Ukraine is now flying so many low-budget drones on the front lines with Russia it is coordinating them using air traffic control

• Ukrainian forces are using plastic drones typically sold to hobbyists.
• These low-budget drones are able to evade Russian air defense systems, operators said.

Drones have been a key part of Ukrainian military strategy this summer, helping Ukraine destroy a $500 million Russian air-defense system, sink Russian naval vessels, and shut down Moscow-area airports twice within a month.

Now, Ukrainian forces are sending so many drones to the front line in its war with Russia that they've developed a dispatch system akin to air traffic control, The New York Times reported.

This onslaught is possible thanks to their reliance on low-budget, plastic-foam drones typically bought by hobbyists and photographers.

Drone operators are using these small devices and mix-matching their parts to build combinations that can go undetected by Russian defenses, the Times reported. Drone operators are also switching between radio frequencies and forgoing GPS navigation to fly under Russia' radar.

"Drones that cost hundreds of dollars are destroying machines costing millions of dollars," soldier Yevhen Popov told the Times.

Ukrainian drone operators told the outlet they rely on landmarks to navigate without GPS and must fly with careful precision, remaining low enough to escape Russian jamming signals while staying high enough to avoid minefields.

This strategy is paying off. One drone operator, who goes by the alias Hacker, told the Times he used a drone equipped with a GoPro camera to locate two major Russian electronic warfare systems. Ukrainian forces then ordered a strike that destroyed both.