A Ukrainian Drone Flew 1,100 Miles to Target A Russian Bomber Base
The A-22 was intercepted in mid-air
The Ukrainian intelligence directorate may have set a record, back in July, when it claimed it flew a long-range strike drone 1,100 miles to strike the Russian air force base at Olenya in Murmansk, in northern Russia.
Now we can confirm the directorate is capable of flying a drone that far. A video that circulated online on Wednesday depicts what clearly is a pilotless version of an Aeroprakt A-22 sport plane droning toward Olenya.
Russian forces on the ground engage the propeller-driven A-22, dramatically blowing it up. The ferocity of the explosion points to significant explosive payload aboard the 1,300-pound plane.
Why Ukraine would want to hit Olenya is obvious. It houses strategic bombers that routinely conduct cruise-missile raids on Ukrainian cities.
The A-22 raids are an extension of Ukraine’s escalating campaign of drone and missile strikes targeting strategic targets in Russia, including air bases, factories, space sites and oil refineries. The strikes targeting Olenya apparently are the deepest strikes.
Ukrainian industry produces at least two models of sport plane the intelligence directorate has converted into strike drones: the A-22 and the Aerosor Nynja.
It seems both types have inexpensive video cameras, simple onboard computers, servos connected to the flight controls and satellite radios to transmit video to a distant operator and control signals back to the plane.
The A-22 carries its explosive payload in its cabin. The Nynja carries a small bomb under its belly. Both planes cruise at around 100 miles per hour and blend in with civilian air traffic, making them difficult to detect and intercept.
In its standard configuration, an A-22 has a 20-gallon internal fuel tank that might lend it an 800-mile range on a one-way sortie. That A-22s are ranging as far as 1,100 miles seems to indicate the intelligence directorate in Kyiv is installing extra fuel tanks in the type’s cabin alongside the explosive payload.
It’s not yet clear whether the Ukrainian attacks on Olenya have inflicted any meaningful damage. But don’t expect the Ukrainians to stop trying. An A-22 costs just $90,000—a pittance in military terms.
Read more:
Ukrainian Troops Marched Into Russia Behind a Creeping Barrage of Drones and Drone-Jammers
On Aug. 6, a Ukrainian corps including at least five combat brigades plus supporting air-defenses, drones and artillery—10,000 or more troops—attacked across the Ukraine-Russia border into Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
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