In a sharp escalation of its drone campaign targeting strategic industries deep inside Russia, Ukraine seems to have fitted Cessna-style light planes with remote controls, packed them with explosives and flown at least one of them more than 600 miles to strike a Russian factory in Yelabuga, 550 miles east of Moscow.

Ironically, the Russian factory produces—you guessed it—drones.

Russians on the ground recorded the shocking scene as the light plane dove onto the sprawling Alabuga Special Economic Zone industrial campus, where workers assemble Iranian-designed Shahed drones that, just like Ukraine’s DIY Cessna-style drone, can range as far 600 miles with an explosive payload.

  • PhillyCodeHound@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    3 months ago

    But in that case fighter jets here are usually scrambled and if they don’t see anyone in the cockpit, they shoot the damn thing down

          • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            3 months ago

            If you’re peeing out the window, you’re still in plain view of the intercept fighters.

          • AA5B@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            3 months ago

            The openable part of the window on a Cessna is tiny and high up. There’s no way anyone could contort like that plus it’s likely to come back at you.

            I can see opening the door, but you’d likely need a copilot: I don’t know if a simple autopilot could handle that configuration

              • AA5B@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                3 months ago

                Plus then they’d have the opportunity to pee bomb various parts of Russia! You’d get volunteers lining up, drinking tons of water before the flight

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      3 months ago

      And thats when you put down your mask, give hand signals saying radios out, and then veer the plane into the fighter jet and shoot it up with the machine gun!