Ukraine has begun implementing an innovative system inspired by video game mechanics to encourage its fighters to neutralize more Russian forces and equipment. The program, called the Army of Drones Bonus, rewards soldiers with points when they upload video evidence of successful strikes carried out with drones, writes "Politico".
Soon the system will be connected to the online platform Brave 1 Market - a kind of "military Amazon", where with the accumulated points soldiers will be able to "shop" equipment for their units. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fyodorov pointed out that this will make it easier for front-line units to get what they need, bypassing cumbersome state orders.
Each type of destruction carries a certain number of points: 40 points for a destroyed tank, up to 50 for a destroyed missile system, 6 points for an eliminated enemy. The videos are uploaded to the army's communications system "Delta", which also allows for real-time verification of actions.
One of the elite Ukrainian drone units, Magyar's Birds, has already accumulated over 16,000 points - enough for hundreds of drones of different classes, including the large combat drone Vampire, known by the nickname "Baba Yaga".
"You destroy, collect points, order a drone," Fyodorov summarizes. According to him, the army is already having to optimize logistics because "soldiers are killing so fast that the state cannot supply new drones".
The new system not only increases motivation, but also improves the intelligence picture on the battlefield. The government has already increased the points for eliminating the enemy from two to six, which led to a doubling of casualties on the Russian side in a month.
"This is not just an incentive. This is a mechanism that changes the rules of war," said Fedorov.