrastructure but also inflicted numerous civilian casualties.

Ukraine has shown it is more effective at combating Shahed drones, downing numerous of them and creating its own models to strike valuable Russian targets. Effectively neutralizing armored personnel carriers, tanks, fighting positions, and enemy personnel, Kyiv is rushing to mass-produce millions of units to supplement artillery shortfalls.

To counter Russia’s advantage, Ukraine’s state arms producer, Ukroboronprom, is massively producing long-range drones day and night. Kyiv’s goal is to make at least two million units by the end of the year, with Europe also ramping up procurement for the war-battered nation.

Related: What is the mysterious drone model we spotted in our interview with General Bob Behler?

Loitering munitions are changing the face of warfare

Loitering munitions are not only short-term alternatives to artillery in the war in Ukraine but also effective weaponry that is quickly changing the face of modern warfare.

In Ukraine, where much of the frontline remains frozen due to trench warfare, numerous minefields, and rigid defenses, FPV drones, which guide them to their destination, make targeting enemy personnel much more effective.

As surveillance, drones can be forward observers, spotting troop movements and warning frontline units of a potential combined arms assault. FPVs, often low-priced, can be quickly crowdfunded while holding enough explosives to kill and maim enemy armor or even platoons, as seen in Ukraine, where undisciplined Russian troops have been picked off on top of their infantry fighting vehicles.

Nevertheless, FPV drones do have a weakness: The small payload of a first-person view drone may not be enough to take out armor, and most of the time, another has to be delivered to finish off the target. This would allow modernized militaries to activate electronic countermeasures or drone-busters to protect armor.

A potential backdoor to beating loitering munitions is that they are often intertwined with their respective drone operators, whose skills make the drones deadly.

In Ukraine, both militaries are actively hunting drone operators who need to be trained for several months or even a year to conduct accurate strikes. In 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces successfully struck Russian drone operators in a targeted missile strike in Donetsk oblast.

The drones have a major physical and psychological effect

Though imperfect, the idea and scenario of autonomous drones, which will require minimal to no human piloting, will become a nightmare in future warfare. The prospect of mass automated drone swarms reaching ammunition depots, defensive fortifications, forward garrisons, and command and control posts is nothing to underestimate.

The proliferation of drone swarms is not yet monopolized, and no country currently has an edge. It could take decades to master the new wave of technological and artificial warfare.

A significant impact of loitering munitions is that the psychological effect often has as high of an impact as the physical effect of a targeted strike.

Currently, in Ukraine, targeted strikes by loitering munitions serve as motivation for both frontline armies, but drone attacks are also used for propaganda against each respective belligerent.

Units who see frontline forces become shredded by disseminated drone videos could become emotionally scarred and petrified in combat, knowing a hunter-killer will be watching over their shoulders.

Rewind to the 2020 Karabakh War, which became world-known for the brutal yet effective drone strikes from Bayraktar TB2 drones. The numerous videos disseminated by Azerbaijan created a psychological effect on the Armenian army, and the feeds became popular in both Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Drone swarms can also pose a risk amongst civilian populations: since loitering munitions are cheap and effective, terrorist organizations could use such weaponry for their nefarious purposes.

Loitering munitions are here to stay, and militaries must now learn to not only enhance the capabilities to strike with them offensively but also prepare defensive countermeasures if an adversary gains the upper hand on them in the future.

This article by Julian McBride was originally published by 19FortyFive.com.

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It appears that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will soon visit Russia for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. North Korea already transfers significant amounts of ammunition to Russia, and this visit promises to expand cooperation between the two nations. What can each side offer the other? What does the meeting portend for Russia’s war effort and for its foreign relations?

What North Korea needs

North Korea could use a little bit of everything. The DPRK shut down more aggressively in response to the COVID-19 pandemic than just about any country in the world. Trade with China, its most important partner, collapsed by over 90%. 

We lack good measures for the extent of misery in North Korea, but there seems little doubt that suffering is extensive. Russia can help fill many of the gaps in North Korea’s requirements, especially in the energy sector. Russia can also offer technology partnerships with North Korean industry, especially in the defense sector. Deeper cooperation with Russia (something that Moscow has resisted in the past) also gives the DPRK more leverage in its relationship with China. Russia cannot exactly wean North Korea off China, and in any case Moscow does not want to antagonize Beijing. But anything that decreases the DPRK’s dependence is good news from Pyongyang’s point of view. 

Finally, North Korea has long needed the friendship of a country like Russia. China and Russia view North Korea as a backward neighbor and a bit of an embarrassment. Now that Pyongyang has something Moscow needs, however, the tenor of their relationship may change. 

What Russia needs

Above all, Russia needs ammunition. Reports from the front indicate that Russian units are suffering from shell hunger, and the inability to meet their daily operational needs for ammunition. Russia has used artillery to considerable effect in the war thus far, depending on it both on the offensive and the defensive. Over the course of the summer, however, Ukraine has at times matched or even exceeded the weight of the Russian barrage. If Russia hopes to turn back the Ukrainian offensive, and especially if it wants to launch a winter offensive with any hope of success, it needs more artillery shells.  

However, since Russia has already acquired some ammunition from the DPRK, this summit could herald more substantial cooperation. North Korean military capabilities are primitive compared to South Korea, but it operates large numbers of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles that are comparable with what Russia has already lost in its war. 

North Korea adopted a more extreme version of the Soviet practice of stockpiling massive amounts of military equipment, and it goes to reason that Russia might want access to more than just shells. North Korea has sought to expand the export footprint of its arms industry, and Russia could offer a spectacular opportunity to make a global impact. 

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A sobering occasion for Russia

It remains to be seen whether Pyongyang’s decision to escalate its participation in Russia’s war will affect decision-making in Seoul. North Korea’s decision to enable Russian aggression against Ukraine makes a mockery of South Korea’s decision to mostly stand on the sidelines of the conflict. Seoul has supported Ukraine’s war effort, but only indirectly – it has transferred munitions to the United States that Washington has passed along to Kyiv. South Korea’s extensive arms industry could undoubtedly help support the Ukrainian war effort, and Ukraine would offer a useful proving ground for South Korean weapons. 

In any case, Russia has now interjected itself in a forceful way into the politics of the Korean Peninsula, a move that will have potentially far-ranging effects on the foreign policy of both Koreas. 

At the same time, the growing relationship is surely bittersweet from Russia’s point of view. Seventy-three years ago, Kim Jong Un’s grandfather had a series of conversations with Josef Stalin that paved the way for Kim’s invasion of the South. The Soviet Union then bankrolled the war efforts of both North Korea and the People’s Republic of China. Today, Putin meets Kim Jong Un virtually hat in hand, begging for the shells and equipment that the Soviet Union originally licensed for North Korean production. However Putin tries to frame it, the moment represents a deep humiliation for Russia’s foreign and military policy. 

This article by Robert Farley was originally published by 19FortyFive.com.

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After two months of slow progress in its long-anticipated counteroffensive, Ukraine announced on Wednesday that it recaptured the village of Urozhaine in the southeastern Donetsk region. The liberation of the town came after several days of intense fighting.

“Urozhaine liberated…Our defenders are entrenched on the outskirts,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on the Telegram social messaging app on Wednesday.

Video of the fighting in and around the village, as well as the aftermath that was recorded by units of the 35th Separate Brigade of Marine Corps, was shared on social media by Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en).  

In the video, soldiers were seen raising the Ukrainian flag within the village near a memorial that had been dedicated to Soviet Red Army troops following the Second World War.

Slow progress, but still progress

This is the first village Kyiv’s forces have taken since July 27, as it has faced stiff resistance, and Ukrainian forces have had to slug through heavily defensive lines largely without any air support. It is also about five miles north of the first defensive positions of Russia’s so-called Surovikin Line – a network of fortifications that have been under construction since late last year, and named after the Kremlin’s General Sergey Surovikin, who oversaw a consolidation of Russian-occupied Ukraine during his stint commanding the invasion force.

Ukraine has already incurred staggering losses as it has attempted to break through Russia’s fortified positions, but it remains unclear whether the Kremlin actually has the defense in depth to stop a significant breakthrough.

Urozhaine is of several rural settlements near the Mokri Yaly River. It had a prewar population of around 1,000 residents. As with much of the settlements in the region it has largely been destroyed while its residents have fled.

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The recapture of the rural community could allow the Ukrainian military to liberate the village of Staromlynivka, located several kilometers to the south. Reuters reported that military analysts see that settlement as a Russian stronghold in the area. In addition, Urozhaine is just over 90 km (55 miles) from the Sea of Azov, and a breakthrough to the sea would cut Russia’s occupying forces essentially in half.

The capture of the village also comes after Kyiv essentially rejected the notion that its troops were not advancing fast enough or that its offensive had already failed.

“The task of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is not to organize large-scale battles for every settlement on the way to the 1991 borders, but to systematically destroy the capabilities of the enemy army: its logistics, technical potential, officers and personnel. And today, Ukrainian defenders are coping with this task one hundred percent,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Monday via a post on X, adding, “Long-range missiles for Ukraine now mean a sharp reduction in Russia’s combat capabilities. This is the active destruction of Russia’s reserves and resources on the far outskirts.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense has not commented or confirmed that its forces have been driven out of the village but claimed its artillery and warplanes were attacking Ukrainian forces in the area.

This article by Peter Suciu was originally published by 19FortyFive.com.

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Ukrainian forces have once again struck what is probably the most vital bridge in the war.

In the early hours of Monday morning, Ukraine attacked the Kerch Bridge that connects Russia with the occupied Crimean Peninsula, causing significant damage.

This is the second attack on the key supply route since the war began.

Attack on Kerch Bridge

On Monday morning, the Russian-installed governor of Crimea announced that the Kerch Bridge had been declared under emergency, and that traffic in both directions of the road bridge had stopped.

Satellite imagery of the Kerch Bridge reveals significant damage on both sections of the road. The asphalt has detached in places, and there is likely structural damage on the pillars supporting the superstructure. The adjacent railway bridge seems to be intact, but there might be some structural damage as a result of the explosion.

It is still unclear what method the Ukrainians used to attack the bridge. The first time they hit Kerch, they used a truck full of explosives. But now Kyiv has long-range cruise missiles, including the Storm Shadow, that can reach the bridge.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who personally sponsored the construction of the bridge, has also asked that security measures around the Kerch Bridge increase.

It is worth noting that the Kerch Bridge is fully illuminated at night, making it easier to target whether the attack comes from the sky or sea.

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The rail bridge was opened to freight trains three years ago. Since then, it has played a key role in bolstering the military capabilities of the Russian military on the Crimean Peninsula. More recently, since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its military has relied on the Kerch Bridge to move men and weapons systems into Southern Ukraine. 

As the Ukrainian counteroffensive moves closer to Crimea, attacks against the Kerch Bridge are expected to increase. The Ukrainians have shown that they have the capability to strike strategic targets with either special operations teams or drones. 

The first attack against the Kerch Bridge back in October completely destroyed a good chunk of the road and damaged the railway. Two of the four lanes on the road then collapsed across a length of close to 300 yards.

Related: A Russian soldier’s newly translated account of the war in Ukraine reveals the poor state of Russia’s military

Ukraine is trolling Russia

The Ukrainian military and intelligence services have a habit of trolling Russia — and even the West on occasion — as part of a broader psychological operations campaign. 

As such, the Ukrainian military took advantage of the situation to conduct some good old trolling on the Russians.  

“The number of potential «domestic» summer tourist destinations for Russians is falling. With alarming regularity,” the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense stated in a tweet on Monday. 

Ever since the Russian military invaded and annexed Crimea, the peninsula has been a popular tourist destination for Russians. That is why the Ukrainian military is predicting that the attack on Kerch Bridge will somewhat frustrate the vacation plans of Russian civilians and officials alike. 

This article by Stavros Atlamazoglou was originally published by 19FortyFive.com.

Feature Image: Kerch Bridge. Image Credit: Social Media Screenshot

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In recent years, the U.S. Army’s top modernization priority has been long-range precision fires (LRPF). As the war in Ukraine demonstrates, this was a prescient decision. But when it comes to addressing the needs for an entirely new portfolio of fires systems, the Army has only solved part of the problem.

In the next year or two, the Army expects to field several new fires systems, including the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), Strategic Mid-Range Fires (SMRF), and Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW). These will give the Army the ability to engage targets at ranges between 100 and several thousand kilometers. What remains to be accomplished is the fielding of new capabilities to provide precision fires at ranges less than 100 km. The Army’s sole modernization program in this area is the Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA),

Moreover, while the ERCA is expected to have twice the range of the current self-propelled howitzer, the M109 Paladin, it will go to Armored Brigade Combat Teams and higher-echelon formations. The remaining gap in the Army’s new fires portfolio is a replacement for the venerable towed 155mm howitzer, the primary long-range fires system for Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (IBCTs) and Stryker Brigade Combat Teams (SBCTs). The Army needs to solve this problem by investing in a more survivable and lethal wheeled 155mm system.

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Following Moscow’s 2014 seizure of Crimea and the emergence of a continuous conflict in the Donbas, the U.S. Army confronted the prospect of armed conflict with Russia. In assessing its relative strengths and weaknesses in comparison to the Russian military, the U.S. Army realized that it had a major deficit in both capabilities and capacity to conduct long-range fires. The U.S. Army was both outranged and outnumbered by Russia’s long-range fires systems.

Existing U.S. Army cannon artillery, the M109A7 Paladin self-propelled 155mm howitzer and M777 towed 155mm howitzer, each have maximum ranges of 40 km with enhanced munitions. The Army’s two battlefield rocket systems are the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), with a maximum range of 92 km, and the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) with a range of 180 km. The Army needed fires capabilities with greater range, precision, and rates of fire. It also enables these capabilities to be more survivable, primarily through improved mobility.

Faced with the prospect of a great power conflict, the U.S. Army instituted a program to modernize critical capabilities, with its highest priority being long-range precision fires. The Army’s LRPF modernization program is focused on four new capabilities the ERCA, PrSM, SMRF, and LRHW. It is worth noting that each of these programs will be mobile, either on an armored chassis or on a truck.

The ERCA is intended to complement the improved version of the M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzer. Built on a Paladin chassis, the ERCA has a longer barrel which together with a new rocket-assisted guided projectile is expected to provide nearly double the range of the M109A7 or 70 km. An autoloader is planned for the ERCA, which would significantly increase its rate of fire.

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The PrSM is a replacement for the ATACMS. Two PrSMs can be carried in a single ATACMS launch pod, effectively doubling available rounds. It will engage targets between 60 and 500 km with great accuracy. PrSM can be launched by the Army’s existing family of launchers.

The SMRF is intended to provide long-range precision fires for the space between the maximum ranges of the PrSM and that of the LRHW. This capability is based on the Tomahawk cruise missile and the Standard Missile 6, both currently in production.

The last Army fires program is the LRHW, which has a range of up to 2800 km. The LRHW intended to go after deep targets, including command and control facilities, air and missile defense complexes, and long-range fires systems.

There remains one glaring capability gap in the Army’s fires portfolio: a replacement for the M777 towed howitzer. Army leadership has long recognized the need to find a new system. The Ukraine war has made this an imperative. While Western-supplied towed 155mm howitzers have helped the Ukraine Armed Forces to hold back the Russian Army, this system is highly vulnerable to counterbattery fires due to the time it takes to set up, fire and move. In addition, the rate of fire for the M777 is not sufficient.

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While Armored Brigade Combat Teams have the Paladin armored self-propelled 155mm howitzer, and will receive the ERCA, IBCTs and SBCTs are currently equipped with the towed M777. As a result, these formations are outranged and outgunned by both Russian and Chinese land-based tactical fires. The SBCTs, built around the Stryker armored wheeled vehicle, are particularly in need of a more mobile and lethal 155mm system.

The solution is a truck-mounted 155mm system, and such systems are available. They include the French Caesar, the British Archer, and the Israeli ATMOS. France and Denmark have provided about 40 Caesar truck-mounted 155mm systems to Ukraine, where they are reported to have performed extremely well.

These systems are significantly better than the towed M777. They can set up, fire multiple rounds, and redeploy in a matter of minutes. This makes it hard for an opponent to employ counterbattery fires. Versions with an armored cab are inherently more survivable than towed systems. In addition, because these systems are mounted on a truck, they can keep up with fast-moving units such as the SBCTs.

Almost two years ago, the Army ran a shoot-off involving four truck-mounted 155mm howitzers: the British Archer, the Israeli Atmos, the French Caesar, and U.S. Brutus. The Army is reported to be conducting studies of its tactical fires portfolio and cannon modernization options. At present, there are no indications of how or when the Army intends to fix the remaining gap in its fires portfolio.

Rather than more studies, the Army needs to move out now and acquire one of the operational truck-mounted 155mm howitzers. It can start by replacing the towed 155s in European-based SBCT to evaluate their performance. Ultimately, the Army needs to replace the towed 155mms in all the SBCTs. IBCTs in the I and III Corps are also candidates to receive the new system.

This article by Dan Goure was originally published by 19FortyFive.com.

Feature Image: U.S. Marines with India Battery, Battalion Landing Team 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, fire an M777A2 Lightweight Howitzer during MEU Exercise 14 aboard Camp Pendleton, Calif., Nov. 17, 2014. The purpose of MEUEX is to train the different elements of the 15th MEU to work together to complete various missions. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jamean R. Berry/Released)

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