Ukraine uses £2,750 flat-pack drones to strike Russian planes | World News
Ukraine is believed to have struck a key Russian airbase this week using cardboard drones, said to be easier to build than IKEA flatpack furniture.
Kyiv claims to have struck one MiG-29 and four Su-30 fighter jets during a drone strike on the Kursk airfield in western Russia last weekend.
Two Pantsir-S1 close-range air defence systems and a radar linked to a long-range S-300 surface-to-air missile system were also believed to have been damaged in the strike.
Around 16 drones were deployed during the strike, which are believed to be Australian-supplied SYPAQ drones, which are made of wax-impregnated paper and rubber bands.
The lo-fi nature of the drones is thought to make them practically invisible to Russian detection systems.
Each drone arrives in flat-pack form and costs just $3,500 (£2,750) to manufacture.
They have been in Ukrainian hands since March, after the Australian government promised Kyiv 100 such aircraft a month in a deal worth $20 million (£15.7 million).
The drones are also rumoured to have been involved in Tuesday night’s attack on six military locations inside Russia, including a strike on the Pskov airbase located close to the Estonian border.
Two Il-76 transport planes were destroyed in the strike, and two more were left damaged.
Fresh drone strikes were also reported in annexed Crimea and three Moscow airports, causing huge and lengthy delays to flight traffic amid apparent fears of a strike at the capital.
This week has seen Ukraine heavily increase the rate of its drone attacks on Russia and its annexed territories, leading military chiefs to wonder how the drones keep getting through.
Although one explanation is that Russians have depleted their air defences by stripping it for assets and sending the best equipment to Ukraine, the design of the SYPAQ drones is thought to be a key factor in the strikes’ success.
With a wingspan of a little over 6ft, the aircraft is small and the foam or waxed cardboard construction will be far less responsive than metal to any radio waves transmitted from below.
The drones were not intended for striking the enemy but for supplying frontline troops.
However, the Ukrainians appear to have innovated with the cardboard drones to enable their use in attacks inside Russia.
These are Australian made drones,’ said Ukrainian UAV expert Valery Romanenko.
’The fact that they are used for strike purposes is already our modernisation.’
Reports suggest the drones were piloted by the anti-Putin Russian paramilitary group RDK, who operate in Russia and are believed to have been involved in the Kursk strike.
‘After crossing the leaky border again without interference, on the night of August 27, we hit a military facility with drones,’ said the RDK.
Russia is becoming increasingly paranoid about Ukrainian operatives working undercover on its territory.
The Kyiv Post newspaper reported: ‘There’s circumstantial evidence that cleverly designed drones from Down Under did it, but no hard proof.’
Russian Mash outlet reported: ‘The Ukrainian military used Australian SYPAQ kamikaze drones for the first time, attacking the Khalino military airfield near Kursk and the military electronic warfare unit in the Kursk region on the night of August 27.’
Overnight there were fresh drone attacks on Crimea especially in the vicinity of Feodosia.
It was unclear what had been hit.
The Russian region of Bryansk was also hit during the blitz.
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