Ukraine drone pilots taking part in video game-style system rewarding kills: report

Ukraine has rolled out a video game-style rewards system for its drone pilots, giving them new weapons and upgrades for every successful kill against Russian invaders, according to a new report.

The “Army of Drones Bonus System” has skyrocketed in popularity among Ukraine’s UAV pilots as about 400 units are now taking part in the competition on who can take out the most Russian soldiers, Ukrainian officials told The Guardian.

More than 18,000 Russian fighters were killed in September by Ukrainian drone pilots participating in the program.

“It’s become truly popular among units,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov told the outlet.

“All the defense forces know about this and there’s competition for the points, for getting these drones, electronic warfare systems and other things to help them in warfighting,” he added.

“The more infantry you kill, the more drones you get to kill more infantry. This is becoming kind of a self-reinforcing cycle.”

Under the system, which debuted last year, soldiers are awarded points for every Russian soldier they take out with a killer drone.

Originally, for every one Russian soldier slain the Ukrainian pilots were awarded six points, which they could then use on the Brave1 online weapons store to purchase high-tech drones.

The store, promoted by the Ukrainian government, also features a leaderboard with the names of the top pilots, with the recent aces touted as the 414th Infantry Brigade’s “Birds of the Magyar.”

Along with the leaderboard, Kyiv has also doubled the amount of points for each kill. The program now also rewards soldiers for killing an enemy drone operator with 25 points.

Ukrainian drone pilots also earn a whopping 120 points if they manage to capture a Russian soldier alive using the advanced UAVs.

The new points system has been attributed to the sudden surge of participants. Membership in the program is up more than 400% from August.

Fedorov credited the program for new innovations in the war, with point systems being rolled out for infantry fighters and reconnaissance teams.

“We’re at war for four years in a row, and it is hard,” he told the Guardian. “We’re just finding ways to be more effective.”

“If you don’t stop the enemy, he will kill your servicemen and after the servicemen are dead, he’s going to come to a city and he’s going to conquer, raze and kill civilians,” he added.