Aerial scout Hleb Zhavoronkov: "We need to saturate front with large number of inexpensive copters"

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If before the beginning of a full-scale war someone could not know about the abbreviation UAV, now the term "drones" is used by everyone, from toddlers of kindergarten age to very elderly people. "We need more of these things," my neighbor-pensioner, a regular spectator of the television marathon, authoritatively explained to me. "Because they are the eyes of the infantry. Otherwise, the Russians would buy those Kamikazes and shoot at us!"

Unfortunately, much less is written about Ukrainian drone crews than about the drones themselves. To correct this situation, "Censor.NET" contacted the "Automaidan" drone crew pilot Hleb Zhavoronkov, who works in the south of the country.

Aerial scout Hleb Zhavoronkov: We need to saturate front with large number of inexpensive copters 01

- Hleb, I know that you have just returned from a combat mission. What can you tell us - where did you fly from, where to and what targets were you aiming for?

Our crew flies on a Ukrainian cargo plane, which is little known even among drone pilots. We transport any cargo in the interests of the ATO and other defense forces. Currently, we are on the Southern direction, Kherson region, and above. We fly over the Dnieper. The lightest of what this plane can carry is leaflets.

- Who are the leaflets for?

- When the enemy is surrounded, you send them leaflets demanding surrender.

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You can make personalized postcards. For example, we get information about who is there - with names, and surnames. Then we make some kind of IPCO, make name postcards and send them. Or postcards with support for people in occupation. We once sent postcards to Holosiyivska Prystan in the Kherson region. We are very happy when we get such targeted confirmation of our work.
This plane can also drop cargo for our people in the siege. You know, if we had a fleet of such cargo planes during the siege of Mariupol, we could provide supplies. Because they are not very noticeable, they can help our fighters when they are in siege.

Well, and, of course, you can drop ammunition. Work like a bomber. If you drop incendiary ammunition at 10-20 kg and aim quite accurately, you can burn both equipment and personnel.

But there are also certain nuances. Now safe ammunition is being developed for this plane. Additional locks are needed.

- Please give a brief general classification of UAVs and where is your device in this classification.

I cannot call myself a professional in UAVs, but, as far as we know, there is no other UAV like ours in terms of price/performance ratio. Even on the world market. For example, other UAVs in this price range can carry up to 2.5 kg. Ours from 6 to 20 kg.

- And there is also a UAV-kamikaze.

- In principle, our aircraft can also be used as a kamikaze. But we consider it better to return. 

- How many people are on your crew?

- Four.

- People can ask: why 4 people for one machine? What do they do there four?

- There are two pilots and two technicians. The aircraft is launched from a catapult, which consists of massive metal structures. Even to assemble the catapult, you need at least two people, and preferably three. Someone monitors the situation, someone does the mission, and spreads the antennas. We carry a whole bus with equipment so that it flies! It's not like with a Mavic - you just lay down and lift off. In addition, the aircraft needs to be serviced constantly. Plus, the aircraft can be tuned by itself.

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 Crew and UAV on the range from above

- In this crew, is Glib Zhavronkov a pilot or a technician?

- I am a technician. But I still have a lot of tasks that are not directly related to the technical part.

- What is your military profession officially called and to which unit do you belong?

- We are the crew of "Automaidan" ISTAR OUV Kharkiv. We have both mobilized and voluntarily recruited people. By the end of summer 2022, the crew consisted of two people, Serhiy Khadzhinov and Oleg Pushak, about whom you have already written. They flew on Mavic drones, and adjusted mortars and artillery. Then I and Oleksandr Biletsky joined them, and all together began to learn to fly an aircraft. In civilian life, we are united by the public organization "Automaidan".

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Crew of "Automaidan" on a combat mission

There is a problem with military profession that many people talk about: in the army states, there are not enough pilots of UAVs registered. Therefore, those who fly are appointed to other specialties, but they are engaged in UAVs. It is important that in the future this should be reformed at the level of the Ministry of Defense, at the level of the Armed Forces, so that they teach it in educational institutions. Now there is no global education for those who have to control UAVs, like, for example, for tankers. In general, we consider this a promising direction. If we had 100 such crews for all of Ukraine, we could bomb without putting our hands.

- What was your daily route map during the last few battles? You worked at night, then you sleep. What's next when you wake up?

- We made a plan, we go to the base, we sleep, and prepare for a new mission. Right now we are trying to rearrange our mini-van so that everything is comfortable for missions so that our deployment time and mission time are reduced; so that we don't shine too much. Because we work close to the enemy, and it is desirable to do all this quickly.

Basically, when we go back to base, we start servicing the aircraft, the transport and preparing a new mission – we communicate with the departments that are there so that there is no friendly fire.

- What, was there such a thing?

- Once we almost lost an aircraft – and it was not from the enemy REB, but from our own. The communication didn't work a little. …

So we need to make sure that we don't shoot ourselves, don't muffle ourselves, etc.

- So, from the base you go out, so to speak, into the field. And there you prepare a point for work?

- Yes. But we try to prepare everything in advance, on the base. Load the cargo, and check everything. Then we come, quickly deploy, and quickly launch the aircraft. He passes the mission, returns, lands, we fold it and leave from there. That's roughly it:

 Aerial scout Hleb Zhavoronkov: We need to saturate front with large number of inexpensive copters 05

Crew of UAVs of the "wing" type on the polygon

- Are you leaving here because it is dangerous to stay in one place for too long? It is known, for example, that the enemy is conducting targeted fire at medical crews. Is there such an "interest" in Ukrainian UAV crews from the enemy?

- Yes. In general, UAV crews are considered a priority target for both our military and their military, because these are people with skills. And also, when we stand in one place and have contact with an aircraft, then theoretically (they need to make an effort for this) they can find our takeoff point and bring down strikes.

- In this sense, your job is similar to that of artillerymen: fire and leave.

- (Laughs. - Yes.K.) Yes. If, for example, you need to make two launches, it is better to find another point. We packed up, moved to a new point, unpacked - and again we launch the plane. It is better not to work twice from one place.

- Is it true that the Russian REB is the most effective link in their entire army?

- I have heard this opinion more than once. But in practice… I am not a radio wave specialist, but if you know how it all works and make a certain flight tactic, then we just laugh. We see how they detected our plane, and began to work on it with REB, but if you make some manipulations…

First of all, our plane has an advantage in that it flies - unlike a drone, which hangs. And if it is affected by REB, this action is not eternal, it stops somewhere. And again, we have several tricks that we use to control the plane.

- For example?

- For example, if they push one frequency, our plane starts to work with another system. We have several such technical and tactical tricks.

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And, in principle, we have not yet had one where the plane was dying. Well, once there was, but, as I said earlier, it was our REB. He started shooting at us right on takeoff. The plane flew away, a couple of meters – and that's it. We think: well, it can't be that the hostile REB reached so far and even understood that we are already flying! Then we figured out that it was ours.

To sum up, I won't speak for the whole Russian UAV industry, but where we work, I don't see anything grand. That is, we feel that they are doing something, but they can't put an airplane in the air or take it out of its mind. How strange it may seem. It turns out that their UAV industry is not as developed as they say.

- Let's talk about the needs and problems of the Ukrainian army in relation to drones. After the somewhat recent statement of Minister Reznik about "small" UAVs, a lively discussion began among the expert community and volunteers. Many say that the minister's words are inappropriate; that without Mavic and similar UAVs, our infantry and artillery will be blind and vulnerable to the enemy.

I understand that you are now flying, so to speak, on a large UAV fleet. And yet, what is your position in this discussion?

- When we see videos of stunned enemy equipment and corrected artillery from Mavik every day - it speaks for itself. And although some say that the shells from Mavik are just toys, I know that these toys freed up large areas. Such horror was created by the enemy infantry, just by dropping ammunition on them, they just retreated!

So to say that Mavik is just a wedding drone is not true. He does a very good job of correcting artillery and is available to any unit - small, or large. There is no point in discussing this here. This is, of course, a cool thing, and it's cheap too.

In general, attention should be paid to all types of drones, as this will make the war more effective. It is important to take into account light drones, which have a low price - and saturate the front with a large number of inexpensive quadcopters or airplanes. Take the same "Bayraktar", the set of which costs millions of dollars. Of course, it has strategic significance - but it is easy to shoot down, as I understand, with the same TOR or other PPO. At the same time, for these funds, you can buy - how many Mavic? Thousands of Mavic for the same money - and spread them across the front. I don't even know what would be more effective - these thousands of Mavic or one "Bayraktar". Of course, all this should be planned by professionals, because I cannot consider myself a strategist on the issues of UAVs. But, in my opinion, there should be many cheap, but effective drones.

- What about the price? How much does the device you flew on in the last battle cost approximately?

- About 15 thousand dollars, in the complex, together with the equipment. Plus, of course, ammunition, of course. But this is already individual, depending on the mission.

- Yes, it happens. But I'm not afraid. I know we did everything we could to protect our people. And I believe that we will do everything possible to protect our country.

- What does your crew need the most right now?

- The most obvious thing - these are the planes. These planes are not in the armament of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, so we buy them with donations, with our own money, with the money of public organizations. This is also a public collection. We are constantly collecting money for the planes themselves and new equipment for them. For example, now we are looking for money for a new GPS sensor, which is anti-REBEL.

- Tell us about the coordination of your Automaidan crews with the general military command. Who do you obey? Are there any problems in relations?

- We were lucky. We are subordinate to the ISTAR OUVS "Kharkiv" - this is a new structure built according to NATO standards. We receive information, tasks, coordinate with them, receive points where we should work. It's like an Uber for pilots. We can sometimes choose where we want to work ourselves. We offer them where we can do something. We consult - and thus we carry out missions.

- Hlib, do you dream of flying at night?

- Yes, it happens. But I'm not afraid. I know that we have done everything we can to protect our people. And I believe that we will do everything possible to protect our country.

- Honestly, no. But I'm constantly waking up with some idea of how to do better what we do. Because it's an interesting experience, and a lot of what we do has never been done before. For example, transferring cargo with a drone - that's almost never been done. On the one hand, it's experimental, on the other hand - it's interesting because you constantly have to invent something new, not to follow the already established standards. You always have to do something better to get a better result.

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 Hlib Zhavoronkov on the polygon

- And in the end I have a traditional question. Will we win this war?

- Judging by how their SAMs work, how funny they try to beat our not some NATO technology, but a Ukrainian-made UAV, - judging from this, we will win this war. It's so funny how the "second army of the world" has so many holes in its airspace. You fly over them, they hear it, try to beat, turn on the SAMs. I can't say for the whole front, but where we work, it's just funny - what helplessness with their "Zoos", "Residents", these funny SAM names. And it is our aircraft, which is not super-technological, not expensive - successfully resists them. They can't do anything! I think, on other fronts, judging by how the SAMs work, they have the same thing. And if you don't have the technology and can only throw in some mobilized with automatic weapons, it won't work against a nation, a people who are defending their land. So I think we will definitely win.

- The more we are supported - technologically and with weapons - by our allies.

- Constantly supplying new technologies and ammunition, and everything else. There is no choice here. The only thing - a pity that now the best people are dying. But the finale will be our victory.

Attention! Those who want to financially help the crew of "Automaidan" to buy a new drone can use the following data:

https://send.monobank.ua/jar/7wnDgiTkcH

Yevhen Kuzmenko, "Censor.NET"

Photo and video: from the crew's archive