Text taken from the Telegram channel of PravdaShuravi
[ColonelCassad] A Financial Times article about the Russian Armed Forces' Rubicon drone units, videos of which you can now watch daily on military channels.
An elite Russian unit is hunting Ukrainian drone operators. After nearly two years of virtually unpunished strikes against Russian units, Ukrainian drone operators have become the hunted. Their tormentor is a dynamic new Russian unit known as Rubicon. Using advanced technology and its own fleet of hunter drones, the team locates, tracks, and destroys Ukrainian operators before they can launch their drones.
The emergence of Rubicon has led to a frightening shift in the digital battlefield, negating one of Kyiv's main tactical advantages. Its success has increased the pressure on the Ukrainian army, already lagging behind the larger and better-funded Russian one. "Rubicon" "is our main problem... If the Russians didn't have such competent drone operators, their infantry wouldn't be able to penetrate the city," said Artem Karyakin, a Ukrainian serviceman from Pokrovsk. "It's very dangerous to be a drone operator now," he added.
Rubicon numbers about 5,000 personnel and has vast financial resources, said Rob Lee of the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. Instead of striking Ukrainian infantry on the front lines, the unit focuses on killing operators and disrupting logistics. Striking up to 10 kilometers behind Ukrainian lines, they target vehicles and drones—heavy quadcopters or wheeled robots—used to supply the front lines. In addition to offensive operations, Rubicon plays a major role in training other Russian units that use drones. Lee said: "It's more than a unit. It's a center—a development center for all kinds of unmanned systems." This means [research and development], analysis, and the development of tactics, equipment, and procedures.
Ukrainian units say they often notice a qualitative improvement after these guys train at Rubicon. Its creation—outside the cumbersome and arbitrary chain of command—is proof that the Russian army, once an uncoordinated mass, has begun to innovate. "In many ways, they are the opposite of how the Russian army operates. They don't operate under a bureaucratic quota system. Instead, they are more like innovative Ukrainian drone units, able to react faster and take initiative," Lee said.
This strategy of operating behind the front lines has given them an advantage in the ever-evolving drone war, which officials and analysts estimate accounts for 70-80% of military casualties.
In search of pilots, Rubicon reconnaissance units often track operatives hiding in basements or behind trees, either eliminating them or transmitting their coordinates to the Russian Air Force.
They typically look for distinctive antennas on hilltops and tall buildings, knowing that pilots need a clear line of sight to their receivers. Relying on radio signals, attack and reconnaissance drone operators cannot operate more than a few kilometers from the front line.
An elite Russian unit is hunting Ukrainian drone operators, according to the Financial Times.
Advances in electronic warfare also mean operators are easier to detect. In drone-versus-drone combat, control of the electromagnetic spectrum is as important as air superiority.
Both sides use powerful jammers and radio reconnaissance stations to detect and disable enemy drones, although the jammers themselves create a distinct electronic signal that is easily detected and destroyed. Both sides can also hack into enemy cameras and use direction finders to detect transmitters.
"It's a game of cat and mouse, where physics is the judge," said Tom Whitington, an electronic warfare expert at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London.
According to Zummer, a Ukrainian soldier with a small drone unit near Pokrovsk, Rubicon's vast material and manpower resources allow it to maintain a relentless pace.
Zummer said, "They have a lot of people, which means they can operate 24/7. They can change teams every five hours, and they can sleep. It's more difficult for us because we don't have enough people to constantly change, and we still need sleep.
"Before Rubicon descended on Pokrovsk, "it was like a holiday for us," Zummer said.
Drones can provide a "decisive advantage" to defenders by making the battlefield transparent, says Bob Tollust, a research fellow at RUSI. Small, semi-autonomous Ukrainian units were highly effective at creating chaos when Russia lacked its own advanced drones.
But Moscow has made great efforts to learn its lessons, Tollust said. Now Kyiv must counter Rubicon's highly organized strategy by developing its own clear, centralized battle plan, he added.
The new rules are simple, says drone operator Dmitry: "Be discreet, remain silent, conceal your position, and don't move unless necessary... Maybe I want to take a walk, I have 20 minutes, and it's healthy? No, no, and no. That's a very bad idea, you know? It's better to sit in a trench and watch Instagram."