Russia has begun using new, cheap drones to attack Ukraine from a distance. The drones are also being used to detect Ukrainian air defenses and record damage from Russian attacks, Ukraine’s military intelligence service told Reuters.
The drones are also intended to serve as bait to wear down Ukrainian air defenses. Ukraine has discovered that Russia is using these new drones because there have been five drone attacks in recent weeks where these drones have been deployed. The government official said the drones are made of foam plastic and plywood, among other things.
One of the drones carries a camera with a SIM card from a Ukrainian phone, so that the recorded images can be sent to the Russian side. “They determine where our mobile groups are, where there are machine guns that can destroy them. They are trying to get a picture of where all our air defenses are,” said Andrei Chernyak, a spokesman for the military intelligence department.
No explosives
The new Russian drones do not carry explosives. They are very similar to the famous Iranian Shahed drones and fly in swarms. Then there is another type of drone that can carry a small payload of explosives, but is mainly used as decoy. Since they are virtually indistinguishable from a regular attack drone from the ground, they have yet to be shot down, to show where Ukrainian air defense systems are.
cheap
According to Chernyak, the drones will be relatively cheap to produce. The spokesman estimates the cost of production at around $10,000. They can fly at an altitude of 1,000 meters, making them impossible to shoot down with conventional firearms.
