An impressive new video from Ukrainian drone makers Wild Hornets shows a compilation of their FPVs intercepting more than 100 Russian reconnaissance drones. Back In July I described Ukraine’s crash programs to rapidly field interceptor FPVs, when he first videos appeared showing the new tactic. The program is now operating at scale, and likely played a vital role in the initial success of the Kursk offensive.
Ubiquitous drone eyes in the sky immediately spot any movement on the ground, so any offensive is rapidly targeted with artillery and FPVs and stopped before it reaches the start line. Taking out the other side’s surveillance drones means controlling the ground. The battle for drone airspace is on.
Critical Capability
While consumer quadcopters are used extensively at the front line for tactical reconnaissance and directing artillery fire, they only have a range of a few miles and battery life is typically half an hour. Fixed-wing drones, such as the Russian Orlan-10 (“Eagle-10”), take over for longer-distance work and can range at least 50 miles from the operator. The Orlan-10 has a ten-foot wingspan and the piston engine gives it a cruising speed of 60 mph for more than twelve hours at a stretch, providing persistent surveillance capability with powerful optics (sometime repurposed Canon SLR cameras).
Russian reconnaissance drones work closely with other units. The Orlan-10 is integrated with Russian artillery and targets can be hit within three minutes of being detected, compared to the twenty minutes it takes for a ground observer to directing fire. The Zala 421-16Е2 drone works as a team with Russia’s Lancet long-range-kamikazes made by the same company to find targets and assess strikes.
Ukraine’s surprise attack in the Kursk region only succeeded because Russian reconnaissance drones were taken out first. Electronic warfare brought down the small quadcopters, but the Orlans and Zalas are generally too high and too distant to be affected by jamming. In the past, bringing them down has been a challenge.
Shooting Down The Eagles
An Orlan-10 is not a high-value target in itself (about $120k), but presents a major threat when its presence can bring down lethally accurate artillery fire.
The U..S.-supplied Stinger missile has an effective range of 5 miles and can hit targets at more than 10,000 feet altitude. Developed to provide protection against fast jets and attack helicopters, its infra-red seeker is sensitive enough to lock on to the heat of an Orlan-10 engine and there are many videos of Stingers successfully downing Orlans and other drones.
The problem is one of numbers. The U.S. and other allies have supplied Ukraine with more than 2,000 Stingers, but they are spread thin over a long front line, and may be reserved for more valuable targets – they are also useful for shooting down Russian Su-25 attack jets and Shahed long-range drones.
From a pure cost point of view, one Stinger missile is priced at roughly $480,000 or four times as much as an Orlan. Sometimes need overrides economics, but bringing down reconnaissance drones is not simply a matter of unleashing missiles: they are small, distant, and not easy to distinguish from friendly drones.
During the first two and a half of years of conflict, tireless OSINT analysts Oryx recorded the destruction of a total of 253 Russian fixed-wing reconnaissance drones or about ten a month.
Wild Hornets’ video shows them hitting a startling 115 Russian reconnaissance drones, a feat which would have previously taken a year. This will have been achieved by co-ordination with Ukrainian air defence; a new system uses data from radar and other sensors to provide an intercept course for the FPV pilot so they do not need to see the target when they launch. But the drones themselves are vital.
Interceptor Drones
Wild Hornets would not discuss their interceptors in much detail . The group is a nonprofit organization financed by fundraising efforts with an impressive track record in developing and fielding effective drones. These include the Queen Hornet, a giant FPV than can act as a kamikaze with a 14-pound warhead, bomber, transport, communications relay or even a mothership for a smaller FPV.
What Wild Hornets could tell me was that the new interceptors are “partially upgraded,” rather than being a completely new design. They have a new camera to help with the tricky process or air-to-air intercepts, likely providing a better image quality than basic FPV cameras, and a special battery.
The battery is clearly more powerful than standard versions. Wild Hornets drew attention to a frame indicating that the mission had lasted more than 15 minutes to the moment of interception. If the average speed is 60 mph, that suggests the intercept took place at a range of around 15 miles, or about three times the maximum range of a Stinger. The actual distance may be more.
Wild Hornets also revealed that the interceptor has a new warhead which uses command detonation rather than exploding on impact. Rather than the usual armor-piercing shaped charge, this is likely a focused shrapnel warhead throwing a spray of metal fragments in a wide cone to ensure destruction of the target. A similar warhead is used as an antipersonnel weapon on some FPVs.
Waging War With Crowdfunding
Perhaps the most surprising thing about the drone interceptor effort is that it is funded by drives organized by from fundraisers like Serhii Sternenko. This is possible because Wild Hornet drones cost just a few hundred dollars each rather than the hundreds of thousands of a guided missile. We do not know the exact cost of the interceptors, but Wild Hornets previously quoted me $450-$550 per FPV depending on specification. All 115 Russian drones were likely downed for less than the price of one Stinger.
What we are seeing is apparently just the tip of the iceberg. According to a Wild Hornets X/Twitter post “The video shows only 10% of what the military has shot down using these drones.”
Some Ukrainians are unhappy that their forces rely so much on crowdfunded drones, while billions of dollars of aid supplies a tiny number of exquisite but overstretched weapons. They would like to see money channeled directly to Ukrainian drone makers.
Meanwhile the battle to down Russian drones goes on. They will not discuss their future plans, but it seems highly likely that more capable interceptors are on the way. These might target helicopters, Shaheds and a range of other aerial targets as well as reconnaissance drones.
Donations to Wild Hornets can be made here.
