On Sunday, June 15, 2025, the Ukrainian Defense Forces launched a new strike on the so-called "the Alabuga free economic zone" - one of two locations where long-range kamikaze drones of the "Shahed" type, which have the russian name the Geran-2, are produced on the territory of the russian federation.
Initially, the media voiced the assumption that the A-22 aircraft was involved in this strike as an unmanned bomber. However, later the telegram channel "Colonel of the General Staff" published an analysis, from which it follows that for this strike a connection was used in the composition of the A-22 aircraft and a kamkadze glider with a 100-kilogram warhead, which is confirmed by the published photo (Photo 1).
Read more: russia Ramps Up Drone Infrastructure: in Addition to Alabuga, Shahed Drones Now Produced at IEMZ Kupol
In particular, this post also states that towing gliders by an aircraft is a typical scheme for their removal to the echelon, where after undocking they make an independent flight due to air currents (Photo 2). The glider does not have an engine, so after undocking in the area of the target it immediately heads towards it. At the same time, a glider without a pilot allows to carry a combat load of up to 100 kg. "Thanks to the use of such a scheme, you can hit two objects at once at a great distance from the line of combat contact with a relatively large equivalent of explosives," this post also says.
The Defense Express analysis shows that until now, the use of the "drone-kamikaze as a tug + glider-kamikaze as an additional combat unit" scheme has not been recorded in the world. There is also currently no other evidence of the use of a glider as an unpowered kamikaze aircraft.
One can only recall the practice of the Second World War, when the Allies used landing gliders towed by C-47 transport aircraft to open a second front in Europe during large-scale landing operations.
One can also recall the German unrealized project of the same World War II to create the Blohm und Voss BV 40 interceptor glider, which was to be equipped with two 30-mm aircraft guns and was simply an expression of an extremely exotic idea for air defense, which could not be brought to a logical result due to objective technical difficulties.
Finally, the historical parallel with Mistel also comes to mind - a connection from a bomber converted into a kamikaze drone with a 1000-kilogram warhead and a control aircraft (usually a fighter), which was supposed to deliver the "projectile aircraft" to the point of use.
Although the German Mistel received limited use and little effectiveness, the very fact of the existence of such a development left a certain conceptual trace that could be used when creating a connection of A-22 aircraft + kamikaze glider with a 100-kilogram warhead.
It is an interesting and open question how large-scale and effective the described scheme of drone attacks on military facilities in the territory of the russian federation can be. To understand the possible consequences of such use, we can start from the assessments of the Dnipro OSINT community, which indicate that as a result of the Ukrainian drones hitting the Alabuga, two workers were killed as well as 14 were injured, among those involved in the production process in this production area.
As Defense Express reported, earlier confirmed strike damaged final assembly workshop at plant in Alabuga producing hundreds of combat drones for russia daily
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Read more: russian Drone Manufacturer Alabuga Produces 6000 Shahed Drones One Year Ahead of Schedule, Signaling a New Phase of War in Ukraine's Skies
