Via Special Kherson Cat
One of Ukraine’s far-flying sport plane drones struck what may have been a Russian special police base in Grozny, around 600 miles from the front line in Ukraine, on or just before Sunday.
It was the latest in a series of long-range strikes by Ukrainian-made Aeroprakt A-22 propeller-drive sport planes that the Main Intelligence Directorate in Kyiv has modified into one-way attack drones since early this year.
Ranging as far as 800 miles with extra internal fuel in addition to their remote guidance systems and explosive payloads, the $90,000 A-22s have struck—among other targets—a drone factory, a missile research facility and a naval base crowded with warships.
The Grozny raid, which at least two people recorded on their smartphones—one from just feet away—revealed some new details about the improvised attack drone, one of several deep-strike weapons that Ukrainian forces have developed in the 34 months since Russia widened its war on Ukraine,
For one, the drone that struck the purported police base appeared to feature opaque plugs covering the normally transparent glazing around the 1,300-pound A-22’s cockpit, which can accommodate two people in its manned configuration.
It’s also possible the drone once had a registration number on its tail. One of the videos of the Sunday strike seems to depict a patch of paint over the number. That might indicate that the intelligence directorate is sourcing used A-22s for its drone program rather than taking all the airframes directly from the Aeroprakt factory in Kyiv.
The hit on the apparent police base, which may support the violent occupation of eastern and southern Ukraine, produced a billowing fireball, but didn’t produce the avalanche of debris one might expect from a purpose-made deep-strike munition such as a British-built Storm Shadow cruise missile.
Where a Storm Shadow boasts a tandem warhead—one to open a gap in the target, a second to explode inside—the A-22 appears to carry a simpler unitary warhead. Moreover, a Storm Shadow or similar missile travels at 600 miles per hour, lending it greater penetrative power. By contrast, an A-22—which sacrifices speed for range—maxes out at around 125 miles per hour.
A lack of penetration might not matter as long as the target is flimsy. It certainly does matter when the target is armored or underground.
That explains why Ukraine continues to strike softer but more distant targets with its sport plane drones while aiming its Storm Shadows and similar SCALP-EG and Neptune cruise missiles at harder and closer targets such as buried command bunkers.
