- Ukraine is using drones meant for farmers to target Russia’s tanks.
- They retrofit the drones with weapons and other components before sending them into battle.
- This resourcefulness is part of a larger Ukrainian reliance on low-cost consumer drones.
Ukraine has a new weapon against Russia: “The bat.”
It’s a rotor-powered drone that can carry multiple 20-kilogram shells, which Ukrainian forces launch toward Russian tanks.
The drone was intended to be used by farmers, The New York Times reported.
The machines were supplied by Reactive Drone, a Ukrainian company founded in 2017 to provide farmers with drones that can spray pesticides, according to the Times.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, company founder Oleksii Kolesnyk told the Times he and his team started turning the farming tools into battle machines within days.
Kolesnyk’s efforts reflect a larger trend in Ukraine’s drone strategy: turning low-cost consumer drones into military weapons. In addition to the farm drones, Ukrainian forces are also relying on low-cost hobbyist drones to take down Russian armored vehicles.
