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United News of India
18 hours ago
- Politics
- United News of India
Ukraine introduces new drone scheme
Kyiv, July 19 (UNI) The outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian military is trying to extract every advantage it can against its much more powerful opponent -- Russia. Under a scheme first trialled last year and dubbed "Army of Drones: Bonus" (also known as "e-points"), units can earn points for each Russian soldier killed or piece of equipment destroyed, reports BBC. "The more strategically important and large-scale the target, the more points a unit receives," reads a statement from the team at Brave 1, which brings together experts from government and the military. "For example, destroying an enemy multiple rocket launch system earns up to 50 points; 40 points are awarded for a destroyed tank and 20 for a damaged one." Each uploaded video is now carefully analysed back in Kyiv, where points are awarded according to a constantly evolving set of military priorities. "I think, first and foremost, it's about quality data, the mathematics of war, and understanding how to use limited resources more effectively," says BBC quoting the man behind the e-points scheme, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation. After three and a half long years of grinding, all-out war, the system has another vital use. "It's also about motivation," Fedorov says. "When we change the point values, we can see how motivation changes." Fedorov's office sports a huge video screen with dozens of live feeds from Ukrainian drones flying over the front lines. Together, the feeds provide a vivid glimpse into Ukraine's drone war, in which commanders claim drones now account for an estimated 70 percent of all Russian deaths and injuries. UNI XC SS
BBC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Ukraine launches new points for killing Russians scheme
The images come in every day. Thousands of and equipment being hunted down along Ukraine's long, contested front lines. Everything filmed, logged and now put to use too, as the Ukrainian military tries to extract every advantage it can against its much more powerful a scheme first trialled last year and dubbed "Army of Drones: Bonus" (also known as "e-points"), units can earn points for each Russian soldier killed or piece of equipment like a killstreak in Call of Duty, or a 1970s TV game show, points mean prizes."The more strategically important and large-scale the target, the more points a unit receives," reads a statement from the team at Brave 1, which brings together experts from government and the military."For example, destroying an enemy multiple rocket launch system earns up to 50 points; 40 points are awarded for a destroyed tank and 20 for a damaged one."Call it the gamification of uploaded video is now carefully analysed back in Kyiv, where points are awarded according to a constantly evolving set of military priorities."I think, first and foremost, it's about quality data, the mathematics of war, and understanding how to use limited resources more effectively," says the man behind the e-points scheme, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation. But after three and a half long years of grinding, all-out war, the system has another vital use."It's also about motivation," Fedorov says. "When we change the point values, we can see how motivation changes."Fedorov's office sports a huge video screen with dozens of live feeds from Ukrainian drones flying over the front the feeds provide a vivid glimpse into Ukraine's drone war, in which commanders claim flying robots now account for an estimated 70% of all Russian deaths and the early days of Russia's full-scale invasion, social media feeds have been full of drone videos, usually set to soundtracks of thudding heavy metal turret of a tank, exploding in a ball of flame. A lone soldier, fending off an attacking drone with a rifle or a can make for gruesome viewing. Each video celebrating the death of an opponent. The video going fuzzy as the drone beyond a sense of grim satisfaction, hard-pressed front-line units now operate in the knowledge that evidence of their exploits can bring them rewards. The BBC reached out to more than a dozen units to find out what front line soldiers make of the scheme. The responses were mixed."In general, my comrades and I are positive," said Volodymyr, a soldier from the 108th Territorial Defence Brigade. He asked us not to use his a time when frontline units are burning through equipment, especially attack drones, at a ferocious rate, Volodymyr says the e-points scheme is proving useful."This is a way to make up for what we lose… while inflicting losses on the enemy as effectively as possible."The 22nd Mechanised Brigade, currently fighting in the north-east of the country, has had about three months to get used to the new system."Once we figured out how it works, it turned out to be quite a decent system," said a soldier from the 22nd with the callsign Jack."Our lads are worn out, and nothing really motivates them anymore," Jack said. "But this system helps. The drones are provided through this programme, and the lads get rewarded. It's a decent motivation."But others are less convinced. "The fundamental issue of motivation isn't resolved by this," said a soldier who asked only to be identified by his callsign, Snake."Points won't stop people fleeing from the military."A soldier who identified himself as Dymytro sent us a lengthy response in which he complained that units were spending too much time trying to claim each other's hits or would deliberately attack a Russian vehicle that had already been disabled, in order to earn more Dymytro, the whole concept seemed morally dubious."This system is just a result of our twisted mental habit of turning everything into profit," Dymytro complained, "even our own damned death."But the e-points scheme is typical of the way Ukraine has fought this war: creative, out-of-the-box thinking designed to make the most of the country's innovative skills and minimise the effect of its numerical says 90-95% of fighting units are now participating, providing a steady stream of useful data."We've started receiving quality information and making decisions based on it," he says."By collecting data, we can propose changes, but the foundation is always military strategy." In an anonymous office block in Kyiv, we met some of the analysts whose job it is to pour over the footage, verify each hit and award points to the unit were asked not to reveal the location or use real names."We have two categories: hit and destroyed," Volodia told us. "So a different amount of e-points goes to the different categories."It turns out that encouraging a Russian soldier to surrender is worth more points than killing one – a prisoner of war can always be used in future deals over prisoner exchanges."If for one… killed Russian you get one point," Volodia said, "if you capture him you multiply it by 10."Volodia's team analyses thousands of hits every day."The hardest part is artillery," he said, showing us a video of a drone navigating expertly through the trees and into a trench where a gun is concealed."The Russians are very good at hiding and digging."As Russia's tactics have evolved, so too has the e-points increased use of small, probing units, on foot or riding motorbikes, means that the value of an individual soldier has risen, relative to a tank or other armoured vehicle."Whereas previously the killing of an enemy soldier earned 2 points," the Brave 1 statement read, "now it earns 6."And enemy drone operators are always more valuable than the drones system of rewards is being refined now, units have been able to convert their points into cash, which many have used, along with crowd sourcing, to purchase badly needed extra the e-points system is being directly integrated into something called the Brave 1 Market, which designers describe as "the Amazon for war".Soldiers can browse more than 1,600 products, use their accumulated points, purchase items directly from manufacturers and leave reviews, with the Ministry of Defence picking up the tab 1 Market is designed to sit alongside traditional, cumbersome military procurement, rather than replace it. The hope is that units will have quicker access to preferred items, from drones to components and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) that can evacuate wounded soldiers from dangerous frontline for kills. Amazon for war. To some ears, it might all sound brutal, even this is war and Ukraine is determined to hold on. By fighting as effectively, and efficiently as it can.
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Western arms makers can now live-test their prototype weapons on the battlefield against Russia's forces
Ukraine is inviting foreign arms manufacturers to send weapons prototypes for its troops to test in battle against Russian forces. Its defense innovation unit, Brave1, on Thursday launched "Test in Ukraine," a program that it said would trial the new tech in combat and produce a detailed report for the defense contractor. "This is an opportunity to gain experience that cannot be simulated in laboratories," said Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's minister for digital transformation, at an arms conference in Wiesbaden. Among the program's listed top priorities are uncrewed aerial systems, robot ground vehicles, missiles, and laser weapons. "Test in Ukraine" will require the contractor to teach Ukrainian troops how to use the prototype, though this can optionally be done online, Brave1 said in a statement. After that, Ukraine will assume control over how the tech is used on its frontline. "You hand over your product to Brave1, and we take care of the rest," the organization said on its website. Kyiv also hopes to pair the foreign arms makers with its own manufacturers to produce the tested weapons locally. Ukraine is already a testbed for many NATO weapons against Russian capabilities, from armored vehicles to long-range missiles to anti-tank munitions. But the announcement comes amid some concern in the greater arms industry that contractors may be developing new weapons after studying the Ukraine war, but aren't testing them in combat. "If you are a drone company and you do not have your kit on the frontline in Ukraine, you might as well give up," Luke Pollard, the UK's minister of state for the armed forces, said in May. One British defense executive, Justin Hedges, told Business Insider earlier this month that drones have to be tested daily in combat to avoid becoming obsolete. "If your system is not in day-to-day use on the frontline of Ukraine, it becomes very quickly out of date," Hedges told BI's Mia Jankowicz. Drone warfare has evolved drastically over the last three years of the war. First-person-view UAVs have come to dominate the battlefield, but electronic warfare is increasingly stifling their effectiveness. As a result, unjammable fiber-optic drones are now on the rise, forcing both sides to rely more on low-tech defensive measures such as 12-gauge shotguns to destroy drones kinetically and fishing nets to entangle them mid-flight. Last month, Ukraine debuted a new type of rifle bullet that can discharge fragment spreads at greater range to counter incoming FPV drones. Russian troops were producing their own DIY version months ago. Meanwhile, Ukraine is going all in on bolstering its defense manufacturing industry, offering its local weapons-making experience to Western countries while ramping up production of domestic arms. Its new testing initiative could also provide additional weapons supplies for its troops fighting against Russia's war of attrition, both in manpower and matériel. A spokesperson for Brave1 did not respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours. Russia's defense and foreign affairs ministries also did not respond to a similar request sent by BI.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ukraine offers its front line as test bed for foreign weapons
By Sabine Siebold WIESBADEN, Germany (Reuters) -Ukraine will let foreign arms companies test out their latest weapons on the front line of its war against Russia's invasion, Kyiv's state-backed arms investment and procurement group Brave1 said on Thursday. Under the "Test in Ukraine" scheme, companies would send their products to Ukraine, give some online training on how to use them, then wait for Ukrainian forces to try them out and send back reports, the group said in a statement. "It gives us understanding of what technologies are available. It gives companies understanding of what is really working on the front line," Artem Moroz, Brave1's head of investor relations, told Reuters at a defence conference in Wiesbaden, Germany. Moroz said there has been strong interest in the scheme, but did not name any companies that have signed on to use it and declined to go into more detail on how it would operate or what, if any, costs would be involved. More than three years after their invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces are pressing a grinding offensive across the sprawling, more than 1,000-km (620-mile) front line and intensifying air strikes on Ukrainian cities. Ukraine is betting on a budding defence industry, fuelled in part by foreign investment, to fend off Russia's bigger and better-armed war machine. Brave1 - set up by the government in 2023 with an online hub where Ukrainian defence companies can seek investment, and also where Ukrainian military units can order up arms - had drawn up a list of the military technologies it wanted to test, Moroz added. "We have a list of priorities. One of the top of those would be air defence, like new air defence capabilities, drone interceptors, AI-guided systems, all the solutions against gliding bombs," he said. Unmanned systems in the water and electronic profile systems on the ground are also on Ukraine's list of priorities, as are advanced fire control systems or AI guidance to make howitzers more accurate. Solve the daily Crossword
The Star
2 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Ukraine offers its front line as test bed for foreign weapons
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian members of the military fire an anti-aircraft weapon, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in the frontline city of Bakhmut, Ukraine, January 10, 2023. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo WIESBADEN, Germany (Reuters) -Ukraine will let foreign arms companies test out their latest weapons on the front line of its war against Russia's invasion, Kyiv's state-backed arms investment and procurement group Brave1 said on Thursday. Under the "Test in Ukraine" scheme, companies would send their products to Ukraine, give some online training on how to use them, then wait for Ukrainian forces to try them out and send back reports, the group said in a statement. "It gives us understanding of what technologies are available. It gives companies understanding of what is really working on the front line," Artem Moroz, Brave1's head of investor relations, told Reuters at a defence conference in Wiesbaden, Germany. Moroz said there has been strong interest in the scheme, but did not name any companies that have signed on to use it and declined to go into more detail on how it would operate or what, if any, costs would be involved. More than three years after their invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces are pressing a grinding offensive across the sprawling, more than 1,000-km (620-mile) front line and intensifying air strikes on Ukrainian cities. Ukraine is betting on a budding defence industry, fuelled in part by foreign investment, to fend off Russia's bigger and better-armed war machine. Brave1 - set up by the government in 2023 with an online hub where Ukrainian defence companies can seek investment, and also where Ukrainian military units can order up arms - had drawn up a list of the military technologies it wanted to test, Moroz added. "We have a list of priorities. One of the top of those would be air defence, like new air defence capabilities, drone interceptors, AI-guided systems, all the solutions against gliding bombs," he said. Unmanned systems in the water and electronic profile systems on the ground are also on Ukraine's list of priorities, as are advanced fire control systems or AI guidance to make howitzers more accurate. (Reporting by Andrew Heavens)
