Ukrainian Defense Forces continue to showcase the effectiveness of anti-aircraft FPV drones in neutralizing russian reconnaissance assets. The Come Back Alive Foundation has recently released a video showing one of the crews operating FPV interceptors take down two russian Merlin drones, as claimed, consequently in just under 30 minutes.
The Ukrainian FPV crew was supplied with FPVs under the fund's Dronopad (Dronefall) project. Come Back Alive notes that overall, more than 12 Merlin-type reconnaissance drones have been destroyed since the start of the project.
Read more: Rubizh Brigade Has an Anti-Aircraft Drone Battery, but Its History Began with Downing a Rare russian Merlin-VR
Пам’ятаєте, був такий «Мерлін», російський БпЛА вартістю $300,000?Сьогодні один із екіпажів «Дронопаду» збив два таких дрони підряд протягом 30 хвилин Завдяки нашому проєкту та старанній роботі підрозділів вже понад 12 «Мерлінів» більше не літатимуть українським небом.… pic.twitter.com/7ujJpXWtb5— Повернись живим (@BackAndAlive) April 25, 2025
Defense Express elaborates that in this case, featured in the video are none other than Merlin-VR unmanned aerial vehicles — experimental reconnaissance drones that are considered a rare find even in the russo-Ukrainian war realities, heavily saturated with various unmanned systems.
The model was first presented in fall 2021 by its developer, the Research Institute of Modern Telecommunications Technologies JSC (NII STT). It remains unknown whether mass production of these drones has already been launched or how many units there may be in russian possession. With a payload capacity of 6.5 kg, it is said to fly almost silently for 10 hours straight at altitudes up to 5 km.
Merlin-VR is one of the most expensive scout drones in russia, its price tag could reach $300,000 apiece, meaning that all 12 lost Merlins account for about $3.6 million in losses to the russian military. Important to note, other Ukrainian units keep their own count of Merlin kills scored. For instance, one was hit in January, and one more in early April 2025. In both episodes, they were intercepted by cheap FPV drones.
Still, Merlin-VR remains an uncommon target for Ukrainian air defense units. The first confirmed downing dates back to summer 2022, and only five losses of this unique piece of equipment have been visually confirmed so far: five destroyed and another six captured relatively intact, according to the Oryx OSINT project. Often, confirmation of results is complicated by drones falling on enemy territory.
The seized samples were decomposed and analyzed, revealing the real insides of the system. In particular, it turned out there's a regular engine instead of a declared "hybrid power plant," and it's packed with Western electronics.
Read more: What is the russian Experimental Merlin-VR UAV, That Was Shot Down by the Ukrainian Military on Wednesday
