Midnight attack on October 23rd launched by russian forces on Ukraine was successfully repelled: 13 Shahed-136 loitering munitions, one Kh-59 cruise missile and a drone of unknown type were neutralized by air defense.
This "unidentified" UAV actually has been recorded a few times previously but it is the first time Ukrainian military officials commented on their arrival. Simplistic airframe as if assembled of wooden puzzles, a plastic bottle instead of a fuel tank – the drone can potentially become more mass-produced than Shahed-type munitions.
Read more: The Real Threat of russia's "Poor Man's Drones" Explained on Example of a Wooden UAV
During an interview at the United News telethon, Spokesperson of the Air Force of Ukraine Yurii Ihnat noted that such drones are assembled of "whatever is available at hand: a simple engine that can be bought online, and an airframe can be assembled at any aeromodelling club."
A closer look at one of those that got downed by Ukrainians in May 2023 allows to see the details they can be made of: a fuselage of plywood, a bottle instead a fuel tank, and more interestingly, a corner reflector that makes the drone times more conspicuous to radars. Experts suggested that the russian idea is to send these drones in as decoys and force Ukrainian soldiers to spend valuable missiles on them instead of real targets.
The UAV downed tonight was equipped with the DLE-60 engine. This component can be easily acquired via AliExpress, for example, at a price below $500 apiece.
While in the air, it is impossible to find out whether such a drone carries any explosives or not, so it needs to be destroyed regardless, and hence succeeds in exhausting Ukrainian air defense.
"It is a target we have to react to and eliminate. That is exactly what we did today," Ihnat stressed.
Worth noting, during the last russian missile shelling campaign throughout the fall and winter of 2022–2023, when the Shahed-136 munitions first appeared in russia, they were regarded as means for exhausting and distracting Ukrainian air defense in the same way.
However, at this point cruise missiles have been almost phased out, and Shaheds have practically become the main weapon of russian remote attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure. Now they deploy these "drones of unknown type" to avert the attention of Ukrainian air defenses from the barrage of Shaheds.
At the same time, Ukraine also uses similar solutions and even looks into the option of producing drones even cheaper than the russian wooden UAVs. Such as the PPDS (Precision Payload Delivery System) aerial drones manufactured by the Australian SYPAQ company which are literally made of cardboard.
Ukraine earlier received a few batches of them and effectively used them on the frontline: according to russian sources, PPDS drones reached the russian military airfield in Kursk and targeted Su-30 and MiG-29 fighters, as well as air defense systems stationed there.
PPDS can carry up to 5 kg of payload with a flight range of 120 km. Ukrainian military was considering localizing the production of this UAV in its own territory.
Read more: The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine Received 2 Quiet UAVs Designed for Extreme Conditions
