Russia has been using its medium-sized drones to fly smaller drones packed with explosives into combat, extending their range and creating deadly new problems for Ukrainian forces.
Ukrainian soldiers who described the tactic to Business Insider said that Moscow uses its fixed-wing Molniya (“lightning” in Russian) drones to carry small first-person-view (FPV) drones; these are typically the quadcopters that have become a dominant presence on the battlefield.
The tactic, while not a new phenomenon, has become a growing concern for Ukrainian forces because it enables the FPVs to operate and strike at greater depths. The war has featured other types of mothership-style drone carriers, but Russia only recently started using the Molinya for this purpose, soldiers said.
A soldier in the 4th Ranger Regiment, a Ukrainian special operations unit, said that the inexpensive Molniya drones act as “an aircraft carrier,” bringing one or two FPVs into battle, significantly extending their reach.
The Molniya can also carry an explosive payload, allowing it to function as both a mothership and a strike drone, said the operator, who could only be identified by his call sign Khyzhak (“Predator” in Ukrainian) for security reasons.
After the Molniya releases its onboard FPVs, it can continue flying to strike a target. Russia has sometimes even put anti-tank mines on the drone to increase its explosive potential, Khyzhak said.
“They’re cheap, there’s a lot of them, and so they can use them any time — at any moment — they want,” the soldier added.
Neither Russia’s defense ministry nor its US embassy responded to Business Insider’s request for comment on the tactic.
A Ukrainian drone unit commander operating in the northeast Kharkiv region described the Molniya tactic as a “dispensable relay.” They can often fly for dozens of miles, and the FPVs are remotely piloted after they are dropped off by the mothership.
Russia began using this tactic in the Kharkiv region several weeks ago, taking advantage of the shifting front lines, the commander said, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
Another Ukrainian soldier said he suspects Russia does not have many of these Molniya drones and described the threat as still being somewhat “experimental.”
The soldier, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Ukraine has similar mothership-style drones that can carry three or even four smaller ones. He declined to detail how widespread their use is, citing operational security concerns.
Ukraine has previously disclosed the use of naval drones to carry FPVs in the Black Sea, with the smaller quadcopter drones taking off from the mothership to attack a Russian-held oil platform.
The introduction of the FPV-carrying Molniyas marks another instance of battlefield innovation, highlighting how drones continue to play an increasingly dominant role in the ongoing conflict.
“War changes. I’m not saying every day, but every year for sure, every half of the year. They’re trying new tactics all the time. We are doing the same,” Khyzhak said.
Both Ukraine and Russia are constantly trying to outsmart the other in what officials have described as a cat-and-mouse game to field new warfare technology before the other side develops a workable countermeasure.
New warfighting technologies often grants one side an advantage for only a limited window, maybe only a few months before the other side figures out how to respond, Lt. Col. Yurii Myronenko, Ukraine’s deputy minister of defense for innovation and a former drone unit commander, told Business Insider recently.
Khyzhak said that Russia is modifying its drones to make them more deadly. He added that “they are improving their weapons — their equipment — nonstop, 24/7, every day.”
Earlier this month, Ukraine’s defense ministry published combat footage showing interceptor drones — one of Kyiv’s newest air defense tools — taking out a handful of Molniyas above the battlefield. It’s unclear if they have stopped any of the motherships carrying FPVs.
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