00:00 "Getting ready to fly.
00:04 This is a Leleka, Ukrainian for stork.
00:08 A reconnaissance drone that has proven crucial in this war.
00:12 With a range of 50 kilometers, it can fly far behind the enemy line."
00:17 "Their advantage is that the enemy's air defence almost never sees it.
00:22 It's small and has just a minimum of metal."
00:30 The Leleka is part of what the Ukrainians call their drone army.
00:42 The drone pilots communicate directly with the command centre and artillery often fires
00:48 based on their real-time images.
00:51 And this makes the drone crews a target.
00:56 "We've been detected before and their artillery fired at us.
01:03 They try to find us and of course they will try to annihilate us."
01:10 Russia is also frequently using electronic jamming technology, blocking the connection
01:15 between drone and operator.
01:18 That is how most of them are lost.
01:22 "You have to learn how to get it back without a signal, without video transmission.
01:29 That all comes with experience.
01:31 You learn some of that in training, but many nuances are not part of the training.
01:36 That only comes with experience."
01:42 To visit the next drone crew in action, we have to go further towards the front line.
01:47 The most frequently used drone is a consumer model from China, the DJI Mavic.
01:52 It is cheap and easy to get.
01:55 But it has a very small range, so operators need to get close to the enemy.
02:01 "The Russians are just over there.
02:19 We are now less than two kilometers from their positions."
02:20 "Our task is to keep watch over a quadrant of land.
02:22 At the moment, we don't see anything interesting.
02:26 Our task is to constantly fly over this area and keep watch."
02:38 Suddenly the connection is lost.
02:41 Russia is jamming again.
02:45 "When this happens, you have to leave the woods.
02:51 It's very dangerous out in the open, but you have to get as close as you can to the drone
02:56 to try to get the signal back."
03:02 They often lose two or three drones a week.
03:06 "They do have a lot of jamming equipment.
03:10 And it's powerful.
03:12 They have electronic guns which can cut our signal.
03:16 They're good at that.
03:18 I feel their drone army is weaker than ours.
03:22 But their jamming is much more powerful."
03:28 As this war is increasingly fought with drones, it becomes a question of who has the technological
03:34 edge and who can improvise around that.
03:37 This drone has made it out of the jamming zone.
03:40 It will need a set of fresh batteries.
03:43 Then it'll be ready to fly again.
03:44 "
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03:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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