Russia uses thermobaric UAVs together with decoy drones – AR

According to the publication, decoy drones are manufactured at a secret factory in Tatarstan (Russia), in the special economic zone “Alabuga”. There, they recently started producing thermobaric drones. Thermobaric warheads create a vortex of high pressure and heat that can penetrate thick walls. They absorb all the oxygen in their path and cause terrible injuries even beyond the explosion site: damage to the lungs, eyeballs, brain damage.

The article notes that Russia developed a decoy plan in late 2022, codenamed “Operation False Target.” The idea was to launch armed drones along with dozens of decoys, sometimes stuffed with rags or Styrofoam, that would be indistinguishable on radar from those that carrying real bombs The Ukrainian military must make split-second decisions about how to spend limited resources to save lives and preserve critical infrastructure.

According to Ukrainian electronics expert Serhiy Beskrestnov, unarmed decoys now make up more than half of the drones that the enemy sends to Ukraine. Thermobaric drones, which the Russian Federation first used in the summer, account for 3% to 5%. According to data analyzed by the AP, less than 6 percent of Russian drones hit a visible target.

Read also: Air Force: Almost half of all drones used by Russia to attack – lures The engines and electronics of the strike drones and decoys are a mix of Chinese and Western imports, according to reporters. Sometimes decoys are equipped with a camera that allows you to determine the geolocation of Ukrainian air defense and transmit information to Russia.

Due to optical tricks, air defense radar cannot distinguish a drone with explosives or thermobaric weapons from a drone without a warhead or equipped with surveillance cameras. Therefore, Ukraine, even knowing that the decoys now make up the majority of the swarm of drones, cannot afford to miss any of them.

Read also: Russia terrorizes rear Ukraine with daily drone raids: what is behind it and what does the enemy want to achieve “For us, it’s just a blip on the radar… It has speed, direction and altitude. We have no way of identifying the exact target in flight, so we must either jam them with EW or use firepower to neutralize them. The enemy uses this to distract our attention,” said former Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat.

As Ukrinform reported, starting in August 2024, the Russian military, together with the Shahed-136, began to launch decoy drones “Gerber” and “Parody” and their counterparts deep into Ukraine, which are supposed to distract air defense.

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