Latest news with #UkrainianUnmannedSystemsForces
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukrainian General Staff confirms drone strikes on gunpowder plant and warehouses in Russia
Units of the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces, in coordination with other units of the defence forces, struck several important military facilities in Russia on the night of 10-11 June. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook Details: The General Staff reported that the special operation was carried out to degrade Russia's capacity to produce explosives and use ammunition. It reported that the Tambov Gunpowder Plant had been struck, which caused a fire on its premises. This is one of Russia's key military-industrial facilities involved in the war against Ukraine. The plant produces gunpowder for various types of small arms, artillery and rocket systems, as well as colloxylin, used in the creation of various explosives. In addition, explosions were recorded near an ammunition depot of Russia's 106th Airborne Division in Kursk Oblast, and at a warehouse located at the Buturlinovka airbase in Voronezh Oblast. The results of the strikes are still being established. Quote: "The defence forces continue to take all necessary measures to undermine the military and economic potential of the Russian occupiers and compel Russia to end its armed aggression against Ukraine." Background: Ukrainian drones attacked the Tambov Gunpowder Plant in the city of Kotovsk in Russia's Tambov Oblast on the night of 10-11 June, with locals reporting multiple explosions. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Forbes
28-03-2025
- Forbes
A Ukrainian Drone Sneaked Up On Russian Troops In Their Sleeping Bags
A Ukrainian drone strikes sleeping Russians. Birds of Magyar capture Russian soldiers were snug in their sleeping bags, sleeping off a hard day of combat in a building presumably somewhere along the front line in eastern Ukraine when their slumber was interrupted. An explosive first-person-view drone operated by the elite Birds of Magyar unit slipped into the building—and struck the snoozing Russians, likely killing or wounding many of them. The nightmarish drone strike, captured in real time by the drone's camera, was a bloody reminder that tiny drones are everywhere all the time all along the 700-mile front line of Russia's 37-month wider war on Ukraine. A simple net or screen—or even just closing a door—might've saved the sleeping Russians. Their negligence doomed them. One unfortunate Russian seemed to wake up and notice the drone right before it struck. The FPV drone that visited the snoozing Russians wasn't just any FPV. It had an infrared camera, making it capable of around-the-clock operations. And it was probably a fiber-optic model that sent and received its signals via a millimeters-thick but miles-long cable rather than jammable radio. A building's walls would normally muddle a drone's radio signal. With a skilled operator, a fiber-optic FPV can go where a radio FPV can't. Both Russia and Ukraine are deploying the pricier but deadlier fiber-optic drones in growing numbers. A Russian fiber-optic drone recently discovered and then struck a Ukrainian howitzer—by peeking inside the barn where the big gun was tucked away. The nighttime strike on somnolent Russians might not have been possible just a few months ago. The first generation of Ukrainian fiber-optic FPVs was awkward and inefficient in design—and potentially too bulky to maneuver through a building. Any FPV drone has three critical components in addition to its basic airframe, motors and propellers: a warhead, a battery and a voluminous container for a spool of thin fiber-optic cable that might be 13 miles long. A Ukrainian fiber-optic drone. Unmanned Systems Forces capture The very first generation of Ukrainian FPV drone stacked each element—the warhead, battery and spool—on top of each other in an awkward pile. It should go without saying that the stack wasn't very aerodynamic. 'We oppose three-story drones as they have low energy efficiency,' an official with the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces branch said in an official video. The next two drone generations combined elements. One stuffed the warhead inside the spool. The other stuffed the battery inside the spool. Both of these combos are more aerodynamic than the triple-stack drone, but the battery-inside version is more modular: it's easier to swap in different warhead types, such as shaped-charge warheads optimized for penetrating vehicle armor. It's worth noting that Russia has also settled on two-story fiber-optic drone models. At best, the Ukrainians have matched the Russians' basic design. Now it's incumbent on them 'to surpass [the Russians] in both quantity and quality' of fiber-optic drones, the USF official said. That Ukraine's fiber-optic FPVs are now sneaking up on Russians in their sleeping bags is a good indication that the drones are becoming extremely capable. The stuff of nightmares to their targets.
