Drone footage dated November 16, 2023 shows the Congolese armed forces, FARDC, using unmanned aircraft to identify suspected M23 positions in eastern Congo, pass coordinates to ground forces, and direct subsequent fires onto those locations. The sequence illustrates the increasingly integrated nature of the fighting: aerial surveillance is used to locate and track positions before FARDC artillery engages them, followed by strikes from Congolese Sukhoi Su-25 ground-attack aircraft. M23 was operating in close coordination with Rwandan forces during this period, according to extensive international reporting and UN investigations. Beyond the individual strikes, the footage is useful because it shows what this war actually looks like at the tactical level: drones finding targets, coordinates moving down the chain, artillery attempting to dislodge entrenched positions, and manned aircraft entering the fight afterward. The conflict in eastern Congo is often discussed in terms of diplomacy, minerals, Rwanda, Kinshasa and M23. This is the battlefield underneath all of it. Footage dated November 16, 2023. Source: Africa Insider, YouTube.