Written by guest writer Woofers and edited by Jeff.
Ukraine is increasingly targeting Russian logistics in the rear, both through strikes against fixed sites as well as attacks against road-bound vehicles. These strikes have been enabled by a flood of additional systems as well as a campaign focused on the destruction of Russian air defenses.
The growing usage of the Hornet drone, a winged loitering munition with a warhead around 5kg, a range of over 150km and AI-assisted targeting allows Ukrainian operators to routinely target Russian road logistics deep in the rear along the vital E58 coastal highway in southern Ukraine as well as the Donetsk-Mariupol highway, which would significantly disrupt deliveries of supplies.
The Hornet drone’s relative cheapness compared to other loitering munitions (reportedly sitting around $5,000), as well as its availability means that it is viable for Ukraine to shut down stretches of road for days at a time, choking logistics in specific areas of the front and reducing the ability of Russia to carry out offensive operations. This is something that Russian military bloggers are already complaining about, noting how traffic within 150km of the front is now under threat.
Hornet drones are not a magical fix to throttle Russia logistics forever but they do present the opportunity to dash Russian offensive hopes over the summer. The Russians will need to spend time enacting countermeasures to limit the effectiveness of Ukrainian Hornets:
- Small sky scanning radars are necessary to help detect drones.
- Increasing the number of mobile fire teams, including providing convoy escorts. These mobile fire teams will need to use weapons such as the “yolka” handheld interceptor, which is only reliable during ideal daytime conditions.
- The widespread construction of anti-drone netting across major highways.
- The return of uparmoring to logistics vehicles in the rear.
Until these measures are implemented, Ukraine is expected to limit Russian logistical throughput inside the occupied territories.