In the last few weeks, Ukraine has deployed new FPV interceptors which have been bringing down Russia reconnaissance drones in large numbers. A video compilation by the Wild Hornets group on August 28th showed 115 intercepts by their drones, roughly matching the total downed in the entire previous year. A follow up video on September 10th showed another 53 intercepts.
There is little Russian drone operators can do against this onslaught. There are few tactical options; the drones have powerful cameras, but they are aimed downwards and the operator has no situational awareness. They cannot see what is happening around their aircraft and FPV attacks come literally out of the blue.
Their only recourse has been making their aircraft less conspicuous. Or just hurling insults at their enemies.
Aerial Camouflage
The history of camouflage paint jobs on aircraft goes all the way back to WW1. A white or black aircraft is easy to spot in an empty sky or against clouds and the French were the first to start painting their Nieuport fighters a uniform blue-grey to make them less visible. Hiding was impossible, but the right color scheme could reduce the spotting distance
A variety camouflage patterns followed. Typically the underside was colored light gray or blue for optimal invisibility against the sky, while the upper surface typically had a green and brown camouflage pattern to make them less obvious from above.
By the Cold War radar was a bigger threat than visual detection and camouflage was largely abandoned. A notable exception was the F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack aircraft, which was painted flat black as it operated at night and its small radar signature made visual observation mores significant.
The Russians have reinvented some of the camouflage techniques of the past. While most of the drones brought down by interceptors are still the standard pale grey, some are sporting new color schemes.
Zala drones in particular have mottled green and brown wings, a modern version of the old ‘sand and spinach’ which blends effectively with the patchwork of fields below and may make it harder to interceptors to track them.
A deceptive pattern of black and white triangles seen on another Zala is a more ingenious solution. This is reminiscent of the dazzle camouflage for warships developed by British artist Normal Wilkinson in WW1. Raher than trying to make the ship inconspicuous, Wilkinson’s irregular patterns broke up the outline of the vessel and made it difficult to judge the angle and hence the direction it was travelling. This was mainly intended to confuse the view from a periscope. A submarine commander needed to allow the right amount of lead when firing a torpedo into a moving ship’s path, and the errors induced by the dazzle paint scheme should make a ship a harder target.
Interception videos show that it can take several efforts for an FPV to hit a drone. By making it harder to estimate distance and bearing, the dazzle pattern might be more effective than green and brown. Last year some Russian warships were seen with a variant on the dazzle scheme, possibly to confuse the machine vision of surveillance satellites or uncrewed kamikaze boats.
One Supercam drone had dazzle patterning on one wing. Again, this may be intended to make the shape of the drone more difficult to assess, possibly so the interception aim point was offset to cause less damage.
When You Can’t Fight, Swear
Most of the Russian drones though still have their original color scheme, but telling friend from foe is not always easy. Drone fundraiser Serhii Sternenko advises Ukrainian drone teams to mark their planes with blue and yellow stickers so they can be identified as friendly. Deceptive stickers have not yet been seen on Russian drones.
What we are seeing are though is wing graffiti. This is positioned to be read from above, so the only person who will ever see it is the interceptor drone operator.
Increasingly, these are being used to hurl insults.
“Whoever shoots this down is a f****r,” runs the text (in Russian) on one in blue paint.
Another one is more terse, simply stating “M**********R” (in Russian) in letters laid out in strips of tape.
Others suggest that Russian fatalism may be starting to take hold, as in the case of a drone with “F*****d” (In Russian) written on one wing, a comment which proved prophetic. (Thanks to Samuel Bendett for specialty translation assistance)
Russian discussions on military Telegram channels suggest that their recon drones need jammers – tricky, as self-jamming would be an issue – or at least rearward-facing cameras. No doubt there will be further evolutions and some kind of defensive measures, armament or escort will emerge. Wild Hornets are already raising funds for new high-speed interceptors to tackle more challenging targets.
For the present, those Russian reconnaissance drones appear to be sitting ducks, and all they can fire back with are obscenities.
