UAV commander Yakir: “A robot will not be able to do what our stormtroopers do”

War is becoming more technological. The war of the future is increasingly predicted to involve artificial intelligence and robots. No one will be surprised to see video footage of drones destroying enemy equipment. But the frontline still relies on the people who control these drones.

One of them is Roman Yakovlev (Yakir), a UAV platoon commander of the Vinnytsia territorial defense. The man was unfit for military service. Nevertheless, he was preparing, and less than a year before the start of the large-scale invasion decided to study to become a Unmanned Aerial VehicleUAV officer. In one day, he turned from a volunteer and activist of a national patriotic organization into a fighter. Later, he headed a UAV unit in the Vinnytsia territorial defense brigade and passed a combat initiation in Bakhmut.

Yakir tells us how technology is developing in the war, how to become a UAV operator, and what requirements he sets for those who want to serve in his unit as a drone operator.

The large-scale invasion ruined Roman Yakovlev's birthday, which was February 23. He spent that day at the shooting range. He planned to celebrate on the weekend. He wanted to get together with his friends, and his wife bought tickets to the DakhaBrakha concert. However, he joined the territorial defense together with his comrades from the Liutych public organization.

“There were 10 of us who left together. We realized that we had Transnistria at our side. And we wanted to join all this: territorial defense, Transnistria, it would be a micro-campaign to start our military career properly,” Yakir recalls those days.

In 2014, his friend Mykola (Yadro), who served in Azov, was killed in the ATO. At the time, Yakir blamed himself for the fact that some of the activists from Liutych were already fighting, and he was unfit for service (he had post-traumatic osteochondrosis and kidney problems), so he only volunteered. Despite this, he was preparing to become a paramedic.

After the 2020 Karabakh war, Roman realized how important UAVs were in warfare. So he decided to master drones. The following year, he entered the military department at Vinnytsia Polytechnic Institute. Then he had to negotiate to be recognized as fit for service.

“The military enlistment office did not want to send me even to the military department because of my health condition. I explained that people usually go to a military department to get out of the army. I, on the contrary, was not avoiding the army. I was not of conscription age anymore. I wanted to get this military specialty,” Roman says.

He wanted to work with a tactical-level UAV. Back then at least junior lieutenants could fly such drones. He was able to complete his studies only in May 2023. He passed some exams online, from Bakhmut.

Yakir started his service as an ordinary shooter. But almost immediately he was transferred to develop a UAV unit.

“There are those who believe that they will be sitting somewhere relaxed away from the front line, smoking Iqos and adjusting the ‘three axes’ (the British-American M777 howitzer — ed.). But this is not the case.”

Initially, the platoon worked on the border with Transnistria, but later they were transferred to the Kyiv region to engage in stabilization activities. The first combat mission took place in the last months of the defense of Bakhmut.

“We were lucky, the commander of the OPFOR unit (an elite unit created in 2016 on the initiative of US military instructors США — ed.) found out about us, they needed snipers and UAV operators. And they engaged us,” Yakovlev says.

Yakir's unit was adjusting artillery in the western part of Bakhmut. Then they saw that the use of UAVs was developing rapidly and their knowledge was no longer relevant, so they had to learn on the spot in combat.

“We worked so intensely that we were exhausted. When Bakhmut was being pressed, everything was flying. And at that moment, it was impossible to lie down to rest, because it was flying very close. I had active headphones working all the time so that I could at least have a little rest when I finished my shift.”

In such conditions, they held out until the last days of the Bakhmut defense. At the end of the operation, Yakovlev's unit miraculously did not suffer any losses. The next group after Yakir's replacement came under artillery fire.

“We hadn't even taken off our armor when we found out that the next group had a dead man and two wounded. It could have been us. But the gods saved us.”

There was a wounded man in their unit. Soldier Bunia lost a finger in an explosion, and shrapnel pierced his lower back. The soldier was evacuated in time.

Yakovlev believes that in Bakhmut, the territorial defense fighters earned respect because they stood their ground to the last. The unit returned from there with a trophy. The crew of his subordinate Dmytro (Kniaz) shot down a Russian drone.

“We are very talented in coming up with something new, some solutions. But the Russians are learning from our example. We taught them, conditionally ‘taught’ them, to use types of unmanned aerial vehicleDJI, Autel, which is used for photo and video shooting of ‘weddings’, as they say. The enemy then learned how to build, use, and improve them faster. We were the first to strike the enemy with FPV drones, but then they began to use them en masse. That's why we need to keep our inventions well secret,” Yakovlev believes.

According to the territorial defense officer, the war is rapidly becoming technological. In particular, the enemy is starting to use artificial intelligence to help missiles target an object on their own. Yakir is convinced that the Armed Forces will start using AI as well. The only question is who will be the first to finish this weapon.

“An FPV drone operator can analyze the position in his head, use logic to find the enemy, and hit the enemy object. Artificial intelligence will allow you to do it faster, maybe even more accurately. But it seems to me that humans are much more interesting. No one has canceled creativity in this regard. Unmanned technologies will evolve, but, as they say, human knowledge, skills, and decision-making will not go away. A robot will never be able to do what our stormtroopers do, for example. Maybe someday, in the distant future, we will have robot wars, but I still think that one way or another, the key moments, the main decisions will still be made by humans.”

Nowadays, Yakir is trying to select fighters for his unit — he cannot trust just anyone with the precious vehicles. The main requirements for his fighters are as follows: physical fitness, a desire to constantly learn, and motivation.

“If a person is motivated, I can teach them to fly. The main thing is that the person wants to do it. If I'm looking for people for FPV, then gaming will definitely be an advantage. Now I have a reconnaissance and correction platoon, and I need a person who can analyze well and think well. Speaking English will be an advantage, of course. And I need a person who will not shy away from physical training, because the UAVs weigh quite a bit.”

When Yakir entered the military department, there was a competition — three people per place. There is no such rush to serve in a combat unit. In Yakor's unit, the soldiers are constantly reading specialized literature, taking online training, including on the Victory Drones platform, and attending specialized training centers.

“In the training centers, the fighters receive knowledge, a base, and become specialists. But without practice, everything is forgotten. There must be constant practice, we need ‘flight time’, and we need to regularly work out task models. That is, as a commander, I give people a task that they have to fulfill. We cannot draw it on a piece of paper with a pen. It doesn't work that way. For a pilot to be able to perform a task efficiently, I have to provide him with a training aircraft on which he can practice it. So that during a stressful situation, in real combat operations, he can have the actions he needs to take in certain situations stored in his cerebral cortex.”

A fighter can be trained to fly a Mavic perfectly in a month, says Yakir. FPV is more serious, it takes more time. Yakir is proud that his guys have learned to fly FPV and to drop ammunition accurately on target.

The commander himself is also studying. Currently, he is a cadet in the first training course for commanders of units of strike unmanned aerial vehicles. The training was initiated by the Command of the Territorial Defense Forces. In addition to studying Troops Leading Procedure (TLP) and military decision-making process (MDMP), students are taught to collect and process intelligence data from ISTAR, Kropyva tactical command and control systems, and Delta situational awareness systems.

“This is very cool. This is a really great start. This is a hope that we will have high-quality UAV officers because for some reason UAVs are treated as if they were something unimportant, nothing. You come to some units and commanders think that UAVs are toys. And when they come to the battlefield, they immediately ask: ‘Are there any eyes in the sky?’” says Yakovlev.

On vacation, Yakir is depressed by the indifference on the streets of peaceful cities.

“I'm terribly annoyed by these questions: when will it all end? What is it? And what do you mean it will end? This is the wrong way of formulating questions in people's minds. In my opinion, the correct way to ask a Ukrainian, the heir to the glorious warriors, would be: friends, what should we do to win faster?”

The officer believes that every Ukrainian citizen should undergo basic military training. It doesn't take much time – 30 days. In another 40 days, you can get a military specialization. And then you can prepare for mobilization.

“We need to introduce a clear timeframe for when the mobilized should return home. Most people do not mind going to defend the state. They are against the uncertainty of how long they will have to fulfill their duty. What should I tell my child when dad comes home? At this time, my child walks down the street and sees a bunch of men who are in no hurry to replace me. This is a big problem in our society.”

The fighter does not mention his child for the sake of it. When he went to war, his wife was three months pregnant, so their daughter was born while Roman was in the army. As a father, he misses a lot of his daughter's childhood and blames himself for it. And even on vacation, he can't always switch from being a fighter to a good dad in a flash. As for the future, there is complete uncertainty.

“Sometimes I have emotional dreams: to buy a house in Crimea, brew beer, go to the mountains, open a tattoo studio. But, as we like to say, these are our pink wet dreams. To begin with, the task is to at least survive until the end of the war or at least until some kind of demobilization to take a break, see what's going on in the family, somehow relieve my wife, and establish the process of civilian life. And if necessary, to return to the army to help further.”