Ukraine's drone pilots want simple attack drones in large numbers. A soldier says Western designs are often overcomplicated.

Ukraine's drone operators want drones that they can send en masse and tailor to their own needs.

Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images Ukraine's drone pilots want masses of cheap, simple drones, a soldier and analyst said.

Western manufacturers overcomplicate them and "get it so wrong," he added.

Operators want drones they can tweak near the front and send out in large numbers.

Ukrainian drone operators need masses of relatively simple drones without a bunch of flashy features, a soldier with firsthand experience explained, cautioning the West against making them too complicated as it readies for future drone fights.

Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion is a grinding war of attrition that is consuming weaponry so fast that combatants need affordable weapons in huge numbers, and battlefield technology becomes obsolete so quickly that soldiers need systems they can update easily to keep them relevant in battle.

Dmytro "Liber" Zhluktenko, a former drone operator who is now a lessons learned analyst in Ukraine's 413th Unmanned Systems Regiment "RAID," told Business Insider that "we need something that works great but doesn't have superfluous features." "That is something that most of the Western defense technology manufacturers, they get it so wrong," he said.

Consider first-person-view attack drones, "we need something that is really basic." "We are yet to find Western manufacturers that are able to produce, let's say 500,000 FPV drones, simple ones that just work, that are fine-tuned without any extra autonomy or extra navigation or any features like that," he added, describing what Ukraine needs most as something pilots can easily take straight into combat.

Ukrainian drone companies work closely with operators and units to learn what they want and need.

Paula Bronstein/Getty Images Western-made drone tech, he said, is often "too complicated, often detached from the battlefield, and much more expensive than Ukrainian options doing the same job.

Therefore, most of the drones used at Ukraine's battlefield are Ukrainian-made." His assessment of the situations draws on both his experience as a drone operator and his role as an analyst, where he looks at battlefield trends, interviews operators, meets with foreign defense manufacturers, prepares briefs for higher command, and organizes the sharing of information between Ukrainian units.

Simple drones give soldiers more flexibility Part of the appeal of simpler drones is that Ukrainian operators can adapt them themselves.

Near the front, soldiers routinely modify weapons to keep them useful as the battlefield changes, and some units even have their own R&D centers.