Article Summary: FPV drones are revolutionizing the battlefield, challenging the dominance of main battle tanks like never before. These cheap, agile, and deadly loitering munitions are forcing tanks into retreat, making frontal assaults nearly impossible.
Key Point #1 – Mechanized warfare tactics are being rewritten as kamikaze drones easily penetrate weak top armor, evade jamming, and overwhelm even the most advanced tanks. With Ukraine producing up to 3 million drones annually, these low-cost, high-impact weapons could redefine modern conflicts.
Key Point #2 – Will tanks survive the FPV drone era, or is this the beginning of the end for heavy armor in warfare?
FPV Drones Have Tanks Running Scared
The idea of a tank is to dominate the enemy with awesome firepower, intimidation, maneuver speed, and surprise. Now, the tank is not as dominant on the battlefield anymore and it is the loitering kamikaze drone has the advantage in mechanized warfare. First Person View (FPV) drones have changed the battle equation in Ukraine and Russia. They are cheap and ubiquitous, enabling numerous unmanned kamikaze aircraft to crisscross the battlefield and look for armored targets.
FPVs Have Changed Tank Tactics
The main battle tank can no longer make a frontal attack at enemy positions in numbers during the daytime. Too many FPV drones fly around looking to swoop in on unsuspecting tank crews.
Tankers try to up-armor their battlewagons with “cope cages” on top to stymie the FPV drones, but there are just too many to contend with, and the unmanned craft are becoming faster and more potent with heavier grenades and explosive charges.
From Competitive Racing Hobby Drones to the Battlefield
FPV drones are easy to control and maneuver. Operators learn the tricks of the trade quickly. The loitering munitions are simple to produce and arrive by the thousands at the front lines. FPVs emerged out of the hobby world, where they competed for prizes at races.
Now, users have taken those lessons learned by flying in tight spaces to the battlefield, where they have put soldiers in constant fear of blowing up tanks at any second.
Stay in the Rear with the Drone Operating Gear
FPV drone operators remain away from the trenches at the front lines. They are usually around one to three miles away from the front. This means that they are separated from deadly ground fire and mortars. So many soldiers are running the FPV drones that it is difficult, if not impossible, to discover them. Most of the time, operators hide in basements of buildings.
Commanders like their odds when using FPVs. Instead of gambling on troops in the front echelon, they can take many soldiers to the rear, where feeding and supplying them is more manageable. Supply lines do not have to be extended as much, and enemy fire cannot take out as many logistical vehicles as possible at the front.
Cheap to Produce Millions Each Year
The price is right. One FPV drone usually costs around $500. Ukraine can build or buy three million a year.
Do the math. The FPV is a considerable force multiplier when it comes to asymmetric warfare. It should not be surprising that they have transformed the battlefield. For the Ukrainians, who are outnumbered and outgunned by the Russians, the FPV has become a heroic weapon that keeps the friendly forces in the fight when they usually would have retreated from existing battle lines.
Too Many to Jam Effectively
It takes a heavy jamming system to spoof an FPV and knock it off its flight path. That’s why infantry soldiers have difficulty using electronic warfare systems that are not man-portable on the front lines. Fighters can only carry so much weight; therefore, the lighter jammers are only effective against FPVs for a limited time.
Meanwhile, tanks are at a significant disadvantage, with the policy institute CEPA calling this the “era of the cautious tank.” That has some analysts wondering that if a tank is cautious – what is the point of having them on the battlefield in the first place?
Mechanized warfare relies on “slices” of combat teams. There is the dismounted infantry slice, the armored personnel carrier slice, the combat engineer slice, the artillery slice, and so on. Tank groups also use low-flying aircraft to swoop in to offer close air support. The FPV drone has interrupted and destroyed many elements of the “slice” concept. The other support slices are rendered ineffective once an FPV takes out the tank. There is no main effort, and the decisive point of the battle remains elusive for the attacker.
Another great thing about FPVs is that they have inordinate amounts of speed that can rapidly bring in heavier fires on the unsuspecting enemy. They can quickly spot the enemy tanks, allowing forward observers to bring in destructive firepower like mortars and artillery. The tank has no place to hide – either it turns its tail and runs back to safety, or it risks getting destroyed either by the drone itself or artillery and mortar fire.
Operators of FPVs know where to target a tank best, too. It helps bring the drone down from an angle and pierce the lighter armor. In the bygone days, tank designers placed much of the armor on the front and sides of the vehicle. To save on weight, they scrimped on the armor at the top. This light protection is perfect for kamikaze loitering munitions to strike.
Russia may have lost 3,300 tanks during the war. By comparison, the British army has only 200 tanks in the entire force. If the Brits were on the battlefield in Ukraine, they would be out of tanks in a matter of weeks.
Tank crews can only add armor cages to the tops of their vehicles and hope that jamming technology advances to the point that renders FPVs useless. We may have seen the last of the full-on tank-on-tank battles as armored vehicles must stay in the rear and offer less effective fire support rather than leading the fight from the front. The FPV may have won the race for good.
Drones Around the World: A Photo Essay
Drones in China.
MD-19 Drone from China
CH-7 Drone from China. From Chinese State Media.
Lancet Drone. Image Credit: Russian State Media.
About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood
Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare, plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.
