The Chief of Staff of the Charter Brigade, Maksym Golubok, and the Commander of the Achilles Unmanned Systems Regiment, Yuriy Fedorenko, told us about the technical innovations and solutions their units use to reduce the cost of destroying enemy manpower.
The Chief of Staff of the Charter Brigade, Maksym Golubok, and the Commander of the Achilles Unmanned Systems Regiment, Yuriy Fedorenko, told us about the technical innovations and solutions their units use to reduce the cost of destroying enemy manpower.
«On average, it costs up to $5,000 to kill one Russian infantryman. But we must reduce this amount as much as possible. We must get to the point where the death of a Russian costs us $100. Then we will be super-efficient,» Maksym Golubok noted in a comment to Forbes.
According to Maksym Golubek, so that Charter officers and sergeants know how to fight effectively, they are taught to count money — and they know how much one piece of ammunition, an FPV drone, or another strike drone costs.
Despite everything, the most expensive component of the unit, as Golubok says, is the people.
«A drone doesn’t fly itself. For it to hit the target the first time, it must be piloted by an experienced pilot. I call it one shot, one kill. Add to the training costs the constant upskilling,» he explains.
Maksym Golubok clarified that Charter spends about $1 million per day, and these expenses include fuel, financial support for fighters, ammunition, and food, and the source of funds is state support and assistance from business.
In turn, Yuriy Fedorenko noted that those units that «pump» their aero component become mega-effective.
«Take the „Birds of the Magyar“. They grew from a territorial defense unit to a brigade. At one time, they were attacked by literally everything imaginable. Having mastered drones, they began to notice the enemy on the approaches to their own positions and destroy him before he even penetrated deep into them. The path of „Achilles“ is similar. Drones provide us with the survivability of our main capital — personnel,» he explained.
According to Fedorenko, the construction of one unmanned regiment costs approximately UAH 10 billion. «This is the provisioning standard, that is, the set — uniforms, personal protective equipment, vehicles, electronic warfare systems, drones, first-aid kits — that the regiment must have one hundred percent,» the commander specified.
At the same time, the amount of spending on UAVs, namely reconnaissance, strike «wings», FPV drones, heavy bombers and Mavic, according to him, is about UAH 1 billion per month.
«If you compare, $1 spent by us is equivalent to $15 spent by the Russians,» he suggested.
As for military training, Fedorenko noted that in order for a pilot to learn how to control a drone well, he needs to make at least 100 flights.
«100 FPV drones are 2 million UAH. Indirect costs should be added to this amount. The result is a figure of 5 million UAH… We train 40% of our people in training centers. 60% — on our own. We spent about 4 million UAH on simulators, monitors, software, etc., and 2.5 million UAH is spent on training per month,» he shared the information.
As dev.ua wrote, the head of the 7th Corps of the Airborne Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Yevhen Lasiychuk, told how robotic complexes help stormtroopers in battles and reported that there is currently no shortage of stormtrooper personnel.
