- Video launched by Ukraine’s forty fifth Separate Artillery Brigade exhibits a UAV being shot down after an artillery recognizing mission.
- Regardless of dropping the unit dropping its UAV, the artillery barrage in opposition to Russian forces was thought-about profitable.
Because the starting of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, social media are flooded with movies of tanks, armored autos, helicopters being attacked and/or destroyed, however at all times from a 3rd individual perspective.
Now, for the primary time, now we have a first-person perspective of an unmanned aerial automobile being shot down by a floor to air missile.
The engagement is a part of footage launched by the forty fifth Separate Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Military and depicting the artillery assault in opposition to Russian positions close to Polohy, within the Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
The video, posted on the unit’s Fb web page on June 4, 2022, exhibits the unspecified UAV flying over an oil plant, the place numerous Russian autos have been noticed, and coordinating artillery hearth.
—Rob Lee (@RALee85) June 4, 2022
After the rounds impacted their targets, whereas the UAV was flying over an open discipline, a plume of white smoke shortly left the bottom. The missile might be seen turning and correcting its trajectory because it houses on the UAV till it achieved a direct hit, which induced the video feed to chop off.
Regardless of dropping the UAV, the artillery barrage was thought-about to achieve success and a second drone, which was additionally loitering over the goal, confirmed fires and smoke within the depot.
The truth that no items have been clearly seen within the open discipline, a MANPADS (Man Transportable Air Protection Techniques) may appear the origin of the missile, however that’s unlikely because it Infrared sensor would have hassle locking a small electrically powered UAV with a really small IR signature. Furthermore, the video clearly exhibits the missile being launched vertically, earlier than deviating its trajectory and pointing towards the goal.
The obvious speculation would then be a Tor-M1/M2 self-propelled surface-to-air missile system, also referred to as the SA-15 “Gauntlet.”
The Russian forces are relying closely on this technique to guard high-value property, even putting in it on the flight deck of warships after the sinking of the guided-missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Navy Black Sea Fleet.
Initially designed within the Soviet Union for destroying airplanes, helicopters, cruise missiles and short-range ballistic threats, the Tor system is claimed to be efficient additionally in opposition to UAVs, nevertheless it didn’t have a lot luck thus far, with many launchers destroyed by Ukrainian Bayraktar TB-2s. This video is a uncommon exception caught on tape.
The kind of UAV employed within the video was not disclosed, nevertheless the forty fifth Separate Artillery Brigade posted on Fb on Might 22 a video have been the not too long ago delivered Spectator-M1 UAV was used for the primary time to identify targets for the unit’s 2S7 Pion self-propelled 203mm heavy howitzers.
By coincidence, the goal space used for this “fight check drive,” because it was outlined within the video, is identical oil depot of the video posted on June 4, recorded on the identical altitude and with the identical picture high quality.
We will thus safely assume that the UAV coordinating the artillery strike within the video from June 4 and later shot down was a Spectator-M1.
The time of the recording was not disclosed however, if our assumption is right, it may have been recorded throughout the two weeks between Might 22 and June 4, relying on how outdated was the primary video when it was launched, or perhaps a few days aside.
The Spectator is an indigenous UAV, developed by the Ukrainian firm VAT S.P.Korolev Meridian JSC, and is a small fixed-wing plane which weighs simply over 5kg and entered service in 2019. Initially designed for the use by particular forces who had a requirement for a compact, man-portable functionality for tactical air reconnaissance and aerial battlefield surveillance, the Spectator is propelled by a low acoustic signature electrical motor with a two-bladed propeller that reduces the chance of detection.
The UAV can make use of completely different payloads, together with a digital coloration 10x optical zoom daylight digital camera and a thermal imaging IR digital camera, which transmit their video feed to the bottom station through information hyperlink. The Spectator-M1 is claimed to have been developed to adapt to NATO’s requirements with particular emphasis positioned on anti-jamming functionality, safe communication hyperlinks and digital encryption of alerts.
That being stated, the video of the Spectator-M1 being shot down brings again to thoughts an identical episode from 2008, when a Georgian UAV recorded from its perspective the way it was shot down by an air-to-air missile.
The unarmed Georgian UAV was conducting a surveillance above the breakaway Georgian territory of Abkhazia on April 20, 2008, when it was approached by a Mig-29 and hit by an air-to-air missile shot at brief distance.
