The Drone Line Project: Ukraine’s Aerial Fortress

BLUF:  Ukraine’s Drone Line project is a first-of-its-kind effort to create an extensive kill zone using unmanned systems to identify and destroy Russian targets along the frontline, thwarting enemy advances and preserving Ukrainian soldiers' lives. 

With work now underway to recruit drone operators and engineers, the project will be both time-consuming and challenging—but it will ultimately open a whole new chapter in drone warfare.

The battlefield in Ukraine is transitioning to entirely unmanned warfare. At the end of last year, the Khartiia Brigade conducted its first attack using only unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and aerial FPV drones, successfully destroying Russian positions. We wrote in detail about that here.

However, the current density of the zone where unmanned systems detect and destroy the enemy is insufficient. The Drone Line aims to change that.

Announced in February 2025, the ambitious new project is designed to create a 10-15 km (6-9 miles) ‘wall’ on the frontline in which Russian targets will be identified and destroyed by autonomous systems. 

It’s a strategic concept of a so-called ‘aerial fortress,’ where every single meter will be under the watchful eye of unmanned systems. Any enemy attempting to advance risks being struck at any moment.

What will this project mean for the war?

If all goes according to plan, the Drone Line will prevent the enemy from advancing, protect Ukraine’s frontline infantry units, and save as many human lives as possible by effectively using unmanned technologies. 

“The Drone Line project will provide the capability for echeloned detection of the enemy and the timely destruction of enemy forces as they approach our positions, significantly strengthening both our reconnaissance and strike capabilities. It creates ‘a wall of drones’ that the enemy will find either impossible to breach or extremely difficult to penetrate in certain sections,” Yurii Fedorenko, the commander of the Achilles regiment, told Counteroffensive.Pro.

The units participating in the Drone Line are tasked with halting enemy assault groups. 

“They monitor roads and routes used by enemy assault groups to advance, in order to destroy them before they reach frontline units... The goal is to protect their lives by preventing the enemy from getting too close,” said  Vitalii Lytvyn, the commander of the artillery reconnaissance division of the separate artillery brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine.

Which military units will participate?

The Drone Line project aims to scale the experience of the five most successful UAV-operating units: 

• Rarog regiment;

• K-2 regiment;

• Achilles regiment;

• Madyar’s Birds brigade; and 

• Phoenix battalion. 

The key criteria in choosing these units was their effectiveness on the battlefield, ability to make well-considered decisions quickly, scale up technological solutions, and readiness to embrace and apply innovation on the battlefield, said Colonel Oleh Honcharuk, Deputy Commander of Ukraine’s Land Forces. 

The most successful units have shown results within just six months. The goal now is to scale this up quickly, said Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

Ukrainian officials have said the involvement of other UAV-operating units is also under consideration, but a decision has not yet been made. Neither the Defense Ministry nor the Land Forces immediately responded to a request for comment. 

What tactics will be used for the Drone Line?

All brigades on the frontline have units devoted to unmanned systems, but not all of them are fully effective yet; many are still in development. 

“We’ve been tasked with setting up a special line and taking control of every bush, every street, every tree line—for surveillance, detection, and delivering firepower specifically through unmanned systems,” said Oleh Huyt, code-named Hasan, the commander of the Rarog regiment. 

Each brigade commander has his own UAV battalion, his own artillery division, and a reconnaissance unit — all of which operate as an integrated system. The Drone Line is a tool for senior commanders who understand how to deploy this system and support specific units within their brigade as needed.

The Drone Line will be multilayered. 

First, reconnaissance drones will be deployed, followed by mobile electronic warfare (EW) units, and then FPV drones. All of this will be coordinated and operated remotely as much as possible—to protect the lives of infantry soldiers as well as those involved in the Drone Line project.

The tactics of UAV-operating units during an enemy assault begin with mining the route of advance, said Dmytro Oleksiuk, codename Zemlyak, the commander of the Phoenix Battalion. 

Any vehicles that are not stopped by the mines are then targeted by FPV drones. This is followed by strikes carried out with heavy bomb-dropping or Mavic-type drones. Likewise, FPV drone operators will not stop until the threat is past.

What technologies will be used?

While specific details on the types of drones and technologies to be used are classified, the commanders of several military units selected for the project have expressed an interest in working with innovations like fiber optic drones and unmanned ground vehicles (UGV or ground drones). 

K-2 is developing its work with ground robotic systems, said Kyrylo Veres, the commander of the K-2 regiment. 

“A strong lineup of UGVs will be used on the frontlines, with selections from 4-5 domestic manufacturers. The ground drones can be used for logistics and engineering tasks, such as mine disposal and launching drones from robotic complexes,” he explained.

While Russians were the first to begin systematically using fiber optic drones, Ukrainian developers are working hard to introduce these UAVs on a large scale in Ukraine (read our coverage on fiber optic FPV drones here) 

"When it comes to FPV drones using fiber optics, we also have to acknowledge that achieving parity with the enemy, in areas that are not a priority for them, will only be possible by late summer,"  Achilles commander Fedorenko told Counteroffensive.Pro. 

Right now, private Ukrainian companies are actively developing the most advanced designs. The focus is on making the spool as small and lightweight as possible, while still holding the maximum amount of wire.

Among the systems successfully used on the battlefield, the commander of the Achilles regiment named several domestically produced fixed-wing reconnaissance drones, including the Furia, Shark, Leleka, and now also the Vector, a German drone with production localized in Ukraine.

The regiment also utilizes night bombers, dubbed ‘Baba Yaga’ by Russian forces. According to Fedorenko, the most effective night-operating quadcopter at the moment is the Vampire, produced by Ukrainian drone maker SkyFall. But there are several other models in this category.

“We still face challenges primarily with multirotor reconnaissance systems, such as the Mavic 3, for night operations. For now, it remains an irreplaceable tool, but Ukraine is actively pursuing the development of a domestic alternative that can match its effectiveness and cost-efficiency,”  Fedorenko added.

The Drone Line project has already received a budget of $111.4 million from the Ministry of Defense, with the funds to be distributed directly among the units to procure UAVs, EW systems, and vehicles based on their needs. 

The Netherlands also recently announced the allocation of funding for the  project: 

What does the training process look like for a drone operator?

“Flying a drone is like driving a car—you can have a basic license, but every vehicle, depending on its intended use, is different: Some are used in the desert, some for complete off-roading, some for extreme driving,” the Achilles commander explained to Counteroffensive.Pro.

It takes at least three months for a new recruit to reach the point where they can successfully execute tasks on the battlefield. Mobilization takes up to a week, general military training—including basic UAV operation—lasts at least a month, and specialized training takes another month.

Adaptation within a unit typically takes 14 to 17 days. After that, an operator begins carrying out combat missions as a trainee, which takes a minimum of two to three weeks, or a month for some. Only then does an operator start performing missions as part of the team to which they are officially assigned.

Where does the project stand right now?

According to open sources and interviews with Ukrainian units, the project is in the preparations stage, with limited applications in selected areas. 

The five UAV-operating units have announced a call for applications for various positions, ranging from drone operators and engineers to administrative assistants.

Both citizens not currently serving in the army and those already serving in different military units can apply or request a transfer. 

“The units continue to be staffed, train personnel, and conduct combat operations,” the press officer of the K-2 regiment told Counteroffensive.Pro.

Lytvyn, the commander of the artillery reconnaissance division of the separate artillery brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, has already seen the Drone Line at work on the Pokrovsk front. 

“That’s a significant amount of destroyed enemy equipment—some of which was detected by the assets of my division using operational-tactical level UAVs. Then the equipment was precisely targeted by the units actively operating in that direction,” he said.

What challenges does the Drone Line face?

“There are actually many challenges: recruiting new fighters, ensuring the timely supply of necessary equipment to the crews, the technological race on the battlefield, and much more—from logistical issues related to the accommodation of personnel to combat tactics,” the press officer of the K-2 regiment told Counteroffensive.Pro.

Since this project is unprecedented, the military units have to constantly innovate and create new solutions on the battlefield that cannot be learned anywhere else. 

“This is a project that no one has created before. We can’t just take a book and read how to act in a particular situation. It [includes] improvisation, and performing tasks on different sections of the front is really a note in our notebook, which, in the future, will be taught in educational institutions,” said the commander of Rarog.

The existence of a large number of Russian electronic warfare assets, operational-tactical aviation, and assault groups means the implementation of this project will be an uphill battle. 

But many have already heeded the call to take part in this historic undertaking: UAV operators from other units along the frontline jumped at the chance to join one of the five selected units, temporarily leaving a shortage of qualified personnel on the battlefield. 

“Many of our best people were taken by the elite UAV brigades,” said the chief of staff of an infantry battalion currently operating on the Orikhiv front (Zaporizhzhia Oblast), speaking on condition of anonymity to Counteroffensive.Pro.

Afterward, he said, recruits were brought in, sent for training, and immediately deployed into combat. Within the first few weeks, several dozen Mavics were lost.

Implementing this project along the entire frontline will undoubtedly take time. It remains to be seen if this year will see the completion of the Drone Line ‘wall’ that the enemy will be unable to break. 

Thanks to our media partner: