The Lessons of the Battle of Kursk: "Putin's Hawks" Are Scarier Than NATO Expected
The "Phoenix" Special Mine Battalion and the "Ruby" Future UAV Technology Center, established less than a year ago, point to the real direction of reform for the Russian Armed Forces.
Author: Sergey Yatsenko
Image: Soldiers from the "Phoenix" Special Mine Battalion are producing attack drones and their ammunition in the area of special military operations.
As of April 15, Russian forces were still engaged in combat in the Kursk region. However, the fighting was confined to a relatively small area, approximately tens of square kilometers, around the Oleshnya settlement and the Golnar village area. These are the last strongholds that Ukrainian armed forces still control after their sudden invasion of Russian territory in August 2024.
Despite ongoing skirmishes in this direction, everyone is clear that the large-scale offensive operation initiated by the Russian Armed Forces to crush the enemy near Kursk has been victorious and concluded. This fact is no longer questioned by Western experts or the authorities in Kyiv.
Meanwhile, they are striving to analyze why the Russian army, which launched its decisive counteroffensive on March 8, 2025, managed to defeat a large contingent of Ukrainian forces near Kursk by mid-April.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces involved at least two assault divisions and 12 brigades, including a heavy mechanized brigade, five mechanized brigades, a motorized infantry brigade, an assault brigade, two airborne assault brigades, and two territorial defense brigades.
As in similar situations before, there were many reasons. However, NATO considered one reason as the primary cause — our unexpected and skillful use of various drones on the battlefield.
The result was that almost instantly from the air, all supply lines between the Ukrainian occupiers and Ukrainian surrounding territories were cut off. The consequence was that this contingent rapidly lost all organized resistance capability, as if it had fallen into a classic encirclement by Russian forces.
Polish military media "Defense 24" wrote: "One of the reasons for the sudden collapse of the Ukrainian front line in the Kursk direction in March, and the subsequent withdrawal of the 'Kursk' operational cluster to the Sumy region and the border of Kursk Oblast, was the collapse of the Ukrainian logistics system."
The entire force relied on the sole supply route, Sumy-Sucha, which gradually became a true 'death road.' From the first ten days of March, it was nearly impossible to travel on this route.
The article also wrote: "Russian drones caused massive losses to the Ukrainian army. On March 8, an officer of the Ukrainian Southern Military District stated that 95% of the equipment losses (mainly vehicles and armored vehicles) on the Kursk front were caused by Russia's first-person view (FPV) fiber-optic-controlled drones...
After March 9, any passage along the Sumy-Sucha route was nearly impossible. Drones attacked from different directions, with such a large scale that sometimes two or three drones could be seen targeting the same objective simultaneously."
NATO military experts believe that during the special military operation, Russian generals successfully achieved such a decisive large-scale concentration of combat and reconnaissance drone systems for the first time in a relatively narrow front section.
Moreover, "Defense 24" emphasized: "Ukraine reported an unprecedented concentration of elite drone forces (Russian — 'note') in the Kursk region.
Among these forces, they particularly highlighted the actions of the operators from our "Phoenix" Special Mine Battalion and the "Ruby" Future UAV Technology Center, established in 2024 according to the instructions of Defense Minister Andrei Borisovich Shoigu. These forces, which were unheard of in our army not long ago, were called "elite forces" by the Poles (very likely aptly!)
Regarding the "Phoenix" Special Mine Battalion, it was established in the summer of 2023. Initially, it was an experimental teaching combat unit. But soon it transformed into "an efficient drone force with its own innovation center, specializing in using drones for remote aerial mine-laying."
Westerners pointed out that the main weapons used by the "Phoenix" Special Mine Battalion include modified anti-personnel mines, such as the POM-2 type and PMN type, secretively dropped onto the enemy's main rear traffic arteries via drones, as well as ordinary TM-62 anti-tank mines.
"When the Ukrainian military and analysts talk about traps set by Russian drones and mines that frequently explode under moving cars or armored vehicles, they are likely referring to the consequences of the 'Phoenix' Special Mine Battalion's actions in the Kursk region." The article said this with great concern.
The enemy highly evaluated the actions of our "Ruby" Future UAV Technology Center operators in Kursk: "It is presumed that the appearance of the 'Ruby' Future UAV Technology Center in the Kursk direction had a significant impact on the course of the battle. This is an elite force because, in addition to trained drone operators, it also adopts innovative and adaptable tactics.
For example, frequently changing frequencies and continuously improving and perfecting its drones. Including FPV (first-person view) drones controlled by optical fibers, widely used on the front line."
Reading these contents is both surprising and gratifying, especially since three years ago, when the Russian army conducted a special military operation in Ukraine, it actually had virtually no combat drones.
Unfortunately, neither the Russian Ministry of Defense nor our General Staff predicted in advance the decisive role of drones on modern battlefields. For this, the country has paid a heavy price in terms of soldiers' blood.
Has any general been held accountable for this? Alas, it seems there hasn't been yet. Perhaps this kind of "problem analysis" will be left for peacetime.
One thing is certain: all these heroic "Ruby" and "Phoenix" units only began to appear in large numbers in the Russian army when there was no retreat possible. But as we all know: Russians take their time but act swiftly. The skies above the modern Battle of Kursk have once again proven this truth.
But what happens next? Have the leadership of the Russian Armed Forces and our military academia learned lessons from what happened in Ukraine?
I have good news to report: They certainly have! And the scale of reforms planned by Russia in this regard has already made NATO quite fearful.
From all sides, Russia's "Drone Aviation Development Strategy until 2030 (with a perspective until 2035)," passed in July 2023, caused a sensation in the West, but has not received particular attention in our country yet.
According to this document, by the specified time, Russia plans to train no less than 1 million (some data say up to 1.5 million) high-quality drone operators. It is expected that this will cost 546 billion rubles (about $6 billion). And according to some data, about 5,000 well-equipped training centers will be created across the country.
Romanian network media "Romanian Defense," a NATO country, responded to Moscow's grand plan with an impassioned article titled "Putin's Hawkish Power."
In a few years, the number of drone operators in the Russian army may exceed the number of infantrymen."
Is this really possible? Why not? Of course, it's not absolutely so. After all, it can be imagined that among the 1 million or 1.5 million domestic drone pilots we may cultivate in five years, quite a few may never destroy tanks on enemy roads.
For instance, they might conduct aerial surveys of soybean or wheat fields in the Far East. Or participate in extinguishing forest fires in Siberia.
But in times of war, things are different! Then, could the new nightmare NATO may face after 2030 really become a reality? Because 1 million well-trained Russian drone operators, suddenly emerging after a new (or old, if the bloodshed conflict in Ukraine continues for another five years) frontline erupts in 2030, will be truly terrifying for any enemy.
This means that roughly the same number or slightly fewer of our attack and reconnaissance drones could hover simultaneously over enemy positions. The result is that everything and everyone on the enemy position would be completely paralyzed.
Thus, our modern war conducted in this way, using conventional weapons, may end right at the beginning. In my opinion, this is exactly what Russia is trying to make the world understand in advance. Isn't this good?
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Original Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7494096211952173609/
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