On the night of January 21, 2025, the Ukrainian Defense Forces used long-range kamikaze UAVs to destroy military facilities on the territory of the aggressor country - the russian federation. In particular, it is known that one of the hit facilities was the Smolensk Aviation Plant, where, according to the head of the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, military aircraft, including Su-25 attack aircraft (NATO reporting name: Frogfoot), are being manufactured and modernized.
In addition, a video circulating on social networks indicates that the Ukrainian side used the Chaklun-V long-range kamikaze drones to strike this aircraft factory. The possible range of this strike UAV is estimated by experts at 700 kilometers.
Read more: Ukrainian Strikes On russian Oil Depots Have Significant Impact on Frontline
Russian Pantsir air defence system intercepts Ukrainian kamikaze UAV over Smolensk, Russia.Ukraine targeted Smolensk Aviation Plant, resulting in damage and fires. pic.twitter.com/E2zALYaJNa— Clash Report (@clashreport) January 21, 2025
At the moment, the results of the Ukrainian strike on the russian aircraft factory are unknown. The above video indicates only that during the attack one Ukrainian UAV was shot down by the russian Pantsir medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery system, while the second drone did hit the production building of the enterprise.
As for the Chaklun-V UAV themselves, in addition to the flight range of up to 700 kilometers, the declared warhead mass indicator is 20 kilograms. A warhead of the same weight is installed on the russian Shahed-131 kamikaze UAVs of Iranian origin, which were sometimes used by the russians during the russian-Ukrainian war.
It seems that russian experts believe that the Ukrainian Chaklun-V UAV has a combined warhead, the mass of which may exceed 20 kilograms, and the warhead's components are located in different elements of the drone's fuselage. The Ukrainian side does not provide information about the capabilities of this UAV and its tactical and technical characteristics for obvious reasons.
It should be recalled that the Ukrainian Defense Forces have already struck the Smolensk Aviation Plant in October 2023. At that time, the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine stated that this plant was involved in the production of Kh-59 missiles. Currently, the website of the Main Intelligence Directorate in the relevant section states that the Smolensk Aviation Plant uses imported equipment from several countries, which is mainly used for the production of UAVs and the Kh-59 Ovod сruise missiles (NATO reporting name: AS-13 'Kingbolt').
At the moment, it cannot be ruled out that over the past year this aircraft plant could have been repurposed to perform work on the modernization of Su-25 aircraft. It should be understood that russia is currently unable to produce new attack aircraft of this type. In Soviet times, the factory manufacturing these aircraft was located in Tbilisi (Georgia), but now this enterprise (Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing) is only capable of modernizing Su-25 aircraft, but not manufacturing them.
According to The Military Balance 2024, at the beginning of 2024, the Russian Armed Forces had at their disposal 40 Su-25 aircraft in the basic version, about 110 modernized Su-25SM/SM3 aircraft and 15 Su-25UB combat training aircraft.
As Defense Express reported, earlier Ukrainian Drones Attacked an Oil Depot in Smolensk Oblast. We also wrote on What Did russian Oil Depot in Smolensk Oblast Looked Like After Ukrainian Drone Strikes.
Read more: Ukraine's General Staff Confirms Strikes on russian Military Targets
