HISTORY

A PPDS drone from the Australian company Sypaq

Corvo is made of cardboard. It can carry 5 kg

of explosives.

now, as was the case with the attack on the

Diaghilevo airfield near Ryazan. This was

attacked by Ukrainian Tu-141 Strizh drones

in December 2022. Shortly after the attack,

the destruction of one vehicle and damage

to a Tu-22M3 bomber was photographically

confirmed. The Russian side also confirmed at

the time that three Russian soldiers had lost

their lives. Now, however, Russia has issued

an international arrest warrant for Ukrainian

Colonel Serhiy Burdenyuk, who commands

the 383rd unmanned aerial vehicle regiment.

These Russian documents include a detailed

description of the December 5, 2022, action,

according to which the Ukrainian attack at the

Diaghilevo base damaged not one, but three Tu22M3 bombers. Two buildings and two vehicles

were also hit, and in addition to the three

dead soldiers, seven others were wounded.

By the way, Russia is looking for Burdenyuk

on suspicion of “organizing illegal Ukrainian

drone incursions into Russian airspace.” So,

what is Russia doing in Ukraine as of February

24, 2022, then?

The Ukrainians pulled off a stunt on Tuesday,

August 29, when they hit the airport in the city

of Pskov. This is located 700 km from Ukraine,

near the Estonian border. The result of this

action is also presented differently by the

two sides. Russia has admitted that four Il76 transport aircraft were damaged, Ukraine

claims that four aircraft were completely

destroyed and two damaged. In all likelihood,

two of the Il-76s were completely burnt out,

as confirmed by the videos, and the other two

were damaged. These were hit at the point

where the fuselage joins the centerplane but

did not catch fire. Satellite images show large

holes in the upper part of their fuselages.

According to unconfirmed information,

up to 20 drones attacked Pskov. They were

supposed to be PPDS drones manufactured by

the Australian company Sypaq Corvo. These

drones are made of paper and are supplied

as a jigsaw puzzle. They are powered by an

electric motor, with which they have a range

of 120 km and can carry 5 kg of explosives.

This means that someone must have launched

these drones from Russian territory during the

attack on Pskov ...

October 2023

The Australian government has been

providing PPDS drones to Ukraine since the

spring of this year. The advantage is the low

cost due to the material being waxed cardboard.

It also makes the drone virtually undetectable

by radar. The Ukrainians also used them in an

attack against the Khalino airfield in the Kursk

region on the night of 26–27 August, where,

according to Ukrainian counterintelligence,

five fighter jets were hit, as well as two radars

and two air defense systems. However, this

information remains unconfirmed.

Tire protection

All these successful attacks on airports

have led to a bizarre countermeasure on

the Russian side. Satellite images of tirecovered aircraft have emerged from several

bases. These were mainly Tu-95 and Tu-160

bombers, but also Su-34s. It is not clear what

the Russians intend by this – whether it is to

protect against explosives or whether the

tires distort the radar or infrared image of

the aircraft in the drones’ sensors. It is also

possible that they are testing something else

entirely. Either way, the tires seem to have only

appeared on aircraft that are not airworthy

and serve as a source of spare parts. Several

Tu-95s, for example, are missing propellers

or entire engines, and even the tire-covered

Su-34 has its engines removed. Perhaps

the Russians want to protect aircraft that do

not change position and are therefore easily

detected by reconnaissance.

Ukrainian losses

Ukraine did not only achieve success

in attacks on Russian airfields during the

reporting period. While the previous month of

July was completely free of losses in the air,

August was particularly bad for the Ukrainian

air force. It started as early as August 1, when

a Mi-8 was shot down near Mykhailivka in

Kherson Oblast. The video shows that the lowflying helicopter caught fire after being hit and

made an emergency landing. On the ground it

then burned completely. The fate of the crew

is unknown.

On Friday, August 25, two Aero L-39

Albatros aircraft from the 40th Tactical Air

Force Brigade collided. The wreckage of the

aircraft crashed near the village of Sinhury in

the Zhytomyr region. All three pilots – Major

Vyacheslav Minka, Major Serhiy Prokazin and

Captain Andriy Pilshchikov – were killed. The

latter had the call sign “Juice” and was the face

of a campaign demanding the delivery of F-16

fighter jets to Ukraine. He was killed just as

After the Ukrainian drone attacks, some Russian aircraft were given protection from old tires. Maxar’s satellite

image shows a Tu-95 with its propellers dismantled.

Rubber protection was also given to this Su-34 with its engines dismantled.

INFO Eduard

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