The Ukrainians shot down the Greek Orion drone, capable of transporting cruise rockets with the help of an interceptor drone
The Ukrainian army on Sunday confirmed the breaking of a heavy Russian drone, rarely seen in Ukraine, near the border with the Kursk region. Orion is a fighting drone capable of launching cruise missiles, but which is rarely used by Moscow due to its limited availability and vulnerability to Ukrainian air defense, the militarnyi specialty publication reports.
According to the commander of Ukraine's drone forces, Robert “Ungurul” Brovdi, the separate brigade 414 successfully destroyed the Russian Orion drone with the help of an interceptor drone. The success marks a premiere for this brigade, which added among the successes of the breaking of an Orion drone, after a track record of almost 1,500 types of enemy drones, including Orlan, Zala, Supercam, Shahed and Lancet, but also bigger targets such as Merlin and Forpost.
OSINT analysts have geolocated the interception site in the area around Tiotkino, Kursk, Russia, near the border with Ukraine.
Team work
Before receiving the fatal blow, the Orion drone had been damaged by attacks of the intercepting drones operated by the 95th air assault. The graceful blow was given by the Ptahi Madiara team of the 414 Brigade.
The Russian army rarely used Drone Orion on the battlefield, because of their limited number, but also the high susceptibility to fall victim to the Ukraine aerial defense network, notes the militarnyi.
The Drone Orion program
The Orion Drone has been developed by the Kronstadt group since 2011. The first prototype was completed in 2015, and the operational testing drones were ready in April 2020. Serial production started in August 2020.
The Orion drone has a wingspan of about 16 meters, a length of about 8 meters, a maximum weighing at approximately 1.2 tonnes and supports a useful load of up to 200 kg. It can reach altitudes of up to seven km and can fly continuously up to 24 hours, with a range of 1,000–1,500 km.
Orion can be armed with guided ammunition, including KH-50 and KH-BPLA missiles, but also KAB-20 bombs and other variants. It is also capable of launching the compact cruise missile S8000 banner.
Only nine confirmed losses of some Orion drones have taken place since the beginning of the large -scale invasion of Russia, according to the Oryx blog.
Against the backdrop of conventional air defense systems, the Ukrainian army was forced to innovate, developing intercepting drones to combat Russian drones, both small ones flying at low and fastest altitude, which fly to high altitudes.
