Stopping the Unstoppable. Drones. Lessons from the Frontline

I was encouraged to write this article by Polish YouTuber “Irytujący Historyk”. He has owned his YouTube channel since 2013, where he uploads videos about weapons, the military, and historical artefacts. What’s important is that I have been watching his videos since 2014, when I was in 4th-5th grade in primary school. History has been my greatest hobby since I was a kid. In high school, I was a winner of a Polish competition about military history (medieval period), and a few years later I founded my own channel HappyHistorian (rest in peace, baby). Moving to the point, at first, his channel was more of a hobby, but now it has become a relevant key part of Polish historical YouTube. Irytujący Historyk (Jakub Czerwiński) is the president of Foundation Cor Ignis, which sends humanitarian aid to Ukraine and Belarus. Last time, he surprised me positively. He uploaded a video titled: “How to stop a drone?” (pol. Jak zatrzymać drona?), where he shared his experience with drones.

It’s not just a theory. His conclusions are based on the experience of Ukrainian soldiers, his own journey on the frontline, and practical training with the Polish paramilitary organisation “Strzelec”, where he is a commander in one of the battalions. After watching the video, I came up with many ideas that I want to share with you.

The biological approach

In my last article, I announced that I have successfully defended my bachelor’s thesis. There, I proved creative destruction in the voice technology sector. Besides that, I wrote a bit about Giovanni Dosi, the Italian professor, a pioneer of the biological approach in economics. So, at this point, history, economy, and biology have something in common. It’s a military history, in which every innovation is a response to the previous one, like in an evolution. Example? Let’s go back to the trenches of the First World War. Despite the big efforts of both sides, the frontlines were mostly unbreakable. To achieve a breakthrough on the battlefield, the tank (Mark I) was introduced. In this situation, the second side started using anti-tank weapons, like rifles and cannons. As a result, armour became thicker, but there were significant problems with mobility. That’s why two different approaches emerged: the French light tank Renault FT-17 and the heavy German A7V.

The goal of the first one was to attack in groups and then surprise the enemy on the flanks, but the German one broke the main front lines. Since the Second World War, the technology has advanced. The average soldier had an individual anti-tank weapon. They were American Bazookas, British PIAT, or German Panzerfaust. Moreover, specialized dive bombers, like the Ju-87 Stuka, dropped bombs onto tanks. A new type of armoured vehicle has appeared – tank destroyers, like the Soviet SU-85 or German Hetzer. So, in military history, there is an infinite loop looking for inventions, which gives rise to new types of weapons.

The drones

A drone. Silent, but it attacks in only a few seconds. It can carry an explosive, drop mines, or just scout an area. When I was a teenager, drones were perceived as an interesting gadget. The market and rules were not regulated. Since the Russian-Ukrainian war started, drones have become the main type of weapon. Ukrainians started mass production of drones and training of operators. They proved that drones are dangerous weapons able to destroy targets far away from the frontlines and paralyze the Russian economy. So how did they evolve? There are two methods of stopping drones: passive and active. Soldiers started focusing on camouflage and armour – these are passive ways. The trenches are covered with roofs and camouflaged thermally. Fake bases and positions are being built to bait the enemy. Supply lines are protected by sturdy fences.

The shotguns and radios

When it comes to active methods – there is electronic warfare (to destroy systems and electronics) and “standard” weapons. Based on the soldiers’ experience, the best type of guns to shoot down the drones are shotguns. Frontline units are well-equipped with them. What a surprise! Since this moment, I perceived the shotgun as the most dangerous weapon from the video games, but now that reality has caught up.

In this moment, the technology has evolved. On the battlefield, hives of drones have appeared. Some of them are actually armed, but the rest are just decoys (usually made of the cheapest materials like plastic or even wood). They have to penetrate the armour and make other drones easier to destroy tanks or to reveal soldiers’ positions.

What’s interesting, the system of training drone operators in Ukraine has completely changed. Basic drone training lasted barely three days; in 2023, seven days, but now in the era of FPV drones it’s six weeks! They are using console pads to train shooters.

Time to evolve

The time of building new solutions is approximately 3 or 4 weeks, but one month later they are being applied to the real battlefield. When one side invents something, the other side copies it and tries to improve it. At the beginning of 2026, Polish military scientists introduced a new model of reconnaissance drones. It’s called Grot – a miracle of Polish military technology.

It’s made of modern carbon composites. It can also identify enemy targets to notify other drones about dangers. Poland places a great emphasis on geometric stealth properties. The Ukrainian equivalent, SHARK, was constructed in August 2022 and immediately tested on the battlefield. The difference is four years.

As Poland, we don’t have real “battlefield conditions” to test our new solution. The natural process of training drone operators is slow. Every drone flight needs to be registered. In the case of drones up to 250 g, the operators have to pass the exam and be insured. As you can see, there are more formalities. But what if there existed drone testing grounds, where the rules would be limited? They could be sandboxes to test drones, like training yards for driving school cars? I hope this text will be read by someone relevant.

What are the conclusions from Irytujący Historyk’s video? Irytujący is just a historian; members of “Strzelec” have military backgrounds, veterans have experience, ministers have powers, founders have fresh minds, and scientists have knowledge. The technology advanced required combinations of everyone above. Collaboration is key.