The Game of Drones – Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Dogfighting Caught on Video – A video shared on social media this week showed what could be another instance of drone jousting in the skies over Ukraine.
According to a post from open-source military intelligence group OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical), a Ukrainian drone team flying a Mavic commercial unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) spotted a Russian Matrice 300 RTK and engaged it – successfully downing the Russian craft.
The incident reportedly occurred in the Donetsk Oblast.
It was just last month that another video was shared online that highlighted a similar drone battle in the same region. In that encounter, a commercially-made Ukrainian drone slammed into a Russian Autel EVO II.
Is This the New Dogfighting?
Aerial engagements, which began during the Mexican Revolution in 1913 and saw widespread use in the First World War, continued until the end of the Cold War.
However, longer-range weapons – notably beyond-visual-range missiles – have made dogfighting largely obsolete (despite what Top Gun: Maverick suggests).
It will be worth noting, however, whether the term “dogfighting” will even be used, considering modern sensibilities that sometimes border on the absurd.
It is possible that “drone jousting” could be preferable, even as dogfighting has been a term used for centuries to describe a melee – as a fierce, fast-paced close-quarters battle between two or more opponents.
In fact, though the term for aerial engagements can be traced back to the latter stages of the First World War, it really only gained popularity in the Second World War.
Armed Drones – They Are Coming
The larger question is how soon it could be until we see drones armed with weapons that could be employed against other UAVs – rather than having each engage in melee maneuvers in the sky.
Currently, the tactics to down an enemy drone are similar to how Staff-Captain Pyotry Nesterov of the Russian Army successfully rammed his plane into an enemy spotter aircraft during the early stages of the First World War. Though his unorthodox aerial aerobatics proved successful, Neserov was likely too eager to destroy enemy aircraft and died following a crash in September 1914.
Intrepid pilots soon resorted to throwing bricks, grenades, and even ropes at enemy aircraft – before beginning to carry pistols. By the end of 1914, all Serbian and Austro-Hungarian aircraft were fitted with machine guns.
Weight has been an issue with fighter planes, and it would likely be an issue for drones as well.
However, there have been several efforts to employ firearms on drones that can fire in mid-air. The Tikad drone, developed by U.S.-based Duke Robotics, could be armed with a machine gun and a grenade launcher; while Smash Dragon, designed by Israeli company Smart Shooter, can be mounted on different forms of unmanned aerial platforms. Turkey is also reported to be developing drones armed with machine guns.
In other words, it is simply a matter of time before armed drones will be doing the dogfighting.
Donetsk Oblast, a group of Ukrainian soldiers flying a Mavic drone spot a Russian Matrice 300 RTK nearby, engage in a jousting match with it, successfully downing it. pic.twitter.com/4Ucgo8ZnnS
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) May 11, 2023
Author Experience and Expertise
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
