The Russian Defence Ministry has revealed footage of a strike operation launched by single use assault drones to destroy two Ukrainian navy helicopters deep behind the frontlines. One of many plane was a Soviet Mi-24 assault helicopter, which is without doubt one of the most excessive worth plane in Ukrainian service and is especially troublesome to exchange, whereas the opposite was an Mi-8 multirole helicopter which has been used to supply air assist a number of instances up to now. The video exhibits two separate hits achieved at Kanatovo Airfield, and an operator showing to help the drones’ inertial concentrating on methods. Commenting on the assault, Ukrainian digital warfare specialist and advisor to the Ukrainian Defence Minister Sergey Beskrestnov noticed that no extra Russian drones have been close by to relay instructions in the course of the assault. “These [drones] have been piloted manually at a low altitude to remain beneath the radar,” he concluded.
The placement of Kanatovo Airfield within the Kirovograd area has fuelled appreciable hypothesis that the unmanned plane concerned within the strike have been guided by way of satellite tv for pc hyperlink, which might permit them to be managed remotely deep behind enemy traces. This revolutionary functionality would have vital implications not just for Russia, but additionally for Iran which equipped the Shahed 136 single use plane and related applied sciences to permit for license manufacturing in Russian beneath the designation Geran 2. The plane have seen their concentrating on capabilities modernised significantly, and in October have been reported to have demonstrated a brand new functionality to strike dynamic shifting targetsclose to the frontlines. The plane have additionally been modified for brand new roles together with restricted air-to-air fight and mine warfare.
The Russian defence sector’s capability to supply Geran 2 plane has expanded very considerably because the kind was first launched into service in late 2022, with The Economist reporting in Could 2025 that output on the main manufacturing facility, the Alabuga Manufacturing unit in Tartarstan, had elevated greater than tenfold from 300 a month to over 100 per day. Trade was reported on the time to be on observe to have the ability to produce 500 of the plane day by day. Help from 25,000 North Korean employees has reportedly performed a big position in facilitating the growth of manufacturing on the facility, as a part of broader contributions by the East Asian state to the Russian warfare effort. Enhancements to concentrating on capabilities have complemented the rise in numbers. It stays potential that solely a portion of the plane meant for deep strike operations are being outfitted with satellite tv for pc knowledge hyperlinks, whereas these meant to strike targets nearer the frontlines are usually not so as to keep away from a rise in prices throughout the fleet.
Ukraine inherited its Mi-24 fleet from the Soviet Union, with the plane having first entered service from 1972. They have been broadly being thought-about probably the most formidable assault helicopter kind of the Chilly Conflict period, and have seen excessive depth fight in a number of theatres. Previous the outbreak of full scale hostilities within the nation, the modernised Mi-24P variant established a beneficial fight report within the Syrian theatre in opposition to closely armed Turkish-backed jihadist terror teams. Whereas the most recent variant, the Mi-24P-1M, boasts an AESA radar, new modular direct infrared countermeasures system, and an improved autopilot, energy provide unit and an OPS-24N-1L navigation and concentrating on station, these in Ukrainian service depend on avionics which might be broadly thought-about out of date. Though the Mi-24 has broadly been phased out of Russian service, and changed by the newer Mi-28, the Mi-35 helicopter gunship was developed as a spinoff of the Soviet design and stays in manufacturing to equip the Russian Armed Forces and a number of export shoppers.
