Soldier of Fortune Magazine The Journal of Professional Adventurers
COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating
Russian soldiers have been working their quads – the drone version. We snagged this vid from their Ministry of Defence, showing a quadcopter threading its way through a makeshift obstacle course in the woods. The setup looks crude, almost laughably so, with planks nailed into frames, and haphazard barriers pulled together from scrap. But don’t be fooled. This isn’t backwoods tinkering. It’s battlefield prep.
READ MORE: Threatening Skies: Countering the Drone Swarm Apocalypse
In today’s conflict zones, a drone that can’t dodge ropes, planks, and sudden obstacles in a forest doesn’t stand a chance against nets, jammers, or another quad packed with explosives. A simple quad with a bomb can now humble a tank that spent years in the Research, Development, and Testing shops. That’s why the rough-hewn course in the Russian woods matters. It’s boot camp for specialized warbirds.
This is drone PT, the quadcopter equivalent of a grunt running tires and crawling under barbed wire.
The logic is simple: if drones can outmaneuver homemade traps in the forest, they’ll stand a better chance when facing enemy countermeasures – whether that’s a shotgun blast, a jury-rigged net, or another drone screaming in for a midair kill.
READ MORE: Shotguns vs. Drones: A Clay Shooter’s Guide to Defeating Enemy Swarms
Across the globe, others are following suit. Some militaries pit drones against mock tanks and bunkers. Others stage drone-versus-drone duels, aerial knife fights at treetop level. Their operators need to stay on point, and keep up with the pace.
So don’t laugh at a Russian drone weaving through plywood hoops in the woods. That buzzing little quad is today’s recruit.
The soldiers who master them will own the skies at treetop level.
Susan Katz Keating is the publisher and editor in chief at Soldier of Fortune.
