New War Tactic: Terrorists Prove Viability of Suicide Bomber Tactics Applied to Drones
The drones which attacked Russian facilities in Syria took off from the de-escalation zone of Idlib, has reported the Ministry of Defense. This territory is controlled by the so-called moderate opposition. Turkey should follow the observance of the ceasefire. A letter has already been sent to Ankara demanding to fulfill its obligations and to prevent future attacks.
Dmitry Petrov is reporting on how the militants got such technologies and what is dangerous about "a war of drones".
A combat drone can be made only like this, of an aircraft type. This model is provided by one of the stores of radio-controlled models in Moscow.
- Vladimir, how much useful weight can it carry?
- Well, this model can carry about 600 grams. That model is three times as big as this one, both in length and wing spread. A spar and ribs were made of cardboard.
These drones are likely to be made of improvised materials in a shed. But their equipment was enough to cover tens of kilometers by air.
Victor Murakhovsky, Arsenal of the Fatherland editor-in-chief: "The drone group attack against the Khemeymim airbase and the logistics center in Tartous involved homemade ammunition converted from sixty-millimeter mortar mines. Sixty-millimeter mortar high-explosive fragmentation mines. It's the western size, widely used in the US Army".
A lot of fragments, fire-swept manpower and unprotected equipment. These were jets at Khemeymim, but the attack was reportedly repulsed.
Ivan Konovalov, head of the Center for Strategic Trend Studies: "Our anti-aircraft weapons worked very well, all the enemy's drones were destroyed or made to land, some of them were captured, We managed to black out frequencies, intercept the channel and make drones land".
Now experts are studying the composition of explosives to determine its origin. By the way, these 13 drones flew from the de-escalation zone of Idlib, the territory controlled by the opposition forces.
Igor Korotchenko, military expert: "A US Navy air scout was in the communications surveillance area. Apparently, its task was to control and intercept some parameters of Russian ECM and air defense systems".
Instead of mines or grenades, combat drones can be equipped, for example, with chemical munitions. What if it's a massive raid of a whole swarm of such drones not against the army that are covered with Pantsirs, but on a peaceful city?
Victor Murakhovsky, Arsenal of the Fatherland editor-in-chief: "Air defense can't be largely used above a large city, but on a very limited scale. Then, electronic warfare means can't be used above a large city, as they black out satellite navigation signals. So this problem is not actually a Russian problem. Nor is a Syrian problem, but it's a global problem".
Killer drones are another pair of shoes. It's about an attack of hundreds or even thousands of small devices as big as sparrows, even endowed with artificial intelligence. With a concentrated blow, they are capable of knocking out any wall, destroying an entire unit.
According to many experts, there is a real danger that terrorists will increasingly use drones to organize their attacks.
Dmitry Petrov, Maxim Shchipilov, Diana Djimileva, Pavel Mayer, and Alexander Matrosov for Vesti