In a sharp escalation of its drone campaign targeting strategic industries deep inside Russia, Ukraine seems to have fitted Cessna-style light planes with remote controls, packed them with explosives and flown at least one of them more than 600 miles to strike a Russian factory in Yelabuga, 550 miles east of Moscow.
Ironically, the Russian factory produces—you guessed it—drones.
Russians on the ground recorded the shocking scene as the light plane dove onto the sprawling Alabuga Special Economic Zone industrial campus, where workers assemble Iranian-designed Shahed drones that, just like Ukraine’s DIY Cessna-style drone, can range as far 600 miles with an explosive payload.
I understand that the situation is not great and the stakes are very, very real.
At the same time it’s kind of amazing how this whole affair has this “improvised tube-sock & axle-grease sticky bomb” perseverance to it.
It really is incredible. They’ve actually done some crazy advanced stuff too, like using some sort of image algorithm to control kamikaze quadcopters to provide terminal guidance through short range signal jamming. I wouldn’t have even thought they would have those kind of capabilities.