Ukraine has a new long-range drone and it's very interesting

On April 2nd, Ukraine carried out its deepest strike into Russia since the war began and targeted a drone manufacturing factory twelve hundred kilometers or about six hundred miles beyond the border between the two warring countries. 

Video of the emergency response to the attack revealed that one or possibly two drones were used in the strike on the Alabuga Special Economic Zone industrial campus and it was later revealed that Ukraine used an interesting weapon. 

Photo By Wiki Commons By ОЭЗ, CC BY-SA 4.0

In order to attack Russia at such a vast distance, Ukraine used a weapon that had yet to be seen on the battlefield: a retrofitted consumer airplane with robotics controls that was packed with explosives according to David Axe of Forbes. 

Photo By Wiki Commons By Alan Wilson, CC BY-SA 2.0

The makeshift drone was an ultralight sport plane manufactured locally and based in the Aeroprakt A-22. This type of plane is what Axe noted middle-class hobbyists might pick up and only costs a meager $90,000, which is good for Kyiv. 

Photo By Wiki Commons By Steven Byles from Singapore, CC BY-SA 2.0

Arizona-based aircraft seller Leighnor Aircraft had a lot of good things to say about the Aeroprakt A-22 on its sales website. It reported that the plane was rugged but was also easy and could fly upwards of 95 knots while carrying a load. 

Photo By Wiki Commons By Aleksandr Markin, CC BY-SA 2.0

Stalling apparently isn’t a problem with the Aeroprakt A-22 and its controls are light and effective, two features a drone operator would likely want when flying Ukraine's version of the airplane behind enemy lines to strike at critical industries. 

Photo By Wiki Commons Photo Credit: Facebook @aeroprakt

The Aeroprakt A-22 is a simple and reliable plane which Axe explained lends itself well to the mission it has now been tasked with undertaking: flying into Russia and targeting the strategic industries that are outside the range of other weapons. 

Photo Credit: Facebook @aeroprakt

Ukraine's strike against the drone production facility in Alabuga was a sign that “strongly implies” Kyiv intends to continue to use refitted Aeroprakt A-22s in its campaign against Russian industry according to Axe, and he wasn't alone in his assessment.

How the Ukrainians refitted drone controls isn’t known according to Axe, but it did hit its mark. However, Reuters pointed out in its reporting that it is unclear if the second drone used in the attack was also a refitted Aeroprakt A-22. 

Screenshot: Twitter @maria_avdv / edited by The Daily Digest

Reuters reported it was able to confirm the location of the strike from the video evidence that emerged following the attack and also reported that a senior government official told the news agency Ukraine hoped to make thousands of long-range drones in 2024. 

"There's nothing special in terms of engineering about this. You can have a piloted plane with auto-pilot and a navigation system from a smaller UAV and connect them up. It's not a very hard task," a long-range drone developed explained to Reuters. 

Photo Credit: Facebook @aeroprakt

Center for a New American Security senior fellow Samuel Bendett told the British news organization that the Aeroprakt A-22 was likely used in the attack but was most curious as to why such an important Russian target was undefended.

Photo Credit: Facebook @aeroprakt

"There are also questions why such a significant target as the Alabuga site did not have good air defense protection, considering attacks that already took place on many targets inside Russia," Bennett said. But there may be an explanation. 

Russia may have seen the drone production facility in Alabuga as out of range for Kyiv but it is still unclear why air traffic controllers in Russia didn’t flag the Aeroprakt A-22 as it was flying through Russian airspace. 

"It appears that using a civilian light aircraft converted to a UAV enabled this plane to fly relatively undisturbed in the Russian airspace - it may have looked like many other light civilian aircraft flying across Russia," Bennett added. 

The damage dealt to the Alabuga drone facility is not fully known but Politico reported a statement from Alabuga's press service noted the strike only hit dormitories. Ukraine also attacked an oil production facility in Nizhnekamsk according to the news agency. Both attacks happened in Russia’s Tatarstan Republic. 

Photo Credit: Twitter @Gerashchenko_en