Latest news with #BirdsofMagyar
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces replaced
Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi has been dismissed from his position as commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces (USF), according to a decree signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky on June 3. Sukharevskyi will be replaced by Major Robert "Magyar" Brovdi, commander of the elite drone unit "Birds of Magyar." The Unmanned Systems Forces were established as a separate branch of Ukraine's military in June 2024. The USF works to improve Ukraine's drone operations, creating drone-specific units, ramping up training, increasing drone production, and pushing innovation. The USF has also carried out hundreds of operations deep within Russian territory. "I am proud to have had the honor of leading the USF during its first and most difficult year of formation," Sukharevskyi said in a post commenting on his dismissal. "This year, although incomplete, has been spent productively. We have formed and immediately put into practice the principles on which this unique force operates. ... At the same time, at this stage, our vision for the further development of the USF differs from that of the leadership. I believe that the honest and professional decision in this situation is to end my term as commander of the USF. I am leaving my position with deep faith in everyone who continues to carry this idea forward." Read also: As Ukraine's fate hangs in the balance, 'Soviet' command culture damages war effort Sukharevskyi, previously deputy commander-in-chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces, was named the first commander of the newly-created USF on June 10, 2024. According to military personnel who spoke anonymously to the Ukrainian news outlet Suspilne, Sukharevskyi's relationship with Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi was tense from the beginning of the USF's formation. Sukharevskyi's appointment was a decision from the president, not Syrskyi, sources said. People close to both Syrskyi and Sukharevskyi also claimed the two men avoided face-to-face interactions. According to Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, Sukharevskyi has now been appointed deputy commander of Ukraine's Eastern Operational Command, where he is expected to implement reforms and lead modernization efforts. Regarding the decision to appoint Brovdi as the new USF commander, Umerov said that Brovdi's "experience with one of the best units should be expanded to the entire command." Along with Sukharevskyi's dismissal and replacement, Ukraine's leadership announced a number of military personnel decisions on June 3, including the appointment of Mykhailo Drapatyi as Commander of the Joint Forces. Drapatyi previously resigned from his position as Ground Forces Commander on June 1 following a deadly Russian missile strike that killed at least 12 Ukrainian soldiers at a training camp in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast that day. We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Forbes
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Ukraine's Interceptors Bring Down Biggest Russian Drone Yet
Ukraine's Birds of Magyar unit published video of one of their FPV interceptors hitting a Russian Forpost-R drone, the largest yet to fall victim in this way. It is a notable success -- the interceptor cost around $2k, the half-ton Forpost-R is more like $7 million – but it is also a symptom of another subtle shift in drone warfare. Forpost ('Outpost') is Russian-made, but is a licensed copy of the Israeli IAI Searcher II drone which first flew in 1998. The Russian version entered service in 2019, three years after Israel ceased to supply parts. The Russians reportedly redesigned the Forpost to use only locally made components. It is still an oddity that Russian employs the Israeli-descended Forpost next to its Iranian Shaheds, highlighting weaknesses in Russia's own drone design capability. Forpost-R drone, based on the IAI Searcher II Russian MoD Forpost is one of the largest Russian drones, with a wingspan of over 34 feet and a takeoff weight of more than 1100 pounds. It is designed to carry out a similar role to the Predator, long-endurance reconnaissance missions, with a flight endurance of more than 18 hours and a ceiling of 18,500 feet. It is a propeller driven, and normally cruises at 70-90 mph with a maximum speed of 120 mph. The Russians have adapted Forpost-R for attack missions, carrying a pair of KAB-20 laser-guided bombs. These weigh 45 pounds each and can carry out precision attacks on armored vehicles, bunkers and other targets. Forpost has rarely been seen in the Ukraine conflict, featuring mainly in Russian propaganda videos. One crashed in Belgorod in January 2023 and the Ukrainian air force downed one in April 2024 and another in July. But over the Easter weekend, Russian operators decided to carry out a strike using a Forpost armed with two bombs, in spite of the supposed ceasefire. And it ran into some determined defenders. Birds of Magyar, commanded by the celebrated Robert Brovdi (callsign 'Magyar') is one of Ukraine's most successful drone units. Brovdi originally created the unit as a volunteer drone platoon in 2022, since then a long string of successes has seen it grow to a company, a battalion, and now a full regiment. Much of this is due to the rapid assimilation and adoption of new drone technologies – including aerial interceptors to take down Russian drones. Brovdi posted the video on his Telegram channel, showing an FPV intercepting the Forpost-R, and with typical strong language. He says the FPV was piloted personally by the commander of the Birds of Magyar's interceptor unit, and the intercept took place at 13,000 feet. The video shows the FPV approaching the tail for Forpost before it cuts out, presumably when the FPV's warhead was triggered. Brovdi says the Forpost was damaged and they tracked it by radar oi where it came down over Russian territory; he regrets not being able to pick up an unusual trophy from the encounter. Russian Telegram channels quoted by Samuel Bendett naturally enough tell a different story. Claiming that the Forpost was not seriously damaged and that it landed safely. Naturally no evidence is presented for this. While the interception is a notable achievement in its own right, it does also have wider significance. It is not news that Ukrainian interceptors can operate above 10,000 feet, though this may be the highest strike officially recorded. Nor is it news that the interceptor teams are coordinated with the overall air defense systems, in particular the Sky Hunter radar. But the increasing speed, range and effectiveness of interceptors, coupled with the increased coverage and accuracy of detection systems, will make it increasingly difficult for anything to survive in unfriendly airspace. This comes at the same time as reports of yet another U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone being downed by Houthi forces. Like the Forpost/Searcher, the Reaper is a relatively low-speed, low-agility aircraft without stealth or other defensive aides, which has little chance of surviving in air-to-air combat of any sort. This is apparently the sixth Reaper to be lost since March. Reapers cost around $30 million each. As of 2024 the USAF had a total of 224, to the current attrition rate is an unsustainable 3% a month. The Houthis rely on surface-to-air missiles supplied by Iran, but any future opponent is likely to have access to low-cost interceptors like those seen in Ukraine. It is notable that Ukraine's own fleet of Bayraktar drones, large craft somewhere between Forpost and Reaper, have stayed very much in the background. After early successes in the strike role, they were pulled back as Russian tactical air defence improved. Birds of Magyar also operate small reconnaissance drones, and report losing 228 of them in April. Each drone survives an average of 45 flights and costs a few thousand dollars, making them 'attritable' assets: losses are expected and there is a steady flow of replacements. Going forward, larger drones may need to be better protected, which will add to the cost, or made more affordable -- we have already looked at how the U.S. could replace Reapers with low cost alternatives – or whether they will become motherships, remaining at long range and launching small attritable or expendable drones into enemy territory.
Forbes
16-04-2025
- Forbes
Hidden Killers: Inside Ukraine's Combat Drone Statistics
Birds of Magyar is one of Ukraine's most lethal drone units, having grown rapidly from a platoon in 2022 to a full regiment at the end of 2024. Robert Brovdi, the unit's larger-than-life commander, is well aware of the power of online media and the unit publishes videos with kill statistics every month on its YouTube channel. In March they hit over 5,000 targets. Beyond the dizzying display of exploding Russian tanks, the numbers from Birds of Magyar give fascinating insight into how the drone war is conducted and what is really doing the damage. As previously noted, kill claims from drone units are carefully audited because they contribute to a points system which determines how many drones are shipped to the unit the next month, and they are considered generally accurate. In particular, the videos reveal some surprising truths about the drones being used and the breakdown between the photogenic FPVs and the rarely-seen night bombers. Known as 'Baba Yaga'' to the Russians, these heavy bombers carry bigger weapons, but their attacks are less visually impressive. Usually there is nothing to see but a burst of white and black in a thermal imager, with no indication of what the target was or how badly it was damaged (see 0:56-0;59 in video below). Birds of Magyar state that this month they expended a total of 7,874 FPV drones, accounting for 67% of the attacks. They also state that they flew 3,582 heavy bomber sorties, which would make up another 31%. These would generally drop much heavier weapons than carried by the FPVs. The remaining 2% of attack sorties were likely carried out by Mavic-type quadcopters on bomb-dropping missions. What we do not know is the breakdown of how many targets were hit by bombers compared to FPVs. OSINT analyst Andrew Perpetua, who reviews every single drone kills video coming out of Ukraine, believes that the night bombers success rate is likely much underrated. He also that their effects are indistinguishable from artillery, and they may account for the large number of destroyed vehicles which were hit by unknown weapons, Of the 5,334 targets hit 1,848 or 35% are recorded as destroyed, from 11, 601 sorties. On the crudest count then takes an average 2.2 drone sorties to damage a target and 7.1 to destroy it. However, this number is questionable value because a target can be anything from a single Russian soldier to a bunker complex. While drone videos going viral on social media show tanks or other high-profile targets getting destroyed, these are a statistical minority of all strikes. Summarizing the Magyar statistics, we find that, in March, 274 armored vehicles were hit, plus 69 artillery pieces, as well as along with 569 soft vehicles including trucks and vans. There were also 149 motorcycles. Less glamorous targets also feature. These include 174 antennas, radar and uncrewed camera systems, which can be disabled with high-precision strikes to deny communications and intelligence. But by far the largest number of strikes when on the lowest-value targets: individual Russian soldiers, and structures – buildings, trenches and bunkers. 1,701 individual Russian foot soldiers were hit, of whom 1,002 are recorded as killed (59%). These are in addition to the casualties in the thousand or so vehicle hits listed above. The full tall for March 2025, via Google translate Birds of Magyar 2,170 hits were scored on structures, of which just 125 are recorded as destroyed (6%). A small drone may kill the occupants of a building, trench or bunker without significantly damaging the structure. A thermobaric warhead, or multiple bombs from a Baba Yaga, may result in complete destruction, but this is rare as the numbers show. One thing this definitely shows is that there are more than enough drones to target every single Russian, and FPVs are frequently used to hunt down individuals on foot. Another is that armored vehicles are rarely seen. The front line is composed of Russian soldiers in trenches, so these are the main targets, followed by the trucks that supply them. What we cannot tell is how the credit can be divided between bombers and FPVs which have overlapping target sets. The big multicopters are mainly seen hitting fixed targets like defensive positions or, occasionally, parked vehicles, but occasionally chase moving targets. FPVs are effective against light mobile targets like trucks and foot soldiers. And both types can destroy armored vehicles. Hitting a building is much easier than hitting a Russian soldier running and hiding in woodland, but a hit is far more likely to kill a person on foot. The bombers operate mainly but not exclusively at night. FPVs operate mainly in the daytime, though Birds of Magyar does also have a significant number of FPVs with thermal imagers for night operations. An additional complication is that Birds of Magyar's bombers also carry out drone minelaying missions, on a large scale, carefully placing anti-tank mines on roads and tracks used by Russian vehicles. It is not clear if these are included in the general statistics. The video states that the unit lost 52 bombers during the month, and that the life cycle of each bomber is an average of 69 sorties before being shot down. This shows that Russian efforts to stop the bombers, with interceptor drones and other means, are still largely ineffective. It also means that the cost-per-sortie for a bomber costing (say) $20k is less than $300, making them competitive with FPVs. However, this may change as Russian interceptors become more common. Equally, as Ukraine explore new arming options including guided bombs and grenade and rocket launchers for the multicopters, they may become even more effective. The statistics also include the loss of 228 'Mavic' type consumer quadcopters in the month, with 10,252 reconnaissance missions flow, giving an average of 45 flights per drone. This is very much more than earlier on in the war and suggests that operators are now able to stay back and avoid Russian jamming. What we do not know is what proportion of the 7,874 FPVs succumbed to jamming and what proportion made it through to the target. Anecdotally jamming losses may be as high as 50% for some units, but Birds of Magyar are starting to deploy fiber optic FPVs which are immune to jamming, including this one which flew underground in a building used by Russian soldiers. It is also interesting to compare the Birds of Magyar statistics with the overall figures for Ukraine. In March and April, Birds of Magyar accounted for 6-10% of the total number of tanks and other armored vehicles, but only 1-2% of the amount of artillery. The Ukrainian military claim to destroy more far more artillery than armored vehicles, but for Birds of Magyar these figures are reversed. This is surprising given that Birds of Magyar have perfected their technique of destroying artillery pieces by having an FPV approach at dead slow speed and blast a hole in the gun barrel, a tactic regularly displayed in their videos. This indicates somebody else is claiming most of the artillery kills. This may be a reflection of the lack of artillery at the section of front where Birds of Magyar are fighting; or another unit with specialist equipment may be tasked with destroying artillery. Another useful data point is the figure of 200,000 FPVs produced in Ukraine per month at the start of this year, stated by Ivan Havryliuk, Deputy Minister of Defence. Assuming no stockpiling, this suggests that Birds of Magyar use around 4% of the total supply of FPVs roughly line with the proportion of the total kills claimed. Finally, comparing this month's data with previous months downs just how rapidly Birds of Magyar are increasing their kill rate. A year ago, in March 2024 the unit hit 293 targets. By December 2024 this was up to 2966, now it is over 5,000. This reflects the rapid growth of the unit and the fact that, given an increased supply of drones, they will score more hits. Scaling up FPVs production – the number per month should more than double during the course of 2025 – will directly translate into more Russian casualties and equipment destroyed. 'There are a lot of numbers but they matter,' says the video commentary. 'We have a long and fierce battle ahead.' This is certainly true. But even Russia's huge army cannot survive this sort of attrition indefinitely, and Birds of Magyar's numbers show just how well Ukraine can fight even without foreign weapons.
Forbes
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Ukraine's Elite Drone Is A Lethal, Fast Growing Tech Start Up
Robert Brovdi, callsignj Magyar, commander of the highly successful 'Birds of Magyar' drone unit, ... More now expanded to regiment size Ukraine's legendary 'Birds of Magyar' is one of the most successful drone units of all time. Under its charismatic commander Robert Brovdi, callsign Magyar ( 'Madyar' in Ukrainian, meaning Hungarian), the unit has grown in three years from a platoon into a regiment destroying vast numbers of Russian forces each month. This rate of growth is extraordinary in a military unit and looks more like a tech start up --and maybe that is a better description of what Birds of Magyar really is. The unit has become famous on the internet, and compilation videos of drone strikes go viral, aided by Brovdi's trademark commentaries with catchphrases 'Jagga jagga!' and 'Bada-boom!' highlighting effective attacks. Magyar's success is not about presentation. They numbers show this one unit is contributing a significant fraction of Ukraine's combat power. Magyar has achieved this by using the skills of a tech entrepreneur in a military context. Brovdi's appearance, with a shaggy, greying beard makes him look like the guy in a biker bar you least want to annoy. His language is harsh, describing the Russians as 'hunting worms,' pulling no punches in his online pieces describing the current situation and what needs to be done. But beneath the Dark Ages warrior exterior is an keen grasp of a new type of warfare. Brovdi has been way ahead of the technology curve all the way. Previously a successful businessman, Brovdi joined the volunteer territorial defence as a foot soldier in 2022 at the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. He became platoon commander and, frustrated by trench warfare and in violation of the rules at the time, bought and flew a commercial drone to get a better view of the battlefield. Before long he had acquired more drones and established Birds of Magyar as a drone reconnaissance platoon. The unit soon started making their own drone bombs and by March 2023, Birds of Magyar had grown from a reconnaissance platoon into a strike drone company. Initially within territorial defense and then as part of the regular army in the 59th Motorized Infantry Brigade. Brovdi demonstrates an early improvised drone bomb In January 2024 the unit expanded again and became an independent Marine Corps drone battalion, taking the name of 14th Strike UAV Battalion. In December 2024 the battalion was expanded again into a full regiment, with a further tripling of the number of personnel. And all along, at the same time as being engaged in high-intensity conflict, Birds of Magyar has adopted and adapted new technology. They were among the first to make their own drone munitions, to use FPV drones, heavy bomber multicopters, to experiment with FPV carriers , to fly interceptor drones, to use flying relay drones, to carry out minelaying by drone and to use FPVs with fiber-optic controls, With all of these things, they have managed to find the best way of using the technology, optimized it – often by building or modifying their own hardware – and scale it up to make a real impact on the battlefield. As well as flying reconnaissance and attack missions, Birds of Magyar also has its own interceptor unit, a unit for experimental unmanned systems and a unit for the development and another for implementation of new systems. The unit operates its own production facilities for drones and drone munitions, and carries out its own pilot training. The Ukrainian government operates a system which turns success into fuel for further success. As Brovdi himself explained in a 2024 post, the attack drone business has been gamified. The process resembles a video game where scoring points allows a player to upgrade their warrior, mecha or spacecraft to take on successively bigger opponents. A successful FPV strike causes a Russian tank to detonate, throwing the turret high into the air Kills on specific targets which can be verified earn a drone operator points. For example, destroying a top-end Russian T-90M tank earns a reward equivalent to about $10,000. This comes in the form of points which can be spent on new drones. This process rewards the high performers and ensures that drones go to the units which make best use of them. Brovdi compared his unit to a business In an interview with Forbes in November 2022. Then a platoon commander, Brovdi said: 'It's a complete business cycle, where you just improve the product every time.' In previous wars such a system might have led to inflated claims, like the controversial U.S. 'body counts' in Vietnam or the Russian system in which commanders regularly lie their superiors about their progress, the Ukrainian have a strict audit process. But every drone strike is automatically recorded by its own camera and can be cross-indexed with Ukraine's Delta battlefield information system which merges data from drones, satellites and other sources. Follow-up drones carry out damage assessment and kill claims are strictly audited. 'I am not claiming this is 100% precise, but it is a structured assessment that, in my opinion, reliably reflects trends,' writes Yurii Butusov in a piece on looking at the drone kill statistics for January. 'The vast majority—99%—of this data is accurate.' An efficient system for crediting kills means that Ukraine can channel resources to the units that are doing most with them. Butusov's main complaint is that currently this channel is only available to a minority of drone units and needs to be widened out. But Birds of Magyar have shown how well it can work. Combat statistics for March 2025 show an impressive kill rate Birds of Magyar release a monthly video compilation of their strikes. These days there are so many it can only include highlights; even five minutes of solid end-to-end explosions can only include a fraction of their total activities. The videos are split into sections showing strikes on armored vehicles, targeting artillery, air-to-air intercepts, night bomber missions, destruction of buildings, and many, many strikes on individual Russian soldiers. There are a lot of interesting statistics in the monthly scorecard which shows hundreds of vehicles destroyed . But the biggest one is the headline figure of almost 22,000 combat sorties, of which 11,691 were strike missions. These hit 5,334 targets, destroying 1,848 of them. This suggests that roughly 50% of attack missions damaged a target, and 16% scored a kill. Although things are complicated where multiple drones hit a target in succession, this suggests a high hit rate compared, say, to artillery shells or ATGMs Looking at the last couple of months, Birds of Magyar account for around 7% of the total number of armored vehicles destroyed by the Ukrainian military as a whole. And as Butusov notes, there are other similarly successful drone units. In essence, this is a unit which destroys its own weight in Russian forces on a monthly basis and just keep growing. And the next step could be the most significant yet. The next stage of expansion will see Birds of Magyar integrated into a strategic drone network. In February, Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced the "Drone Line" project would integrate drone and ground forces into a single strike system to detect and target everything at ranges of 6-9 miles , destroying Russian assault before they can get close to Ukrainian positions. This would involve further expansion of existing drone units. Rusten specifically mentioned the 20th Separate K-2 Regiment, the 429th Achilles Regiment, the 427th RAROH Regiment, the Phoenix Regiment as well as 'the 414th Magyar's Birds Brigade.' President Zelensky had a face-to-face meeting with the unit commanders including Brovdi in February. The drone line will see drone integrated with a variety of sensors plus artillery, rockets and other assets, and the idea is that it will extend across the entire front with Russia. This might seem ambitious. But looking at Birds of Magyar's rate of growth so far, it looks more like a logical next step.
Forbes
30-03-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
An Assault Group Attacked Pokrovsk While Flying A Giant Russian Flag
A Russian assault group attacks under a large flag. Via Officer_alex It's tempting fate to roll into a battle in Ukraine while flying a giant flag from your armored vehicle. But that's exactly what a Russian regiment did on Thursday as they attacked under the white, blue and red banner of the Russian Federation. Marshalling a dozen increasingly precious armored vehicles, the Russians attacked toward the fortress city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian 35th Marine Brigade and the Birds of Magyar drone group were waiting for them with drones and artillery. 'The entire column was completely destroyed,' one Ukrainian blogger reported. The same thing happened the last time the Russians attacked under a giant flag—in that case, the blood-red flag of the defunct Soviet Union. The wholesale destruction of the flag-waving Russian assault group came as the Kremlin is once again increasing pressure on Pokrovsk, the anchor of a chain of fortified settlements stretching toward the north. A Russian tank burns outside Pokrovsk. Via Officer_alex Russian forces spent a year marching the roughly 25 miles from the ruins of Avdiivka to Pokrovsk. But the offensive ground to a halt a few miles outside of Pokrovsk as it ran into the thickest concentration of Ukrainian drones and artillery last month. There was a weeks-long lull in assaults as Russian forces first focused on ejecting Ukrainian troops from western Russia's Kursk Oblast, which they finally did late last month. Now 'Russian forces increase the intensity of their attacks on the Pokrovsk direction and attempt to reach the same level of intensity as in January 2025,' the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies observed. For the Thursday assault, a Russian regiment assembled a dozen armored vehicles in one column—an increasingly rare sight as Russian losses of armored vehicles and other heavy equipment exceeds 20,000 and regiments turn to civilian vehicles to keep their troops moving. The Russians were victorious in Kursk because the Ukrainians occupied a narrow salient with vulnerable supply lines—and the Russians deployed their best drones to sever the main road into the salient. The only salients around Pokrovsk are held by the Russians. And the only vulnerable supply lines are also Russian. The doomed flag assault was 'unnecessary confirmation of the offensive weakness of the Russians, who, even having accumulated equipment, cannot do anything' around Pokrovsk, the Ukrainian blogger concluded. Given the conditions, it was imprudent for Russian troops to call their shot—and attack under a giant Russian flag as though they'd already won the battle.
