Interesting read:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/louis...018857472-rhmm
Louis Saillans
French Navy Commando Officer, Askalon Industries co-founder.
I spent over 100 hours compiling and analyzing 5,000 videos of soldiers trying to escape UAV drones — pulling material from Telegram, Reddit, and other sources. Here is what i found out.
There are more videos available. But I had to stop at that stage because of the psychological toll.
I wanted to understand what factors affect survival when soldiers are targeted by drones.
Here’s what the data revealed:
A/ 67% survival rate in obstructed environments (buildings, dense forests).
Why? Drones are designed for speed and detonation, not collision avoidance. Many simply smash into walls, doors, windows, or get tangled in branches and detonate before hitting their target.
B/ 92% death rate in open fields.
No matter the escape method — running on foot, driving, riding a motorbike, or sitting on top of an armored vehicle — the drones outpace and outmaneuver almost every attempt to flee in open terrain.
C/ Armed vehicles provide some protection, but it’s limited.
If a vehicle withstands the initial attack and the crew dismounts, the soldiers’ survival rates revert to the numbers above (depending on the environment).
But here’s the biggest discovery I made:
=> Smoke increases survival rates by 32%.
Whether it’s using the smoke from a burning vehicle or deploying a smoke grenade to obscure a forest entrance, smoke acts as a critical cover. It confuses visual tracking systems and gives soldiers a vital edge when escaping drone pursuit.