Shaheds, Lancets, fiber-optic FPVs and the counter-drone scramble — Russia’s drone war, tracked.
A former drone operator from Russia’s elite Rubikon unit has defected to Ukraine, offering a rare inside look at how one of Moscow’s high profile UAV formations recruits, trains, and maintains control over its personnel. The interview was published by Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate through its “I Want to Live” surrender initiative, and reported by…
If the numbers are accurate, this was not a strike. It was a warehouse extinction event. Ukraine says it has destroyed approximately 6,000 Russian FPV drones in a precision strike on a storage site in the Rostov region, as UNITED24 reports. The claim comes from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which…
Russia has officially presented a new factory produced munition designed specifically for FPV drones, called Kaplya, a name that translates to “droplet.” Personally, I think they could choose something better, more explosive-sound. What about ACME Super Bomb? The announcement came via footage shared by Russian military correspondent Dmitry Kulko of Channel One Russia, who showcased…
The wreckage of a new high-speed drone found in Ukraine in early January confirmed what we’ve been tracking for months: Russia’s Iranian-designed drone fleet is evolving faster than Western sanctions can contain it. A new analysis from Amy McAuliffe, former assistant director of the CIA for weapons and counterproliferation and now at the University of…
A new Wall Street Journal report by Jillian Kay Melchior details for the first time what actually happened when Ukrainian drone operators faced off against NATO conventional forces during last May’s Hedgehog 2025 exercise in Estonia. The results were, by multiple accounts, a disaster for the alliance. Here is what you need to know: NATO…
Poland just had two unexpected visitors drop out of the sky, and neither knocked before landing. In early February, an unidentified drone fell onto the grounds of the 1st Air Cavalry Battalion in Leźnica Wielka, central Poland. This is not just any military site. The base serves as a key helicopter hub for Poland’s land…
If this sounds like a meme from the darker corner of the internet, welcome to 2026. A Moscow-based neurotech company called Neiry is claiming it can produce “cyborg pigeon drones” by implanting electrodes in their brains, mounting a small control module, and then nudging the bird’s flight decisions through targeted brain stimulation. The project has…
The U.S. Navy spent $150 million developing HELIOS, its shipboard laser defense system. Ukrainian engineers built one that fits in the trunk of a car for a few million dollars. That cost gap tells you everything about how this war is reshaping the defense industry. A new report from The Atlantic, published today by staff…
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