Do Ukrainians need to deploy heavier machinery? Russian equipment increasingly resistant to FPV drones

The Ukrainian portal Euromaidan Press writes that, due to the growing resistance of Russian armoured vehicles to FPV drone attacks, soldiers from the 237th Unmanned Systems Battalion have begun using FP-1 and FP-2 heavy strike drones in an anti-tank defence role, despite them being originally designed for strikes deep behind enemy lines. The cost of a single such UAV is estimated at approximately 50,000 USD, making it expensive even compared to many types of anti-tank guided missiles. For example, the cost of a 9M133 Kornet missile for export customers was estimated in 2019 at around 26,000 USD.

Ukrainians point to the fact that the economics of war are changing and FPV drones are ceasing to be so cost-effective. However, it is worth noting here that since the very beginning of FPV drone use, their real effectiveness has never been high, but was rather inflated on social media through appropriately edited propaganda videos. The effectiveness of FPV drones will decline as increasingly effective sets of add-on armour are developed, and a breakthrough will come with the large-scale deployment of active protection systems for vehicles, which will be capable of effectively neutralising FPV drones.

UAVs such as the FP-2 carry warheads weighing approximately 158 kg. This is a fairly large warhead that can indeed seriously damage a tank and put it out of action for a certain period, as well as destroy more lightly armoured vehicles. However, it must be remembered that such machines are less numerous than FPV drones and are quite costly; furthermore, they must be utilised for strikes deep behind enemy lines, which also necessitates their distribution across various types of tasks. Ultimately, it may turn out that the best anti-tank weapon for infantry will remain the anti-tank guided missile with a tandem HEAT warhead.