Kratos (a call sign) at New Scientist:
On the front line, we spend 90 per cent of our time underground in bunkers because of the threat of enemy drones. Every time you go outside, you risk being spotted and killed. The conditions are like camping, but it obviously has a very different vibe.
I’ve done a lot of different jobs as a drone pilot, but at the end of the day, the mission was always to protect our ground troops. I spent time as a reconnaissance drone pilot, then flying bomber drones and now I’m doing anti-drone missions in a regiment called Aquila under the control of the 3rd Army Corps.
We specialise in shooting down everything from small first-person view (FPV) drones to the long-range kamikaze models heading for Ukraine’s cities. We’ve got short-range anti-aircraft guns, shoulder-launched rockets and drones. But I’m in a small unit that does drone-to-drone warfare in the skies above the front line.
I’m proud to say that I’m a top performer not just in my regiment but in the wider army. I think it’s because I’ve been doing it for a long time, but I’ve taken out 932 enemy drones.
More here.
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