[PDF] Above the trenches

Above the trenches Russian military lessons learned about drone warfare from Ukraine Uppsala University Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies Master’s thesis 30 ECTS Autumn 2024 Author: David Wennerholm Supervisor: Matthew Kott Word count: 24 922 Abstract Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February 2022 represents not only the re-emergence of trench warfare but also that of aerial drone warfare on a scale previously not seen before. Preceding studies have examined the fallout of drone warfare in Ukraine and highlighted the ever-influential role drones have had in the war. Still, few have looked at it from a Russian perspective and what military lessons Russian military personnel and academics have learned from Russia’s battlefield experience in Ukraine since 2022 – a crucial aspect in understanding contemporary Russian warfare and military thinking. By utilizing thematic analysis and coding what authors in Russia’s two premiere military journals, Voyennaya mysl and Armeysky sbornik respectively, have written about aerial drone warfare in Ukraine, this thesis revealed that the Russian discussion centred around three main themes of assessments. These pertained to Russia’s drone warfare abilities and its current deficiencies, the instrumental role reconnaissance drones had in intelligence gathering and command, control and communications (C3), as well as the recently discovered lethality and cost-effectiveness of kamikaze drones. The findings support previous arguments about Russian warfare adaptability and further demonstrate the extent to which UAVs have been integrated with the Russian Armed Forces and what military and technological aspects of drone warfare and UAVs Russia have deemed important to its own military success. Studies about how Russia may plan to translate its military lessons in Ukraine into more comprehensive military reforms are called for.

Keywords: drone warfare, UAVs, Russian military culture, military lessons, military reforms, Russo-Ukrainian war, kamikaze drones, FPV drones, Russia, Ukraine, thematic analysis 1 Table of contents

1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................4 1.1 Purpose and research question........................................................................................ 5
2. Background............................................................................................................................6 2.1 The Russo-Ukrainian War...............................................................................................6 2.2 Russian military reforms and inertia...............................................................................7 2.2.1 The 1990s, modern warfare & Serdyukov Reforms.............................................. 7 2.2.2. Russian reforms since 2012 and Syrian battlefield experience.............................9
3. Prior research...............................