Intelligence explains why Russian FPV wings fly Molniya and Orlan’s analogue, the Phoenix.
In the production of Molniya and Phoenix strike drones, Russia uses components produced by China and some Western countries, particularly Switzerland, the USA and the Netherlands. The Main Intelligence Directorate announced this on Tuesday, December 10.
Molniya is an aircraft-type attack unmanned aerial vehicle launched from a special slingshot and aimed at a target by an operator, such as an FPV drone. The UAV has a flight range of up to 40 km and a warhead of up to 5 kg, which is ten times less than the Shahed.
In addition to hunting military targets, Russia uses Lightning to terrorize residents of cities and regions near the front line. In November of this year, the target of such an attack was a high-rise building and a shopping center in the Saltovsky district of Kharkov, and many people were injured. Since the UAV is controlled and directly operated by the operator, civilian objects are the intended target.
In the past, Russia has also used similar UAVs without combat units to overload Ukrainian air defenses.
GUR added that the Lightning has a relatively simple design and cheap filling, mostly Chinese. The grades of the electric motor, flight controller, camera and most electronic components correspond to Chinese manufacturers – FATJAY, SpeedyBee, Caddx, Huayi Microelectronics, Trex Technologies, etc.
“However, the Chinese flight controllers, like many other boards for various Russian weapons, operate on microcontrollers labeled by the Swiss manufacturer STMicroelectronics. In addition, the engine control board uses converters labeled by American manufacturer Vishay and capacitors from Japanese Rubycon,” GUR Emphasized.
The Phoenix is a reconnaissance UAV, which its developer, Russian LLC TAIP, calls “a development of the Orlan-10.”
“The filling contains components labeled by manufacturers from five countries – the USA, Switzerland, China, the Netherlands and Taiwan. Most of all – seven parts – are labeled by the same STMicroelectronics, which is headquartered in Switzerland and made in nine countries on three continents of the world,” – added to GUR.
We remind you that the Ukrainian Armed Forces learned to change the coordinates of Russian kamikaze drones and redirect them.
Let’s remember that on the night of November 28, Russian troops carried out a massive combined missile and drone attack on the Ukrainian energy sector. 76 cruise missiles, three guided aircraft missiles and 35 UAVs were destroyed among 188 enemy targets.
The formal leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, admitted that Russian drones were flying over the territory of the Republic of Belarus. According to him, “inexperienced hands” and the operation of electronic warfare equipment are to blame.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.