Over the past decade, the Russian military has built up an arsenal of reconnaissance drones. They have also developed doctrine and skills by using the drones in Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh, and in eastern Ukraine. Under their standard concept of operations, UAVs act as airborne “eyes and ears”: observing surrounding territory, relaying data between commanders and deployed forces, and identifying and tracking targets that can then be destroyed by anything from an infantry fire squad to a tank to an artillery brigade to a warship.
