Britain's defense ministry has attributed the success of “frequent [Russian] long-range missile strikes deep into Ukraine” through the month of May to the improved integration of “unarmed, surveillance uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) into operations” by the Russian military.
“These have included Russian-produced Supercam UAVs which are relatively cheap and have sufficient range to fly over the cruise missiles’ targets,” the MoD said in a defense intelligence update Sunday.
“Russia has highly likely adopted this tactic as an attempt to obtain more timely battle damage assessment and improve its targeting cycle,” the military said, noting that Russian forces’ previous, “slow and inefficient targeting process” had proven a “major weakness” in its operations in Ukraine.
Supercam Unmanned Systems Group is a major Russian UAV producer making drones for both the military and civilian markets. The small, propeller-powered drones have a flight range between 50 to 450 km, radio link range up to 110 km, wingspans ranging from 1 to 4.5 meters, and an endurance time of up to 7 hours.