The Moscow Ministry of Defense has released various videos showing the effects of the fearsome Russian drones. In some clips, individual Ukrainian armored vehicles are first framed and then destroyed by seemingly invisible bullets. In other videos, whole convoys explode and are destroyed one by one. The UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) in service with the Kremlin are scary, but they may be hiding a strange secret.
Laser guided drones and projectiles
According to Forbes, it is true that the small Russian drones are causing some headaches for the Ukrainian armed forces and unleashing them. grenades to laser guidance with deadly precision, but they don’t seem as advanced as one might think. But let’s go in order and in the meantime try to understand the importance of the drones used by Russia.
The invisible bullets responsible for the destruction of many Ukrainian vehicles are part of the laserguided artillery shells of Krasnopol, aimed at the targets by drones filming the scene on the battlefield in real time. The Kremlin has several 152mm artillery pieces capable of firing Krasnopol ammunition, from the old D30 towed howitzer to the latest 2S19 selfpropelled gun.
While the original version of Krasnopol has an estimated range of 20 kilometers, the latest updates appear to be capable of hitting targets up to 43 kilometers away with 95% reliability. The 14pound missile warhead hits sharpangled targets and would be able to take out even heavy tanks. But the success of these missiles is only as great if we also consider drones. In other words, the Krasnopol has deadly effects when combined with special UAVs. The reason is simple: while observers on the ground cannot find targets, drones fly freely in the air and can locate vehicles from a bird’s eye view.
The Mystery of the Orlan10
What drones do the Russians use to launch such attacks? We do not know. Normally Moscow assigned the artillery units to that Orlan10. These drones, which entered service in 2010, carry cameras and other sensors and are designed to perform reconnaissance, 3D mapping and support missions. In 2020, an updated model called the Orlan30 was produced, capable of illuminating ground targets for Krasnopolguided artillery ammunition and laserguided bombs.
Developed by the St. Petersburg Special Technology Center, the Orlando is manufactured in Russia. However, one of these drones was recovered by Ukrainian forces in 2016. They disassembled them, thoroughly dissected them and discovered several interesting things. The first: Many of the electronic components of the drone’s communication and navigation system were imported from American companieswhile other components were purchased from China. The second: the camera Captive Orlando’s staff seem to be using a perfect camerar Canon standard. So no commercial camera for Dorni, but an OS 750D DSLR in action amateur photographers.
The images transmitted by these drones are likely to be downloaded during flight or stored on board the vehicle for later retrieval. According to various experts, however, such an improvisation could indicate a deficiency technology Russian. What is certain is that these drones are still proving to be quite effective at the moment.