Ukraine's new kamikaze drones outsmart Russian defenses
The Ukrainian security service has reported that their military has started using modern drones with an automatic target-tracking feature. Moreover, these unmanned aerial vehicles have already claimed several Russian missile systems as their victims.
The new Ukrainian design is quite a mysterious weapon. From the publicly available sources, it is known only that these new kamikaze drones can independently identify a target, approach it at a safe distance, and then continuously track it, which precedes striking the enemy equipment.
At the moment, the specific technical parameters are not known. The name of these drones, which have been wreaking havoc among the Russians for some time, is also unknown. However, it is assumed that the ability to follow enemy machines is thanks to advanced electronic warfare countermeasure systems. This allows the drones to effectively identify their target before the attack and then follow it to strike the object eventually.
The new weapon already decimates Russians
The first videos proving the effectiveness of the new Ukrainian engineers' solutions have already hit the Internet. It is also known that these mysterious drones have made their first victims. The Ukrainian security service states that within a week, the new unmanned aerial vehicles eliminated several Russian air defense systems. The list includes, among others, the valuable Buk and Tor-M2.
The security service mentioned the first of the destroyed weapons, a ground-to-air guided missile system from the late 1970s. The 9K37 Buk was designed to combat hard-to-intercept targets, including maneuvering missiles, aircraft, and helicopters. The designers also paid attention to resistance to jamming in the case of this tool.
The latest version of this system, designated as 9K317M Buk-M3, is a weapon with six effectors and a range of up to 69 km. According to information published by the manufacturer, the system combats all known types of aircraft and missiles at an altitude of up to 34 km, although some sources say it is 25 km.
The second destroyed system using the new Ukrainian uncrewed aerial vehicles is the Russian Tor-M2, a weapon equipped with ground-to-air guided missiles from the early 1980s. The system fires missiles moving at a speed of around 939 m/s (about 3381 km/h) and reaching a distance of 12 km. The version marked as 9K332 Tor-M2 differs from the basic version in that it can shoot targets using 9M331 missiles and a new radar. Its minimum range is just under 1 km.
