AirDefense Academy · Contents · Chapter 11 · Nederlandse versie
Chapter 11: Unmanned Systems Forces (BSV)
Russia's newest service branch, created in 2025 around the drone lessons of Ukraine: build-up, the four-phase plan, recruitment, equipment, and what it means for the NATO flank.
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11.1What is the BSV?
In 2025 Russia created a separate service branch for unmanned systems — a structural recognition that drones are no longer a tool but a foundation.
Read §11.1 →11.2Structure & integration
One central command at the top, but the units are embedded across the existing service branches.
Read §11.2 →11.3The four-phase plan (2025–2028)
The build-up runs in four overlapping phases — from a head at headquarters to drone battalions deep inside the manoeuvre brigades.
Read §11.3 →11.4Personnel & recruitment
Building a service branch means finding tens of thousands of operators — and Russia looks for them partly outside the classic military pool.
Read §11.4 →11.5Equipment & the DKO concept
From cheap FPV copters to Geran strike drones — and a doctrinal framework that sees drones, EW and cyber as one 'shield and sword'.
Read §11.5 →11.6Significance & the NATO flank
If the plan succeeds, the BSV shifts from a supplement to a layered ISR-and-strike capability — right along the north-eastern NATO border.
Read §11.6 →11.7Unmanned naval warfare
The drone domain does not stop in the air. In the Black Sea, cheap surface drones pushed a whole fleet back — and forced the Russian navy into a fundamental rethink.
Read §11.7 →